Industrialisation in the late 1800s, and
today.
RMB City (2007-9) Cao Fei
The artists of the
late 1800's and early 1900's, in Europe, were influenced by the Industrial
revolution.
1. What and when was the Industrial Revolution?
1. What and when was the Industrial Revolution?
The industrial revolution was a major time period in the
late 18th century of Europe shown by the general introduction to power-driven
machinery and manufacturing. the invention of electricity, railroads and
advancements in communication allowed a rapid change in the economy, a faster
production of products of all kind, and allowed Europe, specifically England to
forge ahead from the rest of the world.
Both paintings featured on this blog that are from the early
1900s were painted by Modernist painters from the group called 'Futurists'. The
Futurists celebrated the machine, and objects in motion. Their primary
objective was to depict movement, which they saw as symbolic of their
commitment to the dynamic forward thrust of the 20th century.
2. Research both Modernist paintings in order to comment on the
subject matter, form and style used to celebrate the machine and motion in each
painting. Answer the question in 2 parts for each painting.
Umberto Boccion - the
city rises
This painting subject matter is basically being record of
a construction of a new electrical power plant being build. it is being
dominated by the constant moving figures of muscular men who are just being
depicted slaving away to get the building finished. It is typically a modernist
painting due to the subject that it portrays and the style used to depict it. The
subject as a whole just shows the advancement of time, and as a result shows it
making way for new buildings and factories. The style itself is also considered
modernist due to the simplicity of the subject, where the style of the work
helps capture the movement, color and sound of the painting. This makes it
living and somewhat energetic in the depiction of movement in the urban space;
therefore it basically celebrates that beauty of progress taking place as a
whole.
Giacomo Balla - Dynamism
of a dog on a leash
In this painting, the subject matter here aims at focusing
on the movement of the dog (as the title suggest), which is a breed called the Dachshund.
Beside the dog is its owner, a lady dressed in what appears to be in some form
of Victorian style dress. She also appears to scampering around just like her
dog, where her skirt looks very clumsy and might trip. The word "dynamism”
was used in the title, which is a theory that all phenomena (in terms of matter
and/or motion) can be explained as a manifestation of force, and it was general
used to describe the modern machine world. So it is basically just a comical
relief used to describe this mere little dog being as fast as a machine.
Cao Fei's RMB City (2007-9) refers to China's
recent rapid industrialisation and urbanization.
(www.artspace.org.nz/exhibitions/2009/cafeintopia.asp)
(www.artspace.org.nz/exhibitions/2009/cafeintopia.asp)
3. Research Cao Fei's RMB City (2007-9) in order to comment on this work in more depth.
i.e describe the images that has she used in her digital collage that refer to China's present and history, and explain why has she used these images.
RMB City is a virtual city found in the online world of
Second Life, which was launched in 2008 and was planed and developed by Beijing
artist Cao Fei, also known in her Second Life profile, China Tracy. The work
itself is based around the idea of rapid advancement in China; specifically in
terms of urbanizations sue to her work being influenced by the pop culture and entertainment.
The city was originally created as a playground for Cai
Fei and her collaborators to experiment on the different use of mediums in
order to test the boundaries between the existence of both virtual and physical
world.
In the title, RMB stands for "Renminbi, which is the Chinese
translation of currency in china consisting of Yuan. The work contains real
symbols of china such as their national flag and their animal, the panda, as
well as recognized buildings of the Feilai Temple, the Grand National Theatre
in Beijing, the Oriental Pearl Tower, a ferries wheel leading to the people's Heroes and etc,
and finally a statue of the once great leader of china, Mao Zedong. And these
subjects in both real and virtual aspects of the work transverse between the
boundaries of past and future, real and virtual to depict china as part of a
contemporary cosmopolitan world.
4. RMB City is described as a utopia/dystopia.
Comment on what these terms mean, and how they can be applied to the work.
As described in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Utopia is
an ideal place where laws, government and social conditions are considered the
highest in all aspects, so overall, it is the perfect world. While Dystopia is
the direct opposite of Utopia, as it is a place where people live a dehumanized
and fearful life, so they live in the lowest quality in standard living.
These two terms can be applied to the work due to how it
tries to depict a place as this version of a perfect ideal world, despite the
fact that the country itself is known to
have a history of bad human rights, as well as in other aspects of political,
and social areas. In the work, Cao Fei used the images and symbols taken from
china to depict it as this fantasy like society where it show the area as some
form of wonderland, perfect in all areas, its own version of utopia place in
one area. However this work I believe only depicts the opposite of what china
is as a country or what it should be. For the past few hundred or even thousand
years of its history, china has been known for their serious problem in terms
of its social and political issues, with the country having practiced a large
number in slavery during its dynasties rule, most recently, China is considered
having very low human rights, as accused by a number of foreign governments, as
well as from protestors, such as ones of the torch relay during the 2008 Olympics,
due to their violation in human civil rights, freedom in speech and religion as
well as labor and property rights. So in a world-view perspective, china is
considered an example of dystopia world due to these issues, and Cai Fei's virtual
city uses these real symbols and ideals of china to try and illustrates it as
the opposite of it, to show what it could have become if it improved and
accepts contemporary ideals, so it could be that the idea of the her work is
trying to help establish that from what can exist in the fantasy world to real
life.
5. Although the Modernist paintings and the contemporary digital
work have emerged from
different contexts, there are also many similarities. Comment on the similarities that you can see in the work. Look at the moving digital image at vimeo.com/4272260, if you have not
already researched it.
different contexts, there are also many similarities. Comment on the similarities that you can see in the work. Look at the moving digital image at vimeo.com/4272260, if you have not
already researched it.
The similarity that I can only see between the modern
painting and the contemporary digital work is basically the movement, both as an
illustration of motion, but more specifically as a meaning to the progression
in time. While both have shown the use of movement in their work, particularly
from the works of the futurist, as well as the uses of video files from the
digital art, what they both have in comment in this area is how they both use
it to show the progression in
technology, culture and ideas of our
world today, and they both show it as the digital art uses the technology of today
to transfer our creative ideas in this process, while the modernist painting
helps illustrate it in a visual context, as the word modern means present, so
it tries to help movement forward from today and tomorrow.
6. Comment on other student's blogs.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/utopia
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dystopia
http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c19th/modernism.htm
http://interventionsjournal.net/2012/01/26/rmb-city-spectatorship-on-the-boundaries-of-the-virtual-and-the-real/
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/industrial%20revolution
http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/work/173/index.html
http://suite101.com/article/futurism-and-umberto-boccionis-the-city-rises-a280519
http://www.mutualart.com/OpenArticle/Cao-Fei--Building--RMB-City-/5A8FD7ADF04F9369
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-dynamism-of-a-dog-on-a-leash-1912-giacomo-balla-1781174.html
http://defensewiki.ibj.org/index.php/China?gclid=CNLmxJPEorACFU1spAodyywuWg
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