tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/artists-11759/articles
Artists – The Conversation
2024-02-20T12:25:59Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/223677
2024-02-20T12:25:59Z
2024-02-20T12:25:59Z
The psychology of great artists: beyond the myth of the lone, tortured genius
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575954/original/file-20240125-29-o4c74x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C13%2C2995%2C1670&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/talented-female-artist-works-on-abstract-1540650071">Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In our constant quest to understand artists and their genius, we often put them on a pedestal, or we assume that they are otherworldly beings with incomprehensible thoughts. This myth, though common, distances us from everything they share with us. It makes us feel that their feats and successes are far beyond our reach. </p>
<p>It is important to demystify the idea that artists are radically different from us. We can do this by looking at how their behaviour is connected to our shared experience as humans.</p>
<p>For years, I have researched the personality and character of historical figures, looking deeply into the figure of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350382743_Ludwig_van_Beethoven_in_a_Snapshot_Exploring_His_Own_Words">Beethoven in particular from a psychological perspective</a>. I have also delved more widely into academic literature on the psychology of some of history’s most famed creative minds.</p>
<p>Though each artist is different, there are certain traits and patterns in their personalities that merit attention. By understanding these, we can bring ourselves closer to their creative worlds without feeling like outsiders. </p>
<p>We can do this by looking at the “<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/big-5-personality-traits">Big Five</a>” psychological pillars of personality: extroversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness, and openness to experience.</p>
<p><strong>Introversion and extroversion: a delicate but necessary balance</strong></p>
<p>Artists, by and large, tend to be <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/introversion">introverts</a>. This is natural, given that they often have to spend a lot of time working in solitude, and in the noise and chaos of society it is much harder to work creatively. This does not mean that they avoid all opportunities to socialise, nor that they do not enjoy being surrounded by friends and loved ones. Like all of us, finding the right balance is what matters.</p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.es/books/about/Daily_Rituals.html?id=xTAAAQAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">Pablo Picasso</a> is a good example. In his apartment in Montparnasse, Paris, he dedicated the largest room to painting, and forbade anyone from entering without his permission. In there, he surrounded himself with painting supplies, other miscellaneous articles and his pets: a dog, three cats and a monkey. He would work until nightfall, and although he appreciated visits and was a good host, he hated unwanted distractions.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571486/original/file-20240125-28-jwmljh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Picasso also socialised. He is pictured here in the centre, with Modigliani and André Salmon in front of the Café de la Rotonde, Paris." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571486/original/file-20240125-28-jwmljh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571486/original/file-20240125-28-jwmljh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571486/original/file-20240125-28-jwmljh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571486/original/file-20240125-28-jwmljh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571486/original/file-20240125-28-jwmljh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571486/original/file-20240125-28-jwmljh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571486/original/file-20240125-28-jwmljh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Picasso also socialised. He is pictured here in the centre, with Modigliani and André Salmon in front of the Café de la Rotonde, Paris. Photo taken by Jean Cocteau in Montparnasse, Paris, in 1916.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Modigliani,_Picasso_and_Andr%C3%A9_Salmon.jpg">Modigliani Institut Archives Légales, Paris-Rome</a></span>
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<p><strong>Conscientiousness: navigating order and ambition</strong></p>
<p>The concept of <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/conscientiousness">conscientiousness</a> in artists is often misunderstood. It is often associated with order and organisation, while artists tend to be perceived as more chaotic or absent minded. However, they have other aspects of conscientiousness, such as a need for achievement, a strong desire to excel, and a high level of discipline.</p>
<p>We can look to Mexican painter <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09540261.2023.2258959?src=">Frida Kahlo</a> for an example of conscientiousness in artists. Despite experiencing health problems in childhood, and being left bedridden after a bus accident at the age of 18, she made huge efforts to carry on her work, leaving an artistic legacy and and example for the world.</p>
<p><strong>Neuroticism: sensitivity and emotional stability</strong></p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571487/original/file-20240125-19-jhuibc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man at a lectern with raised hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571487/original/file-20240125-19-jhuibc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571487/original/file-20240125-19-jhuibc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571487/original/file-20240125-19-jhuibc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571487/original/file-20240125-19-jhuibc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571487/original/file-20240125-19-jhuibc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571487/original/file-20240125-19-jhuibc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571487/original/file-20240125-19-jhuibc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The orchestra conductor Leonard Bernstein juggled his career with a complex personal life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leonard_Bernstein_repeteert_met_Concertgebouworkest,_Bestanddeelnr_934-0954.jpg">Bart Molendijk / Anefo</a></span>
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<p>There is a lot of speculation surrounding the subject of artists and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/neuroticism">neuroticism</a>, or mental illness. Many artists do undeniably show a certain intensity in expressing their emotions, or have suffered from unstable, psychologically difficult periods. However, psychological science <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/41155">has found no correlation between greater neuroticism and increased artistic ability</a>.</p>
<p>Heightened emotional sensitivity does not always translate into instability. This does not, however, mean that artists do not use their output to express emotional difficulty, pain or trauma, nor that feelings cannot be channelled into artistic expression.</p>
<p>In her recent book <a href="https://books.google.es/books/about/Saved_by_a_Song.html?id=z8D3DwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">Saved by a Song</a>, US American singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier recounts history of trauma and addiction, and how songwriting and music offered her a sense of purpose and a way out. She is currently in good mental health, as reflected in her musical performances and her way of engaging with her audience.</p>
<p><strong>Agreeableness: the delicate balance of originality</strong></p>
<p>The trait of <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/agreeableness">agreeableness</a>, which involves trust in others, modesty, and a desire to cooperate, may appear to be lacking among many artists. Their inclination towards solitude and their dedication to their work may create an image of them as unfriendly and distrustful.</p>
<p>However, does not imply selfishness or a lack of sympathy. Those engaged in art feel compelled to develop a sense of their own uniqueness and originality, driving many to show their art to the world and earn a living from it. What we call <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-handbook-of-creativity-and-personality-research/FAD51C0730BC0126A35737A7631B1183">creative self-concept</a> is sometimes misinterpreted as arrogance.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571491/original/file-20240125-15-nucqdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Director Greta Gerwig on the set of Barbie looking at a screen and surrounded by actors." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571491/original/file-20240125-15-nucqdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571491/original/file-20240125-15-nucqdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571491/original/file-20240125-15-nucqdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571491/original/file-20240125-15-nucqdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571491/original/file-20240125-15-nucqdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571491/original/file-20240125-15-nucqdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571491/original/file-20240125-15-nucqdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cinematic achievements, like Greta Gerwig’s 2023 film Barbie, cannot be made in isolation from others.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/filmimages.php?movie_id=506593">FilmAffinity</a></span>
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<p>In an interview, the Spanish ballet dancer and choreographer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djHPe-rXnus">Nacho Duato</a> hinted at a need to separate himself from others in order to grow personally and professionally. At the same time, he was also modest in recognising his own work, defining himself as an “artisan of movement”. </p>
<p><strong>Openness to experience: the key to creativity</strong></p>
<p>The one trait that stands out among artists is <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/openness">openness to experience</a>. This involves curiosity, a desire to discover new things, an appreciation of beauty, and the will to expand horizons. Being open to new experiences allows fresh, original ideas to be created, which can drive innovation in the artistic field. </p>
<p>A classic example of this trait can be found in the German composer Beethoven. He always respected where he had come from and what he had learned, but he also felt a strong need to experiment and push boundaries. He asked piano makers to add keys to instruments, and defied the comfortable, safe and predictable musical conventions of his time. One of his major innovations was including vocal parts in a symphony, a style of composition which had hitherto been exclusively instrumental. </p>
<h2>Beyond the myths</h2>
<p>Though unique in some respects, the personality of artists shares many similarities with the common human experience. As you explore these traits yourself, you may well discover that you too harbour a creative spark that deserves to be expressed. </p>
<p>The main difference between artists and other people might just be the courage to listen to yourself, to observe yourself, and to dare to show what is original within yourself.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abigail Jareño Gómez is a member of the Psychobiography Group of the Psychohistory Forum.</span></em></p>
We often put artists on a pedestal, but if we look at their personalities closely, we see that they aren’t so different from the rest of us.
Abigail Jareño Gómez, Profesor de Psicología, Universidad CEU San Pablo
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220361
2024-01-07T12:34:50Z
2024-01-07T12:34:50Z
Artists bring human richness at times of strife — and need to be allowed to speak about the Israel-Hamas war
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<p>The current Israel-Hamas war has dominated the news for the past few months. As reports of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/israel-hamas-war-day-79-1.7069133">military machinations</a> and <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/mideast-ministers-in-ottawa-to-discuss-israel-hamas-war-with-joly-trudeau-1.6680868">diplomatic efforts</a> have gained attention, the art world has struggled with responses to the horrors of this war. </p>
<p>For example, controversy and calls for transparency and accountability followed <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ago-review-policies-criticism-indigenous-curator-departure-1.7045717">the departure of Anishinaabe-kwe curator Wanda Nanibush</a> from the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). The departure was apparently related <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/article-indigenous-curator-ago-wanda-nanibush/">to her expressed opinions on the war</a>. </p>
<p>After the Royal Ontario Museum tried to change a Palestinian American artist’s work, <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/11/06/royal-ontario-museum-censorship-palestinian-art-death-exhibition-israel-hamas-war">Jenin Yaseen staged a sit-in</a> and others protested. </p>
<p>I have been teaching and writing about the <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520256361/art-worlds-25th-anniversary-edition">“art world”</a> — what sociologist Howard Becker calls the network of artists, art institutions, funders, patrons and audiences — for years, and researching <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003134022-9/policy-performance-lowell-gasoi">how artists navigate their thorny relationship with contentious political moments</a>. </p>
<p>Policies and regulations can serve artists, but can also engender a lack of trust and create administrative burdens that impact the healthy functioning of artists and organizations.</p>
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<h2>Endeavouring to speak truthfully, meaningfully</h2>
<p>The <em>Globe and Mail</em> reported some Canadians “active in a support group of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem” expressed concern <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/article-indigenous-curator-ago-wanda-nanibush">to the AGO, and that one signatory to a letter said the letter didn’t call for Nanibush’s departure</a> but rather for “antisemitism training and for the AGO to make use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism.”</p>
<p>If the gallery did try to silence Nanibush, critics have reason to be concerned about how they reacted as the curator and others in the art world endeavoured to speak truthfully and meaningfully in a time of crisis. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://ago.ca/press-release/open-letter-stephan-jost-director-and-ceo">statement, the AGO’s director and CEO</a> Stephan Jost expressed the gallery’s support for Indigenous artists and a need to “reflect on our commitments to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report …” </p>
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<p>He acknowledged cultural institutions are “being asked to better define the rights and limits of political and artistic expression in a locally diverse but globally complex environment” and that “intense discussion” also raises questions about good governance.</p>
<p>Rights, limits, regulation and the purpose of artists’ work are what is at stake in this discussion. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ago-review-policies-criticism-indigenous-curator-departure-1.7045717">An investigation is underway</a> to see how the gallery’s policies may have impacted the board’s decision-making.</p>
<h2>People trying to create and speak truth</h2>
<p>How people assess the value of policies and regulation affecting the art world depends on how much they feel the art world should, or should not, reflect political realities. </p>
<p>Some might suggest that artists <a href="https://art.art/blog/art-protest-and-politics-do-they-really-go-together">should entertain and enlighten us</a> but stay away from contentious issues.</p>
<p>I believe artists have a unique role, different than that of journalists, political leaders or even <a href="https://www.israelismfilm.com/screenings">documentary filmmakers</a>. Beyond parsing the facts of a situation or deliberating and brokering political solutions, artists work to bring human richness and complexity to experiences like conflict and strife. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-israel-gaza-conflict-is-so-hard-to-talk-about-216149">Why the Israel-Gaza conflict is so hard to talk about</a>
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<h2>Art and our lives</h2>
<p>Thinking about “art worlds” as “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520256361/art-worlds-25th-anniversary-edition">patterns of collective activity</a>,” as Becker does, helps us to think about art in relationship to our social and political lives, and the conditions under which artists create.</p>
<p>Art schools, professional organizations, galleries and performance spaces all play a part in enabling some artists and their messages to shine, whether through financial support, attention or time — while constraining or even silencing others. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A Canadian flag seen atop a museum." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568074/original/file-20240105-20-qq30p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568074/original/file-20240105-20-qq30p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568074/original/file-20240105-20-qq30p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568074/original/file-20240105-20-qq30p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568074/original/file-20240105-20-qq30p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568074/original/file-20240105-20-qq30p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568074/original/file-20240105-20-qq30p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Museums and galleries are frequently dependent on government funding. The Royal Ontario Museum seen in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Museum and gallery spaces, frequently dependent on government and philanthropic funding, curate and elevate certain artworks and in so doing <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Birth-of-the-Museum-History-Theory-Politics/Bennett/p/book/9780415053884">mediate relationships and foster cultural dialogue between governments and pluralistic communities of citizens</a>. At the same time, they prescribe behaviours and actions that constrain both artists and the public perception of their work.</p>
<p>In this way, the support systems around artistic work have political implications, just as much as the art itself may have.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/eco-activist-attacks-on-museum-artwork-ask-us-to-figure-out-what-we-value-193575">Eco-activist attacks on museum artwork ask us to figure out what we value</a>
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<h2>Discipline via funding</h2>
<p>As I examined in my doctoral research, <a href="https://repository.library.carleton.ca/downloads/mp48sd86j">the Summerworks Theatre Festival briefly lost funding from Canadian Heritage in 2011</a> after staging playwright <a href="https://catherinefrid.com/homegrown/">Catherine Frid’s controversial play <em>Homegrown</em></a>. </p>
<p>The play critiqued the <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/play-takes-sympathetic-look-at-toronto-18/article_c95893a7-29a5-572c-8f5d-60b309b3ee58.html">reach of the Anti-Terrorism Act and the use of solitary confinement as it examined the story of one man convicted of participating in a terrorist group</a>. This was after a high-profile 2006 RCMP investigation saw 18 Muslim individuals accused of terrorism. (<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto-18-key-events-in-the-case-1.715266">Charges against seven people were stayed or dropped, while four people were convicted)</a>. Some accused the play of being pro-terrorist.</p>
<p>Artists responded to <a href="https://nationalpost.com/arts/homegrown-to-have-staged-readings-across-the-country-in-support-of-summerworks">this institutional censure by staging readings of the play to support the festival</a>. </p>
<p>The art world will find pathways to speak its own truth in the face of such pressures. </p>
<p>For instance, as the <em>Globe and Mail</em> reported, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/article-vancouvers-push-festival-stands-up-for-the-runner-as-victorias-belfry">the Belfry Theatre in Victoria made a recent decision to cancel its run of the Israel-set play <em>The Runner</em></a>. But Vancouver’s PuSh Festival is sticking by plans to run the play as a part of its <a href="https://pushfestival.ca/#program">program along with other works</a>, including the immersive installation <a href="https://pushfestival.ca/shows/dear-laila/"><em>Dear Laila</em></a> that depicts a model of one artist’s former home in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.</p>
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<p>When political pressure closes one door, the art world will often seek to open another, though we have yet to see how this might play out in the case of the AGO and Nanibush.</p>
<h2>What do we want from our artists?</h2>
<p>In the face of numerous wars, the climate emergency, housing and food insecurity, this is a challenging time. People around the world face what <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4483556">some scholars and activists have called a “polycrisis</a>.” </p>
<p>Artists represent and reflect this social and political upheaval. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/style/article/banksy-ukraine-murals/index.html">Banksy scrawls murals</a> on the blasted Ukrainian cityscape. Theatres across the world stage performances or screenings — <a href="https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-off-broadway/article/THE-GAZA-MONOLOGUES-Comes-to-the-Noor-Theatre-This-Week-20231128">like <em>The Gaza Monologues</em></a> — to try to represent Palestinian voices. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/theatre-shows-how-the-art-of-inclusion-can-help-build-a-better-canada-150488">Theatre shows how the art of inclusion can help build a better Canada</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://www.policymagazine.ca/canadas-growing-problem-with-trust-in-government/">Especially in a time when trust in our political leaders and institutions continues to wane</a>, artists, arts leaders and policymakers face daunting but critical questions about making ethically sound decisions. </p>
<p>If the public trusts the art world to do their work with rigour and honesty, artists and arts institutions can be a community of voices expressing diverse perspectives on our collective humanity, <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/2658867568/">reflecting suffering and the power of resistance to violence in this polarizing conflict</a>. </p>
<p>We must critically assess the value of the arts and of artists to perform this important work. And we should be mindful of desires to discipline the art world at a time when its voices are so deeply needed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lowell Gasoi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Especially in a time when trust in political leaders and institutions wanes, arts leaders, patrons, policymakers and artists face daunting but critical questions about the value and role of artists.
Lowell Gasoi, Instructor in communication studies at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, Carleton University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214959
2024-01-03T20:26:36Z
2024-01-03T20:26:36Z
My life as a ‘Jillposter’: the radical feminist poster group that pasted prints around Melbourne in the ‘80s
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558196/original/file-20231107-22-8znndt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C10%2C1822%2C1242&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Carole Wilson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Jillposters was a self-funded radical feminist poster group active in Melbourne from 1983 until 1988. I was a founding member.</p>
<p>I’m in the process of donating archival material and records to the RMIT Design Archive, so I’ve had cause to reflect recently on what impressive achievements we had for such a small and unstructured group.</p>
<p>We had no government funding, no management committee, no governing structure and no workshop. The group lasted just five years. Yet we produced an amazing range of posters and postcards, most of which are held in Australia’s national collection.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558262/original/file-20231108-15-i63c16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Carole Wilson looking at posters in a mask." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558262/original/file-20231108-15-i63c16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558262/original/file-20231108-15-i63c16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558262/original/file-20231108-15-i63c16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558262/original/file-20231108-15-i63c16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558262/original/file-20231108-15-i63c16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558262/original/file-20231108-15-i63c16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558262/original/file-20231108-15-i63c16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carole Wilson was among the founding members of the Jillposters group and produced many prints during the 1980s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Carole Wilson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-duchamp-to-ai-the-transformation-of-authorship-in-art-210059">From Duchamp to AI: the transformation of authorship in art</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A medium for political messages</h2>
<p>Political posters grew out of 1970s feminism. Women were at the forefront of postermaking in Australia in the early 1980s. </p>
<p>Silkscreen printing, as it was taught at art schools, was and is a laborious, hand-driven process. You have to print with a squeegee through a screen; each colour separately.</p>
<p>It isn’t taught much anymore – we worked with pretty toxic oil-based inks, and to clean up the screen, you just flooded it with turps. Now posters can be whipped up digitally and distributed online. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558190/original/file-20231107-25-2x75fz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Jillposters print asks women to reflect on how much housework they do." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558190/original/file-20231107-25-2x75fz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558190/original/file-20231107-25-2x75fz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=869&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558190/original/file-20231107-25-2x75fz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=869&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558190/original/file-20231107-25-2x75fz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=869&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558190/original/file-20231107-25-2x75fz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558190/original/file-20231107-25-2x75fz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558190/original/file-20231107-25-2x75fz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Jillposters print asks women to reflect on how much housework they do.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Carole Wilson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But our posters were ideal as a medium for conveying political messages and disseminating information. Many poster workshops and groups were born in the 1970s and 80s in various locations; including <a href="https://www.megalo.org/classes-workshops">Megalo Workshop in Canberra</a>, <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/architecture/about/tin-sheds-gallery/about-the-gallery.html">Tin Sheds</a> and <a href="https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/artists/earthworks-poster-collective/">Earthworks Poster Collective</a> in Sydney, and <a href="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/such-was-life/the-politics-of-poster-making-the-redplanet-archive/">Red Letter Press</a> and <a href="https://www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au/artists/11160/">Another Planet Posters</a> in Melbourne.</p>
<h2>Off to a flying start</h2>
<p>Jillposters got off to a flying start in February 1983 when a group of friends met at the University of Melbourne student union to discuss forming a political poster group. </p>
<p>We each contributed the grand sum of A$10 to get things started and to open a bank account.</p>
<p>Initially these funds were spent on inks, paper and workshop hire as Melbourne University union had a screenprinting studio available for use by students and friends.</p>
<p>Members, in the spirit of collectivism, chose not to have their own names on their posters but to name everything as Jillposters.</p>
<p>The first poster, a simple black and white version titled ‘A Change is as Good as Holiday’ was produced to coincide with the 1983 federal election, which saw Labor’s Bob Hawke elected. This was a cause for great celebration and hopes for a new era after the conservative Malcolm Fraser government and a period of high unemployment.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558194/original/file-20231107-27-zvban6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Jillposters printed anti-apartheid posters over their active period during the 1980s." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558194/original/file-20231107-27-zvban6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558194/original/file-20231107-27-zvban6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558194/original/file-20231107-27-zvban6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558194/original/file-20231107-27-zvban6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558194/original/file-20231107-27-zvban6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1029&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558194/original/file-20231107-27-zvban6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1029&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558194/original/file-20231107-27-zvban6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1029&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jillposters printed anti-apartheid posters over their active period during the 1980s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Carole Wilson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We printed posters, and later postcards, in many locations, including the University of Melbourne Student Union printmaking room and Phillip Institute of Technology (now RMIT) printmaking studio, where some Jillposters members were students. Occasionally we printed in sheds and individual artist’s studios.</p>
<p>Our initial plan was to paste up all of our posters around the streets of Melbourne.</p>
<p>Going out late at night with a bucket of sloppy wallpaper paste, large brushes and a roll of posters was all very exciting.</p>
<p>Pasting up was illegal so there was always the risk of arrest. Our aim was to find walls where our political posters wouldn’t be covered up by other groups pasting up band posters. </p>
<p>Occasionally, we’d find a passerby would like our poster so much they’d peel it off the wall still dripping in paste to take home for themselves. </p>
<p>Another early poster, printed just in time for Easter, conveyed the message that Easter was the patriarchal theft of a pre-Christian fertility festival.</p>
<p>This, perhaps not surprisingly, generated a lot of interest and some outrage when pasted up around the streets of Fitzroy. It led to some articles in local suburban newspapers and contact from alternative and left-wing bookshops who were keen to stock our posters for sale.</p>
<h2>Shifting gear</h2>
<p>We then shifted gear slightly and allocated a smaller portion for street paste up and the larger portion for sales through retail outlets such as galleries and bookshops in Australia and New Zealand.</p>
<p>Poster production soon increased and our designs became more detailed and colourful.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558261/original/file-20231108-19-2odnw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Carole Wilson in a mask creating Jillposters prints" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558261/original/file-20231108-19-2odnw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558261/original/file-20231108-19-2odnw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558261/original/file-20231108-19-2odnw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558261/original/file-20231108-19-2odnw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558261/original/file-20231108-19-2odnw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558261/original/file-20231108-19-2odnw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558261/original/file-20231108-19-2odnw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carole Wilson produced many Jillposters prints, including this call to abolish ANZAC Day.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Carole Wilson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The 1980s really was a different era and most capital cities in Australia had a range of left-wing and women’s bookshops and alternative galleries keen to stock our work. </p>
<p>We were also contacted by mainstream galleries wanting to acquire our posters for their collections. </p>
<p>Both the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of Ballarat bought posters in 1983 and then continued to collect all the posters we produced. </p>
<p>The State Library of Victoria also collected them and, in more recent years, the Ian Potter Museum at the University of Melbourne collected a range of posters.</p>
<p>One of the posters stating “We are marching for all women exploited and raped in war” was exhibited in the National Gallery of Australia’s Know My Name exhibition in 2021-22. </p>
<p>Over time, members of the group moved onto other pursuits and the remaining members shifted their focus to printing postcards, which were also very popular and sold well.</p>
<p>The final posters and postcards were produced in 1988 and then Jillposters officially wound up. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/where-has-melbournes-political-graffiti-gone-85537">Where has Melbourne's political graffiti gone?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214959/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carole Wilson received government arts funding from federal and state arts bodies when she worked for Another Planet Posters between 1988 and 1990. She was a founding member of Jillposters and then went on to work at Another Planet Posters.</span></em></p>
We had no government funding, no governing structure and no workshop. Yet we produced a huge range of political posters, many of which are now in national collections and have been exhibited often.
