Art Scene Research Articles

Life lines: agency and autobiography in Sarah Curran’s Poetry

ABSTRACT Sarah Curran (1782–1808) has been almost exclusively remembered as the fiancée of United Irishman Robert Emmet, executed in 1803 for treason. However, Curran merits study in her own right as part of an important but neglected circle of literary women centred around three Cork families – the Wilmots, Chetwoods, and Penroses. Supported by recent theoretical approaches to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century women’s life writing, this article examines Curran’s previously unknown, unstudied, and unpublished poems. Preserved in Wilmot and Chetwood family papers, the poems enhance heretofore limited understandings of Curran’s rich creative life and intellectual world. Curran’s unpublished poetry and the footprints she left in the early nineteenth-century Irish arts scene are significant, from her literary memorialisation by Thomas Moore and her standing in her wider social circle as a talented harpist, to her poetic and epistolary compositions honouring her personal relationships. This article rehabilitates Curran as a person of great creative ability in her own right, who was recognised and valued as such in her own time by those who knew her best, and rediscovers the agency she exerted in recording events from her own life in poetic form.

L. Zvonaryova, L. Kudryavtseva. Alexandre Alexeieff’s lost paradise

The monograph co-authored by L. Zvonaryova, a Doctor of History, philologist and cultural historian, and L. Kudryavtseva, an art historian, is devoted to the life and work of the emigre artist and inventor Alexandre Alexeieff, who, having left Russia after the 1917 revolution, went on to become a landmark phenomenon on the European art scene without breaking spiritual ties with his native country. The book combines a thorough examination of his artistic legacy with a detailed account of Alexeieff’s life. Zvonaryova and Kudryavtseva collected numerous reminiscences, took a careful look at littleresearched biographical facts, and amassed an impressive corpus of documents, many of which are published for the first time. Having their book illustrated with the artist’s works, the scholars invited the reader to form their opinion of his versatile talent. Featured as the illustrator’s main invention is the pinscreen — a technology that foreshadowed digital animation. Having researched their book for seven years, the biographers succeeded in creating a profound study highly praised by experts.

Institutionalization of art in Odessa during the period of independence

The article considers the formation and development of art institutions in Odessa over the past three decades. Their connection with the activities of a number of art associations, many of which emerged in the early 1990s, can be traced. The artistic institutions that were the epicenter of artistic life in the defined time periods, as well as the reasons for their transformation or disappearance are highlighted. The peculiarities of the artistic environment of Odessa, which followed its own individual path, historically formed under the influence of the powerful movement of informal art and conceptualism, as well as such alternative institutional forms as street and "apartment’s" exhibitions are analyzed. The activities of galleries that have contributed to the revival of the local art scene of the period of independence, as well as the few that exist today, working with contemporary art, are studied.

Art as Inner Knowledge: Dino Valls

The marriage between painting and psychology is certainly propaedeutic to inner research as well as to artistic expression tout court. The contemporary Spanish painter Dino Valls falls within this perspective as his art is utterly bipolar and focused on the two sides mentioned above: on the one hand the expressiveness supported by an outstanding technique, a broad cultural background and a downright innovative style, on the other hand, the search for oneself through the Jungian tool of active imagination. Through the latter, the painter investigates his inner world, testing himself in an extremely original and fascinating “psychoanalysis through art”. The intent of this paper is twofold: firstly it intends to highlight the prominence of Dino Valls in the contemporary world art scene highlighting both his relationship with the Surrealist heritage, and his Jungian matrix, real foundation of his inspiration; secondly the paper aims to cast light on the concept of inner investigation, which turns to be the aim and the motor of his whole artistic commitment, giving art an utterly philosophical purpose.

