Contemporary Artworks Research Articles

Relational Aesthetics Through Islamic Calligraphy Workshop

Malay calligraphy is known as Jawi and is a form of writing that is less popular compared to other modern writings such as those already listed in the font selection on students' computers. Therefore, Jawi workshop was held at the Fine Arts Studies, College of Creative Arts, MARA University of Technology for 77 students of the 3rd semester who enrolled Form and Soul course. The first objective is to introduce and further strengthen the writing skills of traditional Malay writing with the theme of 'knowledge'. Secondly, the whole activity of the workshop is to establish relational aesthetic form where the facilitator and students interact directly during the demonstration and practice throughout the workshop. The theoretical concept of knowledge involved the theme, selection of phrases related to knowledge, transformation of Roman writing into Jawi spelling, and identifying calligraphy styles. The students also been introduced to several artists who applied Jawi elements in contemporary artworks. Mumtaz Caligraphy set helps the creations of beautiful Jawi calligraphy letters, the arrangement of the lines, the decoration and composition of the letters and also the layout through the assistance of Associated Prof. Dr Nor Azlin Hamidon and her teammates. Relational aesthetics artwork successfully unites traditional elements and contemporary forms into a meaningful artistic creation and beneficial art for society.

Visual arts: imagining a shanzhai city in twenty-first century China

Since 1978, China has experienced an unprecedented urban and economic growth under the central government's imperative to become a global power. Whereas the central government aimed to showcase its success through ambitious infrastructure projects, distinctive skylines, and spectacular waterfronts, local officials pursued this national goal through the construction of copycats, gated communities, and theme parks and towns. From miniature Eiffel Towers and extravagant residential units to entire themed villages, local authorities and real estate developers have integrated local and global milieus as a quick-fix to upgrade the urban experience and satisfy the taste of the Chinese middle class. Despite the extensive literature in the fields of architecture, urban and social studies, the role of visual arts in the analysis of this unique urban practice has not been explored yet. Hence, this article fulfils the gap by investigating what I refer to as shanzhai (copycats) places in Mainland China through their second-hand representations in the contemporary artworks by Xiang Liqing, Zhang Peili, Hu Jieming, and Yang Yuanyuan. Through qualitative, empirical visual analysis, fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with selected artists, I explore the overlaps between visual arts and these urban phenomena to identify the dynamics and urban actors involved in space-making and suggest that private estates, copycats, and theme parks and towns do not oppose the official narrative; rather, they are localised interpretations of the national dream. Against the dominant practice of building spectacular cities, this article explores how the city could be envisioned and reproduced in the future through the selected artistic practices.

Reading and writing in n-dimensional face space

Abstract This manuscript begins with a brief introduction that establishes the theoretical background, followed by a tripartite unfolding that explains the following contents: 1) the path from point zero as a plurimorphic space of semiotic tranquility; 2) the historical trajectory of physiognomy and pathognomy suggestions; and 3) new biometric readings and the digital face. We postulate the neutral state of the face and see a possible manifestation of it in the tranquility illustration and theorization by Le Brun. Together with the passive face recounted by Magli, these are some of the static aspects of that space called the face, full of signs that write and compose it and allow its physiognomic reading. Degree zero, the pre-signal null point from which interpretation originates, determines the semiotic potential of the face, and the expressions of the emotions become the key to pathognomy studies, in their historical-cultural variants. We will then see how, in today’s highly technological and mediatized society, there are new biometric manifestations linked to the digital face. From the Bertillonage of the early 1900s, we conclude with a work of contemporary art that critically revisits the same approach.

Polymers in contemporary art objects at the Art Gallery of New South Wales: a study using infrared spectroscopy

The common occurrence of polymer-based objects in museum and gallery collections means that conservators and curators require a knowledge of the polymer composition used in order to best address the care of an object. Polymer-based artworks can be examined and characterised using infrared spectroscopy. In this study, a variety of polymers from contemporary artworks in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales were examined using this technique. In addition to providing guidance on polymer components, the findings of this study have demonstrated the importance of the identification of additives in the formulation of the polymer systems employed by artists. Additives including fillers, plasticisers and processing agents present in appreciable concentrations in commercial polymers, complicate the interpretation of the infrared spectra of these materials. The findings of this collaborative study contribute to a growing resource of information on polymers in heritage collections.

