Sea Urchins and Circuses: The Modernist Natural Histories of Jean Painlevé and Alexander Calder

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-211
Author(s):  
Patricia E. Chu
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Sea Urchins ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Machine Age ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The One ◽  
Natural Historian

The Paris avant-garde milieu from which both Cirque Calder/Calder's Circus and Painlevé’s early films emerged was a cultural intersection of art and the twentieth-century life sciences. In turning to the style of current scientific journals, the Paris surrealists can be understood as engaging the (life) sciences not simply as a provider of normative categories of materiality to be dismissed, but as a companion in apprehending the “reality” of a world beneath the surface just as real as the one visible to the naked eye. I will focus in this essay on two modernist practices in new media in the context of the history of the life sciences: Jean Painlevé’s (1902–1989) science films and Alexander Calder's (1898–1976) work in three-dimensional moving art and performance—the Circus. In analyzing Painlevé’s work, I discuss it as exemplary of a moment when life sciences and avant-garde technical methods and philosophies created each other rather than being classified as separate categories of epistemological work. In moving from Painlevé’s films to Alexander Calder's Circus, Painlevé’s cinematography remains at the forefront; I use his film of one of Calder's performances of the Circus, a collaboration the men had taken two decades to complete. Painlevé’s depiction allows us to see the elements of Calder's work that mark it as akin to Painlevé’s own interest in a modern experimental organicism as central to the so-called machine-age. Calder's work can be understood as similarly developing an avant-garde practice along the line between the bestiary of the natural historian and the bestiary of the modern life scientist.

Misreading Egypt

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse Schotter
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Narrative Form ◽  
Experimental Film ◽  
Tower Of Babel ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Sergei Eisenstein ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Modern Technologies

The first chapter of Hieroglyphic Modernisms exposes the complex history of Western misconceptions of Egyptian writing from antiquity to the present. Hieroglyphs bridge the gap between modern technologies and the ancient past, looking forward to the rise of new media and backward to the dispersal of languages in the mythical moment of the Tower of Babel. The contradictory ways in which hieroglyphs were interpreted in the West come to shape the differing ways that modernist writers and filmmakers understood the relationship between writing, film, and other new media. On the one hand, poets like Ezra Pound and film theorists like Vachel Lindsay and Sergei Eisenstein use the visual languages of China and of Egypt as a more primal or direct alternative to written words. But Freud, Proust, and the later Eisenstein conversely emphasize the phonetic qualities of Egyptian writing, its similarity to alphabetical scripts. The chapter concludes by arguing that even avant-garde invocations of hieroglyphics depend on narrative form through an examination of Hollis Frampton’s experimental film Zorns Lemma.

Cinema Expanded

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Walley
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Film History ◽  
Video Art ◽  
Experimental Film ◽  
Art World ◽  
Film Culture ◽  
Moving Image ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Expanded Cinema ◽  
History Of

Cinema Expanded: Avant-Garde Film in the Age of Intermedia is a comprehensive historical survey of expanded cinema from the mid-1960s to the present. It offers an historical and theoretical revision of the concept of expanded cinema, placing it in the context of avant-garde/experimental film history rather than the history of new media, intermedia, or multimedia. The book argues that while expanded cinema has taken an incredible variety of forms (including moving image installation, multi-screen films, live cinematic performance, light shows, shadow plays, computer-generated images, video art, sculptural objects, and texts), it is nonetheless best understood as an ongoing meditation by filmmakers on the nature of cinema, specifically, and on its relationship to the other arts. Cinema Expanded also extends its historical and theoretical scope to avant-garde film culture more generally, placing expanded cinema in that context while also considering what it has to tell us about the moving image in the art world and new media environment.

