Past Resurrections

Author(s):  
Tamara Chalabi

This chapter explores the growing need to work with antiquity through contemporary art in order to engage wider audiences with heritage. All too often archaeology is seen through a vague prism of heritage that is disconnected from the present, but working with present-day artists, especially from areas of conflict, interacting with “heritage” offers a dynamic and much-needed exchange. Today, the lauded role of the artist in a society in which the art world is an ever-growing platform can allow for a different conversation on heritage than the current one, which is more limited to dry, policy-related agency papers or the less accessible academic world of Art History and Archaeology. While issues of identity and national, racial, and geographic delineations are so contested today, antiquity—rather than serving to enrich debates—has mostly been too remote in the discussion or consciousness to have the nuanced impact that it can through contemporary art.

1992 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-31
Author(s):  
Halina Rusak

My involvement as an artist and as an art librarian allows me to see a full spectrum of art history from its inception by an artist to its assessment by an art historian. It enables me to better understand the needs of faculty and students in the field of visual arts, as well as to interface effectively with faculty and scholars in art history. My gallery membership at SOHO 20 in New York City provides me with insight into art trends in the making. It demonstrates well a woman’s place in the contemporary art world, and a role of a critic in promoting or establishing an artist. I feel that this knowledge makes me a better librarian.


Leonardo ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Kieran Browne

Abstract The mainstream contemporary art world is suddenly showing interest in “AI art”. While this has enlivened the practice, there remains significant disagreement over who or what actually deserves to be called an “AI artist”. This article examines several claimants to the term and grounds these in art history and theory. It addresses the controversial elevation of some artists over others and accounts for these choices, arguing that the art market alienates AI artists from their work. Finally, it proposes that AI art's interactions with art institutions have not promoted new creative possibilities but have instead reinforced conservative forms and aesthetics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-31
Author(s):  
Annamma Joy ◽  
Russell Belk

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the meaning, in both local and international context, of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), the first international exhibit of contemporary art in India. Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF), which administers the KMB, identifies art as a means for transforming society, with a mission to bring global contemporary art to India and to present India’s modern art to the world. The authors further investigate the role of government sponsorship and corporate patronage in funding the KMB, and investigate how resistance through art is key to the KMB’s identity. Design/methodology/approach This study focuses primarily on published materials relating to the KMB. One of the authors attended the 2016 KMB and interviewed fellow attendees. Additionally, the authors reviewed and assessed social media postings regarding the 2016 KMB. Findings The authors argue that government sponsorship and corporate patronage are never solely about political or financial power. Rather, a generalized reciprocity among the three entities – corporations, the government and the artists – allows the KMB to flourish. For the artists involved, the KMB, co-founded by activist artists, sustains interest in and awareness of resistance. Originality/value Extant literature on biennales is sparse on ways in which these exhibits extend their impact beyond the art world. The authors examine issues such as India expanding its position on the world stage through art, and the implications of political resistance embraced by Indian artists on future directions for the KMB, that have heretofore been unaddressed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anna-Marie White

<p>The production of taonga is a sovereign Māori tradition closely guarded in contemporary Māori society. Many Contemporary Māori Artists observe taonga principles in their work though these qualities are stifled within the New Zealand art system. In the 1990s these subjects were fiercely debated resulting in Contemporary Māori Art being defined differently to the ancestral tradition of taonga. This debate created a rupture, which disturbs the practice of Māori art and is a major concern in the emerging practice of Māori art history. Reviving earlier arguments for Contemporary Māori Art to be defined according to the principles of taonga, this thesis applies the concept of ‘contemporary taonga’ to the art works of Brett Graham (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura), to argue that taonga production is active in contemporary Māori life and offers a new method to reconcile Māori art histories.  The practice of Kaupapa Māori research and theory enlivened the taonga principles of Brett Graham’s art works. Intensive accounts of two art works, produced a decade apart, reveal ‘contemporary taonga’ to be a collaborative process involving recognition and instrumentalisation by authoritative Māori viewers. Kahukura (1996), produced in response to the debates was, however, overwhelmed by competing interests of the time. Āniwaniwa (2006) undertook an arduous journey—to the centre of the Western art world in order to be shown within the artist’s tribal rohe—where Ngāti Koroki Kahukura kaumātua recognised Graham as a tohunga. Iwi leaders also employed Āniwaniwa in their Treaty of Waitangi claims process, functionalising the art work as taonga to support the advancement of their people. Āniwaniwa then left New Zealand to play a role in the formalisation of an international indigenous art network.   As a type for contemporary taonga, Āniwaniwa is an expansive model to introduce this concept to contemporary art discourse. The impact of this concept is yet to be realised though immediately reconciles long-standing issues in Māori art. ‘Contemporary taonga’ has the potential to radically reconcieve, and reorganise, Contemporary Māori Art practice and history according to the practice of ancestral Māori traditions and determined by the authority and agency of Māori people.</p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 663-673
Author(s):  
Steven Félix-Jäger

A trend in theological aesthetics is to advocate for a “creational aesthetic” when discussing the ontology and calling of the artist. In its essential form, a creational aesthetic affirms that artists honor the Creator God by creating art. In some way artists are functioning as God’s image when they make art. While this view is popular in the Christian engagement of the arts, it is uncertain if such an observation is the preeminent way of understanding the role of the artist. Can one be considered an artist if s/he is removed from the tactile process of making? In the contemporary art world, the role of the artist in visual art has come into question with a stronger emphasis on conceptuality, over and against construction. In this article I argue for an alternate way of understanding creational aesthetics that makes room for conceptuality in art.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-251
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Szymańska-Palaczyk