Intermedialities as Sociopolitical Assemblages in Contemporary Art

This article is an introductory essay to the Special Issue “A Comparative Study of Media in Contemporary Visual Art”. It starts with a short overview of the terminological discussion about intermediality as a concept and its relationship with medialities with other prefixes—such as mixed, intra-, multi-, and transmedialities. So far, intermediality has been discussed less by art historians than by literary scholars. This introductory essay argues that critical analysis of intermediality in contemporary artworks may offer additional insights for investigation of the issues addressed in these artworks. The case studies in this Special Issue underscore this view. As a kind of kick-off, the second part of this essay includes a short case study that focuses on two artworks by the Lebanese artist Rabih Mroué in order to provide insight into how intermedial relations can act as metaphors for the sociopolitical relations addressed in his artworks. Applying philosopher Manuel DeLanda’s “assemblage theory”, philosopher Edward S. Casey’s concept of “absorptive mapping”, and anthropologist Tim Ingold’s view of living beings as consisting of a bundle of lines facilitates the highlighting of the sociopolitical aspects of intermediality in Mroué’s artworks.

A Thermal Analytical Study of LEGO® Bricks for Investigating Light-Stability of ABS.

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) is a thermoplastic polymer widely used in several everyday life applications; moreover, it is also one of the most employed plastics in contemporary artworks and design objects. In this study, the chemical and thermal properties of an ABS-based polymer and its photo-degradation process were investigated through a multi-analytical approach based on thermal, mass spectrometric and spectroscopic techniques. LEGO® building blocks were selected for studying the ABS properties. First, the composition of unaged LEGO® bricks was determined in terms of polymer composition and thermal stability; then, the bricks were subjected to UV-Vis photo-oxidative-accelerated ageing for evaluation of possible degradation processes. The modifications of the chemical and thermal properties were monitored in time by a multi-technique approach aimed at improving the current knowledge of ABS photodegradation, employing pyrolysis online with gas chromatography and evolved gas analysis, coupled with mass spectrometric detection (Py-GC-MS and EGA-MS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and corroborated by external reflection FT-IR spectroscopy. The multimodal approach provided new evidence on the two-step degradation pathway proposed for ABS, defining molecular markers for polybutadiene oxidation and styrene-acrylonitrile depolymerization. Moreover, the results highlighted the feasibility of correlating accurate compositional and thermal data acquired by bulk techniques with external reflection FT-IR spectroscopy as a non-invasive portable tool to monitor the state of conservation of plastic museum objects in-situ.

The use of restored monuments for the exhibition of contemporary artworks: where is (preventive) conservation?

The use of restored monuments for the exhibition of contemporary artworks: where is (preventive) conservation?

Daten, Atmosphären, Texte – Künstlerische Erfahrungsräume und Virtualisierungen des Literarischen

Daten, Atmosphären, Texte<b> – Künstlerische Erfahrungsräume und Virtualisierungen des Literarischen</b>

30 years of Conserving the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

This paper is the result of a collaborative effort that investigates the practice of contemporary art conservation at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Brisbane. Our research has been shaped by our active participation in the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) over the past three decades. Through interviews with QAGOMA conservators and gallery colleagues, we have identified the influences of the APT on our workflows. These influences have led to the emergence of areas of challenge, such as the logistics of artwork shipping, integrated pest management, collaboration with artists, preparation of artworks for display, considerations of scale, complexities of conserving contemporary art, and the evolution of documentation systems. The lessons learned from these challenges, as illustrated through case studies, provide valuable reference to other practitioners caring for contemporary artworks.