A Study of Sunaryo’s Wot Batu through Art Criticism

The Indonesian modern art scene in the 1940s, which related to many ideologies, also influenced the art of Indonesian artist Sunaryo (1943). One of his recent works, Wot Batu, is a work of land art consisting of sequential installations made with stones lying in a landscape in Bandung. Wot Batu means ‘stone bridge’ in old Javanese. This study aimed to discover Sunaryo’s artistic qualities in Wot Batu in order to trace Sunaryo’s perspective of spirituality and his background as a modern Indonesian artist. This research used Feldmann’s art criticism approach. The interpretation and judgment process in this work was obtained by connecting a formal analysis of the artwork to Sunaryo’s background as an artist. The research findings confirm that Sunaryo presents his own perspective on spirituality in this work through the use of stones as the main material and other natural elements. He made use of various aspects, such as combining and assembling stones, multisensory stimulation of the visitor, the site and the movement of the visitor inside it, support his concept. This study revealed that Sunaryo’s perspective on spirituality not merely concerns the relationship between humans and a greater power, but also humans as a part of nature, balance, the perpetuity of the universe, and the experience of nothingness and serenity.

Birha

AbstractFocusing on early twentieth-century Punjab, this article considers how situating the region into historical context circumscribes the literary by tying it to place, thereby creating a seamless economy of exchange. In contrast, noting the refusal of literary and artistic output to be adjudicated into context, this article asks, Is it possible to consider the encounters within the Punjabi literary and artistic scene through a dislocation rather than a circuitous exchange within a singular Punjab? The author ponders this question by considering how analyses centered on exchange are unavoidable when situated within historicity—analyses that emerged in the colonial period as a central way to understand Sikh literary production. Such a grasp on Punjab, the Sikh tradition, and historicity, however, is loosened when we consider the nonhuman. The nonhuman, in other words, challenges the overt focus on history, conquest, and vision that undergirds our understanding of the Punjabi literary scene by functioning as an impediment to mediation, translation, and recognition. The focus on the nonhuman is not to offer a more robust or precise recognition to Punjab but to disarticulate the very contours of recognition through a focus on the eye.

Dialectical Counterpoints: Luigi Nono and Nanni Balestrini's Collaboration

Abstract This article discusses the relationship between two seminal figures of the 1960s Italian experimental art scene: composer Luigi Nono and neo-avant-garde poet Nanni Balestrini. In particular, it focuses on their collaboration, in 1968, on Contrappunto dialettico alla mente (Dialectical Counterpoint for the Mind), a composition for two-channel magnetic tape based on Adriano Banchieri's 1608 madrigal Contrappunto bestiale alla mente (Bestial Counterpoint for the Mind). On the one hand, this essay provides a contextual analysis of Balestrini's four original poetic texts, which Nono elaborated electronically at the RAI's Studio di Fonologia in Milan. On the other, it demonstrates how the compositional technique used by Nono for Contrappunto dialettico alla mente inspired the later creation of Balestrini's eponymous poem published in 1969. Finally, this article argues for a novel reading of Balestrini's poem as the linguistic attempt at transposing to writing Nono's electronic montage and sound manipulation of the human voice.

Dirty encounters: Pier Paolo Pasolini’s legacy in David Wojnarowicz’s work

One of the last works by celebrated New York artist David Wojnarowicz is a black-and-white photograph of the artist’s face buried in the dirt. The photograph was staged in 1991, less than one year before the artist died of AIDS. Until now, Wojnarowicz’s photograph has been interpreted as the image of a burial, a reference to the artist’s impending death. This article compares Wojnarowicz’s photo to one of the last scenes of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema (1968). The case of (Untitled) Face in Dirt and Teorema indicates the existence of a potentially complex relationship between Wojnarowicz and Pasolini, two queer artists who used provocation and sexual transgression to criticize capitalist society through their work. In this article, this complex relationship is explored to show, on the one hand, the import of Pasolini’s cinematographic and literary work in New York’s underground art scene of the 1980s. On the other, it demonstrates that Wojnarowicz’s last work conveys a positive message about his artistic legacy and future.

