Thursday, May 19, 2011

week 7- Industrialisation and Cao Fei's RMB City

Dynamism of a dog on a Leash (1912) Giacomo Balla

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?
The Industrial Revolution was the period from 18th century to the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution was a period in which fundamental changes occurred in agriculture, textile and metal manufacture, transportation, economic policies and the social structure in England. This started in United Kingdom, and then next spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually 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.
 
On the first painting it has used the shape of cylinder and rounded figures are painted. The elements are realistic and it has presented building, and the space is still rendered through perspective. The most of the space is filled with men and the horses and it gives dynamic effort. In the painting the warm colours have been used so the subject matter looks like it’s moving and it has motion. Also the different brightness of colour looks like the figures are moving.
 
In the second painting person with a dog has a look of the person and the dog is moving. The small shadow look of brush stroke helps the figures are in walking situation. The dog leash and dog feet and tail and small detail of the ear is painted you cant see it clearly. The artists painted moving parts are burly to help us think it is actually in moving situation.
Cao Fei's RMB City (2007-9) refers to China's recent rapid industialisation and urbanization.
(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 what images has she used in her digital collage that refer to China's present and history, and why has she used these.
 
In her digital collage she have used panda, china flag, busy and tall Asian buildings, fire/smoke, aircraft, a huge bicycle wheel, transport and I think on red circle on yellow word is Chinese. As a laboratory for investigations in art, design, architecture, cinema, politics, economy, society, and beyond, RMB City is constantly nourished by new and innovative projects, and supported by leading international art institutions and networks. The model of avant- grade urban planning, it traverses the boundaries between past and future, real and virtual to link China and the cosmopolitan contemporary 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.
The word Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The place where everything is perfect and the term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in literature. The idea of dystopia is warning society that if we continue to live how we do, this will be the consequence. The meaning of dystopia is basically opposite to utopia.

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.

The similarities I think in between this art works are 2paintings and RMB City are 2 modernist painting is 2D and RMB City is 3D but the idea of these works are all in motion. They all try to give the same effects of the movement.


6. Comment on other student's blogs.
 
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html
http://www.britannica.com/facts/5/150132/The-City-Rises-as-discussed-in-Umberto-Boccioni-Italian-painter
www.artspace.org.nz/exhibitions/2009/cafeintopia.asp
www.artchive.com/artchive/B/boccioni/boccioni_city.jpg.html
www.artchive.com/artchive/B/balla.html 
vimeo.com/4272260

6 comments:

  1. I like the image you have used in your blog for Cao Fei’s RMB city. I find it interesting how the artist has used the ideas of both utopia and dystopia because like you said they are opposites and I think from this angle you can see more clearly the elements of both. Dystopia is seen by the fire and the sunken ship in this image and I think the colours of the city such as the candy stripes and the balloons give the feeling of a utopia.

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  2. I think Gao Fei has well represented utopia by her explanation in China’s background in the computer digitalized world. Especially, she cut and pasted clips from the artificial utopia created by videos of Fei’s architectural dreamscapes. I can feel her unrealistic utopia between virtual and real worlds. For example, the swimming pool of the Tiananmen seems to express adroit freedom between a virtual city and a real city. The Tiananmen Square is still a power icon of the communism from both of the liberalization and economy of China. I think she has achieved a position to be the leader of a contemporary visual artist in china that shows the utopia about the closed world. China is quickly becoming to an industrialization society so some of her architectural dreamscapes are realistic and some are unrealistic.

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  3. I agree with you that The model of avant- grade urban planning, it traverses the boundaries between past and future, real and virtual to link China and the cosmopolitan contemporary world.
    The Industrial Revolution was a period in which fundamental changes occurred in agriculture, textile and metal manufacture, transportation, economic policies and the social structure ,but It also has the opposite side,The idea of dystopia is full of ugly and unfortunate land.Material civilization and spiritual civilization, flooding than rely on material, spirit spirit of controlled by material, the human spirit in the highly developed technology social and no true freedom.

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  4. I agree with Gemma, the way you defined utopia and dystopia being the opposites of one another is interesting. Looking at Fei's work "RMB City" I see it in more of a utopia kind of way but acually standing there and thinking about it, I sense dystopia feel to it. Its almost to good to be true, making an ideal society within a country so its perceived as some sort of dreamscape to the viewers.

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  5. I think you have correct understanding of utopia and dytopia and applied it to Cao Fei's RMB City.
    "The word Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system." And Dytopia has the opposite meaning. The work shows both great dy/utopias . They are obviously found in the work. Colours more like utopia and Dystopia is found by the fire and the sunken ship.

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  6. In your blog you identified what the art work was about and explained it well so that its easy to understand. I also fully agree with you that in the art works they all depict movement and how the change in society has effected the artist works and how they have changed the process and outcome of how their art work was formed.

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