Resisting Ex-Appropriation: Artistic Remains at Times of Environmental Instability

With rapidly spreading extractive practices on a global scale, the amount of residue generated raises the question of waste management and economic externalities. Are humans, and most crucially the Earth, equipped to welcome such an exponentially increasing quantity of restants? Artworks, as inexhaustible in their readings, are congenial to this idea of irreducible remains. In this paper, I argue Derrida’s treatment of remains might provide a waste-based approach to ecocriticism which, in turns, can be leveraged to articulate an insightful reading of some artworks in times of extractive overconsumption and environmental destabilisation. Lee Bae’s Issu du feu (2000) and House of Moon (2014), Emerson Pontes’s Mil Quase Mortos: Boiúna, and Rochelle Goldberg’s Cannibal Actif (2018) are three contemporary artworks that directly challenge those externalities by explicitly engaging with remains ranging from charcoal, human-made waste and oil. Through a formal analysis of these artworks and a close reading of Derrida’s Feu la cendre, ‘Biodegradables Seven Diary Fragments,’ and the seminars Manger l’autre and Rhétorique du cannibalisme, it appears that eco-deconstruction is perhaps above all a matter of engaging with the structure of remains.

Our Photographs, Old and New

Private and family photographs are our most personal images taken at significant events of our lives. We used to put these photos into albums or just kept them in boxes without specific orders, and we only opened up these personal archives when we wanted to share our memories and stories with family members or close friends. These common habits regarding how we take and share private photos have changed a lot due to the digital turn, the increasing number of digital cameras, and the broadening usage of the Internet and social media platforms. Archives are often places of safeguarding memories, places that make us remember and places of preservation. However, in recent years, the questions related to them and the archiving methods are mostly focused on how digitization has transformed them. The varying ways and effects of technical image usage caused by the technological boom are some of the most characteristic and defining elements of our times. In my paper titled Our Photographs, Old and New, I examine — through a contemporary artwork by Gergely Barcza — how private photography practices and private photo archives have changed in the last decades.

Artistic, Commercial, and Confessional Exchanges between Venetian Crete and Western Europe: The Multiple Lives of an Icon of the Virgin and Child from Harvard Art Museums

In the collections of the Harvard Art Museums there is an icon of the Virgin and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Roch. Although a typical product of Cretan icon painting of the turn of the sixteenth century, the icon stands out from similar contemporary artworks due to its unusual subject matter and materiality. The iconographic analysis of the icon places it at the intersection of the Latin and Byzantine traditions and suggests that it was intended as a votive offering against the plague, featuring one of the earliest depictions of the anti-plague saint, Roch of Montpellier in Eastern Orthodox art. Examination of the verso of the icon further underscores the Western European associations of the panel. The presence of an elaborate incised design on the back side of the icon suggests that the wooden panel originated from a reused piece of furniture, in all probability, a fifteenth-century Italian chest. With this case study as a point of reference, this article discusses the commercial, artistic, and cross-confessional exchanges that took place in the ethnically and culturally pluralistic societies of Venice and its Mediterranean colonies, including the trans-confessional spread of cults, the dissemination of artistic trends, as well as the mutual transfer of artworks and objects of prestige, such as icons and chests.

The Intersection of Fine Art and Graphic Design: An Analysis of Contemporary Artists and Designers Blurring the Line between Art and Design

