Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with ART and theory

Suggestions for modern books and essays that address art and creativity?

Tchad — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:11:23 -0800

I've been re-reading Tolstoy's "What is Art?" and Ayn Rand's "Romantic Manifesto". I would like to read more about how we think about art and what we consider to be art as well as the relationship between the artist and society/culture. I'm especially interested in how we think of art and what is my responsibility as an artist to the greater society and culture. I want to begin to develop a better sense of the relationship and responsibilities of the artist to both their art and their relationship to society as a whole.

I'm not really interested in "History of Art" type books/essays. I have those.

Assume modern means post-1800 CE.

I think it needs to be said that, even though I mentioned Rand on the other end of the spectrum, I'm not really interested in Objectivist writings other than this. It is about getting a broad range, not about getting more Rand in my life.

I would like to read more commentary from creators who had broad things to say - not just limited to what they thought of themselves or their media.

Thanks, everybody!

Crusoe film adaptations and that footprint

0bvious — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 04:31:01 -0800

Robinson Crusoe film adaptations. Which are the best ones? Also, *that* footprint... For a project I am working on, I want to isolate the moment in Robinson Crusoe where he discovers the savage footprint, imprinted in the sand, for the first time.

In the book this footprint is discovered quite a few years before Friday arrives. It signifies the first time Crusoe realises that there are 'others' visiting his Kingdom.

It has been critically engaged with by the likes of Umberto Eco, Susan Stewart (two times) and Simon O'Sullivan. Do you know of any other writings?

How has film dealt with this moment? Before I read the book, I wrongly assumed that the discovered footprint was Friday's. Do any film adaptations treat it this way?

Many thanks

Literature about art and entertainment analysis?

Foci for Analysis — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 06:37:26 -0800

What are the important works of literature that analyze art and entertainment (a&e) from an interdisciplinary, critical or literary perspective? I'm particularly interested in literature that advocates action or change in how a&e are practiced.

The intent being to better understand and appriciate but also getting inspiration to create more meaningful a&e.

GIF Archaeology

0bvious — Mon, 16 May 2011 07:17:15 -0800

I'm writing a paper on (animated) GIFs and am trying to track down some of the most (in)famous. I suppose I am talking memes, but I'm more interested in the GIF as an archaeological reference point. I frequent sites like dump.fm, tumblr etc. so am quite tuned in to the glitchy/kitschy side of GIF culture. How theoretical have people got on these wonders of the web? How does one trace the history of an animated GIF? I have a personal take on this (my paper is only short), but would love to find some well recognised, well lauded or completely briliant, unknown theoretical essays on the subject.

When I ask for (in)famous GIFs I am really trying to track down GIFs that spawned a long running meme. There are LOTS of memes out there, and many of them have been turned into GIFs, but which memes specifically came from the GIF culture? Has anyone traced these lineages? How would one go about examining a GIF archaeologically (if that is at all possible)?

Cheers

Art Fundamentals 101 for a quilter

LittleMy — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 06:37:37 -0800

I need Art Fundamentals 101 -- what books should I get? I need to learn more about color (mixing, harmony, schemes), value, composition, and perspective. The trick is that I will not (primarily) be applying what I learn to any particular painting medium but rather to quilt art. What books can help me study me the fundamentals of art? I am a quilt artist and I am moving from traditional quilting to more abstract and representational work. I am also starting to dye and paint fabric for my work. I don't really do other kinds of art and I don't draw well but I do use watercolors and acrylics in my sketch book when I do studies...

I have no formal training as an artist and because of my schedule (I have young children, my husband travels) it is very difficult for me to take local art classes. I need some good books that explain basic art concepts such as value, composition, shading, perspective and color theory. It would be especially helpful if the books had specific exercises to practice those skills. I have looked on Amazon and at a LBS but there are so many books and I am not sure which ones are worth the $$.

Help me out... what books would help me learn the fundamentals of art theory and practice?

Alain Badiou: Where should I start?

TheGoodBlood — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:25:42 -0800

Alain Badiou: Where should I start? I want to read Alain Badiou after reading his "15 theses on Contemporary Art." I am familiar with critical theory and cultural studies and feel comfortable in those fields - not so much in pure philosophy. I am just trying to decide which of his books I should read first.

Bonus: other contemporary authors I might appreciate.

Thanks!

Sacrifice, speech, writing and art

0bvious — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:28:14 -0800

Sacrifice, speech, writing and art: I am interested in the different ways in which a sacrifice, a sacrament, a spoken word and a written word act as signifiers. The notion for instance that the sacrament, at the point of its acceptance, is understood as becoming the signified. What can you tell me / what has been written about the notions of sacrifice and their relationship to speech, art and the technologies of writing? I am at the very early stages of writing on these themes (so forgive any gross generalisations I make here).

