look back(4) Situationist International(part1)

----- The history of Situationist International

1957 The fund of the SI

1957~1962 The Avant Garde days

1962~1968 From the Schism to the Revolt
                   --- from SI to SI2 (from art-political works to critical theory on spectacle)

1968~1972 From the Revoltto the Verit able Split
                  --- the dismiss after the top point 

1972 The declaration of dismiss

----- Situationist International can be traced back to...

                                                   1. Dadaism

2. Futurism (characteristic: exaggerate)

                      

                                                   
                                                   3. Surrealism
        
       They led to the existence of the Avant Garde groups and the early SI theory. 

----- The Avant Garde groups

1. The International of Experimental Artist (COBRA)

2. Lettrist Movement

3. Lettrist International

4. The International Movement for the Imaginist Bahaus

    However, the existence of all those Avant Garde groups was closely related to the historical background of Europe of that time, especially the sad emotion led by the economic crisis and the World War. Meanwhile, they created the new concept of building up a new urban environment. In addition, Constant brought out the new idea of 'Unitary Urbanism'. 

----- The Avant-Garde work appreciation
1. Avant-garde music

                                                     Avant-Garde Cellist Zoe Keating

2. Avant-Garde film

                                                           Ménilmontant 1926 Avant garde French Silent Film Classic

      In the Avant-garde days, the artists devoted themselves to creat the new combination between art and politics. 
      
      As we can see in the example film, though the man and the girl were in silence, we can still strongly felt the sorrow in the characters as well as the fear and the hatred for the war in their eye contact.

3. Avant-Garde performance

                             
                     

Blind Photographs in Mong Kok

            I chose Mong Kok as my destination because I was wondering that I  can gain more surprises in such a crowded place. I tried different angles during my 'blind period'.

Because of my 'blindness', I can have the bold attempt to cut off the man's head and put focus on the sitting woman.

Because of my 'blindness', I can ignore how wired my gesture is of holding the camera so that I can gain a very unique perspective.

Because of my 'blindness', I can accidentally find the beauty of losing the focal distance.

Because of my 'blindness', I can click the shutter without thinking of anything. However, every result can become a surprise.

Because of my 'blindness', I don't have a certain target. That is reason why all kinds of things can be the main character in my picture, bag, shoes , advertisement.......

Because of my 'blindness', I cannot make everything organized, nevertheless, mess can give people a stronger emotion.

Look back(3)Fluxus (and something about John Cage)

 -------What is fluxus?

     

Fluxus music from Korea
Fluxus Voices vol.3 - "우리의 밤
은 당신의 낮보다 아름답다

Fluxus/Performance Art: Do 

Geese See God?

   

Fluxus DesignersFluxus-Good Day LA/Style File June 2010

                                                                               

Fluxus Artists

Fluxus composersWSCXVI JULIETTE HERBET Fluxus by Luis Rizo-Salom

 The official explanation by wikipedia:

   Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "flow, flux" (noun); "flowing, fluid" (adj.)—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning, architecture, and design. Fluxus is sometimes described as intermedia.  

My feelings for the Fluxus:

 Through Fluxus, I broke my origin view of art. In the past years, I always regard art as something elegant, up to sky that can be hardly touched unless I kept on perfect myself. Well, it is in some aspects, however, it can also be down to earth sometimes. It can be as simple as possible, as close as it could be. From now on, I would be able and be happy to see something different or even something awkward and weird, meanwhile, try to find the true feeling beyond.

------- The Key Word: Inter Media

-------- The pioneer: John Cage

                          The very famous 4'33'' by John Cage

    John Cage (1912-1992) ----- who explore the original concept of the Fluxus.

    He was failed in learning professional composition, which led him to Japan, the place where he first get in touch with the Zen and the Asian culture. The period was essentially vital and subtle for him cause he totally change his thoughts. From then on, he started to regard music as ' an aimless game' and see music as something occasional. On one side, thanks to the objection of his traditional composition, or now we can not have such wonderful and unprecedented thought like his. On the other side, thanks to his composition education, which gave some other inspiration like tempo and timbre. And one very typical example is the 'sonatas and interludes'.

                           sonatas and interludes for prepared piano (1/5)

  I also found something very interesting about him. besides being a pioneer in the fluxus art, he was also an amateur expert in mucedine, which quite surprises me!

