Documenti di Didattica
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Documenti di Cultura
Guillermo
Art
- covers the wide range of human artistic expressions
- production within a social context
- social meanings and effects
- situated within society and history
objectives
- be independent and critical in developing strategies
- aesthetic and cultural positions
- Filipino point of view in art to develop national art and culture
- discourses, cultural and artistic expressions
basic premises
o art is a signifying practice which is grounded in society and history.
o elements of art, forms, media, techniques, styles
Formalist approach traditional approach Semiotic approach views
signifiers (material data) meaning- conveying possible that a work - dialogi
signifieds (concepts) potential of art may reveal c
such as human contradictions that
psychophysical reflect underlying
experiences and cultural ideological tensions
codes on the universal
plane
Constraints of art
- possibilities of time and place
- language or Symbolic Order
Two aspects
1. signifier material or physical aspect of the sign, sign's physical form
- line, value, color, texture and composition
- media or materials
- presentation and style on the level of the image
- if concrete, signified is abstract
2. signified meaning or idea expressed by a sign
3. referent concrete phenomena or things in the world
Elements
LINE
1. Vertical line
- Concrete signifier (it is vertical)
- Signifies order, discipline, poise, alertness, base line, strength, balance, equilibirum, firmness,
static position
- Referent pole, standing up
2. Horizontal line
- Signifies repose, calmness, inactivity, horizon line, informality, passivity, death, and the
continuum of infinity
- Referent: body at rest
3. Diagonal line
- Signfies: Charging purposefully towards an objective, energy, dynanism, impulse, passion,
emotion, relational line (relative to something), movement
- Element of time as it cuts through space
- Weak diagnoais (angles LESS THAN 45 degrees)
- Uncertainty, instability, insecurity and a sense of impending collapse
4. Curved line
- Grace and beauty, body in movements of dance, impulse, spontaneity, play, grace, charm,
sensuality and eroticism
5. Jagged line
- Sharp, pointed, fragmentes objects that cute and wound
- Signifies pain, difficulty and discomfort, danger, torture
6. Broken lines
- Tentativenes, indefiniteness and insecurity
- Made to represent imaginary lines between points or to bring out invisible connections
The Quality of Line
1. Instruments to draw line
- Technical pen sharp and precise
- Charcoal pen- soft, porous and tend to be diffuse
2. Outlines
- 2D shape that is distinct from the background
- contour lines when they define borders
3. calligraphy
- line rhythm and movement
- line as yang, space as yin
4. Art Nouveu
- Intense organic vitality, linear motif was the whiplash, a line that dynamically turns back on
itself, against industrial mass production
5. Art Deco
- Geometric and celebrated technological advances, zigzag that symbolized the speed of light
6. Paul Klee taking a line for a walk
- Four elements of graphic art: dot, line, plane and space
Line in Sculpture
- Line in relation to volume and space
- Contour line that change with the point of view of the moving viewer
1. Representational vs abstract
- Classical structure- immobility, finality, clarity of form is intelligble (ready to be understood) to
the subject represented
- Abstract sculpture not intelligible
2. General orientation or directional thrust of the figure
1) Decisive horizontal thrust
2) Single upward movement
3) Standing or striding forward
3. Incised or raised designs and patterns
4) Folds of drapery (vertical linear rythyms)- classical
5) Lines of drapery (twist, fold, and billow) emotional turbulence- baroque
Line in Architecture
1. General orientation predominant line
a. Horizontal orientation casualness, familiarity, harmony
b. Vertical orientation land maximization
2. External design
a. Rectangular faade
b. Triangular classical pediment
c. Curvilinear features on the faade
3. Ornamental design of interiors
a. Linear design
4. Ground plan of a building
6) Indicates social relationships and priorities
Line in the Other Arts
1. Dance
a. Gestures
b. Foot movements closeness to the earth
COLOR
7) Expresses emotions, feelings and moods
8) Line is generally objective and intellectual because it defines form and is measurable
while color is subjective and emotional
Aspects of Color
1. Hue
9) 150 discernable difference sof hues
10) red- longes wavelength and easily discernable
11) color schemes (white reflects all colors, black absorbs all colors)
a. monochromatic one color
b. achromatic (without color) black, white, and gray
c. polychromatic- many colors
2. Saturation, intensity or chroma
12) Saturation purity of a color, dissolved or absorbed
a. High saturation strong affirmative character
b. Low saturation elusiveness, subtlety, and emotional complexity
- Intensity- color strength of a hue compared with a colorless gray
a. Brilliant blue vs dull blue
3. Brightness, tone or value scale running from dim to bright
13) Lightness- compared on a scale from black to white (body pigment) or black to
clear (dye)
14) Tone - intensity of illumination hue is lightened by mixing it with white, gray, or
black
Perception of Color
1. Temperature
a. Warm advancing towards the viewer
b. Cool- recede
2. Weight
a. Dark heaviness
b. Light- wieghtlessness
3. Size
a. Dark- smaller
b. Light- larger
TEXTURE
25) Perception of touch
1. Texture in Sculpture
26) Natural quality of the medium
2. Opposing Traditions in texture
27) High art vs Low art
a. High art - Smooth, lustrous texture- materials accessible to the elite
b. Low art- art of the general population
28) Zen aesthetics - iiregularities of form, imperfections of glaze, slight damages and
scares and certain incomleteness
3. Contemporary Approaches to texture
29) Surrealists developed techniques
a. Decolcomania two sheets with pigment between them
