Albrecht Durer and the 16TH Century Melancholy

Little has been discussed in academia about the close relationship between the Renaissance of the 16th century and melancholy humor, and esoteric elements arising mainly from Florentine Neoplatonism. The link between melancholy and esotericism becomes very clear when we analyze the gravure “Melencolia I” by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), composed of a significant number of symbols that refer to an esoteric religious culture that then emerged. Renaissance melancholy gained several nuances. On the one hand, it was considered a sin, a despicable mood characteristic of witches; on the other hand, a deep sense of inspiration typical of men of “genius”. This ambivalence also occurred in the firmament, as the melancholic people were guided by the dark planet Saturn, according to astrological belief. We also have the cultural scenario of the 16th century, especially in Dürer's Germany, which contributed to strengthening the melancholy issues.

Makeup Trends on Television Newscasts in the U.S. during the 20th century: Exploring High-Definition Television, Journalists, and Appearance

This study is an exploration of the shift from standard definition (SDTV) to high-definition (HDTV) on television newscasts in the United States. This paper examines how this major historic shift affected the thinking, behavior, and trends of female newscasters when using makeup to see what themes arose. Despite the ubiquity of female newscasters, academic research into the influence of HD broadcasting and makeup appearance is limited. Due to this lack of information, the present study provides a cultural approach to examining historical information about this switch. News West 9 broadcasted in Midland-Odessa and interviews to a female newscaster, a news director, and a makeup artist who experienced this shift are utilized to address the historical issues facing high-definition broadcasting during this time.

White Zombie as Captivity Narrative and the Death of Certainty

Horror films such as White Zombie (1932) reveal viewers to themselves by narrating in the currency of audience anxiety. Such movies evoke fright because they recapitulate fear and trauma that audiences have already internalized or continue to experience, even if they are not aware of it. White Zombie’s particular tack conjures up an updated captivity narrative wherein a virginal white damsel is abducted by a savage Other. The shell of the captivity story, of course, is as old as America. In its earliest incarnation it featured American Indians in the role as savage Other, fiendishly imagined as having been desperate to get their clutches on white females and all that hey symbolized. In this way, it generated much of the emotional heat stoking Manifest Destiny, that is, American imperial conquest both of the continent and then, later, as in the case of Haiti, of the Caribbean Basin. White Zombie must of course be understood in the context of the American invasion and occupation of Haiti (1915-1934). As it revisits the terrain inhabited by the American black Other, it also speaks to the history of American slavery. The Other here is African-American, not surprisingly given the date and nature of American society of the day, typically imagined in wildly pejorative fashion in early American arts and culture. This essay explores White Zombie as a modified captivity narrative, pace Last of the Mohicans through John Ford’s The Searchers (1956), the Rambo trilogy (1982, 1985, 1988), the Taken trilogy (2008, 1012, 2014), even Mario and Luigi’s efforts to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser.

New Wars and Their Visual Representation: Dead Bodies without Graves/Mourne

This paper seeks to understand why there has been an increase in photographic images exposing military violence or displaying bodies killed by military forces and how they can freely circulate in the public without being censored or kept hidden. In other words, it aims to analyze this particular issue as a symptom of the emergence of new wars and a new regime of their visual representation. Within this framework, it attempts to relate two kinds of literature that are namely the history of war and war photography with the bridge of theoretical discussions on the real, its photographic representation, power, and violence. Rather than systematic empirical analysis, the paper is based on a theoretical attempt which is reflected on some socio-political observations in the Middle East where there has been ongoing wars or new wars. The core discussion of the paper is supported by a brief analysis of some illustrative photographic images that are served through the social media under the circumstances of war for instance in Turkey between Turkish military troops and the Kurdish militants. The paper concludes that in line with the process of dissolution/transformation of the old nation-state formations and globalization, the mechanism and mode of power have also transformed to the extent that it resulted in the emergence of new wars. This is one dynamic that we need to recognize in relation to the above-mentioned question, the other is the impact of social media in not only delivering but also receiving war photographies. Today these changes have led the emergence of new machinery of power in which the old modern visual/photographic techniques of representing wars without human beings, torture, and violence through censorship began to be employed alongside medieval power techniques of a visual exhibition of tortures and violence.

Zlín: Public Art and the City

In this article, the topic of public art in an urban environment of the post-industrial city is viewed in the context of one place – Zlín. Contemporary artworks integrated into the city spaces show the city as a site, in the context of its Modernist architecture and urbanism. They reflect both the past and the present-day changes in society and the way how we see and experience the world. Public art in Zlín has become part of the transformation and regeneration of public spaces fostering the enhancement of the quality of lives of local urban residents. It is evident from the research that Zlín can be perceived as a place with great potential for new art projects and for the public’s participation and engagement.