Carole Wilson, Associate Professor in Visual Arts, Federation University Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216978
2023-12-07T22:50:53Z
2023-12-07T22:50:53Z
Could visiting a museum be the secret to a healthy life?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557354/original/file-20231016-28-1a079n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C1%2C986%2C655&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does the simple fact of being in contact with art have any specific effects?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s Saturday morning. You are barely awake, with a cup of coffee in your hand, and your gaze wanders to the window. It’s raining. So you make up your mind. This afternoon, you will go to a museum.</p>
<p>But what if, without realizing it, you just made a good decision for your health?</p>
<p>That’s the hypothesis put forward by the <a href="https://www.medecinsfrancophones.ca/a-propos/lassociation/">Association des Médecins francophones du Canada</a> in 2018, when it launched the <a href="https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/news/museum-prescriptions/">museum prescriptions program</a> in partnership with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The project, now completed, has enabled thousands of patients to get a doctor’s prescription to visit a museum, either on their own or accompanied. The aim of the prescription was to promote the recovery and well-being of patients with chronic illnesses (hypertension, diabetes), neurological conditions, cognitive disorders or mental health problems. The decision to write the prescription was left to the discretion of the doctor.</p>
<p>Five years in, this pioneering initiative has inspired other innovative projects. So we are now seeing an increasing number of museum-based wellness activities ranging from <a href="https://museumlondon.ca/yoga-at-the-museum">museum yoga</a> to <a href="https://agakhanmuseum.org/programs/mindfulness-and-education-sessions">guided meditations</a> with works of art, as well as the practice of <a href="https://www.gallery.ca/magazine/your-collection/the-art-of-slow-looking-a-painting-by-jean-paul-riopelle?_gl=1*ys4kk2*_ga*MTY5MjQ1NTg3Mi4xNjk5NTUxNTQ3*_ga_83BW334MD2*MTY5OTU1MTU0Ni4xLjAuMTY5OTU1MTU0Ni4wLjAuMA..">slow contemplation</a> or “slow looking.” </p>
<p>There’s no shortage of possibilities, and they all help to reinforce the same idea, that art is good for us.</p>
<h2>Beyond first impressions</h2>
<p>These initiatives have recently made headlines in national media on both sides of the Atlantic, in <a href="https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/museotherapie-je-crois-que-nous-sommes-dans-un-moment-de-bouillonnement-2414180">France</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-museum-fine-arts-medecins-francophone-art-museum-therapy-1.4859936">Canada</a>, and are gaining in visibility in the general public. Because of the popularity of these activities, more and more claims are being made that a visit to the museum can have “powerful anti-stress properties,” be a “miracle cure for stress,” or have other “incredible benefits.”</p>
<p>Talk about enthusiasm!</p>
<p>Yet, as a certified neuroscientist, I can’t help but wonder why, given the extraordinarily relaxing effects that are being claimed, crowds aren’t flocking to our museums every day. </p>
<p>And that gives us all the more reason to look at the scientific reports and studies that have recently been published on the subject.</p>
<h2>Is art good for you? From intuition to observation</h2>
<p>In 2019, the World Health Organization published an extensive report compiling evidence on the role of arts and cultural activities <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/329834">in promoting health and well-being</a>. The authors of this report attempted to move away from the sweeping claim that the benefits of art could constitute a universal solution to health problems, like a type of home remedy. </p>
<p>Instead, they encourage new, more precise and rigorous approaches to looking at the question, based on observation of the psychological, physiological and behavioural responses induced by certain specific components of artistic activity (aesthetic engagement, sensory stimulation, physical activity, etc.).</p>
<h2>Actor or spectator?</h2>
<p>What’s specific about a museum visit is that it is a so-called receptive artistic activity – in other words, it is not about producing art (painting, drawing, composing). It does, however, have the advantage of being accessible and already well established in our collective habits, making it a good candidate for health prevention.</p>
<p>The question is whether art exposure, alone, is enough to reap its benefits. In other words, does the simple fact of being in contact with art have specific effects?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="woman in a museum" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Could exposure to art lead to healthier aging?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Healthier consumers of culture</h2>
<p>Research has been carried out in England on samples of several thousand individuals whose long-term health indicators were monitored, and who were asked for 10 years to report on their habits in terms of <a href="https://www.elsa-project.ac.uk">cultural and artistic activities</a>.</p>
<p>This research shows that individuals who regularly (every two or three months, or more) visit cultural venues (theatres, opera houses, museums, galleries) have a 50 per cent lower risk of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/cultural-engagement-and-cognitive-reserve-museum-attendance-and-dementia-incidence-over-a-10year-period/0D5F792DD1842E97AEFAD1274CCCC9B9">dementia</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6429253/">depression</a>, and a 40 per cent lower risk of developing a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/75/3/571/5280637">geriatric frailty syndrome</a> (age-related decline in health and loss of functional independence).</p>
<p>Does that mean that exposure to art could lead to healthier aging?</p>
<p>Perhaps, but whether cultural involvement is the cause of the improvement in health markers observed in these studies, has yet to be confirmed. To do this, cohort studies and <a href="https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/48952.html">randomized controlled trials</a> are required. However, this type of study has yet to be done.</p>
<h2>In search of the active ingredients</h2>
<p>There is one other question, and it’s a big one! It’s the question of <em>why</em>.</p>
<p>Why would art, and visual art in particular, do me good? What happens in my body when I encounter a work of art, and how does this contact transform me and help to keep me healthier – if this is the case?</p>
<p>This was the question Mikaela Law, a psychology researcher at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and her colleagues asked in 2021. They <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/6/e043549.abstract">reviewed the scientific literature</a> for studies on the physiological response to the visual arts and its effect on self-reported stress. </p>
<p>Some of the studies listed in her work show that contact with artwork can lower blood pressure, heart rate and the cortisol secreted in saliva. Such changes reflect a reduction in the body’s state of guardedness, also called stress. This change appears to be perceived by the individual, reflected by the reduction in the stress he or she feels after exposure.</p>
<p>Other studies, on the other hand, have observed no effects. </p>
<p>So, if contact with visual art is likely to bring about physical and psychological relaxation for the viewer, it may not be a sufficient condition for improved health.</p>
<p>This conclusion invites us to qualify our conclusions and reflect more deeply on what happens at the moment of an encounter with a work that might condition its effects on an individual’s psyche.</p>
<p>Today is Saturday…</p>
<p>You’ve decided you’re going to the museum. </p>
<p>This decision will likely be good for your health. </p>
<p>It’s also likely to depend on the museum you choose, and how you visit it. </p>
<p>However one thing’s certain: going to a museum means you will greatly increase your chances of having a pleasant day!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216978/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Dupuy works in partnership with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and has received funding from MITACS, the Université de Montréal and the Fonds de Recherche du Québec.</span></em></p>
Can a trip to a museum help cure mental dullness? Here’s what the science has to say.
Emma Dupuy, Postdoctoral researcher, cognitive neuroscience, Université de Montréal
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209733
2023-12-05T16:56:21Z
2023-12-05T16:56:21Z
Education should look to the way artists are embracing AI, instead of turning its back on the technology
<p>Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to make a <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai-the-next-productivity-frontier">major impact on many sectors of society</a> over the coming decades. Some of these effects may be positive, others less so.</p>
<p>When ChatGPT was released, education, a profession that prides itself on integrity and high ethical standards, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/14/ai-artificial-intelligence-disrupt-education-creativity-critical-thinking">was rocked</a> by the prospect that AI could allow students to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rashishrivastava/2022/12/12/teachers-fear-chatgpt-will-make-cheating-easier-than-ever/?sh=415845d1eef9">cheat in their studies</a>. The issue is still a live one.</p>
<p>Some educators have pushed for new policies from their institutions, including arguing for the return of face-to-face exams. Others thought AI might be a fad, waiting for it to go away.</p>
<p>Of course, AI isn’t going anywhere. As an educator myself, I wanted to explore how my profession could learn valuable lessons about embracing this new technology. The model for this new approach comes from art. Artists have long been exploring the intersection of technology and creativity.</p>
<p>One well-known artist who has embraced AI is the painter David Hockney. In June 2023, Hockney exhibited an AI-generated work on the Pyramid Stage at the 2023 Glastonbury Festival. Titled <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/06/23/millions-to-see-david-hockneys-new-ai-work-on-glastonburys-pyramid-stage">I lived In Bohemia, Bohemia Is A Tolerant Place</a>, the piece, created by Hockney using AI, was developed into a one-minute video to spread harmony through bohemianism.</p>
<p>Although this was his first AI-generated piece, Hockney is no technophobe. Over many years, he has used a variety of analogue and digital technologies in his work. These included the Xerox photocopier, Quantel Paintbox, and a computer graphics workstation. These stretched the sensory and creative potential of his eye. His recent immersive art installation in London: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/22/arts/design/david-hockney-immersive-lightshow-london.html">David Hockney: Bigger & Closer</a>, is a testament to the artist’s reputation as an innovator. </p>
<h2>Artistic embrace</h2>
<p>Hockney is not alone. Many artists have found creative and innovative ways to use AI in their work. Robbie Barrat is a contemporary artist who explores the intersection of AI and art. He is known for his work with generative adversarial networks (Gans). This is where two machine learning systems compete with each other to produce better results. Gans have been used to create realistic artificial faces, becoming so good that people <a href="https://theconversation.com/deepfakes-faces-created-by-ai-now-look-more-real-than-genuine-photos-197521">often cannot tell the difference between an AI-generated face and a real one</a>.</p>
<p>In one project, Barrat trained a Gan on a dataset of classical nude paintings. He incorporated his own sketches and digital drawings into the trained Gan generating unique and surrealistic interpretations of the human form. By scanning or digitising sketches and feeding them into the AI model, he allowed the system to produce <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/23/18013190/ai-art-portrait-auction-christies-belamy-obvious-robbie-barrat-gans">novel compositions</a>. The resulting artworks showcased a fusion of his artistic style and learned AI patterns from the classical paintings. </p>
<p>Other artists have integrated AI with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to create immersive and interactive experiences. </p>
<p>Refik Anadol, for example, uses AI algorithms to process and interpret large amounts of data, transforming them into spectacular works of art. He incorporates these AI-generated visuals into AR and VR experiences to
<a href="https://refikanadol.com/works/wdch-dreams/">create mesmerising and interactive installations</a>. </p>
<h2>AI myth busting</h2>
<p>Not every artist is so enthusiastic about the technology, of course. Many perceive image generators like DALL-E and Midjourney as a threat to their livelihoods rather than something to be welcomed. But the realisation that great artists such as Hockney and Anadol have deployed AI to enhance their work should teach us something. Educators should be exploring how to best use AI in their teaching and assessments.</p>
<p>The education sector’s reticence to adopt AI is perhaps understandable. Artificial intelligence is surrounded by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666920X2300022X">myths and misconceptions</a>. So it is worth debunking some of these fallacies.</p>
<p>The first is that AI impairs learning experiences. Some educators are concerned that if students rely on AI, their critical <a href="https://educationaltechnologyjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41239-021-00292-9">thinking and problem-solving abilities may be compromised</a>, along with their capacity for learning independently. However, the key to successfully integrating AI into education is to understand that intelligent tools are not a replacement for human expertise. They are instead simply tools to <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/chatgpt-and-future-university-assessment">augment and enhance it</a>.</p>
<p>The second myth is that AI “isolates” learners. While AI can provide personalised feedback and support, it cannot replace human interaction with an educator and the social and emotional learning that goes along with it. </p>
<p>Some academics fear that over-reliance on AI may result in students feeling disconnected from their peers and educators. In fact, educators can use AI systems to help students learn collaboratively in groups, allowing for collective problem solving.</p>
<p>A third myth is that AI stifles creativity. The importance of creativity in higher education cannot be underestimated, yet <a href="https://hbsp.harvard.edu/inspiring-minds/chatgpt-and-ai-text-generators-should-academia-adapt-or-resist">many academics have expressed concern</a> that AI will only stifle it. Contrary to some beliefs, introducing AI as a technology <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9504190/">can support and enhance creativity in educational settings</a>. For example, <a href="https://hbr.org/2023/07/how-generative-ai-can-augment-human-creativity">generative AI tools can be used</a> to promote divergent thinking, challenge expertise bias, assist in idea evaluation, support idea refinement and facilitate collaboration.</p>
<h2>Preparing for the future</h2>
<p>The fourth and final myth is that AI encourages learners to cheat at assessment. The continuing narrative around using AI to cheat <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/04/06/1071059/chatgpt-change-not-destroy-education-openai/">doesn’t tell the whole story</a>. By incorporating use of artificial intelligence effectively into the student’s assessment, we can help students become AI-literate, giving them <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/TTC-EC-CEA-AI-Report-12052022-1.pdf">skills they will need in life</a>.</p>
<p>We should design authentic assessments that emphasise tasks requiring learners to apply knowledge, skills and understanding in real-world contexts.</p>
<p>AI can be used as a collaborative tool, a source of inspiration and a helpful guide. AI and education are intertwined, and learners will need to be able to <a href="https://hbr.org/2023/06/what-will-working-with-ai-really-require">work together with AI</a> to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/TTC-EC-CEA-AI-Report-12052022-1.pdf">prepare them for the world of work</a>. </p>
<p>Artists have made the formerly unimaginable possible. Now educators can do the same, bringing their learners along for the ride, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10796-022-10308-y">empowering them to become critical thinkers</a> and creative problem solvers who are ready for a future where AI is commonplace.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209733/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucy Gill-Simmen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Artists have embraced AI despite the risks to them, educators could learn from their example.