          John Cage: "Mushroom Haiku" and "At the Middle"

---The philosophy of the Fluxus

1. Fluxus is an attitude. It is not a movement or a style.
2. Fluxus is intermedia. Fluxus creators like to see what happens when different media intersect. They use found and everyday objects, sounds, images, and texts to create new combinations of objects, sounds, images, and texts.
3. Fluxus works are simple. The art is small, the texts are short, and the performances are brief.
4. Fluxus is fun. Humor has always been an important element in Fluxus.

[edit]

Drifting Walk ------- The way to CMC with Joshua

How to go to CMC?

   It was nearly dinner time that an idea of drifting walk bumped into our minds. We started from the student residence without a decided direction. And the experience was really interesting since I have never noticed so many things on my way to CMC building.
  Drifting walk can be done in a place we have never been to. However, it only happens in the places where we are familiar with that we can finally realize how much we've ignored from the past days. 

Look Back(2)From Dadaism to Surrealism

   Generally speaking, people have identified with the fact that the Surrealism is mostly generated from the Dadaism.

--------      Dadaism(1916-1923)

   Dadaism first sprouted in Switzerland during the First World War. It was leaded by young artists and the anti-war groups.

"Dada is a state of mind... Dada is artistic free thinking... Dada gives itself to nothing... ." 

They expressed their desperate to the first world war as well as to the value of the bourgeoisie.That is the reason why they had the nihilistic attitude and meanwhile set the norm of ‘ruin everything'. Gradually, countries near Switzerland started to be influenced by the Dadaism, especially France and Germany.



Examples of Dadaism works

                                        Dadaism poem for two face to face

                                                   Dadaism painting

                                                 Dadaism Photograph

                                                 Dadaism video work

                                                       Dadaism music

-------From Dadaism to Surrealism

Step 1: The Dadaism preparation

     Beginning:  1913 by Duchamp, the person who made the first attempt to add mustache to Mona Lisa .  (Marcel Duchamp,1887--1968)

Step 2: The first declaration(1924-1929)

   Different from the Dadaism, in this period, they started to set goals and began to have theory.

   Representative personage: André Breton（1896–1966）， the person who declare the ' declaration of the Surrealism'.

Step 3: Period of the great prosperity(1929-1941)

    In this period, the artists of the surrealism held lots of the exhibitions. Through the period, thousands  of surrealism works were published. However, unfortunately, the wonderful process was interrupted by the Second World War.

Step 4: After the war(1946-1969)  

   Gradually, the surrealism faded out time after time.

--------Surrealism

 After the First World War, the Surrealism sprung up in France.

Example of Surrealism:

                Surrealism Literature            Arthur Rimbaud 1854/10/20‐1891/11/10

                                                                 

Surrealism Photographs

                                                                  Surrealism Paintings

                                                           Surrealistic video from Youtube

Look Back(1)---the impressionism

The Impressionism

   I am quite interested in painting these days. Bringing history back to life, I just want to note something down about the impressionism.

   It originated from The second half of the nineteenth Century. Edouard Manet，who was talked about in the lecture, was the initiator of the impressionism. 

                   Monet,Impression,Soleil(1873)

   Like all the bold attempts, Manet was criticized by the trad artists. They satirized Manet's messy brushwork. And the official stood against it because of its rebel.Nevertheless, people sorted Manet's work into Impressionism due to the name of the painting. 

                                Edouard Mane(1863)

   After the gallery, this painting received the most serious taunt. Those who stick-in-the-mud could not accept a naked woman who was having picnic with two gentleman. However, on the other side, those who were innovative enough chose to stand on Manet's side, such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley,Claude Monet,Camille Pissarro，Edgar Degas and so on.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

 

Alfred Sisley (1873)

                                   Claude Monet

Camille Pissarro

Edgar Degas

   Although impressionism was born in the criticism, it still played the role as a vanguard to stand against the classic and the romanticism. Most of the painters of the impressionism emphasized on the light and the color.

The neo-impressionism

   The neo-impressionism appeared right after the impressionism. It was an artistic revolution in the painting techniques. The neo-impressionism artists invented the stippling. That is the reason why they got a nickname called 'the stippling '.

The post-impressionism

 The post-impressionism is not the continua of the impressionism and the neo-impressionism. In stead of copying, it broke through both. The post-impressionism emphasized on the emotion beyond the painting itself.

Vincent Willem van Gogh