In recent years, there has been an increasing trend of contemporary artists and designers blurring the line between fine art and graphic design, leading to a fascinating intersection of the two fields. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of this intersection by exploring the works of selected contemporary artists and designers who have integrated fine art principles into their graphic design practices. Through an analysis of their approaches and techniques, this paper demonstrates how these artists and designers have challenged traditional notions of design and art and created a new aesthetic language that bridges the gap between the two fields. By comparing the visual language and aesthetics of fine art and graphic design in their works, this paper highlights how the boundaries between the two fields have become increasingly blurred, leading to new forms of creative expression. This paper further examines the impact of this intersection on the art and design industry, including its influence on design trends and practices and its impact on the perception of design as a field and its status in the art world. By analysing the advantages and limitations of integrating fine art into graphic design, this paper provides insight into the benefits and challenges of this trend and its potential implications for the future of the industry. This paper contributes to understanding the intersection of fine art and graphic design by exploring its impact on the contemporary art and design landscape and providing a framework for further exploration and integration of fine art principles in graphic design. By highlighting the work of contemporary artists and designers who have pushed the boundaries of traditional design and art, this paper showcases the exciting possibilities that arise from this intersection and offers a glimpse into the future of the art and design industry. In recent years, there has been a growing tendency of modern artists and designers to blur the barrier between fine art and graphic design, leading to a fascinating confluence of the two areas. This has resulted in a fascinating junction of the two fields. This article presents an in-depth investigation of this confluence by examining the works of a selection of modern artists and designers who have incorporated fine art concepts into their graphic design methods. These artists and designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds. This article explains how a group of artists and designers have challenged traditional concepts of design and art and how they have built a new aesthetic language that bridges the gap between the two areas through a study of the methods and techniques that the group has utilized. This article highlights how the boundaries between the fields of fine art and graphic design have become increasingly blurred, leading to new forms of creative expression by comparing the visual language and aesthetics of fine art and graphic design in the works of both fields' respective practitioners. In this article, we investigate the impact that this junction has had on the art and design sector, including its influence on design trends and practices and its impact on how people see design as a discipline and its position in the art world. This study offers insight into the benefits and problems of this trend, as well as the possible consequences it may have for the future of the industry, by analysing the advantages and constraints of incorporating fine art into graphic design. This paper contributes to the understanding of the intersection of fine art and graphic design by examining the impact that intersection has had on the landscape of contemporary art and design and by providing a framework for further exploration of the intersection and incorporating fine art principles into graphic design. This article highlights the work of contemporary artists and designers who have pushed the boundaries of traditional art and design to demonstrate the exciting possibilities arising from these two fields. It also provides a glimpse into the future of the art and design industry.

Reflection of Migration Phenomenon on Contemporary Artworks

Reflection of Migration Phenomenon on Contemporary Artworks

African Vernacular Symbols of Black Intersex Children in Sinethemba Ngubane's Installations (2007-2016)

African Vernacular Symbols of Black Intersex Children in Sinethemba Ngubane's Installations (2007-2016)

Public art as a sociological phenomenon of the urban artistic environment

The object of the study is contemporary works of public art installed in Russia and Europe. The subject of the study is the development trends of various forms of Western and Russian public art in its relationship with the urban environment. The purpose of the article is to analyze public art projects presented in the USA, Western Europe and Russia, determining their place in the urban space and their impact on public consciousness. Since this study is interdisciplinary in nature, its methodology involves the use of an integrated approach. In the work on the article, the methods of modern art history were used, aimed at theoretical and art criticism understanding of the period of development of the public art phenomenon. One of the key research methods was a sociocultural analysis, in which the author of the article examines the features of the relationship between Western and Russian public art works with the urban environment, revealing the patterns of their historical development and the reasons for their actualization in the space of a modern city. The semiotic method made it possible to interpret public art objects in terms of their meanings and cultural patterns, which are significant for the construction of urban space. The research materials have theoretical and practical significance and can be used in the preparation of lecture courses, scientific research, publication of materials for art historians, cultural experts, historians and philosophers involved in the study of the phenomenon of public art. Considering public art in a historical and cultural context using the works of American, European and Russian artists as an example, he proves that art objects installed in city blocks are part of the modern urban environment and, having fit into the broad context of visual art, coexist in union with urban design and national the specifics of the region. But if public art in the West tries to solve the material problems of citizens, then Russian artists working in the style of public art strive to create an atmosphere of intellectual development and emotional experience.

Analysis of thermally and UV-Vis aged plasticized PVC using UV-Vis, ATR-FTIR and Raman spectroscopy.

