Diagonalsymphonien [Diagonal Symphony] (1924)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Leskosky
Keyword(s):  
Musical Instruments ◽  
Short Film ◽  
Film Exhibition ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Public ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Visual Music ◽  
Universal Language ◽  
Sequential Images ◽  
Abstract Shapes

Diagonalsymphonien [Diagonal Symphony], a black-and-white, abstract, animated short film made in Germany by Swedish painter Viking Eggeling, assisted by Bauhaus student Erna Niemeyer, is a seminal work of avant-garde cinema. It arose from Eggeling’s experiments trying to create a universal language of abstract symbols in which he created sequential images on long painted scrolls. Though silent, the film explores the concept of visual music—the artificial creation of visual rhythms analogous to music. Eggeling made his images with paper and tin foil cut-outs affixed to black sheets of paper filmed one frame at a time. The abstract shapes, constantly growing and disappearing along diagonal axes, often suggest musical instruments such as panpipes, grand pianos, zithers, and drums. Eggeling premiered his film to friends in 1924. Its first public screening was in Berlin at the 3 May 1925 First International Avant-Garde Film Exhibition, titled Der absolute Film, along with Rene Clair’s Entr’acte (1924), Fernand Leger’s Ballet mecanique (1924), and examples of Walther Ruttmann’s Lichtspiele Opus works (1921–25) and Hans Richter’s Rhythmus films (1921–25). Eggeling’s film received critical praise for its exploration of time and the non-literary potential of film. He, however, was too ill to attend the public screening and died sixteen days later. Diagonal Symphony is his only surviving film.

Eggeling, Viking (1880–1925)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Leskosky
Keyword(s):  
Film Exhibition ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Public ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Universal Language ◽  
Abstract Shapes

Viking Eggeling, born in Lund, Sweden as the son of a music store owner, was an avant-garde painter who worked in Italy, France, Switzerland, and Germany. He became a pioneer of abstract cinema with Diagonalsymphonien [Diagonal Symphony] (1924). Early in his career in Paris he was influenced by Cubism. In Zurich in 1918, he associated with the founders of Dadaism and was subsequently active in Constructivist groups. Eggeling sought to create a universal language of abstract symbols as well as a visual equivalent to music. His friend Hans (Jean) Arp, considered to be the pioneer of the Dadaist movement in Zurich, introduced him to Hans Richter, who had similar interests. The two soon collaborated in painting scrolls with sequential abstract images, which eventually led both to film and animation. Assisted by Bauhaus student Erna Niemeyer, Eggeling created Diagonal Symphony, a silent black-and-white short in which abstract shapes, constantly growing and disappearing along diagonal axes, created visual rhythms. Eggeling premiered his film to friends in 1924. Its first public screening was in Berlin at the 3 May 1925 First International Avant-Garde Film Exhibition titled "Der absolute Film", featuring the works of several other avant-garde filmmakers. The film received critical praise for its exploration of time and the non-literary potential of film. Too ill to attend the public screening, Eggeling died sixteen days later. Diagonal Symphony is his only surviving film.

scholarly journals XIII. Letter from Captain Nepean, to the Right Hon. the Earl of Aberdeen, K.T., President, communicating an account of certain Antiquities excavated, under his direction, in the Island of Sacrificios: followed by a Report upon the examination of them, by Samuel Birch, Esq.

Archaeologia ◽  
1844 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 138-143
Author(s):  
Evan Nepean
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Musical Instruments ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Right

The public curiosity has been much roused by Stevens's recent work on Central America, as well as by the late visit of Mr. Walker and Captain Caddy of the Artillery, to Palenque, and other ancient cities in that quarter.I have the honour to acquaint your Lordship, as President of the Society of Antiquaries, that, having been lately on service in the gulph of Mexico, whilst laying off the island of Sacrificios, I caused several excavations to be made there, and succeeded in digging up various articles of pottery, idols, and musical instruments; amongst other specimens, are three or four types, or signets, with hieroglyphics, which may perhaps throw some light on the origin of the Mexicans, or the still more ancient race that preceded them.

The Constitutional Court of South Africa: Thoughts on its 25-Year-Long Legacy of Judicial Activism

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-33
Author(s):  
Lucky Mathebe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Marginalised Groups

After almost 25 years of what could justifiably be called transformative change in South Africa, a truism is that the country’s new legal order, established by the Constitution in 1993 and 1996, provides the critical foundation of peace and security upon which its freedom has been built. The Constitutional Court was one of the most important of the new democratic institutions in the shaping of the country’s position as a constitutional democracy, upholding the values for which millions of people, black and white, had fought. This article is a brief reflection on the role of the Court in establishing the meaning of this democracy and giving it effect. The main goal of the article is to understand how the Court’s new jurisprudence works in particular contexts, how its work is related to crime and punishment, and what it means for the rights of marginalised groups in society. Using the examples of the Court’s decision in Makwanyane on the death penalty, and the Court’s decision on the findings of the Public Protector’s report on Nkandla, the article finds that the Court’s new jurisprudence takes quite a different view of legal developments in South Africa, insofar as the jurisprudence entrusts broad discretion to the Court and emphasises the need for sustained leadership of the Court to advance the battle for fundamental human rights, the rule of law, and democratic accountability.