Lucy Gill-Simmen, Vice-Dean for Education & Student Experience, Royal Holloway University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212687
2023-10-24T12:22:19Z
2023-10-24T12:22:19Z
How ‘La Catrina’ became the iconic symbol of Day of the Dead
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552390/original/file-20231005-24-skza08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=191%2C191%2C5051%2C3450&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A girl dressed as a 'catrina' takes part in the Catrinas Parade in Mexico City to celebrate Day of the Dead.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/girl-dressed-as-catrina-walks-while-taking-part-in-the-news-photo/617638204?adppopup=true">Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On April 13, 1944, thousands of people clashed with police on the steps of <a href="https://www.artic.edu/about-us/mission-and-history/history">the Art Institute of Chicago</a>. </p>
<p>The melee was unrelated to U.S. participation in World War II, labor unrest or President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-seizes-control-of-montgomery-ward">controversial move to seize control</a> of local Chicago industries. </p>
<p>Rather, a massive, impatient art crowd overwhelmed the museum’s capacity, causing mayhem. That’s how desperately people wanted to see the U.S. premiere of an exhibition titled “Posada: Printmaker to the Mexican People.”</p>
<p>The exhibition featured the prints of <a href="https://www.posada-art-foundation.com/about-posada">José Guadalupe Posada</a>, a Mexican engraver who had died in 1913. On display were his calaveras, the satirical skull and skeleton illustrations he made for Day of the Dead, which he printed on cheap, single-sheet newspapers known as broadsides.</p>
<p>One specific calavera, or skull, attracted more attention than the others. </p>
<p>Known as La Catrina, she was a garish skeleton with a wide, toothy grin and an oversized feathered hat. A large print of her <a href="https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/8528/gallery-of-art-interpretation-who-is-posada">hung on the museum’s wall</a>. Audiences saw her featured in the museum’s promotional materials. She was even the cover girl of <a href="https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/8526/the-art-of-jose-guadalupe-posada-lent-by-the-department-of-fine-arts-of-mexico">the exhibition catalog</a>. Back in Mexico she’d been virtually unknown, but the U.S. exhibition made La Catrina an international sensation.</p>
<p>Today, La Catrina is Posada’s most recognizable creation. She’s the icon of <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/top-ten-day-of-dead-mexico">Day of the Dead</a>, Mexico’s annual fiesta in honor of the deceased that takes place annually on Nov. 1 and 2. Her visage is endlessly reproduced during the holiday. Her idolization has made her Mexico’s unofficial national totem, perhaps second only to <a href="https://theconversation.com/warrior-servant-mother-unifier-the-virgin-mary-has-played-many-roles-through-the-centuries-165596">the Virgin of Guadalupe</a>. </p>
<p>While some people might presume it’s always been this way, La Catrina is actually a transcultural icon whose prestige and popularity are equal parts invention and accident.</p>
<h2>A life of obscurity</h2>
<p>When Posada first engraved her <a href="https://www.posada-art-foundation.com/posada-lacatrina">in 1912</a>, she wasn’t even called La Catrina. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Peach colored program cover featuring a print of a skeleton wearing a lavish hat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552387/original/file-20231005-19-nq4t90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The catalog cover for ‘Posada,’ a 1944 exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, features what came to be known as La Catrina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/8526/the-art-of-jose-guadalupe-posada-lent-by-the-department-of-fine-arts-of-mexico">The Art Institute of Chicago</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the original print, she’s Calavera Garbancera, a <a href="https://glasstire.com/2019/11/02/jose-guadalupe-posada-and-diego-rivera-fashion-catrina-from-sellout-to-national-icon-and-back-again/">title used</a> to refer to indigenous peasant women who sold garbanzo beans at the street markets.</p>
<p>Posada illustrated her in ostentatious attire to satirize the way the garbanceras attempted to pass as upper-class by powdering their faces and wearing fashionable French attire. So even from the beginning, La Catrina was transcultural – a rural indigenous woman adopting European customs to survive in Mexico’s urban, mixed-race society.</p>
<p>Like Posada’s other illustrations, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1360573">the 1912 broadside</a> was sold for a penny to primarily poor and working-class men throughout Mexico City and nearby areas. But there was nothing particularly significant about Calavera Garbancera. Like her creator, she remained obscure for many years.</p>
<p>Posada died <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Guadalupe-Mexican-Broadside-Institute-Chicago/dp/0300121377">broke and unknown</a>, but his illustrations <a href="https://www.unmpress.com/9780826319043/posadas-broadsheets/">had an afterlife</a>. His publisher reused them for other broadsides well into the 1920s. Calavera Garbancera got recycled as various other characters, none particularly noteworthy. Meanwhile, nobody really knew who made the calavera broadsides they saw around the capital every Day of the Dead.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Printed broadsheet featuring text and a drawing of a skeleton wearing a big hat on green paper." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555055/original/file-20231020-29-n6mh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Revolutionary Calavera,’ by José Guadalupe Posada, printed on a broadside.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/revolutionary-calavera-c-1910-creator-josé-guadalupe-posada-news-photo/1447192444?adppopup=true">Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That changed in the mid-1920s when Posada’s work drew the attention of French artist Jean Charlot, a leading figure in the <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Mexican_Mural_Renaissance_1920_1925.html?id=_g9ZAAAAMAAJ">Mexican Renaissance</a>, that creative outburst of nationalist murals and artworks that transpired in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution.</p>
<p>Charlot was enamored of the calavera illustrations he saw around Mexico City, but he didn’t know who created them. He eventually tracked down Posada’s publisher and began researching the engraver. Charlot <a href="https://icaa.mfah.org/s/en/item/779806#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-1673%2C0%2C5895%2C3299">published articles</a> about Posada and introduced the artist’s calaveras to other Mexican Renaissance artists and intellectuals. Among the most important were painter <a href="https://www.diegorivera.org/">Diego Rivera</a> and critic <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1956/06/18/archives/frances-toor-66-wrote-on-mexico-author-of-books-on-folkways-and-of.html">Frances Toor</a>.</p>
<h2>From La Garbancera to La Catrina</h2>
<p>Rivera, of course, is arguably the greatest artist in Mexican history. <a href="https://theconversation.com/detroit-1932-when-diego-rivera-and-frida-kahlo-came-to-town-38884">His epic murals</a> remain internationally famous. </p>
<p>Frances Toor, on the other hand, was a modest Jewish intellectual who made her career writing about Mexican culture. In 1925 she started publishing <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43466157">Mexican Folkways</a>, a popular bilingual magazine distributed in Mexico and the U.S. With Diego Rivera as her art editor, she started using the magazine to promote Posada. In annual October-November issues, Toor and Rivera featured large reprints of Posada’s calaveras. </p>
<p>However, Calavera Garbancera was never among them. She wasn’t important enough to showcase.</p>
<p>In 1930, Toor and Rivera published <a href="https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/343276">the first book</a> of Posada’s engravings, which sold throughout Mexico and the U.S. In it, La Garbancera finally made an appearance. But she had a new name – Calavera Catrina. For reasons unknown, Toor and Rivera chose the honorific, which referred to her as a female dandy. The calavera was forevermore La Catrina.</p>
<p>Her fame, however, didn’t truly arrive until Posada’s riotous debut at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1944. The exhibition was a collaboration between the museum and the Mexican government. It was funded and facilitated by a special White House propaganda agency that used <a href="https://www.academia.edu/29923182/Jos%C3%A9_Guadalupe_Posada_Art_Institute_of_Chicago_1944_pdf?email_work_card=view-paper">cultural diplomacy</a> to fortify solidarity with Latin America during World War II. </p>
<p>This boosterism allowed the Posada exhibition to tour and give La Catrina wider exposure. She was seen and promoted in New York, Philadelphia, Mexico City and elsewhere in Mexico.</p>
<p>Perhaps more important was the exhibition catalog, which featured La Catrina as cover girl. It sold at each tour location. <a href="https://www.artic.edu/institutional-archives">Complimentary copies</a> were also distributed to prominent U.S. and Mexican authors and artists. They started writing about La Catrina and refashioning her in their artworks, popularizing her on both sides of the border.</p>
<h2>La Catrina goes global</h2>
<p>In 1947, Diego Rivera further immortalized La Catrina when he made her the focal point of one of his most famous murals, “<a href="https://www.diegorivera.org/dream-of-a-sunday-afternoon-in-alameda-park.jsp">Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park</a>.” </p>
<p>The mural portrays Mexican history from the Spanish conquest to the Mexican Revolution. La Catrina stands at the literal center of this history, where Rivera painted her holding hands with Posada on one side and a boyhood version of himself on the other.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Painting of an elegantly dressed skeleton holding hands with a boy and a man wearing hats." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552394/original/file-20231005-27-ruxzoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A detail of Diego Rivera’s mural ‘Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park,’ which hangs at the Diego Rivera Mural Museum in Mexico City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicksherman/4080802657">Nick Sherman/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rivera’s fame – and La Catrina’s newfound gravitas – inspired Mexican and Mexican American artists to incorporate her into their works, too. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/El_D%C3%ADa_de_Los_Muertos.html?id=BTNQAAAAMAAJ">Folk artists</a> in Mexico began fashioning her into ceramic toys, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/En_Calavera.html?id=3mJQAAAAMAAJ">papier-mâché figurines</a> and other crafts sold during Day of the Dead. Mexican Americans utilized La Catrina in their murals, paintings and political posters as part of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-chicana-women-artists-have-often-used-the-figure-of-the-virgin-of-guadalupe-for-political-messages-213720">Chicano Movement</a>, which pushed for Mexican American civil rights in the 1960s and 1970s.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Extravagent costume featuring a headdress, skull mask and red and black cloak." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555067/original/file-20231020-19-y4bgms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Each year, Los Angeles native Christina Sanchez dresses as ‘Catrina Christina’ for Day of the Dead.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mars Sandoval</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>La Catrina’s image is now used to sell anything <a href="https://tee-luv.com/products/victoria-beer-mexican-la-catrina-t-shirt-black">from beer</a> to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/01/us/day-of-the-dead-barbie-cultural-appropriation-trnd/index.html">Barbie dolls</a>. You can order La Catrina costumes from <a href="https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/catrina-costume">Walmart</a> and <a href="https://www.spirithalloween.com/product/adult-la-catrina-day-of-the-dead-trumpet-dress-costume/175819.uts">Spirit Halloween</a> stores.</p>
<p>In fact, La Catrina costume parades and contests are a relatively new Day of the Dead tradition in Mexico and the U.S. Participants span race, ethnicity and nationality. </p>
<p>Some people, such as “<a href="https://shoutoutla.com/meet-christina-sanchez-catrina-christina/">Catrina Christina</a>” in Los Angeles, don a costume each year as a way to honor the dearly departed on Día de los Muertos. Others dress as La Catrina to grow their <a href="https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2021/11/02/content-creators-use-their-platforms-to-celebrate-dia-de-los-muertos/">social media following</a>, or impersonate her to make money.</p>
<p>Posada probably never expected his female calavera to become so famous. He merely wanted to use traditional Day of the Dead humor to make fun of the flamboyantly dressed garbanceras he saw hanging around Mexico City’s central plaza. </p>
<p>Today, during Día de los Muertos, that same central plaza is filled with hundreds of La Catrina impersonators who, for a few dollars, will pose for photographs with tourists all too willing to pay for such a “traditional” cultural experience with an “authentic” Day of the Dead icon. </p>
<p>Posada, meanwhile, is likely laughing somewhere in the land of the dead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212687/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Sandoval does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
An obscure Mexican engraver named José Guadalupe Posada created the satirical skull in the early 1900s and sold it for a penny. But after he died, it took on a life of its own.
Mathew Sandoval, Associate Teaching Professor in Culture & Performance, Arizona State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211017
2023-09-15T12:31:04Z
2023-09-15T12:31:04Z
Anxiety can often be a drag on creativity, upending the trope of the tortured artist
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546477/original/file-20230905-19-xuho6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C487%2C5145%2C3245&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Creative journeys often entail entering the unknown -- and doing it on your own.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/man-on-a-mission-royalty-free-image/1369468881?phrase=minimalism+minimal+surreal+journey">DNY59/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the U.S., anxiety disorders affect about <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/any-anxiety-disorder">one-third of the population</a>. So it’s no surprise that a good number of artists and writers also suffer from anxiety and depression.</p>
<p>But whereas some critics see Vincent Van Gogh’s striking paintings and Sylvia Plath’s confessional poetry <a href="https://www.thecollector.com/sylvia-plath-famous-poet/">as the direct result of their psychosis and depression</a>, I tend to be less romantic about this subject. I see their brilliant output as having happened in spite of – rather than because of – their mental anguish.</p>
<p>In my new book, “<a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538170380/Afraid-Understanding-the-Purpose-of-Fear-and-Harnessing-the-Power-of-Anxiety">Afraid</a>,” I explore the interaction between fear, anxiety and creative work. </p>
<p>They’re more intertwined than you might think: Depending on the situation, fear and anxiety can either inspire or impede. But when anxiety becomes overwhelming, creative work often stalls.</p>
<h2>Anxiety as a roadblock</h2>
<p>The most basic way anxiety can hinder creative work is by shifting attention away from that work and toward fears and worries. </p>
<p>If a writer is worried about losing her day job, it’s harder for her to focus on her writing. Excessive anxiety bypasses all nonthreat-related tasks, and people regress <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/learning-brain-vs-survival-brain-6749311">to basic survival mode</a>. Most attention, thinking and emotions will be focused on dealing with the source of the danger, whether it’s real or imagined. And creative minds are especially adept at the latter.</p>
<p>Because fears center on survival, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fixing-families/202212/are-you-too-routinized-too-rigid-maybe-youre-anxious">people become less flexible and more wary</a> when they’re scared and anxious. At that point, going down a known path is far more appealing than taking risks and venturing into the unknown. Suffice to say, an aversion to the unknown won’t often lead to creative breakthroughs.</p>
<p>Another way fear can hinder creativity has to do with fear of rejection.</p>
<p>Friends, family, colleagues and critics <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/10/why-new-ideas-fail/381275/">often resist</a> unusual ideas or those that stray from established artistic norms. Aside from arising out of envy and competition, these reflexive reactions also make sense from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2009.0134">an evolutionary perspective</a>: Norms and agreed-upon ways of thinking cultivate group harmony. History is filled with the rejection, mockery and oppression of novel ideas and styles deemed too “out there” – painters <a href="https://www.famsf.org/stories/memorable-rejections-monet-and-the-artists-struggle-part-one#">Claude Monet</a> and <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/honoring-radical-women-worldwide-who-have-positively-changed-history/">Frida Kahlo</a> and author <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/whaling-biography-herman-melville/">Herman Melville</a> were all harshly criticized, dismissed or persecuted by their contemporaries.</p>
<p>To create something truly original, an artist must often break from the status quo. </p>
<p>So it’s only natural that any creative endeavor will lead to fear of criticism, rejection or failure. The road less traveled might be more dangerous. It might even be fruitless. And sometimes the cost is one’s life: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/keyevents/399.html">Socrates was executed</a> on charges that his probing questions were corrupting young people, while Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/was-giordano-bruno-burned-at-the-stake-for-believing-in-exoplanets/">was burned to death, in part, for his heretical claims</a> that the Earth was not the center of the universe.</p>
<h2>When anxiety inspires</h2>
<p>This is not to say that being cool as a cucumber is a requisite for great art. Some level of anxiety can serve a purpose. </p>
<p>While being truly terrified can paralyze you, being bored and feeling languid <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-01384-8_288#:%7E:text=Optimal%20arousal%20is%20a%20psychological,and%20the%20intensity%20of%20readiness.">can grind your motivation to a halt</a>.</p>
<p>There’s a sweet spot of anxiety that actually harnesses motivation and cognition and directs all attention to the task at hand.</p>
<p>With the deadline for “Afraid” fast approaching, I felt a pang of anxiety that propelled me to the finish line: I decided to tuck myself away in a resort next to the mountains in Tucson for two weeks and work 12-hour days to wrap up the book. The anxiety of not meeting the deadline was enough to inspire me to buckle down and get the job done. </p>
<p>Then there’s the specter of death. </p>
<p>No one is spared. Yet, even as geniuses like Michelangelo and Charles Dickens met the same fate as their peers, their brushstrokes and words became eternal.</p>
<p>Creative work is a way to achieve a certain level of immortality – art and books and articles that live on past your expiration date. </p>
<p>American anthropologist Ernest Becker argued that fear of death <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213490804">motivated humans to compose</a> stories, myth and legends about the afterlife and immortality, and it inspired great works of architecture like the Egyptian pyramids.</p>
<p>This existential dread <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-want-to-stare-death-in-the-eye-why-dying-inspires-so-many-writers-and-artists-128061">has also motivated authors and artists</a> to seek a form of immortality through their work. I find it somewhat comforting that after I am dead, some of my scientific discoveries and writings might continue to live through others. </p>
<p>In fact, you might be reading this piece long after I am gone.</p>
<h2>What you can and can’t control</h2>
<p>Creative work entails traversing a mental landscape that can be treacherous, whether you’re mining your imagination, plotting your next steps or plumbing your memories. Failure always looms. </p>
<p>This uncertainty can elicit fear and doubt. </p>
<p>Interestingly, fear is solely focused on survival, while creativity operates at its best <a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html">when basic survival needs are met</a>. Furthermore, fear is a primitive emotion, whereas art, science and culture are among humankind’s most evolved abilities. </p>
<p>But fear and creativity are also similar in that both possess automatic and intuitive processes. The best works of art are not the sole result of logical thinking. Like a fetus, art grows inside the artist autonomously while the artist keeps feeding it; when the time comes, delivery happens. Fear is also mostly autonomous: When you notice a car barreling toward you, you leap out of the road before thinking about the driver’s intentions. </p>
<p>In that sense, people don’t fully control their fear and creativity. For both to work productively, a balanced harmony needs to exist between the unconscious and the conscious mind.</p>
<h2>Cultivating your creativity</h2>
<p>Still, there are elements of your consciousness that you can influence.</p>
<p>If you want to create something but feel inhibited by <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-5-000-year-history-of-writers-block-190037">writer’s block</a>, hesitancy or insecurity, think about which kind of fear might be holding you back.</p>
<p>Is it fear of failure or judgment? Fear of your own inner critic? Or is there a different day-to-day challenge or responsibility that’s soaking up most of your attention?</p>
<p>Once you’ve identified the source of the anxiety, see if you can reframe the fear in an objective way that liberates you from its shackles. Maybe you can recognize failure as a possibility but ultimately something that won’t kill you: You can always just try again.</p>
<p>Another option is to engage your brain’s <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8992377/#:%7E:text=The%20mesolimbic%20system%2C%20also%20known,and%20cognitive%20processing%20of%20reward.">reward circuitry</a> – say, thinking of the possible positive outcomes of your work, including immortality. Or you could use the fear network to your advantage, remembering a deadline, a promotion that might hinge on the work or the crummy feeling of not completing a task. Breaking the work into pieces will also make it seem more doable and less scary. </p>
<p>Sometimes, shaking things up with a change of scenery can help. When I went away to finish “Afraid,” I chose the desert not only because I find the landscape inspiring. There’s also something about the starkly different and empty geography that clears my head from all of the clutter of daily life back in Michigan.</p>
<p>Just as there are many paths to take as you pursue a creative endeavor, there are a range of strategies to combat or use all of the little fears that crop up along the way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211017/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arash Javanbakht does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A psychiatrist explains the many ways anxiety can hinder, color or compel creativity.