Mining Textiles:Extracting multi-narrative responses from textiles to rethink a mining past

This article is evidence of a practice-based investigation into the imaginative worlds of mining and textiles as a starting point for transforming ways of thinking and creating in the locality. Featuring artist-in-residence and archival processes of research, and performative and site-responsive interventions, a number of recurring themes of enquiry will be developed that combine elements of clothing design, historical studies, nature studies, photography, inflatable construction and social anthropology. The article will draw from the authors artistic practice in the extraction of multi-narrative responses from textiles as an inventive method for engaging site-specifically with former mining locations in UK and Australia.

Changing Perception of Beauty in India

Key Words - Perception, Perfection, Stereotypes, Appearance, Transformation What do we perceive as beautiful and why? Is it a reflection of the social scenarios, economic backgrounds or perhaps our history that influences us? The paper investigates and analyses the reasons for the stereotypical perceptions of beauty and discusses the slow but evident transformation that is taking place in our country. With access to the world via social media there is an interesting emergence that seems to have gained momentum in the last decade. This instantaneous and uninterrupted access to all forms of media has left one either trapped in the hope to achieve superficial perfection or towards a sense of liberation. There is enough evidence that the hurried homogenized half-digested content being offered has led to an overwhelming obsession with one’s appearance. Feeding on the insecurities has benefited many organizations and individuals. The advent of this digital culture has also led to a change in the cosmopolitan ideal and the millennial woman of India does not want to conform to norms. Whether the consumption of both print and digital media as well as the visually illustrious embodiment of the shift in social power to the developing lifestyle results in a new wave for the legacy of perfection remains to be seen.

On Kitsch in Nature & Technology: Redefining Kitsch for Posthuman Feminist Aesthetics

This research makes a case for a shift from thinking of kitsch as a phenomenon extending from the industrial revolution, to one that is considered preternatural, existing as a state of being or a process of becoming. This re-theorization co-opts the pejorative connotations of ‘bad’, ‘trash’, and ‘imitation’ and ‘failure’ into positive processes and useful metaphors for contemporary aesthetics, particularly for feminist aesthetics. Its ultimate goal is to articulate an aesthetic theory for Posthuman Feminist Aesthetics and to redefine kitsch as it exists in media culture.

Persuasive Qualities of Games as an Artistic Medium with a Social Function

People who are not in the game world often comment that they will numb players, rob them of any sense of empathy and create a generation of isolated and antisocial loners. In this article we will try to affirm the opposite: that games can play a powerful role in the creation of empathy, as well as other positive emotional experiences thanks to their own structural processes and how this empathy is the necessary one to make up for the lack of involvement of society in artistic creation. We will deal with the persuasive properties of games as media and what differentiates them from other media. Also, we will explain what these qualities of the games can bring to the activist and social art.

New Media Narratives and Visualization as an Alternative to Traditional Media: Youtuber Barış Özcan Sample

The traditional storytelling has begun to disappear, as the modern culture seizes every aspect of life (Ramsden and Hollingsworth, 2017: 14). The narrators began to take the place of digital media such as photography, cinema, television and internet. At the same time, basic cultural periods in communication can be handled in five different ways. These; Oral culture, written culture, printed culture, electric and electronic culture were finally added to these cultures or periods Digital culture, different media tools were introduced in the forms of communication between people and people (Baldini, 2000: 6). The traditional storytelling that started in the oral culture period has been moved to a different dimension with the applications on the web during the digital culture period. Thus, storytelling has experienced many changes and transformations in structural and content. When the digital culture era and the "Imagery Age" were considered, narrators tried to convey how they were changing through storytelling, exploration, new forms of communication and use of new media tools. In particular, the work of Guy Debord's "Show Society" has been utilized. This study was carried out by the scanning model of qualitative research methods. Since the phenomenon "Barış Özcan" was studied as a Youtuber, it was realized by using Case Study Model (Karasar, 2014: 77-86). Rogers “Diffusion of Innovation Theory" has become the most theoretical basis for his work. At the end of the study, it has been determined that there are structural and content differences between traditional media tools and traditional narrative style, digital media tools and digital narration style. With this changing and transforming narrative, the position of narrator and listener has been changed in many ways. The concept of time and space has been specifically addressed in this study. Traditional and digital narratives have changed in terms of time and space.