THe TIMe of ExPLorATiOn

FoRM aND fUnCTiOn

2004-12-03T01:33:00.000-08:00

As the Weimar era was moving away from the expressionist movement new objectivity came about. Along with new objectivity was the concept of form and function. This to me is one of the most unique concepts as it is something that surrounds our world and everyday life. The Bauhaus School had mandate for form and function. This was something that they were very focused on creating. Not only must it look good but also they’re always had to be reasoning for the reason it looked the way that it did. An example of this is the cradle, which we saw in lecture. While it looked very modern and unique it was in fact a cradle and could be used for a baby. Form and function and New Objectivity were movements that were concerned with getting away from creating art for arts sake. Everything needs to serve a purpose.Today we see this in all areas of art and design. For example, most appliances and utensils being sold in stores are all very sleek looking but they are like that for a reason so that they may be gripped and held easier. Clothes are another example of form and function. People want clothing that looks good around their figure but also but also will keep them at a good temperature or will allow them to move. Most of the new Nike sportswear is focused on the form and the function of articles of clothing allowing the athlete to move and run fast speeds. The Nike clothing not only looks sleek and cutting edge but there is a purpose and that is higher performance. That is the case with form and function. The Bauhaus was always looking for ways to improve the quality and performance of their art.

BrEChT aNd ThE ViSIoN

2004-12-02T23:53:00.000-08:00

Not only were the visual arts being explored during the Weimar era but also so were the performing arts. The Weimar era was a very important point of growth for the theatre and one of the leading men in this era was Bertolt Brecht. While Piscador was the father of epic theatre Brecht was also another very important man in the formation of this form of art. As we learned in November 5th's lecture Brecht envisioned a brand new type of theatre with regards to lighting, writing, music, and staging. This was Brecht's vision, which would become epic theatre.Another part of Brecht's theatre was something known as VERFREMDUNGSEFFECT. This term is also known as alienation, which means making something familiar become strange and unknown. The process of making something known, unfamiliar was known as the V - Effect. Alienation was the concept of making the world so unknown to the audience that it would become know to them or they would walk out, which is what some people did. The V-effect was created by ways such as speaking in 3rd person, speaking in the past tense and also by speaking the subtext. Brecht’s vision was to create an entirely new world for the audience in which to transform and change them.Not only is Brecht's vision still being used today but also his plays are still being performed to this day. This year York's final show is Life of Galileo by Brecht. Brecht's idea of theatre of creating an entire new world is the basis of most plays. The playwright is aiming to compel a message by creating a world of characters and setting that is so different from ours that we become apart of that world as we allow our hearts to be touched by the world of the play. A song like Mack the Knife is an example of the universality and the appeal of his work. This song has been sung and performed by so many different artists.Brecht is truly and amazing artist whose vision still lives on until today.

ObSESseD WiTH CoNTroL

2004-12-02T23:05:00.000-08:00

As the Weimar era grew artists became more experimental with their art. While the works had always had an undertone of propaganda as the N party grew there was zero tolerance for this type of work. The Social Nationalist party had become so obsessed with power that they created a manifesto stating what was and was not allowed to be created. Rulings such as no box like buildings were to be built, all unapproved sculptures should be removed and destroyed, and artists with Marxist and Bolshust connections should not be mentioned were included in the manifesto. In my opinion this is completely absurd and I am honestly sickened by the constraints and bondage these artists were under. I am also baffled by how there was such a lack of appreciation for the beautiful work these artists created.Not only were there restrictions to what was allowed to be displayed and what was to be built but then art became separated between good and bad. In order for art to be considered good it had to follow the classical style of muscular and perfect forms not only this but all the figures had to be in desirable positions. Bad art was that which contained woman in vulgar stances, unnatural colouring of the painting and if it had any hint of political propaganda.Goebbels was German power head who in may of 1933 made a public address discussing new objectivity guarantying freedom of the arts. This speech however was a lie. Goebbels was a nationalist he would do anything to make his country look good and as the rest of the world excepted modern art he to said that he accepted it.Today this sort of attitude can be seen in real life through the whole idea of censorship and what is right and what it is wrong. While are world has become more accepting of art and more liberal of what is accepted there are still rules that have been set out to galleries about certain issues. This whole idea of the "defect can also be seen countless times in literature with books such as the Chrysalides by John Wyndim. This book is about a society, which has no place for humans with defects in fact; they are cast to a wasteland. Another example is the movie Pleasantville
where every thing is perfect but once things become less pleasant the town becomes on edge they begin to burn and get ride of all the literature and things that they think are corrupting their city. This is like the Weimar era in that 17000 works were burnt in a fire and countless others were destroyed and it was all so that the N party could maintain a the control and power they were obsessed with.

CuT wiTh THe KiTcHEn kNiFe

2004-12-02T20:01:00.000-08:00

hannah hoch

DeGErATivE ArT EXhiBiT!