This article shows how members of the contemporary art world in Poland understand the concept of the brand: how they define and validate it; what associations it evokes; and what kind of language is used to speak about it. The article summarizes part of the research conducted in 2015 with members of the art world within the framework of the project ‘The Artistic Brand as a Social Phenomenon: The Creation, Differentiation, and Role of Artistic Brands in Contemporary Poland.’ Thoughts on the subject of art brands lead to a description of the state of contemporary art in Poland. The definitions formulated by the respondents are compared to marketing theories, thus making it possible to determine the respondents’ level of knowledge of such theories. In conclusion, definitions of artistic brands are reviewed and supplemented on the basis of the material obtained from the research.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rémy Jarry ◽  

The market of contemporary art from Southeast Asia hasn’t been explored in-depth, despite its rise in sales and notoriety over the last two decades at national and international levels. Our aim is to identify the factors of success and failure of contemporary artists from ASEAN countries in the global art market. To do so, we map the trajectories of those artists and evaluate the role of the other stakeholders of the art world. Our methodology relies on a multidisciplinary approach, balancing quantitative and qualitative data. The period of study focuses on the art market data since 2000.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anna-Marie White

<p>The production of taonga is a sovereign Māori tradition closely guarded in contemporary Māori society. Many Contemporary Māori Artists observe taonga principles in their work though these qualities are stifled within the New Zealand art system. In the 1990s these subjects were fiercely debated resulting in Contemporary Māori Art being defined differently to the ancestral tradition of taonga. This debate created a rupture, which disturbs the practice of Māori art and is a major concern in the emerging practice of Māori art history. Reviving earlier arguments for Contemporary Māori Art to be defined according to the principles of taonga, this thesis applies the concept of ‘contemporary taonga’ to the art works of Brett Graham (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura), to argue that taonga production is active in contemporary Māori life and offers a new method to reconcile Māori art histories.  The practice of Kaupapa Māori research and theory enlivened the taonga principles of Brett Graham’s art works. Intensive accounts of two art works, produced a decade apart, reveal ‘contemporary taonga’ to be a collaborative process involving recognition and instrumentalisation by authoritative Māori viewers. Kahukura (1996), produced in response to the debates was, however, overwhelmed by competing interests of the time. Āniwaniwa (2006) undertook an arduous journey—to the centre of the Western art world in order to be shown within the artist’s tribal rohe—where Ngāti Koroki Kahukura kaumātua recognised Graham as a tohunga. Iwi leaders also employed Āniwaniwa in their Treaty of Waitangi claims process, functionalising the art work as taonga to support the advancement of their people. Āniwaniwa then left New Zealand to play a role in the formalisation of an international indigenous art network.   As a type for contemporary taonga, Āniwaniwa is an expansive model to introduce this concept to contemporary art discourse. The impact of this concept is yet to be realised though immediately reconciles long-standing issues in Māori art. ‘Contemporary taonga’ has the potential to radically reconcieve, and reorganise, Contemporary Māori Art practice and history according to the practice of ancestral Māori traditions and determined by the authority and agency of Māori people.</p>


Author(s):  
E.V. Orlova

The article is devoted to the founding of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne and presents an analysis of the process of building this museum of contemporary art in dynamics — from the beginning of the collection within the walls of the Wallraf-Richartz Museum to gaining the status of an independent exhibition giant. The study provides an overview of the collection and its sources, identifies individual significant works of art, accompanied by art history descriptions, and sets out the reasons and the chronicle of the separation of the Museum Ludwig from the Wallraf-Richartz Museum. The museum, established in 1976, presents German art from the first half of the 20th century, American and British pop art of the 1960s, Russian avant-garde, photorealism and contemporary art from the last third of the 20th century. It has departments of painting, sculpture, graphics and art photography. The role of the famous German patrons and collectors of Peter and Irene Ludwig in the formation and replenishment of the museum's funds is noted. Статья посвящена основанию Музея Людвига в Кёльне и представляет анализ процесса построения этого музея современного искусства в динамике — от начала формирования коллекции в стенах Музея Вальрафа-Рихарца до обретения статуса самостоятельного экспозиционного гиганта. В исследовании даны обзор коллекции и источники ее формирования, указаны отдельные крупные произведения искусства, сопровожденные искусствоведческим описанием, а также изложены причины и хроника выделения Музея Людвига из состава Музея Вальрафа-Рихарца. Вновь образованный в 1976 году музей представляет искусство Германии с первой половины XX века, американский и британский поп-арт 1960-х годов, русский авангард, фотореализм и актуальное искусство последней трети ХХ века. В нем созданы отделы живописи, скульптуры, графики и художественной фотографии. Отмечена роль известных немецких меценатов и собирателей Петера и Ирены Людвиг в формировании и пополнении фондов музея.


2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-214
Author(s):  
Judy Hamilton

Dr Gertrude Langer arrived quite by chance in Brisbane in 1939 as a refugee from Hitler's Europe. She was a young, elegant Austrian refugee with a PhD in art history from the University of Vienna. After arriving in Australia, Gertrude and her husband, Dr Karl Langer, had hoped to settle in Sydney, but Karl's work as an architect moved them on to Brisbane. Gertrude Langer would become an important figure in Brisbane's post-war art scene through her salon-style lectures, art criticism and work with the Australia Council. She strongly believed that the arts were an important part of a community, and for this reason became a champion for the cause of contemporary art in Brisbane.


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