Arash Javanbakht, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211657
2023-09-14T12:30:25Z
2023-09-14T12:30:25Z
The importance of shining a light on hidden toxic histories
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548169/original/file-20230913-23-64mqmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C2927%2C1970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Activists in Newark, N.J., offer tours that teach visitors about the city's legacy of industrial pollution and environmental racism.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-aerial-view-of-newark-new-jersey-shows-smoke-news-photo/635229321?adppopup=true">Charles Rotkin/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Indianapolis proudly claims <a href="https://www.wthr.com/article/entertainment/hoosiers-remember-elvis-presley-indianapolis-concert-amid-new-movie-buzz/531-503bd6a9-c645-4704-bfad-7577126aaad6">Elvis’ last concert</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2kWIa8wSC0">Robert Kennedy’s speech</a> in response to Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, and the Indianapolis 500. There’s a 9/11 memorial, a <a href="https://www.indianawarmemorials.org/explore/medal-of-honor-memorial/">Medal of Honor Memorial</a> and a statue of former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning.</p>
<p>What few locals know, let alone tourists, is that the city also houses one of the largest dry cleaning <a href="https://www.epa.gov/superfund/what-superfund">Superfund sites</a> in the U.S.</p>
<p>From 1952 to 2008, Tuchman Cleaners laundered clothes <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.638082">using perchloroethylene</a>, or PERC, a neurotoxin and possible carcinogen. Tuchman operated a chain of cleaners throughout the city, which sent clothes to a facility on Keystone Avenue for cleaning. It was also the location where used solution was stored in underground tanks.</p>
<p>Inspectors noted the presence of volatile organic compounds from leaking tanks and possible spills as early as 1989. By 1994, an underground plume had spread to a nearby aquifer. By the time the EPA became involved in 2011, the <a href="https://response.epa.gov/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=7130">underground chemical plume</a> had seeped more than a mile underneath a residential area, reaching a well that supplies drinking water to the city.</p>
<p>When geographer <a href="https://liberalarts.iupui.edu/departments/geography/directory/owen-dwyer/">Owen Dwyer</a>, earth scientist <a href="https://science.iupui.edu/people-directory/people/filippelli-gabriel.html">Gabe Filippelli</a> and I investigated and wrote about the social and environmental <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003365259-24/dirty-laundry-toxic-heritage-dry-cleaning-indianapolis-indiana-elizabeth-kryder-reid-owen-dwyer-gabriel-filippelli?context=ubx&refId=242e9f98-2f2d-4587-9449-99734e77a875">history of dry cleaning in Indianapolis</a>, we were struck by how few people outside of the dry cleaning and environmental management fields were aware of this environmental damage. </p>
<p>There are no markers or memorials. There is no mention of it – or any other accounts of contamination – in Indianapolis’ many museums. This kind of silence has been called “<a href="https://www.orionmagazine.org/article/environmental-amnesia/">environmental amnesia</a>” or “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24906248">collective forgetting</a>.”</p>
<p>Societies celebrate heroes and commemorate tragedies. But where in public memory is environmental harm? What if people thought about it not only as a science or policy problem, but also as a part of history? Would it make a difference if pollution, along with biodiversity loss and climate change, was seen as part of our shared heritage? </p>
<h2>The slow violence of contamination</h2>
<p>Environmental harm often takes place gradually and out of sight, and this could be one reason why there’s so little public conversation and commemoration. In 2011, Princeton English professor <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674072343">Rob Nixon</a> came up with a term for this kind of environmental degradation: slow violence. </p>
<p>As underground storage tanks leak, <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003365259-10/ghost-wrecks-anthropocene-enduring-toxic-legacy-pacific-war-matthew-carter-ashley-meredith-augustine-kohler-ranger-walter-bill-jeffrey-paul-heersink?context=ubx&refId=9df11100-ce32-4e00-b590-5b9769b00df2">shipwrecks corrode</a>, coal ash ponds seep and <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003365259-6/toxic-heritage-forever-confronting-pfas-contamination-toxicity-lived-experience-thomas-pearson-daniel-renfrew?context=ubx&refId=ef6c0e6a-b9da-4008-9689-9a43a2dc3055">forever chemicals spread</a>, the creeping pace of poisoned soil and water fails to garner the attention that more dramatic environmental disasters attract.</p>
<p>Certain interests benefit from hiding the costs of pollution and its remediation. Sociologists <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/publications/sites-unseen">Scott Frickel and James R. Elliott</a> have studied urban pollution, and they highlight three reasons for its pervasiveness and persistence. </p>
<p>First, in cities, small factories, auto repair shops, dry cleaners and other light industries sometimes only stay open for a decade or two, making it challenging to regulate them and track their environmental impacts over time. By the time contamination is discovered, many facilities have long been shuttered or purchased by new owners. And the polluters have a direct financial interest in not being connected with it, since they could be held liable and forced to pay for cleanup.</p>
<p>Similarly, urban neighborhoods tend to have shifting demographics, and local residents are often not aware of historical pollution. </p>
<p>Finally, it can simply be politically expedient to look the other way and ignore the consequences of pollution. Cities may be concerned that publicizing toxic histories discourage investment and depress property values, and politicians are hesitant to fund projects that may have a long-term benefit but short-term costs. Indianapolis, for example, tried for decades to avoid mitigating the raw sewage flowing into the White River and Fall Creek, arguing it was too expensive to deal with. Only when required by a <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2013-09/documents/indy0610-cd.pdf">consent decree</a> did the city start to address the problem.</p>
<p>Toxic legacies are also difficult to track because their effects may be hidden by distance and time. Anthropologist Peter Little <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/burning-matters-9780190934552?cc=us&lang=en&">traced the outsourcing of electronics waste recycling</a>, which is shipped from the places where electronics are bought and used, to countries such as Ghana, where labor is cheap and environmental regulations lax. </p>
<p>Then there are the toxic traces of military conflicts, which linger long after the fighting has stopped and troops have returned home. Historian and geologist Daniel Hubé has documented <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19475020.2017.1393347">the long-term environmental impact of World War I munitions</a>. </p>
<p>At the end of the war, unused and unexploded bombs and chemical weapons had to be disposed of. In France, at a site known as <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003365259-25/cleaning-battlefields-times-war-polluted-soils-times-peace-case-study-silent-visible-toxic-legacy-great-war-daniel-hub%C3%A9-tobias-bausinger?context=ubx&refId=630129c7-e447-48fd-a959-24bf0bae1d83">Place à Gaz</a>, hundreds of thousands of chemical weapons were burned. Today, the soils have been found to have extraordinarily high levels of arsenic and other heavy metals. </p>
<p>More than a century after the end of the war, little grows on the contaminated, barren land.</p>
<h2>Toxic tours and teaching moments</h2>
<p>There’s a growing movement to make toxic histories more visible.</p>
<p>In Providence, Rhode Island, artist Holly Ewald founded the <a href="http://www.upparts.org/">Urban Pond Procession</a> to call attention to Mashapaug Pond, which was contaminated by <a href="https://medallicartcollector.com/gorham.shtml">a Gorham Silver factory</a>. She worked with community partners to create wearable sculptures, puppets and giant fish, all of which were carried and worn in an annual parade that took place from 2008 to 2017.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People march along a sidewalk playing instruments and holding signs featuring fish." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548175/original/file-20230913-3869-qv2hbs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548175/original/file-20230913-3869-qv2hbs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548175/original/file-20230913-3869-qv2hbs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548175/original/file-20230913-3869-qv2hbs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548175/original/file-20230913-3869-qv2hbs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548175/original/file-20230913-3869-qv2hbs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548175/original/file-20230913-3869-qv2hbs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Urban Pond Procession took place each summer for 10 years in Providence, R.I.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Mary Beth Meehan, UPP Collection, Providence Public Library</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cultural anthropologist Amelia Fiske collaborated with artist Jonas Fischer to create the graphic novel “<a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781487509538/toxic/">Tóxico</a>,” which will be published in 2024. It depicts petroleum pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon, as well as the struggles of those fighting for environmental justice. </p>
<p>Toxic tours can educate the public about the histories, causes and consequences of environmental harm. For example, <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003365259-31/environmental-justice-tours-transformative-narratives-struggle-solidarity-activism-ana-isabel-baptista?context=ubx&refId=7e43d2ce-0c5c-41a4-a9b6-40ce10c0848c">Ironbound Community Corporation</a> in Newark, New Jersey, offers a tour of severely contaminated sites, such as the location of the former <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/08/nyregion/newark-s-toxic-tomb-six-acres-fouled-dioxin-agent-orange-s-deadly-byproduct.html">Agent Orange factory</a>, where the sediment in the sludge is laced with the carcinogen dioxin. The tour also goes by a detention center <a href="https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/overview-epas-brownfields-program">that’s built on a brownfield</a>, which has only undergone industrial-level remediation because that’s the standard all prisons are held to.</p>
<p>In 2017, the <a href="https://www.humanitiesactionlab.org/">Humanities Action Lab</a> organized “<a href="https://climatesofinequality.org/">Climates of Inequality</a>,” a traveling exhibit co-curated by more than 20 universities and local partners exploring environmental issues affecting communities around the world. The <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003365259-34/toxic-heritage-reparations-activating-memory-environmental-climate-justice-liz-%C5%A1ev%C4%8Denko?context=ubx&refId=e2e664c7-b4d9-4497-b4a4-6d4f5dd1b009">exhibit</a> brings attention to polluted waterways, the impacts of climate change, ecological damage on Indigenous lands and the ways in which immigrant agricultural workers experience heat stress and chronic pesticide exposure. The exhibits also explore the affected communities’ resilience and advocacy.</p>
<p>These stories of pollution and contamination, and their effects on people’s health and livelihoods, represent only a sampling of current efforts to curate toxic heritage. As sociologist Alice Mah writes in her foreword to “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Toxic-Heritage-Legacies-Futures-and-Environmental-Injustice/Kryder-Reid-May/p/book/9781032429977">Toxic Heritage</a>”: “Reckoning with toxic heritage is an urgent collective task. It is also unsettling work. It requires confronting painful truths about the roots of toxic injustice with courage, honesty, and humility.”</p>
<p>I see public commemoration of hidden toxic histories as a way to push back against denial, habituation and amnesia. It creates a space for public conversation, and it opens up possibilities for a more just and sustainable future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Kryder-Reid receives funding from Indiana University and the Fulbright Program.</span></em></p>
Societies celebrate heroes and commemorate tragedies. But why is there so little public acknowledgment of environmental disasters?
Elizabeth Kryder-Reid, Chancellor's Professor of Anthropology and Museum Studies, Indiana University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208021
2023-08-31T20:00:11Z
2023-08-31T20:00:11Z
Under-counting, a gendered industry, and precarious work: the challenges facing Creative Australia in supporting visual artists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540941/original/file-20230803-21-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C14%2C4909%2C4843&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Earl Wilcox/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Arts Minister Tony Burke launched the bill introducing Creative Australia, the new organisation at the heart of the Revive Cultural Policy, he did so with <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansardr%2F26698%2F0005%22">a bold statement</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Creative Australia recognises that artists and creatives throughout our great landscape, from metropolitan cities to the red desert, are workers. In exchange for what they give us, they should have safe workplaces and be remunerated fairly.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In 2022, we surveyed 702 visual and craft artists and arts workers, making this the largest single scholarly survey of this cohort in Australia to date. We were interested to find out the ways artists combined income from various sources, within and beyond their art practice. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.visualartswork.net.au/">Our new research</a> identifies three key areas that need to be addressed to ensure fair remuneration for all visual and craft artists. We need to acknowledge the likely under-counting of the number of artists in Australia, the gendered nature of this population, and the complex ways artists earn an income.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/arts-are-meant-to-be-at-the-heart-of-our-life-what-the-new-national-cultural-policy-could-mean-for-australia-if-it-all-comes-together-198786">'Arts are meant to be at the heart of our life': what the new national cultural policy could mean for Australia – if it all comes together</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Counting the artists</h2>
<p>It is impossible to provide a single estimate of the number of visual and craft artists in Australia as different surveys use different definitions of “artist”.</p>
<p>According to the 2021 ABS census, there are 6,793 <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/tablebuilder?opendocument&navpos=240.">visual art and craft professionals in Australia</a>, 64% of whom identified as female. </p>
<p>But the criteria used to count being an artist as a profession in the census require art to be the “<a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/income-and-work-census/2021#key-questions-in-2021-census">main job</a>” of the respondent in the week before the census. This leads to an under-counting of artists, as most visual art and craft artists support themselves through other work – either related to their artwork, such as in academia or in arts management, or in an entirely different field. As such, they would not be identified in the census as visual or craft artists.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman weaving." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many artists are excluded from the census, because art making is not their ‘main work’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ALAN DE LA CRUZ/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A more accurate estimate is likely provided by the ABS Survey of Cultural Participation. In this survey, <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-and-creative-activities/latest-release">106,000 Australians</a> reported earning some income from a visual art activity, and 94,800 from a craft activity, in the 2021–22 financial year. These figures cannot be totalled as those engaged in both activities were counted separately. Nonetheless, at a minimum the survey identifies an additional 100,000 visual and craft artists not captured within the census definition. </p>
<p>If all artists are to be remunerated fairly, it is critical Creative Australia ensures support mechanisms extend to the around 100,000 visual and craft artists for whom art making is not their primary occupation. </p>
<h2>The gendered nature of the industry</h2>
<p>In our survey, we did not impose any requirements that respondents devote a certain amount of time to their art making, nor earn a particular level of income. Instead, we left it open to respondents to self-identify as an artist. </p>
<p>This inclusive definition produced a much higher proportion of female artists than the census, with 73% identifying as female. This aligns with <a href="https://sheila.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2019_COUNTESS_REPORT_FINAL.pdf">other estimates</a> of the gender breakdown of the industry. The ABS Cultural Participation Survey estimated 67% of people who earned income from visual art activity and 79% who derived income from craft activity were female.</p>
<p>In our survey, 3.1% of respondents identified as non-binary, and so we were not able to collect enough data for further analysis of this cohort.</p>
<p>We found a distinctive experience of female artists compared to their male counterparts, suggesting policy responses need to recognise the gendered nature of art making. </p>
<p>Female artists in our survey reported an average annual income of A$8,507 from their arts practice, compared to the annual income reported by male artists of $22,906. </p>
<p>While earning 37% of male artists’ earnings, women spent 76% of the time male artists spend on their practice (29 hours compared with 38 hours per week). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man paints." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On average, male artists earn more than female artists.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Antonio Francisco/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, male artists earn more from their art practice than female artists, and proportionately even more when accounting for the hours spent on their practice. </p>
<p>Our research suggests the shadow cohort of visual and craft artists who do not show up in census results are predominantly female. The gendered nature of the visual arts and craft sector must be front of mind in the design of remuneration policies for artists undertaken by Creative Australia.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gender-pay-gap-is-wider-in-the-arts-than-in-other-industries-87080">The gender pay gap is wider in the arts than in other industries</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How artists earn a living</h2>
<p>For many artists, the practice of visual art and craft making does not readily align with traditional concepts of an employee and is not attached to a single workplace. </p>
<p>In our survey, only 30% of respondents spent 100% of their working time as an artist, with 60% receiving at least some income from non-artistic work within and outside the arts sector.</p>
<p>The life of an artist is more likely to look like a combination of multiple part-time, casual and contract jobs, with occasional grant income and artwork sales. </p>
<p>Many visual art and craft artists conduct their practice from their home and operate as a sole trader. For many, outside work is the only way they can support their art practice. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three people in an office" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most artists support themselves with a job other than art making.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arlington Research/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Achieving the goal of remunerating artists fairly is not just about payment for art making. It is also about the other work these artists must undertake to make a living, much of which consists of part-time employment elsewhere in the arts and cultural sector. </p>
<p>Any policy interventions from Creative Australia to support visual and craft artists’ incomes will need to take a sector-wide approach.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/male-artists-dominate-galleries-our-research-explored-if-its-because-women-dont-paint-very-well-or-just-discrimination-189221">Male artists dominate galleries. Our research explored if it’s because ‘women don’t paint very well’ – or just discrimination</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grace McQuilten receives funding from the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project 'Ambitious & Fair: Strategies for a Sustainable Visual Arts Sector.'</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chloë Powell receives funding from the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project 'Ambitious & Fair: Strategies for a Sustainable Visual Arts Sector.'</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenny Lye receives funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project Ambitious and Fair: strategies for a sustainable arts sector (LP200100054)"</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate MacNeill receives funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project Ambitious and Fair: strategies for a sustainable arts sector (LP200100054)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marnie Badham receives funding from the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project 'Ambitious & Fair: Strategies for a Sustainable Visual Arts Sector.' She is affiliated with Res Artis. </span></em></p>
Any policy interventions from Creative Australia to support visual and craft artists’ incomes will need to take a sector-wide approach.
Grace McQuilten, Associate professor, RMIT University
Chloë Powell, Research Assistant, RMIT University
Jenny Lye, Associate Professor/Reader in Economics, The University of Melbourne
Kate MacNeill, Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne
Marnie Badham, Associate Professor, School of Art, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211811
2023-08-23T12:26:04Z
2023-08-23T12:26:04Z
How a hip-hop mindset can help teachers in a time of turmoil
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543937/original/file-20230822-19-fzf2o0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C20%2C6679%2C4426&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Confidence is a critical component of hip-hop culture.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/confident-black-woman-in-classroom-royalty-free-image/1298999131?phrase=high+school+teacher+black+woman&adppopup=true">Manu Vega via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While hip-hop has created a lot of good memories, good music and good times, the culture has gifted society much more than just entertainment.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7BZ3GM8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researcher who specializes in hip-hop culture</a>, I know that one of hip-hop’s greatest gifts is a <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/the-hip-hop-mindset-9780807768709#:">certain mindset that focuses on freedom of thought, flexibility and truth-telling</a>. It also includes <a href="https://doi.org/10.25148/CLJ.16.1.010605">creativity, authenticity, confidence, braggadocio, uninhibited voice and integrity</a> as those things relate to one’s community and culture.</p>
<p>In order for educators to overcome the challenges of what politicians are turning into an <a href="https://theconversation.com/politicians-seek-to-control-classroom-discussions-about-slavery-in-the-us-187057">increasingly restrictive teaching environment</a> – particularly with regard to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-teachers-can-stay-true-to-history-without-breaking-new-laws-that-restrict-what-they-can-teach-about-racism-205452">matters of race and racism in American history</a> – I believe the hip-hop mindset has taken on a new sense of relevance in the educational arena.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/bans-on-critical-race-theory-could-have-a-chilling-effect-on-how-educators-teach-about-racism-163236">Many educators feel uncertainty</a> over what they can and can’t say in the classroom. They also want to stay true to themselves. Here, I offer five ways that educators can adopt the hip-hop mindset to confront the challenges they face:</p>
<h2>1. Claim your space</h2>
<p>When Run-DMC <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcCaycrPIa0">took the stage in the 1980s</a>, they often began their show with Run – one half of the pioneering rap duo – walking on stage and saying to an eager crowd: “We had a whole lot of superstars on this stage here tonight, but I want y'all to know one thing: This is my house. And when I say ‘Who’s house?’ I want y'all to say ‘Run’s house.’”</p>
<p>Through this <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25377-6_2">call-and-response</a> routine, the group claimed every arena in which they performed. Whether you call it posturing, braggadocio or swag, hip-hop culture has long rewarded those who confidently took control of the spaces where they work.</p>
<p>Hip-hop’s longevity is due in large part to this boldness – artists standing firm and <a href="https://wordpress.clarku.edu/musc210-hhp/hip-hop-culture-politics-exploring-the-narrative-and-power-of-rap-lyrics/fuck-tha-police-n-w-a/">fighting back</a> <a href="https://www.villagevoice.com/when-christian-america-and-the-cops-went-insane-over-n-w-a-rap-and-metal/">even when they were under attack</a>.</p>
<p>Strong confidence gives artists the guts to be nonconformists, to tell the truth and to try something new – practices that I believe will benefit teachers in the midst of political efforts to control what they say.</p>
<h2>2. Form a squad or a crew</h2>
<p>From the early days to now, hip-hop artists have always formed
<a href="https://www.seoultherapy.co.uk/post/a-guide-to-k-hip-hop-crews#">squads or crews</a> to perform as emcees or dancers, who often battle to show who has the best lyrics or dance moves.</p>
<p>Early examples include the Rock Steady Crew and New York City Breakers, who famously squared off against one another in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xu48tnr4qQ">iconic scene</a> from the 1984 hip-hop movie “Beat Street.”</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Xu48tnr4qQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Breakdancing battle scene from the movie “Beat Street.”</span></figcaption>
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<p>Your squad isn’t just your personal friends – they are your colleagues and comrades in the struggle. They are your trusted village of truth tellers, possibility partners and strategic thinkers. Educators can lean on their squad to help strategize and stay sane. </p>
<p>A squad or crew need not be confined to just one school. Queen Latifah, Monie Love, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul – who were either solo acts or individual groups – were all part of an even larger artistic community called <a href="https://www.avclub.com/a-beginner-s-guide-to-hip-hop-collective-native-tongues-1798239179">Native Tongues</a>. </p>
<p>Just as hip-hop artists are often part of larger groups, educators can similarly build a larger community of support.</p>
<p>Partnering with local nonprofits and community organizations could prove important now more than ever. These organizations can host and facilitate learning experiences that might be prohibited in a classroom. Through these partnerships, students can get free, community-based programs that enable them to have freer discussions that might not be allowed within a public school in a state that restricts what educators can say.</p>
<h2>3. Remix</h2>
<p>One of the most popular strategies of creating hip-hop music is the remix – where a song’s producer will create a new version of a song, sometimes by borrowing or sampling beats from other songs, changing up the pace, or even introducing new lyrics that weren’t part of the original.</p>
<p>A classic example would be KRS-One’s 1988 song “Still #1.” Whereas the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw_UMdFSSlo">original version</a> was laid back, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gZ6tLhUAHY&t=42s">“Numero Uno” remix</a> featured a sample of an upbeat Latin jazz song and even opened in Spanish.</p>
<p>Embracing the art of remixing might offer a viable way for educators to respond to efforts to censor what students can read in school or educators can teach in class.</p>
<p>For instance, in school districts or states where certain books or topics have been outlawed, educators can use <a href="https://www.cnet.com/culture/how-teenagers-can-borrow-banned-books-for-free-from-brooklyn-public-library/">Books Unbanned</a> – a program in which teens and young adults can access e-books using a national library card. Educators can create a free guide of resources for families that include information on similar programs.</p>
<p>A remix may also be helpful with school funding. Schools at all levels could <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2022/01/11/critical-race-theory-scholars-counter-funded-attacks">secure grant and foundational support</a>, which can provide the resources to fund community-based partnerships and the freedom to establish specialized initiatives.</p>
<h2>4. Go crate digging</h2>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-lost-art-of-cratedigging-4ed652643618">Crate digging</a> is a critical part of the remix. It is the process of sifting through old vinyl records, typically stored in old milk crates or cardboard boxes, to find a long-forgotten song to use in a remix.</p>
<p>Similarly, teachers can turn to the tactics and strategies employed by educators from different eras to see how they dealt with the educational exclusion and erasure of their day. After desegregation, for instance, a new struggle emerged in the 1960s and 1970s to make school lessons more <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2668212">culturally and racially inclusive</a>. </p>
<p>By examining the work of legendary educators like <a href="https://www.cnet.com/culture/how-teenagers-can-borrow-banned-books-for-free-from-brooklyn-public-library/">Septima Clark</a>, today’s teachers can uncover ideas and opportunities to re-imagine historical efforts like the <a href="https://snccdigital.org/people/septima-clark/">Citizenship Schools</a> initiative that Clark developed. These mobile schools – or <a href="https://snccdigital.org/people/septima-clark/">“rolling schools”</a> as they were called – took learning into community spaces. These schools paved the way for programs like the Freedom Schools that were later developed by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, and are still in operation today by the <a href="https://www.childrensdefense.org/programs/cdf-freedom-schools/">Children’s Defense Fund</a>. Communities around the country partner with the Children’s Defense Fund to offer local Freedom Schools.</p>
<h2>5. Still keep it real</h2>
<p>As a teenage fan of hip-hop in the early 1990s, I remember the phrase “keep it real” – which is an expression of authenticity – as being <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/06/08/keeping-it-real-has-lost-its-true-meaning/">extremely popular</a>. At the time, it felt like intense pressure to keep it real and to represent your community. I now look back and appreciate that it actually wasn’t pressure, but rather permission to be authentic.</p>
<p>Educators don’t have to champion the new laws and policies that restrict what they can teach – they just have to follow them. But there’s no restriction against “keeping it real” and discussing the new laws and policies as a civics lesson.</p>
<p>So, when the lesson or class is about current events, students could examine various laws being enacted to restrict the teaching of Black history.</p>
<p>Educators may find themselves facing a growing number of challenges from state legislatures as they increasingly invade their classroom spaces and curtail the kind of content they can teach in class. I believe by adopting the hip-hop mindset, educators will be better prepared to do the kind of battle required to prevail on behalf of truth-telling, authenticity, creativity and all the other habits of mind that made hip-hop the defiant and resilient culture that it has become.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Toby Jenkins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The same boldness that enabled hip-hop to endure can benefit teachers in the classroom, a hip-hop scholar writes.