b. Frottage paper on top pf texture surface then rubbed with charcoal on top
c. Fumage- paper darkened from a flame
SHAPES
30) 2D exist as planes having LxW, 3D posses LxW and volume
31) geometric (rectilinear or curvilinear), biomorphic or free inventiones
32) as signifiers, their meanings are often divided from cultural codes and symbolic
systems
1. Geometric Shapes
1) Rectilinear equal sides
a. Square- firmness, stability, convey rational order
b. Cube unyielding structures
c. Triangle- fire, higher unity
2) Curvilinear
o Circle- perfection, eternity
3) Geometric shapes in different cultures
- Chinese- Yin-Yang everything contains the seed of its opposite, everything bears a contradiction
that generates dynamic movement
- Indian- mandala mental conentration and meditation
4) Geometric shapes in contemporary art
- Cezanne (post-impressionist artist) reduced the universe to 3 shapes
o Cube
o Cone
o Cyliner
5) Biomorphic shapes
- Derived from living organisms
6) Nature in Art
- Living shapes inspire artists
7) Free shapes
- Inventions of the artist
Properties of Shapes
1. Closure (or non-closure)
- Closed- self-contained
- Non-closed- interact dynamically
2. Dimension
- Flat or 2D
- Monumental or 3D
o Free standing or sculpture-in-the-round
o Relief sculpture
2. Expressionism of Shape
3. Shapes in Folk Art
4. Balance
o Formal balance - symmetry
o Informal balance assymmetry
o Balance of transition lines of movement
5. Compositional Plans S-shapes, zigzag
6. Cultural Approaches to Space
o General principles of linear perspective (Stella Pandell Russell)
1. All objects appear small the farther away
2. Parallel lines receding appear to converge. Point to meet is called the vanishing
point. Horizontall parallel lines do not converge
3. One point perspective is looking at the object head on and parallel lines meet at
one point. At a slight angle the perspective is oblique
4. Vanishing points are placed along an imaginary line called the horizon line
5. Round forms have no parallel sides can be considered as though they had
rectangles surrounding them
7. Space in Contemporary Art
8. Space in Sculpture
9. Space in Architecture
10. Space and Social Values in Architecture
MOVEMENT
- Rhythm or the recurrence of motifs, alternation or progression in a series
1. Movement in the Dance
2. Movement in the Cinema
Chapter 4 The Image and Its Context
Image- also called an icon
1. Styles of Figuration
- Representational art any painting, sculpture, or form of visual art where the subject matter is
recognizable as taken from the world of people and nature, in opposition to abstract, non-
figurative, or non-objective
- Naturalism puts the mirror up to nature, represent natural objects as they appear
- Realism- drew subjects from contemporary life, especially from the lives of the folk, urban
workers, peasants, in socialist sympathy with their aspirations
o Magic Realism familiar objects are seen with a freshness and purity of vision
o Hyper-realism or photorealism painting has clarity and sharpness of photographic
print
o Miniaturismo delicate transparency of fabric
o Surrealism- veristic surrealism people and objects in faithful and realistic detail but
juxtaposes objects not found together in real life
8) Work of art vs documentary record work of art is a vision of people and society, set of
concepts, values, attitudes, and feelings while a documentary presents empirical data
and facts about a subject and its physical characteristics
9) Moral Aspect of beauty- values of balance, restraint, detachment, serenity and elegance
10) Classical proportions in the order of architecture- (abacus)doric, ionic and
(acanthus) corinthian
11) Expressionism- emotion is the motivating principles that gives shapes to the
figures, distortion in the elongation, attenuation or exxageration of the ordinary
proportions in a manner of representation
- Fauvism most valid intensities of color in search of a new and fresh approach to art
- Cubism nature can be reduced to the cube, cone and cylinder
- Pop- comic strip
12) Subject matter and its Presentation
- Subject is what the images is generally about
- Subject can be representational
13) Thematic Plane we view the title, artist, medium, dimension and the year it was
made. View it in its social and historical context as indicated by texts, symbol, and
allusions or references
- Allusion - an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly
Chapter 6 Music in Culture
Basic Sound Relationships
1. The physical properties of sound
- Vibrations within the 20-20,000 cycles per second can be detected by the human ear
a. Pitch determined by frequency, rate at which the elastic body vibrates
- Faster the vibration of the material body, the higher the pitch
b. Duration length of time
c. Timbre - sound quality
d. Frequency
i. Fundamental strongest frequency
ii. Harmonics- secondary waves
e. Three Basic Waveforms of Sound
i. Sine Wave
ii. Sawtooth Wave
iii. Square Wave
f. The psychology of music
i. Subli dance and music and ceremony in ritual set things go together
g. Noise
i. Opposite of music
ii. White noise sound between stations on FM radio stations
h. Timbre
Chapter 7 Sound in Music Cultures
1. Music and Time
a. Rhythym- all musical patterns with duration
i. Gregorian song non- metric rhythm
b. Measures strong and weak accents
i. Chinese chime music simple meter
c. Breath rhythm texture rather than metric
2. Music as Language
a. Tuning choosing specific pitches that will comprise an entire music system
i. Octave from A to A
Two music cultures Europe and India
1. Octave interval or distance between one pitch and one second
one that is twice the frequency of the first
2. Kammerton 440 cycles per second (tone a)
3. Chinese tiao (pentatonic modes)
4. Indian 22 srutis
b. Modality
i. sets of pitches
1. 5-pentatonic
2. 7-heptatonic
c. Tonality pitch behavior in a piece of music is even further directed and
contolled by the principle of tonality. Some pitches within the mode will be more
important than others. Sets the rules for pitch behavior and function in a given
modality.