2004-12-01T16:46:00.000-08:00

One event of the Weimar era discussed in lecture, which I found particularly interesting, was the Degenerate Art exhibit, which opened July 19th 1937 in Munich. The day before another exhibit open which included positive and accepted art. At this point in time the N party had taken over and the social and cultural stability was beginning to waver. This Degenerate exhibit was culminated of all the modern and "negative" art which had been taken out off all the museums in Germany because they did not fit into confines of what was considered to be positive or good art. One ironic fact that we learned in lecture was that some artists had their works in both galleries. The positive art Exhibit was held in a beautiful and grand scale building while the Degenerate exhibit was held in a small and rather dirties venue. Another fact that which I found so exciting was that more people flocked to the degenerate art than they did the Positive art Gallery. The Weimar society was looking for new and edgy works as they were always exploring. In 1937 more than 17000 pieces of modern artwork had been thrown away.Now days there are many artists whose work might be scene as radical and negative. While our society might be more accepting than the N party and certain individuals were of modern art, there are still some artists and styles of art, which could be, named negative. Photographers such as Terry Richardson have truly pushed some people's buttons with his latest collection of photos (While I would like to show his art it would be too explicit). His photographs are very edgy, as they have exposed him in different "undesirable positions". Many people's reactions were that Richardson’s work was not art. Some people claimed that he was pushing the boundaries of art. This concept is true and can be seen in the Weimar Era when men like Goebbels claimed art degenerate because it had people in undesirable positions. However like today, Weimar society loved the new and edgy. Other reasons that art was claimed degenerate were that some art did not follow classical style or the colours were not right. Today more people embrace art and are waiting for the next new shocking work. It is unfortunate that the higher power in the Weimar era was so obsessed with power and control.

PhOto mONtAgE

2004-12-01T16:27:00.000-08:00

One very influental form of visual art was Photomontage. Many students have found this concept very interesting and have decided to discuss this. I too find photomontage a very interesting concept. On October 22nd the Dr. Wickens told us that photomontage was a collision of fragments coming together to create a uniform theme. Not only are the images important but it is also how they are placed and situated on the canvas. In the reading Mass Media, Modernism, and the Avant-Garde I learned that photomontage was not only a unique and revolutionary form of art but its purpose was to cross the boundaries and adress the contemporary social issues. Not only did photmontage speak to social issues but it also "expanded the visual perception"(pg45). Through photomontage one would have mulitiple view points which was not possible with our own eyes. I think that this is so exciting to experience more in one picture than you could in a certain amount of time. The whole idea of capturing time is so amazing. An example of photo montage can be seen above. This particular piece is by Hannah Hoch and is called Cut with the Kitchen Knife.
Photomontage is a unversial art form as it carried on through to modern day. There has to be at least one photomontage in every magazine we read. The new print adds for Hewlett Packard the photo company have used photomontage as they have many separate images coming together to give a unifed look and theme(these particular print adds are in many magazines this season).
I would have to say that photomontage is one of my favourite styles of art. All through high school I did projects like this and did not know that I was creating photomontage. Photomontage is an art form that will live on as it is always adressing the current issues in society.

NEw ObJEcTIVItY AND The MOvIES

2004-11-30T09:34:00.000-08:00

New Objectivity was a movement that was applied to all art forms including flm art. From the readings and the lectures it seems that out of all the art forms film was the form that took the longest to develop into the new objectivity confines. Before New Objectivity was expressionism and movies such as "The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari", were created in the Expressionst style. New Objectivity for the cinema meant that the artists were looking for more realistic stories and locations, and they were looking for ways to enhance the quality of the filming. If it were not for the Neue Sachlichkeit movement in film I fear that we would be very far behind in our movie making. New Objectivity was exploration and that exploration is evident today with film artist who continue to push the boundaries with movies such as Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine and Farenheit 911 which push the boundaries not only style but also with the political edge. The New Objectivity movement explored the idea of Documentary and in 2004 this has been the new crase. The Movie Berlin Symphony of a city by is an example of a Weimar Documentary and also montage which is a very effective art form that is used countlessly throughout film today. A Contemporary example is the movie Traffic with its use of different camera colour washes and locations are an example of the montage aspect. New Objectivity film was an art form that was really still forming and was very young. It is quite incredible to look back and see the the formation of this art and how it has effected today's movie making.

THIS THING CALLED NEW OBJECTIVITY!

2004-11-29T20:30:00.000-08:00

Also known as "Neue Sachlichkeit"(new matter-of-factness), New Objectivity is an aspect of the Weimar era that gives me great intrest. For the most part it is because it is not the easiest concept to understand and is an idea that really made me think. The best definition I can formulate from the readings and from the lectures it that New Objectivity was an art movement which happened during the Weimar Era. Neue Sachlichkeit took place during a time of stability in the 1920s and was trying to move away from the expressionist view of things and presenting objects for what they were. For example during lecture Dr. Wickens put a chair on the table and explained that this was just a chair and that the New Objective was to look at it as just a chair and not to go deep into the meaning and expression of the chair. Where something from the expressionist era would be "dynamic". The new objective would be "static". New objectivity had a colder way of looking at objects. New Objectivty was looking at everyday objects and unpretentious subjects. Today we see this in all forms of art. In visual art we see very modern pieces that maybe have just a few lines but we take the piece for what it is. In theate, playwrights are looking at the aspects of life which are ugly. New Objectivity was very excited about looking at things that were ugly and undiserable. In today's modern architecture we see various attributes of Neue Sachlichkeit such as the static, airless and glassy spaces of buildings and rooms. New objectivity was the beginning of a new relationship with objects.