Toby Jenkins, Professor of Higher Education, University of South Carolina
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210187
2023-08-08T20:31:53Z
2023-08-08T20:31:53Z
Why the growth of AI in making art won’t eliminate artists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539839/original/file-20230727-21-v9as63.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C71%2C2937%2C1832&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Generative AI used to recreate Drake’s voice was trained on many copyrighted songs featuring his voice. Drake appears on screen during a tribute to Lil Wayne at the Black Music Collective on Feb. 2, 2023, in Los Angeles. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/why-the-growth-of-ai-in-making-art-wont-eliminate-artists" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in the news, most recently concerning the Hollywood actors’ strike about the potential impact of <a href="https://theconversation.com/computer-written-scripts-and-deepfake-actors-whats-at-the-heart-of-the-hollywood-strikes-against-generative-ai-210191">AI in filmmaking</a>.
Another story involved AI being used to <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/25/23696155/viral-drake-ai-repurposed-soundcloud-rap">replicate the voice of the Canadian rapper Drake</a> in a <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9635203/fake-drake-ai-music/">track that went viral</a>.</p>
<p>These stories raise questions about performers’ rights, and also lead people to wonder: will AI replace artists?</p>
<p>These questions are also germane given <a href="https://stablediffusionweb.com/">recent advances</a> in <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/definition/generative-AI">generative artificial intelligence</a>
trained <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/12/when-ai-can-make-art-what-does-it-mean-for-creativity-dall-e-midjourney">on a vast amount of existing images</a> that have been used to create new images based only on user-provided prompts. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-authors-are-suing-openai-for-training-chatgpt-with-their-books-could-they-win-209227">Two authors are suing OpenAI for training ChatGPT with their books. Could they win?</a>
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<p>I am a composer who has <a href="https://aeigenfeldt.wordpress.com/">used creative AI in my music and sound practice</a> for almost two decades. My creative practice and research has focused upon the potential for a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10960-7_12">collaborative relationship</a> between artists and AI. From my perspective, while we are in a time of disruption where many artists will need to renegotiate terms of their labour in a new technological context, there are also opportunities for different forms of collaboration.</p>
<h2>AI-generated images</h2>
<p>AI-generated <a href="https://neuroflash.com/blog/stable-diffusion-examples-3/">high-quality images</a> range from <a href="https://www.thegamer.com/blizzard-diffusion-ai-concept-art-environments-characters/">concept art for video games</a> to photorealistic works. </p>
<p>Examples of generative AI visual art include fantastical images: </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Astronaut playing a violin while riding a blue horse in a field of sunflowers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539849/original/file-20230727-17-gbh5t6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539849/original/file-20230727-17-gbh5t6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539849/original/file-20230727-17-gbh5t6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539849/original/file-20230727-17-gbh5t6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539849/original/file-20230727-17-gbh5t6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539849/original/file-20230727-17-gbh5t6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539849/original/file-20230727-17-gbh5t6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Image created by the author using dreamstudio.ai using the prompt: ‘Astronaut playing a violin while riding a blue horse in a field of sunflowers fantasy art.’ Notice the floating violin bow and incorrect right hand position.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Works can also mimic the style of existing artists. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young person holding a bullhorn and a red flower in the style of Banksy" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539850/original/file-20230727-82020-32vp0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539850/original/file-20230727-82020-32vp0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539850/original/file-20230727-82020-32vp0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539850/original/file-20230727-82020-32vp0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539850/original/file-20230727-82020-32vp0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539850/original/file-20230727-82020-32vp0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539850/original/file-20230727-82020-32vp0s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Image created by the author in dreamstudio.ai using the prompt: ‘Young person holding a bullhorn and a red flower in the style of Banksy.’</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The freely available online systems used to create the above images are examples of the progress made in artificial intelligence being used to generate novel material. Perhaps the biggest advance is these systems’ ease of use: they are readily usable and accessible to the general public.</p>
<h2>Will AI replace artists?</h2>
<p>On one hand, the answer to whether AI will replace artists is no. </p>
<p>Generative AI is a powerful tool that can expand the possibilities of art making and will still require the guiding hand of a human artist. As with any new technology, some creative processes will become both easier and less time-consuming with AI. </p>
<p>For example, an artist interested in generating visual imagery can suggest a prompt and the AI produces it immediately. Instead of taking hours or days to experiment with an idea, it may take minutes or even seconds. </p>
<p>The current image-producing systems still require human interaction through both a text prompt and the curation of its output, <a href="https://www.emergingcurators.org/curating-as-artistic-practice/">itself an artistic act</a>. </p>
<p>On the other hand, these limitations will soon be overcome: human-provided prompts can easily be replaced by generated prompts (which <a href="https://beta.dreamstudio.ai/generate">some systems</a> already allow for). </p>
<p>Research into creative AI has already produced systems that can <a href="https://www.interaliamag.org/articles/ahmed-elgammal/">evaluate their own output</a> through aesthetic judgements (rather than only <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/definition/generative-adversarial-network-GAN">mimicing its data set</a>). </p>
<p>As such, there is the very real potential that an endless supply of fully AI-produced artwork will constitute much of the imagery we see online and flood the market. </p>
<h2>Reasons to hope</h2>
<p>For many practising artists there are reasons to hope. </p>
<p>Creative AI can allow some artists greater time and energy to explore artistic avenues, thereby producing not just more art, but potentially more paradigm-shifting art. </p>
<p>Artist and scholar <a href="https://philipgalanter.com/">Philip Galanter</a>, who <a href="https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n4c1898c6/Persons/View%20All">explores art theory bridging the gap between the cultures of science and the humanities</a>, <a href="http://www.artificial.dk/articles/galanter.htm">has defined “generative art” as</a> “any art practice where the artist uses a system, such as a set of natural language rules, a computer program, a machine, or other procedural invention, which is set into motion with some degree of autonomy contributing to or resulting in a completed work of art.”</p>
<p>Generative art-making practices have been <a href="http://artsites.ucsc.edu/faculty/cope/experiments.htm">around for decades</a> (<a href="http://www.artificial.dk/articles/galanter.htm">arguably much longer</a>). Human interaction with these systems <a href="https://quasimondo.com/">can produce truly stunning work</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1103252969733144577"}"></div></p>
<p>Current systems can only produce mashups of existing data. While <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.612379">the output may be novel</a> in that a given output may never have existed previously, its <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2021/10/the-value-of-creativity">esthetic value may be limited</a>. </p>
<h2>AI, labour and creativity</h2>
<p>The music industry has been driven by style-replicating processes for decades, in which an artist may produce a genuinely novel work and then others fill the available space around it with variations of that work’s style. It takes <a href="https://www.interaliamag.org/articles/margaret-boden-creativity-in-a-nutshell/">true creativity</a> to produce something outside the existing paradigm and AI is nowhere near that stage. </p>
<p>However, it won’t be long before those producers merely creating the same formulaic songs will be in direct competition with AIs that can do so <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDFQDX0xIRI&ab_channel=AIBORDER">much more efficiently</a>. </p>
<p>The generative AI used to recreate Drake’s voice was trained on many copyrighted songs featuring his voice. In such cases, music industry figures argue
<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/1/23703087/ai-drake-the-weeknd-music-copyright-legal-battle-right-of-publicity">this broke copyright law</a>. In this case, an artist used AI as a tool to create something new; it is doubtful anyone would argue it was the AI itself that was being creative.
Apart <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9635203/fake-drake-ai-music/">from the legal and ethical question</a> of using his voice, Drake can be considered as being replaced labour. </p>
<p>In the case of Hollywood actors in danger of having their <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/13/23794224/sag-aftra-actors-strike-ai-image-rights">likenesses reproduced in a similar fashion by an AI</a>, it will be directors and producers that are the creative artists, and the actors the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-07-11/actors-ai-fears-laws-legal-implications-artificial-intelligence">displaced labour</a>. </p>
<p>In my own work, I have never viewed AI as replacing anyone. Instead, I consider it an alternate creative voice trained on my own esthetics. I have gone out of my way to continue to work with human artists who <a href="http://www.generativeart.com/GA2019_web/08_ARNE_168x240.pdf">interact with my systems</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bgRBWFwaJ3A?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">One movement from “A Walk to Meryton,” the latest work involving generative AI by the author.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://aeigenfeldt.wordpress.com/a-walk-to-meryton/">My latest album</a> places the <a href="http://www.sfu.ca/%7Eeigenfel/ICMC2018_Eigenfeldt.pdf">musebots, my creative AI,</a> before my own name, but still clearly credits the individual musicians with which I — and my AI system — collaborated.</p>
<p><a href="https://generativeart.com/papersGA2022/2022/Arne%20Eigenfeldt%20ebook2022-10.pdf">In this work</a>, the AI generated the entire composition, including selecting all the individual sounds. My role (after the musebots were coded) was to listen to the final work and decide whether I should ask my human musical collaborators to play with it.</p>
<h2>AI is nothing without humans</h2>
<p>We are on the precipice of systems being able to generate entire songs. Many of the roadblocks to such generation have been, or are close to being, solved. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://moises.ai/features/vocal-remover/">includes successfully separating the different elements of a song</a> — the melody, the bass, the beat — to allow them to be analyzed individually. Given this information, AI can then begin to understand how music is put together structurally, a major step beyond the current generative models that use <a href="https://openai.com/research/jukebox">simplistic building block methods</a> for creating data.</p>
<p>But like the image-generating systems, AI music will be a mashup of what is already out there. It will require the collaboration of human artists to point it in novel directions and determine whether the output is even worthwhile. </p>
<p>AI will not replace artists in the future; instead, they will be needed more than ever.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210187/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arne Eigenfeldt has received funding from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>
As a composer who has used creative AI in my music, I see that many artists will need to renegotiate terms of their labour, but there are also opportunities for different forms of collaboration.
Arne Eigenfeldt, Professor, School for the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/207473
2023-06-15T18:18:00Z
2023-06-15T18:18:00Z
Generative AI is a minefield for copyright law
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532241/original/file-20230615-11155-nww82y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C5%2C3817%2C2149&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Still from 'All watched over by machines of loving grace' by Memo Akten, 2021. Created using custom AI software.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Memo Akten</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2022, an AI-generated work of art won the Colorado State Fair’s art competition. The artist, Jason Allen, had used Midjourney – a generative AI system trained on art <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2022/09/16/midjourney-founder-david-holz-on-the-impact-of-ai-on-art-imagination-and-the-creative-economy/?sh=6b99081f2d2b">scraped from the internet</a> – to create the piece. The process was far from fully automated: Allen went through some 900 iterations over 80 hours to create and refine his submission. </p>
<p>Yet his use of AI to win the art competition triggered a heated backlash online, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/technology/ai-artificial-intelligence-artists.html">with one Twitter user claiming</a>, “We’re watching the death of artistry unfold right before our eyes.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1565712173183016960"}"></div></p>
<p>As generative AI art tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion have been thrust into the limelight, so too have questions about ownership and authorship. </p>
<p>These tools’ generative ability is the result of training them with scores of prior artworks, from which the AI learns how to create artistic outputs.</p>
<p>Should the artists whose art was scraped to train the models be compensated? Who owns the images that AI systems produce? Is the process of fine-tuning prompts for generative AI a form of <a href="https://theconversation.com/generative-ai-is-forcing-people-to-rethink-what-it-means-to-be-authentic-204347">authentic creative expression</a>? </p>
<p>On one hand, <a href="https://www.freethink.com/robots-ai/ai-and-future-of-creativity">technophiles rave</a> over work like Allen’s. But on the other, many working artists consider the use of their art to train AI to be <a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/midjourney-ai-art-image-generators-lawsuit-1234665579/">exploitative</a>.</p>
<p>We’re part of a team of 14 experts across disciplines that just published a paper on generative AI in Science magazine. In it, we explore how advances in AI <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adh4451">will affect creative work, aesthetics and the media</a>. One of the key questions that emerged has to do with <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/what-is-copyright/">U.S. copyright laws</a>, and whether they can adequately deal with the unique challenges of generative AI.</p>
<p>Copyright laws were created to promote the arts and creative thinking. But the rise of generative AI has complicated existing notions of authorship.</p>
<h2>Photography serves as a helpful lens</h2>
<p>Generative AI might seem unprecedented, but history can act as a guide. </p>
<p>Take the <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/coml8&div=41&g_sent=1&casa_token=oFkqu0HYSOgAAAAA:C_ZxdPOJEoIWzr2PmppzxZgIdgdf6mx-bocutIgYsKOFyOJAomcBF4rfVVymEGmBgt3fFXZR&collection=journals">emergence of photography in the 1800s</a>. Before its invention, artists could only try to portray the world through drawing, painting or sculpture. Suddenly, reality could be captured in a flash using a camera and chemicals. </p>
<p>As with generative AI, many argued that photography lacked artistic merit. In 1884, the <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/111/53/">U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the issue</a> and found that cameras served as tools that an artist could use to give an idea visible form; the “masterminds” behind the cameras, the court ruled, should own the photographs they create. </p>
<p>From then on, photography evolved into its own art form and even sparked <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/7/2/18">new abstract artistic movements</a>. </p>
<h2>AI can’t own outputs</h2>
<p>Unlike inanimate cameras, AI possesses capabilities – like the ability to convert basic instructions into impressive artistic works – that make it <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-isnt-close-to-becoming-sentient-the-real-danger-lies-in-how-easily-were-prone-to-anthropomorphize-it-200525">prone to anthropomorphization</a>. Even the term “artificial intelligence” encourages people to think that these systems have humanlike intent or even self-awareness.</p>
<p>This led some people to wonder whether AI systems can be “owners.” But the U.S. Copyright Office has stated unequivocally that <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/ai/ai_policy_guidance.pdf">only humans can hold copyrights</a>.</p>
<p>So who can claim ownership of images produced by AI? Is it the artists whose images were used to train the systems? The users who type in prompts to create images? Or the people who build the AI systems?</p>
<h2>Infringement or fair use?</h2>
<p>While artists draw obliquely from past works that have educated and inspired them in order to create, generative AI relies on training data to produce outputs. </p>
<p>This training data consists of prior artworks, many of which are protected by copyright law and which have been collected without artists’ knowledge or consent. Using art in this way might violate copyright law even before the AI generates a new work.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Computer generated image made to look like a painting of a face with wires spilling out of its head surrounded by a field of grass and flowers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532244/original/file-20230615-15-urogfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Still from ‘All watched over by machines of loving grace’ by Memo Akten, 2021. Created using custom AI software.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Memo Akten</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For Jason Allen to create his award-winning art, Midjourney was trained on <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2022/09/16/midjourney-founder-david-holz-on-the-impact-of-ai-on-art-imagination-and-the-creative-economy/?sh=b14a0aa2d2b8">100 million</a> prior works.</p>
<p>Was that a form of infringement? Or was it a new form of “<a href="https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/">fair use</a>,” a legal doctrine that permits the unlicensed use of protected works if they’re sufficiently transformed into something new? </p>
<p>While AI systems do not contain literal copies of the training data, they do <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.03860">sometimes manage to recreate works</a> from the training data, complicating this legal analysis. </p>
<p>Will contemporary copyright law favor end users and companies over the artists whose content is in the training data? </p>
<p>To mitigate this concern, some scholars propose new regulations to protect and compensate artists whose work is used for training. These proposals include a right for artists to <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.11074.pdf'">opt out of their data’s being used</a> for generative AI or a way to <a href="https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Jessica-Fjeld_RFC-84-FR-58141.pdf">automatically compensate artists</a> when their work is used to train an AI.</p>
<h2>Muddled ownership</h2>
<p>Training data, however, is only part of the process. Frequently, artists who use generative AI tools go through many rounds of revision to refine their prompts, which suggests a degree of originality.</p>
<p>Answering the question of who should own the outputs requires looking into the contributions of all those involved in the generative AI supply chain.</p>
<p>The legal analysis is easier when an output is different from works in the training data. In this case, whoever prompted the AI to produce the output appears to be the default owner. </p>
<p>However, copyright law requires meaningful creative input – a standard satisfied by clicking the shutter button on a camera. It remains unclear how courts will decide what this means for the use of generative AI. Is composing and refining a prompt enough? </p>
<p>Matters are more complicated when outputs resemble works in the training data. If the resemblance is based only on general style or content, it is unlikely to violate copyright, because style is not copyrightable. </p>
<p>The illustrator Hollie Mengert encountered this issue firsthand when her unique style was mimicked by generative AI engines in a way that did not capture what, in her eyes, <a href="https://waxy.org/2022/11/invasive-diffusion-how-one-unwilling-illustrator-found-herself-turned-into-an-ai-model/">made her work unique</a>. Meanwhile, the singer Grimes embraced the tech, “open-sourcing” her voice and encouraging fans to create songs <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/24/arts/music/grimes-ai-songs.html">in her style using generative AI</a>.</p>
<p>If an output contains major elements from a work in the training data, it might infringe on that work’s copyright. Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that Andy Warhol’s drawing of a photograph <a href="https://theconversation.com/warhol-foundation-v-goldsmith-supreme-court-rules-for-income-streams-over-artistic-freedom-205986">was not permitted by fair use</a>. That means that using AI to just change the style of a work – say, from a photo to an illustration – is not enough to claim ownership over the modified output. </p>
<p>While copyright law tends to favor an all-or-nothing approach, scholars at Harvard Law School have proposed new models of <a href="https://clinic.cyber.harvard.edu/files/2020/02/WIPO-Comment-FINAL-2020-02-14.pdf">joint ownership</a> that allow artists to gain some rights in outputs that resemble their works.</p>
<p>In many ways, generative AI is yet another creative tool that allows a new group of people access to image-making, just like cameras, paintbrushes or Adobe Photoshop. But a key difference is this new set of tools relies explicitly on training data, and therefore creative contributions cannot easily be traced back to a single artist. </p>
<p>The ways in which existing laws are interpreted or reformed – and whether generative AI is appropriately treated as the tool it is – will have real consequences for the future of creative expression.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528404/original/file-20230525-19537-m9iltu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Learn what you need to know about artificial intelligence by <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=ai&source=inline-promo">signing up for our newsletter series of four emails</a> delivered over the course of a week. You can read all our stories on generative AI at <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/generative-ai-133426">TheConversation.com</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207473/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Fjeld is a member of the board of the Global Network Initiative.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ziv Epstein received compensation from OpenAI for adversarially testing DALL-E 2 in Spring 2022.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Mahari does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Intellectual property law wasn’t written with AI in mind, so it isn’t clear who owns the images that emerge from prompts – or if the artists whose work was scraped to train AI models should be paid.