Epidemiological surveillance and performance assessment: the two roles of health indicators during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-203
Author(s):  
Nathan Genicot
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Performance Assessment ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Epidemiological Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The One ◽  
Massive Development

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to the massive development and use of health indicators. Drawing on the history of international public health and of the management of infectious disease, this paper attempts to show that the normative power acquired by metrics during the pandemic can be understood in light of two rationales: epidemiological surveillance and performance assessment. On the one hand, indicators are established to evaluate and rank countries’ responses to the outbreak; on the other, the evolution of indicators has a direct influence on the content of public health policies. Although quantitative data are an absolute necessity for coping with such disasters, it is critical to bear in mind the inherent partiality and precarity of the information provided by health indicators. Given the growing importance of normative quantitative devices during the pandemic, and assuming that their influence is unlikely to decrease in the future, they call for close scrutiny.

“A composItIon wrItten wIthout creatIve lImItatIons” – Wanda Landowska and concerto for harpsichord and five instruments by ManueL de Falla (1923)

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (15) ◽  
pp. 67-107
Author(s):  
Ines R. Artola
Keyword(s):  
Strict Sense ◽  
Sonata Form ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
20Th Century Music ◽  
The Third ◽  
Word Analysis ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

The aim of the present article is the analysis of Concerto for harpsichord and five instruments by Manuel de Falla – a piece which was dedicated by the composer to Wanda Landowska, an outstanding Polish harpsichord player. The piece was meant to commemorate the friendship these two artists shared as well as their collaboration. Written in the period of 1923-1926, the Concerto was the first composition in the history of 20th century music where harpsichord was the soloist instrument. The first element of the article is the context in which the piece was written. We shall look into the musical influences that shaped its form. On the one hand, it was the music of the past: from Cancionero Felipe Pedrell through mainly Bach’s polyphony to works by Scarlatti which preceded the Classicism (this influence is particularly noticeable in the third movement of the Concerto). On the other hand, it was music from the time of de Falla: first of all – Neo-Classicism and works by Stravinsky. The author refers to historical sources – critics’ reviews, testimonies of de Falla’s contemporaries and, obviously, his own remarks as to the interpretation of the piece. Next, Inés R. Artola analyses the score in the strict sense of the word “analysis”. In this part of the article, she quotes specific fragments of the composition, which reflect both traditional musical means (counterpoint, canon, Scarlatti-style sonata form, influence of old popular music) and the avant-garde ones (polytonality, orchestration, elements of neo-classical harmony).

Strengthening and performance assessing historical cinema hall balcony according to new Turkish Earthquake Code

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Memduh Karalar ◽  
Murat Çavuşli
Keyword(s):  
Performance Analysis ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Performance Evaluations ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Current State ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Special Computer Program ◽  
Study Performance

Strengthening historical buildings and evaluating their performances make great contributions to both the history of the country and the tourism of the country. In this study, performance analysis and evaluations of the historical cinema hall balcony, which was built in 1933 by a French company and served to Zonguldak province for a long time, are presented in detail. This cinema hall was frequently used by local people between 1933 and 1999 and hosted many Yeşilçam movies. Firstly, examinations were performed in the historical cinema hall and the areas (columns, beams and floors) that were damaged in time were identified. According to the obtained information, it was determined that there were significant damages in the carrier system of the building and there were visible cracks and damages in the columns of the cinema hall. It was also observed that explosions occurred in one of the main carrier columns of the balcony. After the core samples taken from the balcony were tested in the laboratory, the current status of the carrier elements and reinforcements were determined with the help of an x-ray rebar scanner. After all these processes, the structure was modeled as three dimensional (3D) using a special computer program and performance evaluations were performed regarding the current state of the structure. As a result of the performance evaluation, it was determined that the balcony of the historical cinema hall could not survive anymore and would collapse over time. It was concluded that there were great damages especially on the balcony columns and a reinforcement should be made on a total of 6 columns. Strengthening was made to 4 different main columns and a performance analysis was performed again in strengthened structure. After strengthening, it was understood that the columns of the balcony of the cinema hall could survive for a long time.