I have a sort of vague notion that speech in a pre-literate society acts in a similar way to the sacrament, i.e. that the spoken word somehow becomes what it signifies (the mimesis of pre-literate speech is imminent). Writing on the other hand acts at a distance, and the notions of referral seem to be quite different when a meaning is ascribed to an iconographic or phonetic indicator carved in stone or written on paper. I am also interested in how art and the sacrifice have functioned through the ages.

I guess I would like your thoughts. AskMefi has never let me down in the past!

- Has anything specific been written on the move from sacrificial mimesis to written mimesis?

- Any interesting writings on sacrifice as it relates to art, language and literature?

Thanks in advance

De-constructing 'code' (picking apart its assumptions)

0bvious — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:35:13 -0800

De-constructing 'code': I am looking for philosophical (from W. Benjamin through to post-structuralism and beyond) examinations of 'code'. That both includes the assumptions contained in the word 'code' and any actual objects or subjects that code is connected to - including, but not limited to: computer programming, cyphers, linguistics, genetics etc. I am looking to question the assumptions of 'code'. Perhaps a specific example of a theorist de-constructing the term.

I am currently knee deep in an examination of certain practices and assumptions that have arisen from digital media/medium and digital practice (art and making in the era of data packets and compression-artefacts for example). Through my analysis I wish to investigate the paradigms of text and writing practice (the making of textual arts).

A simple analogy to this process would be looking at dialectic cultures (speech based) from the perspective/hindsight of a grapholectic culture (writing/print based). In a similar way, I want to examine writing, film and their making with the hindsight of digital paradigms.

I am aware of the works of Deleuze, Derrida, Barthes, Genette, Ong, Serres, Agamben etc. but any of their works that deal specifically with 'code' would be very very useful.

I look forward to any pointers you can give me

Innovative Book Designs

0bvious — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:37:46 -0800

Innovative Books: I am looking to compile a list of the most innovative uses of the book format. Books that break the mould in their layout and design, perhaps books that use online systems to extend their content value or push their form into new places. I am most interested in narrative and theory, but any book that is interesting (artist books etc.) would be really appreciated. I have a few examples, in order of publication, to set the ball rolling:

Compendium for literates : a system of writing by Karl Gerstner - A book about book form in an innovative form. Beautiful and still fresh

Dictionary of the Khazars: a lexicon novel in 100,000 words by Pavic - a 'dictionary novel' "written in two versions, male and female, which are identical save for seventeen crucial lines"

A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel by Tom Philips - an artist who has used one particular edition of one particular book as a space for his work for many years

The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larson - extended use of footnote, side-note and illustration to give the narrative dimension

I would love any ideas you have!

AHRC Funding for PhD - How to ensure it!?

0bvious — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:16:50 -0800

Applying for AHRC funding for an Art PhD. Any advice? I am very much at the end of a very long, and arduous, PhD application procedure. I am applying to do Art Practice, with heavy emphasis on practice-based research. I got the place at the university, now I need to get the funding!

I have one very good reference already finalised and am waiting to hear back from my proposed supervisor on the other (required) reference.

What are the most imperative aspects of my 500 words proposal for funding?

I realise that this subject is rather contextual, but any advice would be appreciated.

Turn the my brain from Spock-like robot into artist.

lottie — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:21:47 -0800

Brain shift: How do I transition out of a heavily academic/theoretical mode, and into a creative one? My PhD work involves writing about my research, and creating visual media. The writing, needless to say, is very dense and theoretical. The creative work is just that - creative, free, fun, beautiful, without constraint.

I enjoy both of these pursuits enormously, and for different reasons - the theory for the problem solving, mental knot untying and wordsmithery, and the creative because it's what I love to do.

I don't need help with either of them, but what I do need are ideas for transitioning from one mindset to the next. I become pretty much entrenched in one mode or the other, and find switching pretty hard. To be honest, I find conducting a conversation or making dinner hard sometimes after I've been focussing on this stuff, but no one can really help me with that.

I'm looking for ways, small creative ways, to start moving out of the theory and into the making. Out of head and into hands. Ways to brainstorm visually. Visualisation, meditation techniques, anything goes. What do you suggest? Silly, fun, irrelevant, relevant to get me out of my head, and focussed on art-making.

Three conditions, if I may:

1. Ideally I would prefer the ideas not be "Go take a nice walk outside" - what I'm looking for are time effective tools or ideas which can get me focussed on making creative work in an industrious way.

2. I should mention that I don't need to make this transition daily, more like every few months. So if you can imagine what I would like to do is focus on the writing for three months, spend a week or two in fun transitional exercises, then move onto creative work for three months. Rinse and repeat.