i. Tonal centers- define the pitch
ii. Parallel Major and Minor Modes
1. The greek modes according to Ptolemy
a. Donan
b. Lydian
c. Hypodorian
d. Hypolydian
e. Phrygian
f. Mixolydian- lamentation
g. Hypophrygian
iii. Hindustani That (Scale Types)
d. Concepts of Line
i. Melody- horizontal relationships of events, describe pitch movement
through time
ii. Line- refers to the continuous flow of melodic and rhythmic units in
music.
iii. Phrases- units
iv. Textures- combinations of lines
v. Drone- constant unchanging tone may accompany a single melody
vi. Polyphony- texture with two or more independent lines
vii. Heterophony- two or more lines playing the same basic melody
viii. Homophony or harmony- texture with a single musical line accompanied
by chords (vertical structures that support the melody)
ix. Texture- reference to the patterns created by the interrelationship of the
various lines of music into an integrated whole
e. Concepts of Musical Realization
i. How music is realized or transformed from raw materials into sound
events
ii. Improvisation each individual performer to participate in creating the
overall shape of a musical work
iii. Jazz- improvisational in character
iv. Aleatory improvisation into the whole process
MARKOWITZ CANONIZING THE POPULAR
Making canons is a way of defining who has the power to speak and who does not. Making the rock
'n' roll canon was part of a larger process of cultural and poliLcal appropriaLon in which power was
expropriated from subordinated groups by those who wished to speak for them
WHAT IS STRUCTURE AND AGENCY? HOW DOES THIS FRAMEWORK HELP US IN POLITICAL
ANALYSIS? BY BEN ASTON
Structure and agency is a key understanding mechanism within social science
Giddens and Archer - Structure-Agency question. How is it that I can do what I want with others
when their goals are different, and often incompatible with mine?
'agency approach'
methodological individualism
- only reality we can grasp is the deeds/actions of individuals, not classes
- we cannot look at classes to explain the behaviour of individuals
- individual is the agent and voluntary to human action
structure
- Structure is essentially explanation in terms of the social/economic/political context in which action
occurs.
- Structuralist approaches recognise that there are specific conditions which produce human
actions or behaviour.
- explaining action according to the structure/context in which it takes place
- Structures have priority, externality and constrain, in relation to our behaviour.
- would argue that human action and choice is determined by class
- Reject pluralism
- superstructure civil society VS substructure- material and economic base
Durkheim on suicide
Egoistic: for reasons of self-dissatisfaction or in response to personal emotion.
Altruistic: for the good of other people
Anomic: because all structures have broken down and life no longer has meaning
5 art forms
1. Painting
2. Sculpture
3. Architecture
4. Music
5. Literature
Two-dimensional expression
- Surface or ground
Indirect methods
1. Glazing - transparent
2. Scumbling opaque
Mosaic
- Tesserae- chips from slabs of colored stone
3 properties in medium
1. Size or scale
2. Format
3. Frame
Qualities of material
1. Structure
2. Texture
3. Aspect
Conditions that discourage a Filipino cultural perspective and inhibit Filipino cultural
creativity:
1. The notion of art for arts sake, favors only a small Western-educated elite
and bars the great majority of our people equal opportunity for artistic
expression, reducing them into mere consumers of the products of a few;
2. Very low prestige to folk, communal or traditional art
3. Reductionist nature of so-called fine art alienates the majority of Filipinos
4. Overly technical and formalist emphasis by artistic establishment making
art too individualistic and does not appeal to the Filipinos
5. Limiting art to professionals and elite reduced resource pool
6. Making art exclusive (advance career vs. building the nation)
7. Lack of meaningul participation in artistic creativity
8. Rise of pseudo-culture due to gross consumerism and mass production
PERFORMATIVE ARTWORLD-ING AND THE PRACTICE OF POWER: THE CCP AND
INDIGENISM CLOD MARLAN KRISTER V. YAMBAO