The Spanish Lesbian Collective LSD: A Closer Look to Their Video-Essay Retroalimentación (1998)

In 1993, the group LSD (Lesbianas sin duda / Lesbians without a doubt) was created in Madrid. It was a collective of artivists including Itziar Okariz Virginia Villaplana, Fefa Vila, Azucena Vietes, Marisa Maza, and Liliana Couso, among others. They met in the downtown neighbourhood of Lavapiés to publish magazines and fanzines such as Bollozine or Non Grata, dedicated to film, music, photography, and the Spanish queer art scene overall. In addition, they carried out two photographic projects that are already part of the national lesbian imaginary: Es-Cultura lesbiana and Monstruosidades. This collective, which uses artistic channels for activism, takes a model of a community that is no longer a conqueror of rights (liberalism) but rather a destroyer of all aspects of a hierarchical society.
 Queer activism is located at the margins of representation, understood as “an abject margin full of monsters, in which race, class and sex are mixed, ready to come to light and destabilize the dominant discourses" (García, 2016, p. 162). Violence is no longer understood individually but within a social structure. Some of these artists later continued their careers with video actions and performances in public places, exposing their bodies and thus problematising their gender and sexual orientation, as several of them contributed to the visibility of lesbians in Spain at the turn of the century. 
 This article analyses the photographic and collage work of the Spanish lesbian collective LSD, taking as object of study the video essay Retroalimentación (1998), made by the LSD member Virginia Villaplana.

Shatter silence, raise hell and run riot: music and gender in Spain 2018–2021

Gender issues have fortunately become a topic of growing interest in research into contemporary music and artistic scenes. With the aim of obtaining data on the exclusion of gender in the current conditions imposed by COVID-19, the investigation is focused on learning how women in the cultural and artistic sector have offered resistance to the cultural policies that continue to discriminate them. The methodology focal point is geared to examine the issues related to the practices that have condemned women by history and how gender inequalities are expressed in the 21st century. The study’s base is an intersectional sample of 20 female interpreters and professionals of the musical industry in the Spanish territory in different roles and genres: producers, managers, singers, composers and music critics. The answers were drawn first from radio interviews with a qualitative slant during 2018-19 and later in the post COVID scenario in spring of 2021, and organized in three analytical categories: profession, prestige and recognition of women's musical creations/productions and how their representation was portrayed by media/public. The results provided some meanings relevant to the opportunities and careers they could access. Although the arts and culture are women's worlds are pierced by cumulative disadvantages: gender stereotypes, difficulties in reconciling work and family life, objectification and sexual harassment, the conclusions extracted divulge claims in synthony with their own responses: the more i fight, the more i feel alive!; what if women had the power?; and no more twenty feet from stardom.

VISUAL INSIGHTS INTO GRAFFITI AND STREET ART IN RIGA. PHOTOGRAPHS

Graffiti and street art are continuously topical for the cultural space of Latvia. Graffiti and street art are created, exist and vanish in a short period of time, questioning borders of art, its social function, as well as legality. Till now, an unexplored field of study in Latvia has been the necessity and possibilities for the conservation and restoration of graffiti and street art. Photographs taken by Aija Melbārde and Auguste Petre serve as an example of documenting and exposing signs of our time. They also raise questions for reflection – What is the significance of graffiti and street art within the scene of contemporary art? What are the functions of graffiti and street art in society, as social art? What are the aspects of legality of graffiti and street art? What are the issues for conservation and restoration of graffiti and street art? These photographs invite and challenge the audience interested in cultural and artistic expressions and general public to question the valuation and preservation of contemporary cultural heritage. Through exposing graffiti and street art as a significant segment of urban environment, this selection of photographs invites to consider the use of graffiti and street art for diverse purposes – for publicity and attracting tourism, or as a means of communication in urban culture, among other. The present selection of photographs is based on the exhibition that took place at the “Culture Crossroads 2017” scholarly conference in Riga and complemented the transdisciplinary section “Graffiti: challenges for artists, society, and conservators”. For locating visual testimonies of graffiti and street art in Riga, the Street Art Map of Riga is presented as addendum to the present volume.

