Some missed bits but a lot of enjoyment!

Had a lecture today and I have to say I am definitely getting the hang of most of the terminology now. I have a couple of tasks I need to fullfil which I missed out in the last post and also a few things that I learned today!

SO! Post-modernism.

Angela McRobbie's "Postmodernism and Popular Culture" states that "...postmodernity as a space for social change and political transformation"

I think that this quote is important because it subtly offers the idea that Post-modernism is a free space where people or artists etc can experiment with pushing the 'truths' they have been taught culturally and testing the boundaries.

This here is an advert for the fashion brand Dolce and Gabbana from Vogue's September 2009

The picture here is supposed to advertise fashion, however, none of these items that the models are wearing are for sale. All of the clothes are made form soft furnishings such as pillows etc. This advert is no longer about telling you what is for sale (having its traditional use) but rather its about selling you an emotion or mindset. Death of the author means that we take what we want from the image rather than being told what this is about. Because culturally (for Westerners) this art nouveaux style of house (austere living) is associated with wealth and status we then assume that by owning something by this brand, we ourselves will accrue wealth and status by association.

Production and Reproduction

The industrial revolution seemed to create a mass paradigm shift within our society that stems literally from the invention of steam power. It is commonly agreed that the Industrial Revolution was the start of the modern society.

Because steam power was invented, there was an increased rate of printing and information as well as quicker transportation. Therefor art was easily printed en mass and transported even faster and further. Things began circulating a lot quicker and people became more knowledgeable as a result.

Industry became more large scale (mining, textiles, farming etc) so people upped sticks and moved to large cities to find work and left rural living. Lots of people became unemployed as a result of a job needing 20 people only needing 1 and a machine now.

Birth of Consumer Culture

People had more time now that machines were making the products they had to usually make by hand themselves so leisure activities were born and leisure time. So people began to consume more. They didn't have to make a chair themselves because they could buy one from a factory that could make hundreds quicker. Eventually though, factories  companies started to make similar or the same products and this was the birth of packaging and advertising. This was to distinguish between two creators of the same product e.g. Two people making soap who have different packages to tell the consumer which brand of soap they are using.

This gave rise to the birth of the "designer" i.e. the distinction between those who operated the machines and those who determined/ designed what came out of those machines.

Capitalism

No more value was placed in skills but was instead based on how much money you had. Value of self was now based o amount of property and wealth NOT on your land and titles.

This gave rise to CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION. This meant people began shopping for items so that others would see them with those items e.g. buying a Gucci bag to make people think that you have a lot of money.

Flaneur - someone who shops to be seen shopping.

Modernity saw a persons identity beig defined bu what they consumed e.g. you are a girly girl if you buy anything pink.

NOW! Considering artwork, reflecting back on postmodernism and modernism, Walter Benjamin spoke about the 'Aura of Artwork' which was the meaning of the artwork and the value that was placed on it through time. An object would gain more 'life' depending on how much attention it accrued but also as it value increased (The Mona Lisa for example).

Andre Malraux spoke about "The Museum Without Walls" which was a comment on the reproduciton and distribution of images. We are constantly able to view famous paintings on the internet and yet we may never see the origonal in its physical state where it was origonally intneded to be viewed. This is artwork you recognise because you have seen a picture etc but that you have ever seen e.g. I have a poster of Vincent Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' but I have never been in the presense of the origonal painting.

He also talked about Decontextualisation which is found when taking art from its original setting and using it in a different form e.g. A painting of Jesus in a church is accepted as religious iconography that means a certain thing and it would be looked upon in reverence. If that painting was then put onto a dress in a country where Christianity was not practiced, it would to have the same meaning.