The stability of plasticized poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC-P) stored under indoor conditions, despite it being in commercial use for more than 80years, hasn't been sufficiently experimentally examined, as documented in available works on PVC-P stability. With the increasing number of actively deteriorating priceless modern and contemporary artworks made of PVC-P, there is a growing need for studies dealing with the analysis of changing characteristics of PVC-P during its aging under indoor conditions. This work addresses these issues by designing PVC-P formulations, drawing on the available information on technology of PVC production and PVC compounding from the last century, and analyzing the changes in the characteristic properties of model samples made from the designed PVC-P formulations exposed to accelerated UV-Vis and thermal aging using UV-Vis, ATR-FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. The results of our study further expand the knowledge regarding the stability of PVC-P and the benefits of using non-destructive, non-invasive spectroscopic methods of analysis for monitoring changes in PVC-P characteristic properties induced by aging.

Image Technologies and Visual Methodologies: Reflections, Experimentations, and Future Redirections

More images have been made and circulated in the last decade than in all of the 20th century. This is a startling yet obvious fact that illustrates the central role that images have come to play in contemporary life. However, technological changes in image-based practices have outpaced methodological responses to these transformations. In this article, I reflect on some of the drastic transformations that have occurred over the last two decades within the realm of image-making, image-circulation, and image-engagement. I ask: How are emerging tools and practices of image-making and image-circulation shifting how we understand and use visual methodologies? How might an engagement with the works of contemporary artists offer insight into methodological concerns and offer possible methodological responses? To answer these questions, I place artistic works in conversation with scholars who address methodological concerns. I focus on two key aspects of image-based practices: the nature and structure of cameras, and the form of the image alongside the modalities of engaging, circulating, and analyzing images. In each area, I identify a focal artist and a scholar whose work(s) can respond to emergent concerns. Through this dialogue, this article brings to light emergent concerns for scholars interested in engaging with visual methodologies.

Los neoliberarchivos de Teresa Margolles

In Lote Bravo (2005), What Else Could We Talk About? Cleaning (2009), and Irrigation (2010), contemporary Mexican artist Teresa Margolles exposes and denounces the política de negación, or politics of denial, that conceals or disregards the violence and the precarious conditions that define life along the US border in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Here, neoliberal rationality has empowered a corrupt political and economic class to sanction behavior that favors profit over life and creates a culture of fear and death. To investigate Margolles’s confrontational approach and her recurring engagement with this border city, or “cyclical border encounters,” I adopt the concept of neoliberarchivos, defined as contemporary artworks that act as anti-neoliberalist counterarchives, rendering visible the exercise of violence upon bodies as seen in the feminicidios, masculinicidios, and juvenicidios that have occurred for the last three decades on the border. In the form of installation, sculpture, video art, site-specific artworks, and performance, the neoliberarchivos document and display marginalized knowledge and contest official rhetoric. The neoliberarchivos of Teresa Margolles exemplify a significant trend in global contemporary art that seeks to destabilize hegemonic economic and power structures dominant at the border through a counterarchival impulse.

Музыкальное семиотическое пространство в современном художественном тексте (по материалам Национального корпуса русского языка)

The study is devoted to the analysis of the implementation of the music semiotic space in a modern literary text and is carried out on the basis of the Russian National Corpus, which records the works of fiction of the last two decades. The objectives of the study were to identify language units that represent the music semiotic space in a literary text; define their main functions; establish the symbolism of music in contemporary works of art. It is noted that the music semiotic space is closely connected with the culture of the society, it is an integral and important part of it, the basis for understanding what is happening in the semiotics of music. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the appeal to the units of music semiotic space as components of a literary text, important for the authors to translate cultural meanings, emotions, aesthetics, psychological characteristics of the heroes of the works. It was revealed that when the units of the music semiotic space perform informational and emotional functions, their semiotic significance is minimal, while their main functions in semiotic terms are aesthetic, expressive (emotional), psychological. Moreover, the image of a musical phenomenon is usually combined with a description of that strong impression (up to transformation of personality, feelings, behavior), which it has on the hero of the book. In addition, it is noted that the components of the semiotic music space actualize their symbolic, aesthetic, emotional functions when used in comparisons and metaphors, including conceptual ones. For the authors of modern works of art, it is important to depict the world as sounding, filled with music, which forms a common cultural space for the author and readers, indicates the unity of their cultural codes.