Historical Considerations (Asynchronous)
Reconsidering ‘Alternative Spaces’ in Post-WWII Japan: Jikken Kōbō and Gutai Art Association's Spatial Experimentations in Public Spaces View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Yang Chen
The popular definition of 'alternative spaces' connects to the US in the 1970s when urban spaces were run by or for artists to exhibit experimental works beyond institutions and commercial galleries. However, the paper suggests the term has a more fluid meaning in Japan and originated from the Meiji era (1868-1912). Because alternative spaces flourished in the post-WWII period, the paper limits the discussion in the 1950s and 60s. The paper proposes the Japanese alternative space is an alternative option beyond institutions. It consists of two aspects—conceptual and physical. The example of the former is the Yomiuri Independent Exhibition (1949-1963). It was unjuried and flexible in contrast to the strictly regulated exhibitions organised by Gadan (the canon or the institution). Because the two exhibition types shared the same venue—the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (est. 1926), the independent one became an officially sanctioned 'alternative' for showing hyper avant-garde works. In addition to this conceptual alternative, avant-gardes took a step further to explore the physical aspect of alternative spaces. In the 1950s and 60s, many avant-gardes organised exhibitions in public spaces. The paper selects the five exhibitions produced by postwar avant-garde collectives Jikken Kōbō (1951-1958) and Gutai Art Association (1954-1972) to discuss five types of alternative spaces—theatrical stage, public park, the gallery for rent, artist-run space, and cafe. Unlike the Western definition mentioned at the beginning, the stage, park and cafe were not for artists exclusively. Hence, 'alternative spaces' has extra meaning in Japan, which is to connect artworks with daily life.
Smithson's Voice and the Yucatán Peninsula View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Rose Vickers
This paper examines use of voice by the American land artist Robert Smithson. Voice is a component in three of Smithson’s 1969 artworks: an audio lecture and slideshow (Hotel Palenque (1969/72)), a video recording with voice-over (Swamp) and an improvised conversation between the artist and his wife, Nancy Holt (East Coast, West Coast). Also during 1969, Smithson undertook a planned journey to Mexico, travelling the Yucatán peninsula with Holt. The trip culminated in Hotel Palenque – an artwork which occupies an ambiguous place in Smithson’s canon and can be seen, through voice, to challenge extant conventions of ethnographic representation. Voices tend to mellow over time, becoming more atonal. Yet only three years were to transpire between Smithson’s artmaking in Mexico and the delivery of his Hotel Palenque lecture (in 1972), as relayed to a group of architecture students at the University of Utah. Smithson’s voice, which becomes increasingly flatter the further he moves away from the New York city art world, traverses a great deal of liminal space: from inner Manhattan to the suburbs of New Jersey, before finally coming to rest on the small Mexican town of Palenque. In my research I draw on technical analysis commissioned from voice expert Dr Brian Stasak (University of New South Wales). Graphs of Smithson’s voice pose questions around artistic intention, and set the stage to propose the occurrence of a ‘voice aesthetic’ – as an overlooked, yet theoretically significant component of Smithson’s historical practice.
Conceptual Art Entangled in the Everyday : Uncovering the Fragmentary Moments and Continual Actions from the Artwork of Ian Breakwell View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Peisen Ding
This paper is mainly trying to understand the artworks of Ian Breakwell through the studies of everyday life by French philosopher Henri Lefebvre and cultural theorist Michel de Certeau. The selected artworks here include Breakwell's diary from 1964 to 1985, partially accompanied by photographs. These artworks are significantly entangled in the everyday, because they involve not only the daily continual and repetitive processes of photography and writing but also what the artist saw in his daily lives and how he associated himself with his surroundings. To further explain these aspects, this paper explores the triangle relationship among the artist, the textual and imagery records in the artworks, and the associated daily surroundings. Through looking at this triangle relationship, this paper gradually uncovers the richness and meaningfulness of the fragmentary daily moments in relation to the continual actions of writing and photo-taking. In the end, this paper emphasizes the artistic modes of presence and the aliveness of everyday life.
Tribute to the Historic Traditional Textiles of Pakistan View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Asna Mubashra
The word tradition associates with manifestation of handing over or passing on, these are culturally significant ideas, and specific practices which are preserved over a long period of time. Designs of traditional textiles are links between people and regional arts; they are reflections of art movements as well as notions of human stages of development. Knowledge of historic traditional textiles is directly involved in the re-birth of the cultural awareness of region. Pakistan has been a country with rich traditions emerging from various faiths which are reflected in the expression of regional folk textiles. Pakistan lies in an area where not only earlier known human civilizations flourished but it also witnessed continued march of vanguards of various civilizations from central Asia and Near East. The rich heritage of Pakistan’s textile craft has evolved over a long period of 5000 years. In this duration Pakistan became the crossroad of many splendid cultures and enriched the world with an amazing variety of cultural, religious, linguistic, and artistic expressions. This intermingling of cultures surprisingly influenced all kinds of arts and crafts, including textile arts. Due to diversified talents, interests, and inspiration, different regions have their special identity for unique folk textile crafts. In this land, the traditional textile artisans of the Punjab, Sindh, Pakhtonkhwah, Balochistan, and Kashmir have been pursuing their skills, as they have done for generations. Admitting diverse art heritage of distinctive regions of Pakistan, this paper provides an overview of some historic traditional textiles nurtured here.