INTRODUCING GILBERT WHITE: AN EXEMPLARY NATURAL HISTORIAN AND HIS EDITORS

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 551-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Bruxvoort Lipscomb
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Victorian Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Natural Historian ◽  
Scientific Learning

IN 1887,RICHARD JEFFERIES, a popular nature essayist, added his name to the list of several dozen individuals who had written either introductions or notes to Gilbert White'sThe Natural History of Selborne(1789). Jefferies, like many who chose to edit and introduce this text throughout the Victorian period, represents White as a model figure – but a model for two quite different things. On the one hand, Jefferies commends White and hisNatural Historyas examples of simple, reflective engagement with a local, natural economy – an approach to nature that any inquisitive and observant person could emulate. White is thus allied to fictional working-class naturalists like Job Legh in Elizabeth Gaskell'sMary Bartonand leisured clergyman like Mr. Farebrother in George Eliot'sMiddlemarch. All that is needed to become a student of natural history, Jefferies suggests, is curiosity and intelligence. He informs his reader that, “In the same manner [as White] any one who has a taste for out-of-door observations may study natural history without any previous scientific learning. There is not the smallest need to know the Latin names of the birds in order to watch them, or of the flowers in order to gather them” (viii). White is thus put forward as an exemplar of what anyone may aspire to be. White, Jefferies tells his readers, Was not full of evolution when he walked out, or variation, or devolution, or degeneration. He did not look for microbes everywhere. His mind was free and his eye open. To many it would do much good to read this work if only with the object of getting rid of some of the spiders’ webs that have been so industriously spun over the eyesight of those who would like to think for themselves. (ix)

Nannette and Johann Andreas Streicher - their role in shaping musical life in Vienna in the early 19th century

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (13) ◽  
pp. 49-80
Author(s):  
Dominika Maszczyńska
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Piano Technique ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
Early 19Th Century ◽  
Artistic Activity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fruitful Cooperation ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The One ◽  
The 19Th Century

Nannette and Andreas Streicher were important figures in the musical life of Vienna in the early 19th century. The article introduces their profiles, describes the history of their company, their social, cultural and teaching activity as well as different types of artistic activity. It also explains how keyboard instruments shaped sound and aesthetics-related piano ideals at the turn of the 19th century. The versatile activity of the Streichers, which first of all included instrument building, piano play- ing, composition, teaching and organisation of musical life, made a great contribution to Europe’s cultural heritage. We can notice their numerous connections with outstanding figures of musical life of that time, one that deserves particular attention is their acquaintance with Beethoven. Nannette Streicher was an extremely talented builder who not only coped with the typically masculine craft at that time, but she was also significantly successful in that field. Her instruments were popular, earning general recognition, and the innovative solutions introduced by her also influenced the work of other builders and further development of the piano. Their marriage became the basis for a very fruitful cooperation. Andreas’s numerous connections and his familiarity with the community became an important part of the activity of the company and contributed to its development. Nannette and Andreas shared their passion and passed it on to their son Johann Baptist, who successfully continued their piano making tradition and introduced further improvements, earning a great reputation as well. Social, cultural and teaching activities of the Streichers also played an important role in the musical life of Vienna. Andreas Streicher taught his students the secrets of piano technique and apart from that he shaped their musical and aesthetical awareness. His Kurze Bemerkungen are a valuable source of knowledge also for modern-time performers who can – thanks to this text – learn more about the piano playing aesthetics at the turn of the 19th century as well as a number of universal music and performance topics, which remain accurate to this day. Concerts organised in their house had an educational function too, on the one hand they shaped the tastes of music lovers and supported composers, allowing them to present their latest pieces, and on the other hand they contributed to the promotion of young performers for whom concerts there were often the first step leading towards Vienna’s professional musical stage. The development of the topic of the article in this issue of “Notes Muzyczny” is the trans- lation of the text by Andreas Streicher entitled: Some observations on the playing, tuning and maintenance of pianos built in Vienna by Nannette Streicher nee Stein.