Democracy and Its Limits: Gender and Rights in the Czech Lands, 1918–1938

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Feinberg
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Ethnic Nationalism ◽  
New Era ◽  
The Public ◽  
Universal Language ◽  
National Ideology ◽  
Democratic Nation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Czech Lands ◽  
Public Imagination

On 28 October 1918, a group of Czech nationalists stood on the steps of the Obecni Dům (Municipal House) in Prague and proclaimed their independence from the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, allying themselves with the new state of Czechoslovakia. Their declaration marked the beginning of a new era in the Czech lands, one in which Czechs, as the majority nation, hoped to redefine the terms of political discourse. The new Czechoslovak Republic, its Czech supporters declared, would be the antithesis of the Habsburg regime. In the place of a multinational Monarchy, they would erect a democratic nation-state. The second half of this political vision was complicated by the fact that the new Czechoslovakia actually contained many ethnic groups, but Czechs still tended to imagine their new Republic as the political expression of the Czech nation. At the same time, this “Czech-centered” politics also emphasized the democratic basis of the new country. Czechoslovakia, Czech leaders said, would be a state governed by its people and dedicated to protecting their rights and freedoms as individuals. A political culture that rested on both ethnic nationalism and democratic values obviously contained some internal tensions: the need to protect the interests of one specific nation and the duty to protect the individual rights of all citizens could rub uncomfortably against each other. Yet, at that moment in 1918, most Czechs failed to register this potential for ideological conflict, instead seeing an essential link between democratic politics and the good of the Czech nation. For many Czechs, democracy itself was a need of the nation, a political structure crucial to Czech national self-realization. This idea came from one prominent conception of Czech nationhood that had captured the public imagination in the fall of 1918. According to this strain of Czech national ideology, the Czech nation had a sort of democratic character. This meant that only an egalitarian, democratic government would suit a “Czech” state. So, paradoxically, a universal language of rights and freedoms was the key to building a truly national Czechoslovak Republic. It was with a state that emphasized equality and personal freedom that the Czechs would fulfill their national destiny.

Do Body-Worn Cameras Change Law Enforcement Arrest Behavior? A National Study of Local Police Departments

2020 ◽  
pp. 027507402098268
Author(s):  
Sunyoung Pyo
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
National Study ◽  
Behavior Changes ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
The Public ◽  
Black And White ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Local Police ◽  
Disparate Treatment ◽  
High Crime

Controlling police officers’ discretionary behavior during public encounters has been an important issue in U.S. policing, especially following several high-profile police-involved deaths of racial minorities. In response, body-worn cameras (BWCs) were introduced to enhance police accountability by providing police managers an opportunity to monitor police–public encounters. Although many U.S. local police departments have now implemented BWC programs, evidence of program effects on daily police behavior has been limited. This study therefore focuses on whether officers’ arrest behavior changes when they perceive that BWCs are recording their interactions with the public. By conducting a difference-in-differences analysis using 142 police departments, I found that BWCs have negative and small treatment effects on arrest rates and null effects on the racial disparity between numbers of Black and White arrests. These findings imply that officers may become slightly more cautious in the use of arrests after wearing BWCs, but BWCs do not change their overall disparate treatment of Black versus White suspects. The results further indicate that the effects of BWCs on arrests are prominent in municipalities with high crime rates or a high proportion of non-White residents, which suggests that BWC programs demonstrate different effects according to the characteristics of communities served.

scholarly journals Avant-Garde Children’s Magazines and Newspapers of the 1920s – 1930s in Siberia

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-105
Author(s):  
Ksenia V. Abramova
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Children And Youth ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Children's Magazines ◽  
New Type ◽  
The Times ◽  
Design Techniques