Robert Mahari, JD-PhD Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Jessica Fjeld, Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School
Ziv Epstein, PhD Student in Media Arts and Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206049
2023-05-25T12:26:20Z
2023-05-25T12:26:20Z
What is vernacular art? A visual artist explains
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527842/original/file-20230523-29-vkachs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C22%2C4883%2C3231&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Henry Darger worked as a hospital custodian. After his death in 1973, hundreds of his illustrations were discovered.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/amberjol/26616919145">Brooklyn Taxidermy/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/the-error-of-margins-vernacular-artists-and-the-mainstream-art-world-5067/">Vernacular art</a> is a genre of visual art made by artists who are usually self-taught. They tend to work outside of art academies and commercial galleries, which have traditionally been the purview of white, affluent artists and collectors.</p>
<p>In the U.S., vernacular art – which can also be called folk art or outsider art – is dominated by the works of African American, Appalachian and working-class people. In many cases these artists took up making paintings, sculptures, quilts or textiles outside of a day job, or later in life. </p>
<p>In early 2023, Christie’s held an <a href="https://www.christies.com/en/auction/outsider-and-vernacular-art-29693/overview">auction of outsider and vernacular art</a>. Featuring work by American artists such as <a href="https://www.moma.org/artists/28600">Henry Darger</a>, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/08/the-utterly-original-bill-traylor">Bill Traylor</a>, <a href="https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/thornton-dial">Thornton Dial</a>, <a href="https://high.org/exhibition/really-free-the-radical-art-of-nellie-mae-rowe/">Nellie Mae Rowe</a>, <a href="https://americanart.si.edu/artist/minnie-evans-1466">Minnie Evans</a> and <a href="https://www.moma.org/artists/26683">Joseph Yoakum</a>, the sale grossed more than US$2 million.</p>
<p>Awareness and recognition of this genre has grown over the past few decades, with the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C.; the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore; Atlanta’s High Museum; and the Milwaukee Art Museum building significant collections.</p>
<h2>Art history as artist history</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528039/original/file-20230524-7504-jrqr6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Colorful drawing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528039/original/file-20230524-7504-jrqr6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528039/original/file-20230524-7504-jrqr6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528039/original/file-20230524-7504-jrqr6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528039/original/file-20230524-7504-jrqr6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528039/original/file-20230524-7504-jrqr6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528039/original/file-20230524-7504-jrqr6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528039/original/file-20230524-7504-jrqr6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1016&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adolf Wölfli’s ‘General view of the island Neveranger’ (1911).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Adolf_W%C3%B6lfli_General_view_of_the_island_Neveranger%2C_1911.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 1940s, the French artist Jean Dubuffet came up with the term “<a href="https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/definition-of-art-brut/">art brut</a>,” which translates as “raw art,” to describe art made by mental patients, prisoners or children. The drawings of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adolf-Wolfli">Adolf Wölfli</a>, who died in 1930, inspired Dubuffet’s term.</p>
<p>Wölfli was a patient with schizophrenia in a mental hospital in Bern, Switzerland, who was given pencils and paper as a form of therapy. Working mostly in pencil, Wölfli created elaborate drawings with decorative borders that included symbols, letters and his own system of musical notation.</p>
<p>In an effort to promote this genre, in 1972 the British art historian Roger Cardinal advanced the term “<a href="https://mediumisticart.com/publications/outsider-art/">outsider art</a>” to expand the canon and include more artists, such as <a href="https://madgegill.com/">Madge Gill</a>, who died in 1961. Gill, a British self-taught artist who spent much of her childhood in an orphanage, started making highly patterned drawings at the age of 38, claiming to compose the works while communicating with spirits.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527802/original/file-20230523-17-a6sb7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Drawing featuring faces and patterns." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527802/original/file-20230523-17-a6sb7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527802/original/file-20230523-17-a6sb7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527802/original/file-20230523-17-a6sb7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527802/original/file-20230523-17-a6sb7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527802/original/file-20230523-17-a6sb7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527802/original/file-20230523-17-a6sb7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527802/original/file-20230523-17-a6sb7o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A detail from Madge Gill’s ‘The Transformation.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gogginsworld/48537908822">Goggins World/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In his 2004 book “<a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo3621838.html">Everyday Genius: Self-Taught Art and Culture of Authenticity</a>,” sociologist Gary Allen Fine explains that a common facet of vernacular art is an emphasis on the artist’s biography: their personal, family and employment history. Fine observed that to collectors and dealers, these stories seemed to imbue the art with more meaning – and value. <a href="https://arttable.org/cubeportfolio/brooke-davis-anderson/">Some curators</a> have argued that vernacular art should be included in exhibitions of contemporary art and not merely exist in its own siloed category.</p>
<p>But the relationship between vernacular artists and their promoters can be complicated.</p>
<p>In her 1998 book “<a href="https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&u=googlescholar&id=GALE%7CA61185779&v=2.1&it=r&sid=googleScholar&asid=da1ead40">The Temptation: Edgar Tolson and the Genesis of Twentieth-Century Folk Art</a>,” sociologist Julia Ardery explored the ways that <a href="https://americanart.si.edu/artist/edgar-tolson-4834">Tolson</a>, a self-taught woodcarver from rural Kentucky, interacted with faculty and students from the University of Kentucky, and she analyzed their influence on his art.</p>
<p>Much of Tolson’s work was acquired by Michael Hall, who taught at the University of Kentucky at the time. Hall helped Tolson receive a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3675514">National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship in 1981</a>, but he also ended up selling a portion of his collection to the Milwaukee Art Museum in 1989 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/26/arts/arts-artifacts-folk-art-with-an-eye-toward-the-modern.html">for $1.5 million</a>. </p>
<p>As the sale of Tolson’s work shows, when huge sums of money enter the picture, the line between appreciation and exploitation gets blurred.</p>
<h2>Why vernacular art matters</h2>
<p>Vernacular art extends the artistic canon in the same way that folk music reflects broader traditions of expression. It reminds everyone that art is a universal human pursuit.</p>
<p>As the late Chris Strachwitz, the founder of <a href="https://folkways.si.edu/arhoolie">Arhoulie Records</a>, has pointed out, Black traditions of blues and roots music were not formally taught but were passed down from one generation to the next in local communities.</p>
<p>Similarly, the architect <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/19/obituaries/robert-venturi-dead.html">Robert Venturi</a> promoted vernacular architecture in his 1972 book “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_from_Las_Vegas">Learning from Las Vegas</a>.” In it, he highlighted the ways that Las Vegas casinos and hotels were designed to accommodate the automobile and were meant to be seen as symbols, with massive, outlandish signs – an approach that most schools of architecture would have scoffed at. In doing so, Venturi ushered in <a href="https://blogs.ethz.ch/prespecific/2013/09/18/venturi-learning-from-las-vegas/">more playful forms</a> of architecture.</p>
<p><a href="https://volweb.utk.edu/%7Eblyons/spelvinissues.htm">Concepts of authenticity</a> are central to the appeal of vernacular art. Fine art and culture can sometimes be esoteric and exclusionary, and in a time when artificial intelligence has put authorship in question, vernacular art has even more resonance. It is made by the artists’ hands, using common materials, in ways that reflect their own unique life and artistic visions. </p>
<p>This work represents a pre-digital form of expression, accessible to anyone, that showcases what it means to be resourceful, creative and human.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qpYGAeenvy0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Nellie Mae Rowe wasn’t able to pursue her artistic ambitions until she was in her late 60s.</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206049/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I once created a traveling exhibition of fictive folk art as a parody of the genre. </span></em></p>
The genre – also known as ‘folk art’ or ‘outsider art’ – serves as a reminder that art is a universal human pursuit.
Beauvais Lyons, Chancellor’s Professor of Art, University of Tennessee
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/202646
2023-05-10T15:58:21Z
2023-05-10T15:58:21Z
Blockbuster exhibitions: how France is organising to tackle their mammoth environmental footprint
<p>On the website of the Rijksmuseum, the blockbuster exhibition on Johannes Vermeer (10 February – 4 June 2023) is branded <a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/whats-on/exhibitions/vermeer/story/the-largest-vermeer-exhibition-ever">“the largest exhibition ever”</a>. However, visitors’ hopes are soon dashed by a note informing them the show is sold out. “All of Vermeer’s works can still be admired via the online discovery tour,” the homepage volunteers.</p>
<p>Often monographic, blockbuster exhibitions typically bring together a single artist’s iconic works, achieving record attendance thanks to a new value proposition. They are spectacular exhibitions with flamboyant scenographies that target mainly occasional visitors.</p>
<p>In terms of attendance, they represent an undeniable success. In France, the last exhibition of this type at the Musée d’Orsay, which ended on 22 January (<em>Munch: A Poem of Life, Love and Death</em>) broke the institution’s attendance record with 720,000 visitors in four months. Some other French blockbuster examples are <em>Tutankhamun, the Pharaoh’s Treasure</em> at the Grande Halle de la Villette with 1.4 million visitors in 2019; <em>Leonardo da Vinci</em> at the Louvre: 1.1 million visitors in 2020; <em>The Morozov Collection: Icons of Modern Art</em> at the Fondation Louis Vuitton: 1.2 million visitors in 2022.</p>
<p>Aside from France and the Netherlands, other famous European museums are also marketing their temporary exhibitions as “once in a lifetime” events. Take the recent <a href="https://www.palazzostrozzi.org/en/archivio/exhibitions/donatello/"><em>Donatello: The Renaissance</em></a> in Florence in 2022 at Palazzo Strozzi, bringing together around 130 works from 60 locations from all over the world, or the Tate London exhibition <em>Cezanne</em> presented as an <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/press/press-releases/the-ey-exhibition-cezanne">“once-in-a-generation exhibition”</a>.</p>
<h2>Successful attendance but environmental failure</h2>
<p>The problem is that this type of exhibition comes with a hefty environmental bill. Elsa Boromée, a Corporate Social Responsibility manager at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, reckons her institution’s temporary exhibition on <a href="https://www.mnhn.fr/fr/exposition-evenement/especes-d-ours">bear species in 2017</a> consumed the water of 454 Olympic swimming pools, the annual energy of 23 French households and emitted the greenhouse gases of 74 round trips by plane from Paris to Marseille.</p>
<p>Such figures are pushing cultural industry players to review their business model by integrating exhibitions’ environmental footprint, as professional clusters emerge to instigate change. The Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, for example, has spent the past two years organising workshops on the topic of museum sustainability.</p>
<h2>Initiate a sustainable development process</h2>
<p>Poring over the speeches of 54 professionals who took part in a workshop on museum sustainability in Lille, January 2022, we found there is a broad consensus in France on the need for greener exhibitions. To this end, the group recommended curators rethink the very concept of the temporary exhibition and its life cycle, which spans pre-design, exhibition and dismantling times.</p>
<p>This entails reconsidering traditional notions of aesthetic and scientific excellence. Exhibitions are currently ranked according to the volume of original artworks on display, with a typical show featuring between 100 to 150 pieces. It was also advised that different museum departments involved in the preparation of the exhibition consult each other over eco-friendly alternatives, including digital projection of original artworks, sustainable scenography and lighting.</p>
<p>Moreover, museums will also have to contend with the challenge of reusing as many elements of the scenography as possible, or/and of recycling them with institutions working in the creative sector. Choosing local alternatives for donating exhibition furniture (e.g., art schools, NGOs) could also help cap transport-related emissions.</p>
<h2>Deeply rooted preconceptions</h2>
<p>The exhibition phase is the moment when the public encounters the exhibition’s narrative. And here we come up against another paradox: visitors we interviewed perceived an eco-designed exhibition as “greenwashing” and of poor aesthetic quality. One visitor observed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“An exhibition with an ‘ecological’ label… I’d be suspicious, I’d consider it ‘greenwashing’ it’s just for marketing.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This verbatim illustrates the feelings of visitors interviewed six months before the installation of the eco-designed exhibition <a href="https://www.grandpalais.fr/en/node/51590"><em>The Goya Experience</em></a> at the Palais des Beaux-arts in Lille. It raises questions about visitors’ ability to sacrifice their aesthetic pleasure for the common good. To some extent, this can be explained by the general public’s lack of knowledge about the behind-the-scenes work involved in putting on an exhibition. For example, when respondents were asked about the number of works expected for a temporary exhibition, they mentioned a maximum of 40. There is therefore a discrepancy between the aesthetic ambitions of the curators and the expectations of visitors.</p>
<p>More broadly, visitors don’t tend to perceive sustainability as a priority for museums, in contrast to other industries:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I think it’s a bit sad to ask the question of reducing the carbon footprint when it comes to culture when there are many other sectors that are worse examples. I don’t think that culture is a sector where we should be making savings. […] Culture is not the sector where the ecological balance is the heaviest.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, the public and their movements represent the largest impact in the carbon footprint of a temporary exhibition.</p>
<h2>“The Goya Experience” at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille</h2>
<p>It is essential cultural institutions educate visitors on their sustainable choices. The Palais des Beaux-arts in Lille, for example, chose to clearly brand the <em>Goya Experience</em> as its first “eco-conceived” exhibition. In an extensive information campaign, it trumpeted the ecological value of centring its exhibition around two works belonging to to the museum, <em>The Old Ones</em> and <em>The Young Ones</em>. Out of the 40 works on display, all came from Europe, and only two were ferried over by plane. 65% of the set design was reused for the following exhibition, <em>The Magic Forest</em>.</p>
<p>The feedback from visitors was particularly positive:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I was very surprised by the tour, the set design foregrounding the creation process behind the two works, the evolution of Goya’s painting, as well as the final highlight of the two paintings of the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille. The rhythmic and grave music helps us to immerse ourselves in Goya’s dark world.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Technology and digital reproductions helped to replace the missing original pieces in the scientific narrative of the exhibition tour.</p>
<p>Visitors interviewed at the exit of the exhibition said they appreciated the exhibition’s multimedia dimension:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I was taken aback by the [exhibition’s] various screenings, musical atmospheres, lighting as well as its completely digitalized gallery. I believe the set design is crucial for this [artistic] experience – yes, the exhibition ‘Goya Experience’ lives up to its name.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Launched on 22 March, the Natural History Museum’s <em>Félins</em> (“Felines”) exhibition has followed the same eco-design approach, according to its curator, Mathilde Chikitou, and set designer, Sacha Mitrofanoff. Be it the floor, furniture, display cases or partitions, the lifecycle of every item has been thoroughly assessed, from the sourcing of their raw materials to their potential to be reused or recycled. The works on display are mainly sourced from Parisian collections.</p>
<p>The examples above are proof there needn’t be any trade-offs between sustainable exhibitions and spectacular crowd-pleasers. To help professionals slash their show’s carbon footprint, the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM) has produced a special <a href="https://cimam.org/news-archive/toolkit-on-environmental-sustainability-in-the-museum-practice/">toolkit on environmental sustainability in the museum practice</a>. Awaiting full-blown eco-conceived shows, there are simple and immediate steps can museums take to help the planet, including extending the duration of the exhibition, privileging its tour within the country, calculating its impact throughout its life cycle, and working with certified suppliers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202646/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guergana Guintcheva has received research funding from the city of Lille.</span></em></p>
Record numbers of visitors are flocking to blockbuster exhibitions. Behind all the excitement, there are difficult questions over how to address their carbon footprint.
Guergana Guintcheva, Professeur de Marketing, EDHEC Business School
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/203446
2023-05-04T11:54:43Z
2023-05-04T11:54:43Z
How Yorkshire influenced the sculptures of Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore
<p>When Barbara Hepworth died in 1975, fellow sculptor Henry Moore wrote an obituary in The Sunday Times with the headline, <a href="https://sourcenationalgallery.ie/collection/calm-r20665">The Shaping of a Sculptor</a>. Not only did it prominently feature their shared birthplace of Yorkshire, but the paper’s clever headline echoed the ways their respective artistic identities had been moulded by their early lives.</p>
<p>Almost half a century on, Yorkshire is home to two organisations that represent their legacies – the <a href="https://henry-moore.org/henry-moore-institute/">Henry Moore Institute</a> in Leeds and <a href="https://hepworthwakefield.org">The Hepworth Wakefield</a>. A recently opened exhibition in Wakefield, <a href="https://hepworthwakefield.org/whats-on/magic-in-this-country-hepworth-moore-and-the-land/">Magic in this Country: Hepworth, Moore and the Land</a>, celebrates the connection between the two artists and Yorkshire. </p>
<p>The highly abstracted forms Moore and Hepworth favoured – while never fully abandoning association with the human body in Moore’s case, or becoming completely geometric in Hepworth’s – were based on ideas of a common object language that could speak across cultures.</p>
<p>In discarding its conventional representational purpose, Hepworth and Moore produced a type of sculpture that was, as art critic Rosalind Krauss put it: “<a href="https://monoskop.org/images/b/bf/Krauss_Rosalind_1979_Sculpture_in_the_Expanded_Field.pdf">functionally placeless and largely self-referential</a>”.</p>
<p>As if to demonstrate this, the Henry Moore Foundation manages an <a href="https://henry-moore.org/henry-moore-works-in-public/">interactive webpage</a> charting the locations of his sculptures in public places worldwide. </p>
<p>They can be found in their hundreds spread across five continents. Very few, if any, were made for a specific site or for any commemorative purpose. What is their connection to Yorkshire, then?</p>
<h2>The shape of Yorkshire</h2>
<p>Answering this question requires a more specific look at the kinds of comments both Hepworth and Moore made about their early lives in Yorkshire and how their youth informed their art.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A dramatic green valley covered in rocks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520219/original/file-20230411-26-o6l3tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520219/original/file-20230411-26-o6l3tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520219/original/file-20230411-26-o6l3tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520219/original/file-20230411-26-o6l3tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520219/original/file-20230411-26-o6l3tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520219/original/file-20230411-26-o6l3tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520219/original/file-20230411-26-o6l3tk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Limestone Valley in the Yorkshire Dales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/o6P-Jx4BI94">James Maxfield/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When both artists were interviewed by American filmmaker Warren Forma in the 1960s, they each referred specifically to the juxtaposition of industrial and rural environments in West Yorkshire.</p>
<p><a href="https://archive.org/details/5britishsculptor0000form/mode/2up">Hepworth noted</a> the “industrial devastation” in and around Wakefield, “where everything was so dark and so black”. She contrasted it with visits to the Dales which were: “So magnificently shaped that the roads became … contours over a sculpture.”</p>
<p>For his part, <a href="https://archive.org/details/5britishsculptor0000form/mode/2up">Moore reminisced</a> about: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A huge natural outcrop of stone at a place near Leeds which as a young boy impressed me tremendously – it had a powerful stone, something like Stonehenge has – and also the slag heaps of the Yorkshire mining villages. The slag heaps which for me as a boy, as a young child, were like mountains.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Two works by contemporary artists in Magic in This Country help visitors to see beyond a romanticised view of Yorkshire. Their work speaks to the violent exploitation of the environment and the impact of human activity that Hepworth and Moore saw in their youths and used as a reference point in their art. </p>
<p>Hepworth’s reflections on Yorkshire are crucial to artist Ro Robertson’s work, <a href="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/hepworth-wakefield-live/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/27192313/Rosanne-Robertson-Terrain-of-the-Queer-Body5.pdf">Between Two Bodies</a> (2020). </p>
<p>The piece was created by casting in the cracks created by water erosion in rock formations in Cornwall and Yorkshire. The work explores oppositions between solidity and void, hardness and softness, animal and mineral. </p>
<p>Emii Alrai’s A Core of Scar (2022), meanwhile, takes historic images of Yorkshire as a starting point, particularly representations of Gordale Scar in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The complex associations the sculpture creates with archaeological artefacts serve as a reminder of how a sculpture’s materials are often the result of digging into the earth and extracting materials from it.</p>
<p>Long before coal mining, locations that are now seen as beauty spots in West Yorkshire <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=GTiIAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP6&dq=limestone+industries+dales&ots=zKPNXb0cLC&sig=lISKlr6sdDxqCo11chkwEdQSHvA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=limestone%20industries%20dales&f=false">were exploited</a> for construction materials in huge quantities, such as the mortar and plaster produced by the burning of limestone.</p>
<p>Thinking about what connects Hepworth and Moore’s sculptures to Yorkshire helps to understand the complex relationship between sculpture and the environment. Sculpture is an art form that depends on the use of natural resources, but through it, nature can be rendered and explored. </p>
<p><em><a href="https://hepworthwakefield.org/whats-on/magic-in-this-country-hepworth-moore-and-the-land/">Magic in this Country: Hepworth, Moore and the Land</a> is at The Hepworth Wakefield until January 2024.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203446/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael White is a co-convener of the AHRC-funded Hepworth Research Network, working with The Hepworth Wakefield and the University of Huddersfield to bring together art historians, artists, conservators and critics to further knowledge of Hepworth's sculpture and its legacy. </span></em></p>
Growing up in Yorkshire gave Hepworth and Moore outsider viewpoints on the art world.