The shock of the odd

2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Jardine
Keyword(s):  
Euclidean Geometry ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Higher Dimensions ◽  
Fourth Dimension ◽  
Lively Discussion ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Non Euclidean Geometry ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
Formal Innovation

When Linda Dalrymple Henderson's The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art first appeared in 1983 it generated a lively discussion, most conspicuously in the pages of the journal Leonardo. Here was a book that undermined two of the central tenets of modernist theory: first that developments in art and science were linked not by any real connections or strong form of shared endeavour but by the fact that both partook of the modern spirit or zeitgeist; second, and more specifically, that Einsteinian relativity and cubism were in some way analogous embodiments of that spirit. By relentlessly pursuing the fate of two nineteenth-century developments – the non-Euclidean geometries and higher dimensions of her title – Henderson clearly showed that many of the avant-garde artworks so admired by critics for their formal innovation were at once more literal and more bizarre than anyone had previously suspected. Some were attempts to expound the ‘geometrical occult’ or to engage in multidimensional communion, some projected the enhanced intellect of ‘four-dimensional man’ and others explored the lonely but profound reaches of hyperspace. As she puts it in the ‘Re-introduction’ to this new edition of The Fourth Dimension, ‘these works function as “windows” on an invisible meta-reality of higher dimensions and etherial energies' (p. 27), and, elsewhere, ‘belief in a fourth dimension encouraged artists to depart from visual reality and to reject completely the one-point perspective system that for centuries had portrayed the world as three-dimensional’ (p. 492).

scholarly journals Holiday parades in Ottoman miniature of the XVI–XVIII centuries

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Татьяна Хамзяновна Стародуб
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
World History ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Decorative Art ◽  
Action And Perception ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Early 18Th Century

В мировой истории искусства встречаются события, которые можно интерпретировать как подателей идеи создания художественной композиции, рассчитанной на действие и восприятие не в замкнутых интерьерах дворца или храма, а в обширных общественных пространственных зонах. Нечто подобное произошло в официальной культуре Османской империи периода XVI – 1-й трети XVIII века. Одним из проявлений творческого подъема страны в это время было развитие монументального оформительского искусства театрально-декорационного характера. Источником наших знаний об этом виде творчества служат тексты и иллюстрации рукописей особого жанра – Сюрнаме, или «Книги празднеств». Две рукописи этого жанра – 1580-х годов и 1730-х годов, обильно и красочно иллюстрированные исторически достоверными изображениями праздничных парадов, позволяют предположить зарождение таких явлений авангардного искусства XX века, как инсталляция и перформанс в далёком прошлом. In the world history of art one occurs with events that can be interpreted as generators of the idea of creating an artistic composition designed for action and perception not in the closed interiors of a palace or a temple, but in vast social spatial zones. Something similar happened in the official culture of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th – first half of the 18th century. One of the manifestations of the country's creative rise at that time was the development of monumental decorative art of a theatrical-scenery character. A source of our knowledge about this kind of creativity is the texts and illustrations of manuscripts of a special genre – Surname, or "The Book of Festivals." Two manuscripts of this genre, dating from the 1580s and 1730s, and abundantly and colorfully illustrated with historically authentic images of festive parades, suggest the emergence of such phenomena of avant-garde art of the twentieth century as Installation art and Performance art in such a distant past as the Ottoman Turkey from the 16th to early 18th century.

scholarly journals Materiality and Montage: Film Studies, Digital Humanities and the Visualization of Moving Images

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adelheid Heftberger
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Digital Humanities ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Moving Images ◽  
Dziga Vertov ◽  
Film And Media Studies ◽  
Computer Scientists ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The One

In this paper, I will highlight some recent initiatives in the study of film within the digital humanities, in which context I will also present some of my own endeavors, specifically visualizations created in collaboration with the pioneering new media theorist Lev Manovich from films made by the Soviet avant-garde director Dziga Vertov (1896-1954). Following this, I will discuss some of the issues related to the use of visualizations as an aid to scholarly research. Finally, I will address a number of possible research questions in film and media studies, answers to which may benefit significantly from the collaboration between film/media scholars and computer scientists on the one hand, and (moving image) archivists on the other.

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