3. I have already read The Artist's Way, and don't much care for its spiritual angle. What I would love are ideas, practical things I can do which won't add another book to my already long reading list.

I have been writing for months now, and have become the human equivalent of a test pattern. This Ms. Dullsville automaton thing isn't working with the creativity at all.

I really appreciate your help...

How do you know what this photograph means?

b33j — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:55:40 -0800

I'm looking for websites that analyse the work of successful or well known photographers in the art genre (as opposed to documentary or portraiture styles). Building on this earlier question , give me some links that tell me not what makes a photograph good, but what this artist is saying, what envelope is being stretched, what's the metaphor, what School influenced or is represented by this work, what's special about the use of space, colour, and other analyses that I don't know that I'm looking for.

The Photography Book is an example of what I'm looking for (except it's a book and it covers pretty much all genres).

Bonus question: If there's no artistic statement, how can anyone be sure that the artist is saying X?

Examples of Mise en Abyme (in form)

0bvious — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 06:57:37 -0800

Recursion filter: I recently came across the phrase 'Mise en Abyme' and have become fascinated by recursion in literature, language and film. What writings have used these themes in their form to address the questions they posed? The idea of presenting the form of a text/film/critique so that it exemplifies the question posed fascinates me (so for instance, if I asked 'what is recursion?' and my essay contained a footnote which refered back to the text which then refered back to the footnote, then in some simple sense I have a form of recursion in my essay).

What writers, film-makers etc. have integrated aspects of Mise en Abyme into their work in this exemplary manner? (I am more interested in non-fiction pieces, but realise that a lot of fiction out there which has used this technique are formally very unique.)

I have a copy of Gödel, Escher, Bach sitting on my bookshelf, staring at me. I am also well versed in the works of Foucault, Barthes and Derrida.

Thanks for reading

How Things 'Become': The Infinity of Definition

0bvious — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:18:41 -0800

I am looking for writings on the infinity of definition. I am interested in the exponentially divergent curve that is definition.

We create writings and art to better define the world, yet true definition is infinite.

We mediate the universe by erecting borders of definition, i.e. all striped, four-legged, hooved mammals are probably zebras. We categorise the universe into hierarchies, but the more we examine the more pronounced and expansive these hierarchies become.

Language is our greatest defining tool. Yet, the metaphors we evolve to expand the potential of language can themselves only be made to refer back to the language which created them. An infinite loop emerges in most definition.

As new technology emerges we use it to 'add' meaning to artifacts which are already partly defined. By looking at the world with ever more refined microscopes we bring reality into greater clarity. This metaphor can be expanded to refer to texts, art, archaeology, culture etc.

Who has written on the problem of definition? What critical theory has been written on the emergence of infinity?

This question adds on to past questions I have asked at MeFi including (in reverse order):

- Art and artifacts experienced through technology
- The mimetic and narrative capacities of artefacts
- Examples of 'The Infinite' in Myth and Their Effect on Conditions of Truth

Here's hoping you have some ideas...

Art and artifacts experienced through technology

0bvious — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:00:33 -0800

How is the meaning of art and artefacts being altered by the methods we use to: Experience, Define and Preserve them... In other words, in what ways have technologies been used to experience, re-define and/or preserve art and artifacts? I came across news on a technique using terahertz radiation to 'see' under the surface of paintings and murals. I know that similar methods have been used before, most especially to see the sketches under (Leonardo da Vinci) paintings or to map the outline of archaeological sites by satellite etc. I am interested in amassing a collection of such techniques, not limited to paintings and certainly from a wide spectrum of scientific and technological applications (for instance: art includes literature or music, artefacts can refer to objects or cultures, a new technology may simply be a new theory of linguistics).

Any links and or examples, books, journals, people you know of would help me immensely. My past questions express quite neatly the kind of reading background I have, please give them a glance if you have time.

Thanks muchly...

The Flâneur exposed

0bvious — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 16:38:54 -0800

'The Flâneur': What fascinating titbits can you add to my knowledge about this concept? Art, history, philosophy and literary theory links all welcome. Walter Benjamin wrote on them; Edgar Allan Poe supposedly utilized the concept in his story 'The Man of the Crowd'; the 19th century Parisians relished them. Art, literary theory, have been altered irrevocably since.

Insights please!

Thanks

Half-remembered art theory

dydecker — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 07:53:22 -0800

I'm trying to remember a theory about the arts in which the progression of a genre moves through various well-defined stages... I half-remember a theory about the arts in which the progression of a genre moves through various well-defined stages from experimental to popular and finally overblown baroque before descending into kitsch or self-parody, and how this applied to all arts. I think there are seven stages, if I remember rightly. Does this ring a bell with anyone? I maybe read a page on the Internet or studied it in University. I really would like to track it down and read it again. Much appreciated.