Identity Aesthetics
The Jugend Magazine Project: The Evolution of Jugend Magazine Covers from 1896 to 1940, in Relation to Germany’s History
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nicole L. Arnell
My research explores the pioneering German magazine Jugend (1896-1940) in relation to the extreme changes within its country’s borders during this time. I created a website displaying the timeline of Germany’s history in relation to all 2,000+ covers of Jugend. Jugend magazine was so important that Germany’s art nouveau style is called Jugendstil due in part to the publication. This fin de siècle euphoria and Germany’s powerful industrial economy were both reflected in early Jugend covers. Darker times came with WW1, though Jugend covers displayed a reactionary sense of nationalism. In 1918-19, the Weimar Republic formed with Social Democratic ideals that were eventually skewed to legally bring Hitler to power by 1933. The Treaty of Versailles and the Great Depression both affected Germany’s troubled economy. Hitler and his followers began to push their political ideology with the Beer Hall Putsch at the end of 1923. Within a decade, a totalitarian state propelled the Nazi regime to more extreme control of a populous while spreading its message through propaganda. WW2 began in 1939, a year before the final publication of Jugend. With these major historical events, one would assume Jugend covers would display Constructivist or Expressionist styles in the 1920s that would eventually swing back to traditional imagery drenched in forced political propaganda by the late 1930s. Though these shifts are present, the styles and propaganda are much more subtle than I expected. Theories behind why this occurred will be presented along with the informative website.
Digital Democracy: Exploring the Growth of New Media Art in Egypt after the Arab Spring
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Adam Bull
The Arab Spring marked a drastic transformation in the way that civic engagement and political protest was enacted and choreographed. One of the defining features of this transformation was the fact that digital technology and particularly social media platforms became the common method for the Arab people to define their vision for political and social change. Social media crystallized new forms of political participation through a rubric of online to offline political change. Amid this digital revolution was a burgeoning community of new media artists who sought to use digital media technology to create vibrant new art works that addressed the problems of political turbulence and Arab identity. The focus of my paper would be to explore how an independent Egypt art initiative named "Out of the Circle" is exploring the role, purposes, and intentions of digital artists in politically turbulent Egypt. One of the primary focuses of "Out of the Circle" is to map digital artists from across the Middle East and North African region, to foster a culture of engagement between artists. Many of the artists associated with this group explore the distinct intersection between digital art and politics, both telling a poignant story of Arab identity and a future for communities struggling with social and political difficulty. Some of the central themes of this presentation will include Arab identity, cross-cultural artistic engagement, and the intersection between digital art and contemporary models of collective action.
Past and Presence: Visual Culture and Mixed Race Identity in Hong Kong
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kay Mei Ling Beadman
"Race" is a discredited biological concept, but its constructed socio-historical impact informs contemporary discourse and continues to have pervasive real life affects. The mixed race body disrupts normative boundaries and draws attention to the instability of the very idea of fixed racial categories. Since the 1990s, mixed race has become an increasingly popular area of study in the social sciences, post colonial and historical studies with a handful of scholars focusing on 19th century mixedness that references the situatedness of Hong Kong and, as mixed race demographics increase, has led to the emergent academic field of critical mixed race studies, with a small subsection researching related art practices. However, most research is centered in North America and Europe, focusing on "Western" multicultural societies. This practice-based creative research project examines the representation of mixed race identity, particularly Eurasian, in visual cultural production in Hong Kong, set within historical and contemporary social frameworks. The aims of the research are to extend the discourse relating to mixed race identities and in so doing create visual artworks that provide space to engage with the complexity of hybridity in a mixed race narrative. The first part of my research examines the colonial period in Hong Kong, out of which several strands have emerged to form the basis of exploratory artworks and which I focus on here: embodiment, dress, fictive accounts, and the contemporary replication of certain 19th century attitudes which unintentionally re-inscribe stereotypical notions of fixed racial characteristics.