The purpose of this article is to analyze the magazines and newspapers for children and youth issued on the territory of Siberia in 1920s – 1930s. A great many children’s books were issued that years, moreover, the approach to design of that books and to the contents of writings for children changed significantly: the topics had to be actual, associated with the construction of the new society. At the same time, exactly in children’s press in 1920s, the new principles of book graphics were formed. There are a large number of magazines and newspapers aimed at youth audiences were published in Siberia in the 1920s and 1930s, but they did not have a long history. Some of them appeared only once or twice, after that they closed. But all the more interesting is the study of these rare publications as experiments that influenced how the Soviet children’s and youth magazine was formed. Viewing magazines and newspapers allows you to observe how the rubrication and the genre system of Soviet publications for children evolved, as well as identify trends that have become a definite “sign of the times”. The article explores archive materials and examines the contents of printed issues, peculiarities of the approaches to the inner composition of the material and design techniques, discovers the features of the “Soviet avant-garde” development in children’s and youth periodicals. It indicates that the majority of the Siberian Children’s and youth magazines issued within that period has demonstrated a strongly demonstrated ideological overtone, claiming its purpose raising the new type of human and orientation on the “iterature of fact”. The article covers the peculiarities of the illustration techniques in Siberian post-revolutionary magazines. The article marks that up to the mid – late 1920s, the children’s and youth periodicals design became composed of such elements as insets, plane drawings based on a contrast combination of black and white, photography and photographic compilation. Furthermore, it describes a number of self-presentation techniques, developed exactly by the avant-garde art. As can be seen from the above, it can be stated that Siberian children’s and youth journalism acquired the avant-garde trends of the first third of the 20th century, however, they haven’t been gradually and fully realized.

Soviet Film

2019 ◽  
pp. 63-74
Author(s):  
Lisa Nanney
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
Film Industry ◽  
Short Film ◽  
Independent Film ◽  
Hollywood Film ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Critical Response ◽  
Film Treatment ◽  
Film Productions ◽  
The Masses

Dos Passos’s adaptation of cinematic methods to literary style beginning in the mid-1920s emerged further in his work after he visited Russia in 1928. Tepid public and critical response to New Playwrights dramas motivated Dos Passos to explore how the revolutionary state-supported Russian theater and film productions had engaged the masses, united them politically, and produced groundbreaking artists. In dramatist Meyerhold’s avant-garde theater, Constructivist industrial sets and “biomechanical” acting techniques created successful dramas about and for workers. Dos Passos observed that cinematic innovations emerged from the Soviet-controlled studios despite the state’s use of film as its primary tool of mass ideological education. Though Lenin, then Stalin increasingly controlled film productions and artists, Soviet filmmakers nonetheless evolved theories of montage that became foundational in filmmaking and informed Dos Passos’s modernist novels and his 1936 independent film treatment “Dreamfactory,” with its meta-filmic exposé of the Hollywood film industry. In particular, these works registered the formal and conceptual innovations of two directors: Eisenstein, whose films combined fiction and history to effect political action through art; and Vertov, whose films acknowledged the artist’s vision as controlling the camera “eye” and who embedded in one short film an auto-critique of movie-making.

Sincerity and the Limits of Symbolism

2021 ◽  
pp. 99-132
Author(s):  
Jennifer Walker
Keyword(s):  
Modern Music ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Success ◽  
Fatal Flaw ◽  
Catholic Tradition ◽  
Charles Gounod

Whereas some religiously themed puppet or otherwise “popular” productions were overwhelmingly successful with Parisian critics and audiences, Maurice Bouchor and Ernest Chausson’s La Légende de Sainte-Cécile and, later, the Théâtre du Vaudeville’s unsuccessful production of Armand Silvestre and Eugène Morand’s Les Drames sacrés (with music by Charles Gounod) were colossal failures both with the critics and with the public by virtue of their dependence on editorial intervention as a means through which to modernize ancient stories. In these cases, critics indicted the works as insincere—a fatal flaw when it came to the representation of sacred subjects on secular stages. Through analyses of these short works, this chapter examines how each work navigated the slippage between avant-garde aesthetics and Catholic tradition and reveals two opposite but closely related processes of critical success and failure: while successful works eschewed the intellectual aura of Symbolism in favor of traditional and “sincere” engagements with Catholic heritage, these failed productions embraced the complexities of modern music and drama—authorial decisions that, in the end, rendered them insincere for Parisian audiences and thus incapable of being perceived as truly religious.

God’s Messenger Boy

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-158
Author(s):  
Vaughn A. Booker
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Religious Literature ◽  
Religious Music ◽  
The Public ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Public Consumption ◽  
Celebrity Status ◽  
Racial Lines

This chapter provides an overview of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert tours in the United States and Western Europe to showcase the promise of ecumenical and interracial fellowship. These occasions served to affirm belief in God in the late 1960s, a time when the public questioning of God’s existence animated the anxieties of many white mainline and liberal religious communities. Duke Ellington’s three Sacred Concerts were interfaith projects in which his musical professions of faith lived and came to acquire religious authority due to his prominent celebrity status. His personal religious reflection ultimately resulted in the production of religious music for public consumption. Ellington’s theological explorations marinated in a world saturated with popular religious literature that he studied to compose his Sacred Concerts. Moreover, the presence of Ellington in houses of worship across theological and racial lines also revealed differences in the ways that black and white religious audiences were receptive to his musical work.

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