Picasso and the Lost Art of Pareidolia View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Bernie Taylor
Art has come to be is a longstanding curiosity among archaeologists, psychologists, and art historians. Pablo Picasso theorized in documented conversations with friends that art first surfaced from natural irregularities in rocks which were then innovated upon, such as is evidenced in Upper Paleolithic cave art. Picasso’s quotes about the Upper Paleolithic caves of Altamira in Cantabria, Spain and Lascaux in the Dordogne region of France indicate that he had visited them. Little else has been established of the Spaniard’s connection to cave art or his working theory on the origins of art. In this study over 500 previously published Franco-Cantabrian Upper Paleolithic cave images from archaeological sites that were identified between 1868 and 1950 were examined. The findings include examples of borrowed pareidolia-based characters developed from natural irregularities in the rocks from Altamira and in Grotte de Pair-non-Pair in Gironde, France among Picasso’s paintings and that the Spanish artist’s working theory on the origins of art is consistent with his observations of pareidolia in Upper Paleolithic cave art. This study posits that Picasso drew heavily on Upper Paleolithic cave art styles and animistic metaphors in his work.
Glass Containers and the Counterparts in Han China View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Eileen Hau Ling Lam
Different glass containers have been discovered in tombs dated to Han Dynasty. Some of these glass containers were plausibly made outside China, while some of them undoubtedly were locally manufactured. Archaeological finds to date indicate that some of the forms of the glass containers are not originated in glass, and the sources of varied forms are different and some of them are intricate. Interestingly, some glass vessels have been mingled with their counterparts made by other material in the tombs. By comparing data from widespread sites, this paper seeks to provide a clearer overview of the situation of glass containers buried in tombs, explore the possible sources of the containers, and also bring to light patrons’ incentives for selecting glass as a medium for these containers.
Ocean, Mountain,Tree - Ancient and Contemporary Art Forms and the Veneration of Nature: Sacred Nature in Minoan Crete as a Model for Contemporary Ecological Engagement View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Fiona Edmonds-Dobrijevich
Following its discovery over a century ago, the art of Minoan Crete has come to symbolise a culture with which clearly venerated nature with exuberance and vitality. Can ancient ritual practices offer contemporary cultures a model for interactions with the natural world?nature? In the face of ecological crises, contemporary art practice often explores human entanglements with nature in a range of media, questioning the idea of human exceptionalism. By looking at religious practices in Bronze Age Crete, can we see a way to develop less more inclusive relationships with the natural world? Material forms of the veneration of nature are varied. This paper looks at the works of contemporary artists who examine entanglements between humans and the natural world, honouring this relationship. In some cases, these works memorialise significant losses of species and impacts on biodiversity. Similarly, artistic and ritual practices in Minoan Crete indicate widespread veneration of natural forms including water, trees and rocks, and ritual actions using ceramics and painting to arrive at an epiphanic state. How can we look to our ancient past and learn ways of addressing the future?
Art as a Way of Reimagining the Community and Preserving the Industrial Heritage of Russian Single-industry Towns: How to Fill the Unique Heritage of an Industrial City with New Meanings, Revive Collective Memory and Create Points of Cultural Attraction
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sofya Krasnaya
The industrialization of the 20th century affected all USSR cities and created single-industry towns. The centralization of the ideology around industry gave rise to the different forms of art and communities. During the creation of industrial clusters in the Soviet era, the spirit of working-class romanticism reigned throughout the country and brought residents together. Now the time of industrialization went decades ago, but nothing has come to replace it. Single-industry towns are shrinking, life there is monotonous, and most residents are socially and culturally excluded. However, there are some successful projects to create urban spaces using participatory design tools, where many young people were able to find themselves and learn new skills. The city of Satka in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia is gradually becoming the art capital among single-industry towns. For several years Satka has hosted the festivals "Art-Satka" and "Arch-Satka", which combine both the visual development of the town and contribute to the creation of a community. As a result, the unified visual concept of the town was created, multiple small architectural forms were designed, and the cultural center "Hangar 18", geographically located based on the former BelAZ (dump trucks for the mining industry) garage, was established. The revitalization of the industrial heritage led to the reimagining of society, both mentally and physically. The urban environment has become a sociocultural space beloved by the younger generation and serves as a platform for educational and entertainment events.
Mimesis and Cultural (mis)Representation in “Classical” Ballets
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lisa A. Fusillo
Audiences, critics and artists have revered and idolized several of quintessential “classical” ballets for the past 130 years as the ballets continue to be performed around the world. A few of these ballets are finally being re-examined for cultural appropriateness and raising questions of cultural representation and objectification of “other”, which are some of the complex issues at the forefront of our global society. Choreographic representational choices in ballets are being carefully scrutinized with respect to cultural representation. The research considers the argument of mimesis and cultural (mis)representation in the continuation of traditional classical ballets and the perceptions of ‘real’ in cultural identification.
Tracing the History of Psychology and Queer Erasure between Europe and Iran through Art View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Juliana Pepper
As an artist currently making work about queer Iranian-American identity, sanism, the environment, and gender oppression, I am excited about the macro and micro nuances, urgencies, and questions being brought to the surface at the conference this year. I’m interested in the conversations regarding obligation for the future of our existence, as well as the ideas around maintaining traditional art practices in a digital age. While localism can be productively circulated to reimagine and rebuild elsewhere, I’m considering the exploitation between local and global power dynamics and the discussions around the role of the institution during the current paradigm shift. All of these themes and thoughts interest me for the 2021 conference. My current research connects the portrayal of mental illness in French theatre with the pathologizing of homosociality in Iran during the 1800’s. Drawing inspiration from the work of Asfaneh Najmabadi, I explore how the shift from homosociality to heterosociality in Iran coincided with the creation of the asylum and hysteria, both of which conceptualized femininity and binary gender roles in Europe. I examine travel logs, paintings and national emblems which offer insight into this shift. Additionally, the plays written by Alfred Binet for The Grand Guignol theatre are one of my primary sources on the societal and medical perceptions of madness, the masculine, and the feminine in France. Along with artwork, my presentation will include notes showing my research, conclusions, and creative interpretations of this history in the context of 2021.