Antonin Artaud

Antonin Artaud

Theatre without theatres: Investigating access barriers to mediatized theatre and digital liveness during the covid-19 pandemic

In each stage of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have witnessed initiatives that, through digital technologies, have attempted to ensure the presence of theatre and to nurture the relationship with audiences. Our research asks which entry barriers to the artistic field have been strengthened or weakened by implementing theatre initiatives for online audiences and how these initiatives have affected the regional performing arts scene. The study consists of three parts. In the first part, analysis of Italian calls for digital performance projects was carried out to investigate the institutional construction of beneficiaries and imagined audiences. In the second part, we analysed the case of the digital-theatre season MPA - Marche Palcoscenico Aperto. The MPA project provided funding for artists from the Marche region in Italy to realize online performances between February and May 2021. Eleven focus groups were conducted with 41 of the 60 participating companies. In the third phase, four in-depth interviews were conducted with the project's organisers. Findings show how the increased dependence of theatre artists on the artistic system imposed by Covid has simultaneously produced an increase in the collective awareness of the artistic class, but also a stronger distinction between professionalism and amateurism.

PHIBS: Graffiti, Street Art and Engagement

In this article, Graffiti and Street Artist PHIBS reflects on how public art in urban spaces can excite the public imagination about the history and cultural relevance of Street Art. PHIBS discusses his own artistic development and its embeddedness in the Australian Street Art scene, as well as the deep connection to nature and the urban environment that influences and inspires his artistic practice. Drawing on his experience of curating Street Art festivals, he explores the festival medium as a means of creating and communicating knowledge about the social role and meanings of public art.

Risk analysis of biodeterioration in contemporary art collections: the poly-material challenge

• Biodeterioration is one of the most frequent afflictions found in deteriorated art • The artwork itself functions as an ecological niche • Fungi and bacteria are prevalent biodeterioration agents of modern materials • Certain treatments may be the answer for the base material but damage the surface • Biological impact does not decrease despite contemporary material incorporation • A model of action was developed for poly-material contemporary art pieces Biodeterioration is one of the most common alteration factors affecting cultural heritage, and its appearance responds to numerous factors. Awareness of the risk it poses to heritage material and the study of its development is essential. With the mass production evolution of widely accessible materials, the criteria for choosing the constituents of a work of art no longer respond to traditional premises, associating the conservation of these new materials with the flawed expectation of longevity and stable resistance to biological attack. This work aims to update the contemporary preventive conservation practice through the review of the biodeterioration risk of indoor poly-material artworks. It also means analyzing the potential incidence of biological agents deteriorating contemporary materials stored in art collections, characterized by their industrial origin, and frequently used in the pieces produced in the current art scene. Due to their characteristic agglomeration of components, the artistic object is subjected to complicated surveillance and problematic biological control and eradication, which can often be contraindicated for some constituents. The study encompasses four main points that make up the risk review analysis sequence: a brief art history exposition to understand poly-material creative values; a general definition of terms surrounding biodeterioration; a selection of most used contemporary materials and a study of their biodeterioration risks; and the basic preventive conservation considerations regarding biological attacks. The review concludes with a critical analysis of the complicated issue of preventive treatment compatibility, as well as a proposed model of action and consideration towards heritage pieces endangered or affected by biological attacks.

The American Literary Sculptors: A Map of the Roman Studios

This critical account of the art studios of what was once the Roman art district, visited by the Alcott sisters during their stay in Rome in winter 1870-71, casts light on a vivid, cosmopolitan art scene through micro-biographies of the American literary sculptors trained at the school of Thorvaldsen and Canova. Among them, the unprecedented freedom experienced in Rome by the community of American sculptresses led by Charlotte Cushman contributed to their professional emancipation while producing marble representations of their republican and abolitionist values.