Michael White, Professor in History of Art, University of York
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/203736
2023-04-18T12:45:04Z
2023-04-18T12:45:04Z
Donald Trump and the dying art of the courtroom sketch
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521346/original/file-20230417-14-llf0n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C3%2C1183%2C710&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Donald Trump appears in court in New York City, in a courtroom sketch by Jane Rosenberg.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6fa532e81c5de5a4afe9a2a30a38e58312e1a1d3/0_0_3024_1814/master/3024.jpg?width=1200&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=4f81991d2b7e63b853af67c410069ade">Jane Rosenberg/Reuters</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the first time in its history, The New Yorker featured a courtroom sketch <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cover-story/cover-story-2023-04-17">on its cover</a>. </p>
<p>The image, which appears on its April 17, 2023, issue, gives viewers a glimpse of a historic court proceeding that could not be captured by cameras: the arraignment hearing of Donald Trump two weeks earlier. </p>
<p>Because Trump is the first former U.S. president to be <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/04/05/1168256845/donald-trump-becomes-the-first-president-charged-with-criminal-activity">criminally indicted</a>, there is immense public interest in this case. However, when Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, his reactions and expressions could be visually recorded only by three approved courtroom artists.</p>
<p>In a way, it was a throwback to an era when only artists could provide the public with visual records of court proceedings. Yet with more and more jurisdictions allowing cameras into courtrooms, courtroom artists now find themselves working in a <a href="https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/exclusive-interview-with-the-courtroom-sketch-artist-from-the-cosby-trial">dying field</a>.</p>
<p>Having studied both <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781315611693/synesthetic-legalities-sarah-marusek">courtroom sketches</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-019-09676-7">tabloid crime photography</a>, I sometimes wonder what might be lost if courtroom art were to become extinct.</p>
<h2>The history of courtroom sketches</h2>
<p>Despite their dwindling numbers, courtroom artists are still able to pursue their craft because many judges continue to forbid photography in their courtrooms.</p>
<p>Yet a national standard for banning cameras in U.S. courtrooms is less than 100 years old.</p>
<p>When news photography flourished after World War I, courtroom photographs became a staple of tabloids such as the New York Daily News. These newspapers regularly sent their reporters to cover high-profile trials, taking advantage of the <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/judica63&div=8&id=&page=">uneven patchwork of judicial positions</a> on whether cameras should be allowed in courtrooms.</p>
<p>The trial of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bruno-Hauptmann">Bruno Richard Hauptmann</a> spurred a wave of regulations against cameras in courtrooms.</p>
<p>In 1935, Hauptmann was tried for kidnapping and murdering the child of Charles Lindbergh. To cover the so-called “<a href="https://slate.com/technology/2020/10/supreme-court-oral-arguments-cameras-lindbergh-baby-trial.html">Trial of the Century</a>,” an estimated 700 reporters and more than 130 cameramen rushed to Flemington, New Jersey, <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/frdipm20&div=31&id=&page=">leading to reports</a> of photographers climbing on the counsel’s table, shoving their flashbulbs in witnesses’ faces and jockeying with one another to take pictures of Hauptmann.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white photograph of a large group of photographers posing outside a courtroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521335/original/file-20230417-974-47aqpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521335/original/file-20230417-974-47aqpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521335/original/file-20230417-974-47aqpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521335/original/file-20230417-974-47aqpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521335/original/file-20230417-974-47aqpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521335/original/file-20230417-974-47aqpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521335/original/file-20230417-974-47aqpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann attracted hoards of photographers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/les-photographes-attendent-devant-le-palais-de-justice-la-news-photo/843622860?adppopup=true">Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After investigating the sensational publicity surrounding the Hauptmann trial, the American Bar Association went on to ban courtroom photography in <a href="https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3156&context=klj">Canon 35</a> of its 1937 Canons of Judicial Ethics. Following the American Bar Association’s lead, Congress enacted <a href="https://www.federalrulesofcriminalprocedure.org/title-ix/rule-53-courtroom-photographing-and-broadcasting-prohibited/">Rule 53</a> of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure in 1944, which prohibited photography in federal courtrooms during judicial proceedings. </p>
<p>This statutory ban remains in place today in American federal criminal courts and in the U.S. Supreme Court. </p>
<p>The bulky cameras of the past, <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/381/532/">along with their cables, microphones and wires</a>, required judges, witnesses, lawyers and jurors to navigate around them. Today’s cameras, however – whether in their compact, portable form or as remotely controlled, permanently mounted features in courtrooms – operate as less physically disruptive recorders of court proceedings.</p>
<p>Although cameras can give the general public direct access to what happens during a trial, they can also threaten what the American Bar Association has termed the “fitting dignity and decorum” of court proceedings. When cameras are permitted, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/08/us/judge-in-simpson-trial-allows-tv-camera-in-courtroom.html">as they were in the O.J. Simpson trial</a>, judges and lawyers sometimes worry that the proceedings will turn into a circuslike spectacle.</p>
<h2>An artistic flash</h2>
<p>Because the history of courtroom sketches cannot be separated from the history of prohibiting photography in the courtroom, cameras and human artists are often positioned as competitors in the production of courtroom images. </p>
<p>Working with a print or television news agency, freelance courtroom artists need to draw quickly to meet news deadlines. Notably, courtroom artist Mary Chaney was able to depict, <a href="https://loc.gov/item/prn-21-007/">through more than 260 sketches</a>, the criminal and civil trials of the four Los Angeles police officers charged with beating Rodney King.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Drawing of man raising two fingers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521341/original/file-20230417-982-akyh66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521341/original/file-20230417-982-akyh66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521341/original/file-20230417-982-akyh66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521341/original/file-20230417-982-akyh66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521341/original/file-20230417-982-akyh66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521341/original/file-20230417-982-akyh66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521341/original/file-20230417-982-akyh66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mary Chaney’s sketch of Rodney King on the witness stand during his 1994 trial.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/files/2021/02/Screen-Shot-2021-02-23-at-4.24.49-PM-768x534.png">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When courtroom illustrators, such as David Rose, assert that “<a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1986-04-12/local/me-3545_1_bill-robles">the camera sees everything, but captures nothing</a>,” they are arguing that the camera’s mechanical eye is a poor substitute for – as Chicago courtroom artist Andy Austin <a href="https://hpherald.newsbank.com/doc/news/1752B9C870981428">puts it</a> – “the human eye, the human hand, dealing with a human subject for viewing by humans.” </p>
<p>While the camera can immediately generate highly detailed images of a trial, it cannot capture the emotional resonance of a courtroom moment. By funneling the emotional highs and lows of a trial through their body, courtroom artists can bring to their work irreplaceable sensory and dramatic insights.</p>
<p>Part of the drama stems from a courtroom artist’s ability to compress hours of court action into a single drawing. Artists can also manipulate the composition and perspective of their drawings to create “<a href="http://www.marilynchurch.com/book">artistic pull</a>.” Even though judges, lawyers, witnesses and the defendant may be physically spread out in the actual courtroom, the artist can bring them into close proximity with one another and the viewer.</p>
<p>It is in this way that courtroom sketches can make viewers feel the <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/2007/03/24/drawn_to_the_law.html">emotional pull</a> of the trial’s main characters.</p>
<h2>One sketch goes viral</h2>
<p>This is what happened in Jane Rosenberg’s viral courtroom sketch of Trump. </p>
<p>Compared with the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/courtroom-sketches-capture-former-president-donald-trumps-arraignment-2023-4">drawings made by Christine Cornell and Elizabeth Williams</a>, Rosenberg’s image is the only one that depicts Trump <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cover-story/cover-story-2023-04-17">looking glum</a>, with his arms crossed as he eyes Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. </p>
<p>Because Bragg is not visible in the image, it appears as though Trump is fully facing the viewer with an expression that has been simultaneously described as despondent, disdainful and “<a href="https://hyperallergic.com/813359/courtroom-artist-jane-rosenberg-on-her-viral-sketch-of-trump/">pissed off</a>.”</p>
<p>To allow viewers to focus even further on Trump’s facial expression and body language, the New Yorker cover crops Rosenberg’s illustration, so that it becomes a portrait of a former president in criminal court. Made up of energetic pastel-chalk lines that are suggestive but ultimately unfinished, the rough sketch aesthetically aligns with the moral “sketchiness” that has long dogged Trump.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1645540940679987201"}"></div></p>
<h2>The afterlives of courtroom sketches</h2>
<p>When <a href="https://twitter.com/reuterspictures/status/1643357029753409541">Reuters tweeted Rosenberg’s courtroom sketch of Trump</a>, it jump-started the image’s afterlife. </p>
<p>Even though the practice of courtroom illustration has been described as a dying art form, courtroom sketches, like other cultural artifacts, are not only preserved in <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/drawing-justice-courtroom-illustrations/about-this-exhibition/">special collections and exhibits</a>; they can also evolve through successive framings and interpretations. </p>
<p>In our current digital world, courtroom sketches can go viral on social media, especially if the artist fails to accurately capture the likeness of a high-profile, celebrity defendant. </p>
<p>Rosenberg herself is no stranger to creating viral courtroom sketches. When covering <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/new-england-patriots/deflategate-timeline">Deflategate</a> – the deflated ball controversy involving NFL star Tom Brady – she drew a portrait of the then-New England Patriots quarterback that elicited comparisons to <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/31/sketchy">Quasimodo, Lurch and Thriller-era Michael Jackson</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"638428301829271552"}"></div></p>
<p>Courtroom sketches can also be creatively transformed into online memes. Rosenberg’s Trump sketch <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/813208/most-biting-memes-of-donald-trump-arraignment/">has been photo-edited</a> to evoke Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” to include a bucket of KFC fried chicken and to appear as if he’d been caught by the Scooby Doo gang.</p>
<p>Trump’s fans and foes <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-a-donald-trump-mug-shot-could-become-the-culture-icon-of-our-time-7297ed0e">may not have gotten their mugshot</a>. But they have a viral courtroom sketch, and what started as an image drawn under a courtroom’s tightly regulated conditions has since taken on a life of its own.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203736/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anita Lam does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Whereas ‘the camera sees everything, but captures nothing,’ courtroom artists can channel the emotional highs and lows of a trial through a single image.
Anita Lam, Associate Professor, York University, Canada
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/196461
2023-01-12T13:21:46Z
2023-01-12T13:21:46Z
ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and the collapse of the creative process
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503729/original/file-20230110-24-1pqg45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C21%2C3628%2C2369&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does the moment of imagination carry more value than the work of making something real?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/painting-a-thangka-or-tangka-lhasa-tibet-china-news-photo/492757979?phrase=hand holding paint brush&adppopup=true">DeAgostini/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2022, OpenAI – one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence research laboratories – released the text generator <a href="https://chat.openai.com/chat">ChatGPT</a> and the image generator <a href="https://openai.com/dall-e-2/">DALL-E 2</a>. While both programs represent monumental leaps in natural language processing and image generation, they’ve also been met with apprehension. </p>
<p>Some critics have <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/12/chatgpt-ai-writing-college-student-essays/672371/">eulogized the college essay</a>, while others have even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/technology/ai-artificial-intelligence-artists.html">proclaimed the death of art</a>. </p>
<p>But to what extent does this technology really interfere with creativity? </p>
<p>After all, for the technology to generate an image or essay, a human still has to describe the task to be completed. The better that description – the more accurate, the more detailed – the better the results. </p>
<p>After a result is generated, some further human tweaking and feedback may be needed – touching up the art, editing the text or asking the technology to create a new draft in response to revised specifications. Even the DALL-E 2 art piece that recently won first prize in the Colorado State Fair’s digital arts competition <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/artificial-intelligence-art-wins-colorado-state-fair-180980703/">required a great deal of human “help”</a> – approximately 80 hours’ worth of tweaking and refining the descriptive task needed to produce the desired result.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1612539185214234624"}"></div></p>
<p>It could be argued that by being freed from the tedious execution of our ideas – by focusing on just having ideas and describing them well to a machine – people can let the technology do the dirty work and can spend more time inventing.</p>
<p>But in our work as philosophers at <a href="https://www.umb.edu/ethics">the Applied Ethics Center at University of Massachusetts Boston</a>, we have written about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/mopp-2021-0026">the effects of AI on our everyday decision-making</a>, <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429470325-28/owning-future-work-alec-stubbs">the future of work</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-022-00245-6">worker attitudes toward automation</a>.</p>
<p>Leaving aside the very real ramifications of <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-12-21/artificial-intelligence-artists-stability-ai-digital-images">robots displacing artists who are already underpaid</a>, we believe that AI art devalues the act of artistic creation for both the artist and the public.</p>
<h2>Skill and practice become superfluous</h2>
<p>In our view, the desire to close the gap between ideation and execution is a chimera: There’s no separating ideas and execution. </p>
<p>It is the work of making something real and working through its details that carries value, not simply that moment of imagining it. Artistic works are lauded not merely for the finished product, but for the struggle, the playful interaction and the skillful engagement with the artistic task, all of which carry the artist from the moment of inception to the end result.</p>
<p>The focus on the idea and the framing of the artistic task amounts to <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-paul-mccartneys-the-lyrics-can-teach-us-about-harnessing-our-creativity-170987">the fetishization of the creative moment</a>.</p>
<p>Novelists write and rewrite the chapters of their manuscripts. Comedians “write on stage” in response to the laughs and groans of their audience. Musicians tweak their work in response to a discordant melody as they compose a piece.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1612724866381385734"}"></div></p>
<p>In fact, the process of execution is a gift, allowing artists to become fully immersed in a task and a practice. It allows them to enter <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/flow-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi?variant=32118048686114">what some psychologists call the “flow” state</a>, where they are wholly attuned to something that they are doing, unaware of the passage of time and momentarily freed from the boredom or anxieties of everyday life.</p>
<p>This playful state is something that would be a shame to miss out on. <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p073182">Play tends to be understood as an autotelic activity</a> – a term derived from the Greek words auto, meaning “self,” and telos meaning “goal” or “end.” As an autotelic activity, play is done for itself – it is self-contained and requires no external validation. </p>
<p>For the artist, the process of artistic creation is an integral part, maybe even the greatest part, of their vocation.</p>
<p>But there is no flow state, no playfulness, without engaging in skill and practice. And the point of ChatGPT and DALL-E is to make this stage superfluous.</p>
<h2>A cheapened experience for the viewer</h2>
<p>But what about the perspective of those experiencing the art? Does it really matter how the art is produced if the finished product elicits delight? </p>
<p>We think that it does matter, particularly because the process of creation adds to the value of art for the people experiencing it as much as it does for the artists themselves.</p>
<p>Part of the experience of art is knowing that human effort and labor has gone into the work. Flow states and playfulness notwithstanding, art is the result of skillful and rigorous expression of human capabilities. </p>
<p>Recall <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUOlnvGpcbs">the famous scene</a> from the 1997 film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/">Gattaca</a>,” in which a pianist plays a haunting piece. At the conclusion of his performance, he throws his gloves into the admiring audience, which sees that the pianist has 12 fingers. They now understand that he was genetically engineered to play the transcendent piece they just heard – and that he could not play it with the 10 fingers of a mere mortal. </p>
<p>Does that realization retroactively change the experience of listening? Does it take away any of the awe? </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/04/the-case-against-perfection/302927/">As the philosopher Michael Sandel notes</a>: Part of what gives art and athletic achievement its power is the process of witnessing natural gifts playing out. People enjoy and celebrate this talent because, in a fundamental way, it represents the paragon of human achievement – the amalgam of talent and work, human gifts and human sweat.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Baseball player raises arms before a cheering crowd." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503727/original/file-20230110-448-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503727/original/file-20230110-448-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503727/original/file-20230110-448-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503727/original/file-20230110-448-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503727/original/file-20230110-448-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503727/original/file-20230110-448-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503727/original/file-20230110-448-883wtq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer David Ortiz celebrates before a crowd of adoring fans in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/david-ortiz-of-the-boston-red-sox-waves-towards-the-crowd-news-photo/611906030?phrase=david%20ortiz%20waving%20to%20crowd&adppopup=true">Michael Ivins/Boston Red Sox via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Is it all doom and gloom?</h2>
<p>Might ChatGPT and DALL-E be worth keeping around? </p>
<p>Perhaps. These technologies could serve as catalysts for creativity. It’s possible that the link between ideation and execution can be sustained if these AI applications are simply viewed as mechanisms for creative imagining – <a href="https://openai.com/blog/dall-e-2-extending-creativity/">what OpenAI calls</a> “extending creativity.” They can generate stimuli that allow artists to engage in more imaginative thinking about their own process of conceiving an art piece. </p>
<p>Put differently, if ChatGPT and DALL-E are the end results of the artistic process, something meaningful will be lost. But if they are merely tools for fomenting creative thinking, this might be less of a concern. </p>
<p>For example, a game designer could ask DALL-E to provide some images about what a Renaissance town with a steampunk twist might look like. A writer might ask about descriptors that capture how a restrained, shy person expresses surprise. Both creators could then incorporate these suggestions into their work. </p>
<p>But in order for what they are doing to still count as art – in order for it to feel like art to the artists and to those taking in what they have made – the artists would still have to do the bulk of the artistic work themselves. </p>
<p>Art requires makers to keep making.</p>
<h2>The warped incentives of the internet</h2>
<p>Even if AI systems are used as catalysts for creative imaging, we believe that people should be skeptical of what these systems are drawing from. It’s important to pay close attention to the incentives that underpin and reward artistic creation, particularly online.</p>
<p>Consider the generation of AI art. These works draw on images and video that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/12/when-ai-can-make-art-what-does-it-mean-for-creativity-dall-e-midjourney">already exist</a> online. But the AI is not sophisticated enough – nor is it incentivized – to consider whether works evoke a sense of wonder, sadness, anxiety and so on. They are not capable of factoring in aesthetic considerations of novelty and cross-cultural influence. </p>
<p>Rather, training ChatGPT and DALL-E on preexisting measurements of artistic success online will tend to replicate the dominant incentives of the internet’s largest platforms: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/josp.12489">grabbing and retaining attention</a> for the sake of data collection and user engagement. The catalyst for creative imagining therefore can easily become subject to an addictiveness and attention-seeking imperative rather than more transcendent artistic values.</p>
<p>It’s possible that artificial intelligence is at a precipice, one that evokes a sense of “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/04/the-case-against-perfection/302927/">moral vertigo</a>” – the uneasy dizziness people feel when scientific and technological developments outpace moral understanding. Such vertigo can lead to apathy and detachment from creative expression. </p>
<p>If human labor is removed from the process, what value does creative expression hold? Or perhaps, having opened Pandora’s box, this is an indispensable opportunity for humanity to reassert the value of art – and to push back against a technology that may prevent many real human artists from thriving.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196461/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The technology’s focus on the framing of the artistic task amounts to the fetishization of the creative moment – and devalues the journey that waters the seed of an idea to its fruition.