“Contiguity” as a process of semiotic lenition in Polish socialist realism art (1949–1953)

This paper investigates one aspect of the socialist enterprise that was imposed on Eastern Europe starting from 1945: the reflection of Marx’s communist ideology in the art of the period. Socrealism was but a brief episode on the Polish artistic scene, spanning only several years of the apogee of Stalinism (1949–1953). The raison d’être of this type of creative output can be circumscribed by two main tenets: (i) utter repudiation of formalism in art and stressing the need of constant vigilance for any traces thereof, and (ii) a conviction of the absolute ideological utilitarianism of art. Our project aims to semiotically inquire into the repercussions of refuting formalism in art and to disambiguate the semiotic mechanisms behind ideologically loaded artistic expression of the period, focusing on the dynamic aspect of semiosis. This will be done using the paradigm of the Tartu-Moscow school of semiotics and tropology in art (Chrzanowska-Kluczewska e.g. 2014). In particular, we will concentrate on the Tartu concepts of entropy, vacuous interlocutor, semiotic transparency and the metaphor-versus-metonymy dyad. The emerging category is contiguity: in Peircean as well as in cognitive terms. The study is informed by materials from the collections of Muzeum Śląska Opolskiego (Museum of Opole Silesia), in particular those presented in the exhibition Sztuka musi być zrozumiała dla mas [Art must be comprehensible for the masses] (Opole, Poland 2012, curator: Joanna Filipczyk) in particular paintings and texts, and by material excerpted from selected issues of the art journal of the period, Przegląd Artystyczny [Art Review] from the years 1949–1953. The study shows that the processes underlying this type of output can be classified as semiotic reduction relying on contiguity.

Expressing the Prolonged Grief Disorder through Face Expression by using Silk Screen

The purpose of the project is to express prolonged grief through facial expressions. Grief is a natural response to loss because it is a universal and singular experience. Art students and academics frequently employed art-based study as a technique and research strategy. This study's methodology includes the processes of artwork analysis, visual data collection, and artwork making. According to the researcher, this study will significantly impact the art scene, especially among printmakers. The outcomes will be implemented in producing artworks incorporating silk screen printing techniques.

Influence of Intermedia in Development of Malaysian Art Scene

Media art has evolved over time. Artists are developing intermedia in their art. It begins in 1950s NYC. The idea of Intermedia has since extended globally. Malaysia's media development is influenced by western Intermedia. Malaysian artists are intermedia experts. This research aims to determine why Malaysian artists use Intermedia and to classify its disciplines. This research was place in studio or online, depending on current conditions. Pandemic, artist demand. This research used library, catalogue, and web sources for data. The data will be analyzed to classify the artists' Intermedia use. Intermedia has diversified into numerous disciplines, and it's still growing.

The Kusama Retrospective and the Future of The Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Abstract Following two years of heavy COVID restrictions, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art opened the “first-ever retrospective in Israel” of the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Beyond the pioneering artist that is the subject of the retrospective and what it says about the Israeli public that is drawn to her work, the exhibition also invites analysis into the restaging of art exhibitions originating in another country, in this case a German museum, with all the implications that such a venture raises in Israel. In breaking down the curatorial modus operandi of restaging a borrowed exhibition designed by the Gropius Bau Museum in Berlin in Tel Aviv, this paper explores the museological craft of restaging exhibitions. In its original conception, the Gropius Bau focused on Kusama’s art “from a European and particularly from a German perspective,” highlighting Kusama’s “influence” on the European art scene during the time she spent in Germany in the late 1960s. The Tel Aviv Museum made significant changes to this scholarly conceptual core, perhaps sensitive to any claim that positioned Berlin as a cosmopolitan city after the Holocaust, by opting for an “affective” visitor experience. The site-specific textuality of this endeavor foregrounds the Tel Aviv Museum’s performance of itself in its twin roles in the nation’s history and its internationalization of the country’s cultural capital. I suggest that the Kusama exhibition reflects a new direction for the broader practices of art curatorship in the oldest art museum in the country.