Nir Eisikovits, Professor of Philosophy and Director, Applied Ethics Center, UMass Boston
Alec Stubbs, Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy, UMass Boston
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/196783
2023-01-11T13:27:42Z
2023-01-11T13:27:42Z
AI and the future of work: 5 experts on what ChatGPT, DALL-E and other AI tools mean for artists and knowledge workers
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503372/original/file-20230106-23-9vo8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5499%2C3663&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Could AI be your next colleague – or replacement?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/robot-call-center-royalty-free-image/943557584">PhonlamaiPhoto/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>From steam power and electricity to computers and the internet, technological advancements have always disrupted labor markets, pushing out some jobs while creating others. Artificial intelligence remains something of a misnomer – the smartest computer systems still don’t actually know anything – but the technology has reached an <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/1/4/23538647/artificial-intelligence-chatgpt-openai-google-meta-facial-recognition">inflection point</a> where it’s poised to affect new classes of jobs: artists and knowledge workers.</em></p>
<p><em>Specifically, the emergence of large language models – AI systems that are trained on vast amounts of text – means computers can now produce human-sounding written language and convert descriptive phrases into realistic images. The Conversation asked five artificial intelligence researchers to discuss how large language models are likely to affect artists and knowledge workers. And, as our experts noted, the technology is far from perfect, which raises a host of issues – from misinformation to plagiarism – that affect human workers.</em></p>
<p><em>To jump ahead to each response, here’s a list of each:</em> </p><hr><p></p>
<p><a href="#Creativity">Creativity for all – but loss of skills?</a><br>
<a href="#Inaccuracies">Potential inaccuracies, biases and plagiarism</a><br>
<a href="#Niche">With humans surpassed, niche and ‘handmade’ jobs will remain</a><br>
<a href="#Jobs">Old jobs will go, new jobs will emerge</a><br>
<a href="#Leaps">Leaps in technology lead to new skills</a></p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p><a id="Creativity"></a></p>
<h2>Creativity for all – but loss of skills?</h2>
<p><strong>Lynne Parker, Associate Vice Chancellor, University of Tennessee</strong></p>
<p>Large language models are making creativity and knowledge work accessible to all. Everyone with an internet connection can now use tools like <a href="https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/">ChatGPT</a> or <a href="https://openai.com/dall-e-2/">DALL-E 2</a> to express themselves and make sense of huge stores of information by, for example, producing text summaries.</p>
<p>Especially notable is the depth of humanlike expertise large language models display. In just minutes, novices can <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-use-dall-e-ai-art-generator">create illustrations for their business presentations</a>, <a href="https://hbr.org/2022/11/how-generative-ai-is-changing-creative-work">generate marketing pitches</a>, get ideas to <a href="https://towardsdatascience.com/got-writers-block-it-s-plotjam-to-the-rescue-e555db9f3272">overcome writer’s block</a>, or <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.07732">generate new computer code</a> to perform specified functions, all at a level of quality typically attributed to human experts.</p>
<p>These new AI tools can’t read minds, of course. A new, yet simpler, kind of human creativity is needed in the form of text prompts to get the results the human user is seeking. Through iterative prompting – an example of <a href="https://partnershiponai.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CPAIS-Framework-and-Case-Studies-9-23.pdf">human-AI collaboration</a> – the AI system generates successive rounds of outputs until the human writing the prompts is satisfied with the results. For example, the (human) winner of the recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/technology/ai-artificial-intelligence-artists.html">Colorado State Fair competition in the digital artist category</a>, who used an AI-powered tool, demonstrated creativity, but not of the sort that requires brushes and an eye for color and texture. </p>
<p>While there are significant benefits to opening the world of creativity and knowledge work to everyone, these new AI tools also have downsides. First, they could accelerate the loss of important human skills that will remain important in the coming years, especially writing skills. <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-dawn-of-ai-has-come-and-its-implications-for-education-couldnt-be-more-significant-196383">Educational institutes need to craft and enforce policies</a> on allowable uses of large language models to ensure fair play and desirable learning outcomes. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l01biyMZjEo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Educators are preparing for a world where students have ready access to AI-powered text generators.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, these AI tools raise questions around <a href="https://www.mondaq.com/uk/patent/1261292/large-language-models-a-basic-explainer-and-look-at-ip-developments">intellectual property protections</a>. While human creators are regularly inspired by existing artifacts in the world, including architecture and the writings, music and paintings of others, there are unanswered questions on the proper and fair use by large language models of copyrighted or open-source training examples. <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/this-copyright-lawsuit-could-shape-the-future-of-generative-ai/">Ongoing lawsuits</a> are now debating this issue, which may have implications for the future design and use of large language models.</p>
<p>As society navigates the implications of these new AI tools, the public seems ready to embrace them. The chatbot <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/technology/chatgpt-ai-twitter.html">ChatGPT went viral</a> quickly, as did image generator <a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/dall-e-mini-creator-explains-blurred-faces-going-viral-and-the-future-of-the-project/">Dall-E mini</a> and others. This suggests a huge untapped potential for creativity, and the importance of making creative and knowledge work accessible to all.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p><a id="Inaccuracies"></a></p>
<h2>Potential inaccuracies, biases and plagiarism</h2>
<p><strong>Daniel Acuña, Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Colorado Boulder</strong></p>
<p>I am a regular user of <a href="https://github.com/features/copilot">GitHub Copilot</a>, a tool for helping people write computer code, and I’ve spent countless hours playing with ChatGPT and similar tools for AI-generated text. In my experience, these tools are good at exploring ideas that I haven’t thought about before. </p>
<p>I’ve been impressed by the models’ capacity to translate my instructions into coherent text or code. They are useful for discovering new ways to improve the flow of my ideas, or creating solutions with software packages that I didn’t know existed. Once I see what these tools generate, I can evaluate their quality and edit heavily. Overall, I think they raise the bar on what is considered creative. </p>
<p>But I have several reservations.</p>
<p>One set of problems is their inaccuracies – small and big. With Copilot and ChatGPT, I am constantly looking for whether ideas are too shallow – for example, text without much substance or inefficient code, or output that is just plain wrong, such as wrong analogies or conclusions, or code that doesn’t run. If users are not critical of what these tools produce, the tools are potentially harmful. </p>
<p>Recently, Meta shut down its <a href="https://galactica.org/">Galactica</a> large language model for scientific text <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/18/1063487/meta-large-language-model-ai-only-survived-three-days-gpt-3-science/">because it made up “facts” but sounded very confident</a>. The concern was that it could pollute the internet with confident-sounding falsehoods.</p>
<p>Another problem is biases. Language models can learn from the data’s biases and replicate them. These biases are <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2211.03759">hard to see in text generation but very clear in image generation models</a>. Researchers at OpenAI, creators of ChatGPT, have been relatively careful about what the model will respond to, but users routinely find ways around these guardrails.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1602600453555961856"}"></div></p>
<p>Another problem is plagiarism. Recent research has shown that <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2212.03860">image generation tools often plagiarize the work of others</a>. Does the same happen with ChatGPT? I believe that we don’t know. The tool might be paraphrasing its training data – an advanced form of plagiarism. Work in my lab shows that text plagiarism detection tools are <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2212.06933">far behind when it comes to detecting paraphrasing</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503185/original/file-20230105-130036-d765bd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two rows of six images, each top and bottom pair very similar to each other" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503185/original/file-20230105-130036-d765bd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503185/original/file-20230105-130036-d765bd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=193&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503185/original/file-20230105-130036-d765bd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=193&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503185/original/file-20230105-130036-d765bd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=193&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503185/original/file-20230105-130036-d765bd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503185/original/file-20230105-130036-d765bd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503185/original/file-20230105-130036-d765bd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plagiarism is easier to see in images than in text. Is ChatGPT paraphrasing as well?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2212.03860">Somepalli, G., et al.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These tools are in their infancy, given their potential. For now, I believe there are solutions to their current limitations. For example, tools could fact-check generated text against knowledge bases, use updated methods to <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2212.09251">detect and remove biases</a> from large language models, and run results through more sophisticated plagiarism detection tools. </p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p><a id="Niche"></a></p>
<h2>With humans surpassed, niche and ‘handmade’ jobs will remain</h2>
<p><strong>Kentaro Toyama, Professor of Community Information, University of Michigan</strong></p>
<p>We human beings love to believe in our specialness, but science and technology have repeatedly proved this conviction wrong. People once thought that humans were the only animals to use tools, to form teams or to propagate culture, but science has shown that other animals do <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/g39714258/animals-using-tools/">each</a> of <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/dolphins-learn-names-their-friends-form-teams-first-animal-kingdom">these</a> <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/strongest-evidence-animal-culture-seen-monkeys-and-whales">things</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, technology has quashed, one by one, claims that cognitive tasks require a human brain. The first adding machine was <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/Calculating-Clock">invented in 1623</a>. This past year, a computer-generated work <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/technology/ai-artificial-intelligence-artists.html">won an art contest</a>. I believe that the singularity – the moment when computers meet and exceed human intelligence – is on the horizon. </p>
<p>How will human intelligence and creativity be valued when machines become smarter and more creative than the brightest people? There will likely be a continuum. In some domains, people still value humans doing things, even if a computer can do it better. It’s been a quarter of a century since <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2022/05/11/ibm-deep-blue-computer-beats-garry-kasparov-chess-champion-1997-vault-jg-orig.cnn">IBM’s Deep Blue beat</a> world champion Garry Kasparov, but human chess – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/business/chess-cheating-scandal-magnus-carlsen-hans-niemann.html">with all its drama</a> – hasn’t gone away. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503160/original/file-20230104-129813-ndxcdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a magazine cover illustration showing an astronaut striding toward the viewer on a desert-like planet" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503160/original/file-20230104-129813-ndxcdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503160/original/file-20230104-129813-ndxcdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503160/original/file-20230104-129813-ndxcdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503160/original/file-20230104-129813-ndxcdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503160/original/file-20230104-129813-ndxcdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503160/original/file-20230104-129813-ndxcdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503160/original/file-20230104-129813-ndxcdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cosmopolitan magazine used DALL-E 2 to produce this cover.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a40314356/dall-e-2-artificial-intelligence-cover/">©Hearst Magazine Media, Inc.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In other domains, human skill will seem costly and extraneous. Take illustration, for example. For the most part, readers don’t care whether the graphic accompanying a magazine article was drawn by a person or a computer – they just want it to be relevant, new and perhaps entertaining. If a computer can draw well, do readers care whether the credit line says Mary Chen or System X? <a href="https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/galaxy-brain/62fc502abcbd490021afea1e/twitter-viral-outrage-ai-art/">Illustrators would</a>, but readers might not even notice. </p>
<p>And, of course, this question isn’t black or white. Many fields will be a hybrid, where some <em>Homo sapiens</em> find a lucky niche, but most of the work is done by computers. Think manufacturing – much of it today is accomplished by robots, but some people oversee the machines, and there remains a market for handmade products. </p>
<p>If history is any guide, it’s almost certain that advances in AI will cause more jobs to vanish, that creative-class people with human-only skills will become richer but fewer in number, and that those who own creative technology will become the new mega-rich. If there’s a silver lining, it might be that when even more people are without a decent livelihood, people might <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-the-ai-jobs-revolution-bring-about-human-revolt-too-86290">muster the political will</a> to contain runaway inequality.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p><a id="Jobs"></a></p>
<h2>Old jobs will go, new jobs will emerge</h2>
<p><strong>Mark Finlayson, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Florida International University</strong></p>
<p>Large language models are sophisticated sequence completion machines: Give one a sequence of words (“I would like to eat an …”) and it will return likely completions (“… apple.”). Large language models like <a href="https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/">ChatGPT</a> that have been trained on record-breaking numbers of words (trillions) have surprised many, including many AI researchers, with how realistic, extensive, flexible and context-sensitive their completions are.</p>
<p>Like any powerful new technology that automates a skill – in this case, the generation of coherent, albeit somewhat generic, text – it will affect those who offer that skill in the marketplace. To conceive of what might happen, it is useful to recall the <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674417076">impact of the introduction of word processing programs</a> in the early 1980s. Certain jobs like typist almost completely disappeared. But, on the upside, anyone with a personal computer was able to generate well-typeset documents with ease, broadly increasing productivity. </p>
<p>Further, new jobs and skills appeared that were previously unimagined, like the oft-included resume item MS Office. And the market for high-end document production remained, becoming much more capable, sophisticated and specialized.</p>
<p>I think this same pattern will almost certainly hold for large language models: There will no longer be a need for you to ask other people to draft coherent, generic text. On the other hand, large language models will enable new ways of working, and also lead to new and as yet unimagined jobs. </p>
<p>To see this, consider just three aspects where large language models fall short. First, it can take quite a bit of (human) cleverness to craft a prompt that gets the desired output. Minor changes in the prompt can result in a major change in the output. </p>
<p>Second, large language models can generate inappropriate or nonsensical output without warning. </p>
<p>Third, as far as AI researchers can tell, large language models have <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2002.12327">no abstract, general understanding</a> of what is true or false, if something is right or wrong, and what is just common sense. Notably, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-020-09548-1">they cannot do relatively simple math</a>. This means that their output can unexpectedly be <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/11/after-controversy-meta-pulls-demo-of-ai-model-that-writes-scientific-papers/">misleading, biased, logically faulty or just plain false</a>. </p>
<p>These failings are opportunities for creative and knowledge workers. For much content creation, even for general audiences, people will still need the judgment of human creative and knowledge workers to prompt, guide, collate, curate, edit and especially augment machines’ output. Many types of specialized and highly technical language will remain out of reach of machines for the foreseeable future. And there will be new types of work – for example, those who will make a business out of fine-tuning in-house large language models to generate certain specialized types of text to serve particular markets. </p>
<p>In sum, although large language models certainly portend disruption for creative and knowledge workers, there are still many valuable opportunities in the offing for those willing to adapt to and integrate these powerful new tools.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p><a id="Leaps"></a></p>
<h2>Leaps in technology lead to new skills</h2>
<p><strong>Casey Greene, Professor of Biomedical Informatics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus</strong></p>
<p>Technology changes the nature of work, and knowledge work is no different. The past two decades have seen biology and medicine undergoing transformation by <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/100-genome-new-dna-sequencers-could-be-game-changer-biology-medicine">rapidly advancing molecular characterization</a>, such as fast, inexpensive DNA sequencing, and the <a href="https://www.economist.com/business/2020/12/02/the-dawn-of-digital-medicine">digitization of medicine</a> in the form of apps, telemedicine and data analysis.</p>
<p>Some steps in technology feel larger than others. Yahoo <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40544277/the-glory-that-was-yahoo">deployed human curators to index emerging content</a> during the dawn of the World Wide Web. The advent of algorithms that used information embedded in the linking patterns of the web to prioritize results radically altered the landscape of search, transforming how people gather information today.</p>
<p>The release of <a href="https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/">OpenAI’s ChatGPT</a> indicates another leap. ChatGPT wraps a state-of-the-art large language model tuned for chat into a highly usable interface. It puts a decade of rapid progress in artificial intelligence at people’s fingertips. This tool can <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt-job-applications-hiring-managers-job-interview-candidate-2022-12">write passable cover letters</a> and instruct users on <a href="https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/1598513757805858820">addressing common problems in user-selected language styles</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1598513757805858820"}"></div></p>
<p>Just as the skills for finding information on the internet changed with the advent of Google, the skills necessary to draw the best output from language models will center on creating prompts and prompt templates that produce desired outputs. </p>
<p>For the cover letter example, multiple prompts are possible. “Write a cover letter for a job” would produce a more generic output than “Write a cover letter for a position as a data entry specialist.” The user could craft even more specific prompts by pasting portions of the job description, resume and specific instructions – for example, “highlight attention to detail.”</p>
<p>As with many technological advances, how people interact with the world will change in the era of widely accessible AI models. The question is whether society will use this moment to advance equity or exacerbate disparities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196783/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lynne Parker is affiliated with two non-profit organizations -- the Center for New American Security as an adjunct senior fellow, and the Special Competitive Studies Project as an expert advisor.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Casey Greene receives funding from the National Institutes of Health to work on machine learning methods for biomedical data integration, including R01 CA237170, R01 HG010067, R01 LM013863, and R01 HD109765, as well as the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF 4552). Casey Greene is a consultant for Arcadia Science and SomaLogic.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Acuña receives funding from the US Office of Research Integrity grants ORIIR180041, ORIIIR190049, ORIIIR200052, and ORIIIR210062, related to automated methods to detect image manipulation and plagiarism. He has also received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, and DARPA through the Center for Open Science's SCORE project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kentaro Toyama receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the University of Michigan. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Finlayson receives funding from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) to work on natural language processing. He has also served as Edison Fellow for AI at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) since 2019.</span></em></p>
Now that AI systems can generate realistic images and convincing prose, are creative and knowledge workers endangered or poised for productivity gains? A panel of experts says it’s not so clear-cut.
Lynne Parker, Associate Vice Chancellor, University of Tennessee
Casey Greene, Professor of Biomedical Informatics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Daniel Acuña, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Affiliate Professor of Information Science, University of Colorado Boulder
Kentaro Toyama, Professor of Community Information, University of Michigan
Mark Finlayson, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Florida International University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/191299
2022-12-11T13:41:48Z
2022-12-11T13:41:48Z
NFTs in the art world: A revolution or ripoff?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486288/original/file-20220923-10674-ahh3cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C2%2C986%2C556&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many NFT creators come from a practice of 3D modelling, graphic design, animation or video game design. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital objects that represent something else, such as a work of art, a video or even a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/14/twitter-nft-jack-dorsey-sina-estavi">tweet</a>. They certify the existence and the ownership of this item through a data recording on a blockchain (a <a href="https://www.cpacanada.ca/en/business-and-accounting-resources/other-general-business-topics/information-management-and-technology/publications/introduction-to-blockchain-technology">distributed ledger technology</a>).</p>
<p>Since the emergence of NFTs in 2016, many artists have experimented with this new digital device to market their creations. NFTs are most often bought and resold via auction sites, where payments are made in cryptocurrency (such as <a href="https://ethereum.org/en/eth/">ether currency</a>). It is this notion of a certificate registered on a blockchain that distinguishes an NFT from a standard digital work.</p>
<p>The public and media discourse about NFTs is polarized: in the eyes of their strongest enthusiasts, NFTs represent the future of art, while their detractors consider them a vast ripoff and waste of energy.</p>
<p>How can this NFT phenomenon be characterized? To what extent does it challenge the established codes of contemporary art?</p>
<p>As a researcher specialized in media studies and sociology of culture, I am providing a brief overview of the situation.</p>
<h2>Crypto-evangelists and crypto-skeptics</h2>
<p>On one hand, there is the camp that can be described as crypto-evangelists: they adhere to a discourse that present NFTs as a radical revolution that will change everything.</p>
<p>This is precisely the discourse surrounding the sensational 2021 sale of a work by the artist Beeple (a collage of vignettes created by digital software) at the prestigious auction house Christie’s for nearly US$70 million. According to the <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/beeple-how-i-changed-the-art-world-for-ever-tggbx99vm">two main buyers</a>, the purchase was “emblematic of a revolution in progress,” and marked “the beginning of a movement carried out by a whole generation.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1361670588608176128"}"></div></p>
<p>On the other side, there are the crypto-skeptics. This is the position of Hito Steyerl, a widely recognized media artist. She believes that NFTs are the “equivalent of toxic masculinity,” and owe their development to “the worst and most monopolistic actors” who are “extracting labour from precarious workers” and “<a href="https://www.holo.mg/stream/hito-stereyl-nfts-like-toxic-masculinity/">take up way too much attention and use up all the oxygen in the room</a>.”</p>
<p>This polarization means that the real potential of NFTs, as well as their flaws, which are also very real, tend to be overshadowed by caricatured positions of principle. However, within this ecosystem of NFTs, there exists a set of rich and plural artistic practices.</p>
<h2>Emerging creative scenes</h2>
<p>The NFT format definitely represents a new type of object being traded. It is based on a new type of contract (known as “smart”), which is itself the result of the innovation of blockchain technology. In this way, the NFT format has given rise to the emergence of a new creative scene. Or, rather, scenes, in the plural, which are characterized by a great effervescence — but also by certain contradictions.</p>
<p>The “native” scenes of the NFT format, that is to say, those born with the invention of this format, are characterized by a strong media visibility, a volume of far-reaching financial investment, and, for some of its actors, a will to reshuffle the cards of the art world by criticizing its established order.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1541993095218307073"}"></div></p>
<p>A large portion of NFT creators come from a practice of 3D modelling, graphic design, animation or video game design — in other words, from the creative industries sector. In recent decades, this sector has generated a very large pool of skills, whose <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07053436.2004.10707657">creative surplus</a> finds a mode of expression in the NFT format, but also a source of additional income to cope with the often precarious conditions of creative work.</p>
<p>Many figures of the native NFT scenes are, to use the expression of the <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Outsiders/Howard-S-Becker/9781982106225">sociologist Howard S. Becker</a>, outsiders (neophytes) in comparison to the established art world. That is, they socialize in circles other than those of the institutional art world, and they transgress its rules in many respects.</p>
<h2>A more egalitarian art world?</h2>
<p>The discourse of the main purchasers of Beeple’s sensational work is very enlightening in this sense. MetaKovan and Twobadour (two investors of the crypto world, both of Indian origin) reveal in an interview:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have been conditioned, from a very young age, to think that art was not for us. <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/beeple-how-i-changed-the-art-world-for-ever-tggbx99vm">…We have always been against the idea of exclusivity. The metaverse is all inclusive. … A metaverse in which everyone will have the same rights, powers, will be legitimate. … It is particularly egalitarian.</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, there are major contradictions between the discourse of egalitarianism they are advocating here, and its implementation in the projects of these two investors. For example, during the technological art event <a href="https://www.dreamverse.life/ticketing.html">Dreamverse</a> that they organized in New York in 2021, the price of admission to the evening varied between US$175 and $2,500 — an unaffordable cost for many amateurs. This hierarchy of prices leads, rather, to the reproduction of a logic of exclusivity that favours the most fortunate.</p>
<h2>Museums are cautious</h2>
<p>The gap between the market value of NFTs and their value in museums is unprecedented. The former is reaching unprecedented heights, while the latter is still at rock bottom. Indeed, the collection of NFT by museums remains, to this day, a very marginal practice. Only a handful of NFTs are integrated into museum collections. Some of them are acquired following an exhibition in a museum, where they are presented on digital screens hung on the wall.</p>
<p>Cultural legitimacy is affected by the disintermediation (elimination of intermediaries) and reintermediation (introduction of new intermediaries) that characterize the world of NFTs. In its disruptive impulse, the proclaimed revolution of NFTs cuts itself off from a chain of well-established, legitimate intermediaries — the gallery owners, curators, art critics, conventional collectors and public subsidies.</p>
<p>It has replaced them with new intermediaries, primarily “whales” — investors who have made a fortune in cryptocurrency — or popular culture celebrities. These new intermediaries overinvest in financial capital in the production of NFTs with the aim of gaining a position of prestige as a collector, or to enrich themselves by increasing the value of works. But they often lack the social and cultural capital to find a way to access museums and their exhibition spaces and their collections.</p>
<h2>In search of legitimacy</h2>
<p>However, these works are publicly accessible, as all NFTs are freely searchable on their buyers’ e-wallets. Some collectors buy works only to speculate. Others gain visibility by displaying their NFTs in a metaverse (a virtual world) such as <a href="https://decentraland.org/">Decentraland</a> or <a href="https://www.tryspace.com/">Space</a>.</p>
<p>And for others, still, the quest for legitimacy goes further: in the spring of 2022, a group of artists, curators, collectors and NFT platforms organized a <a href="https://decentralartpavilion.io/">Decentral Art Pavilion</a>, in parallel to the Venice Biennale. Remaining outside the official program, the exhibition aimed to position NFTs in the orbit of this key contemporary art event.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1527990090319790080"}"></div></p>
<p>But the presence of NFTs remained marginal in this edition of the biennial. Only the <a href="https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2022/cameroon-republic">Cameroon pavilion</a> exhibited NFTs under the leadership of a curator with a <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/outrage-kenyan-pavilion-venice-biennale-281137">shady reputation</a>, and the result was disappointing.</p>
<p>The recognition of the NFTs by the consecrated art world will perhaps come about by other avenues, like the more experimental practices presented at the <a href="https://documenta-fifteen.de/en/">documenta art exhibition in Kassel, Germany</a> this year, or through artistic movements from developing countries, like the <a href="https://balot.org/">Balot project</a>, which used an NFT to criticize the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/feb/19/congolese-statue-loan-legal-battle-nfts-colonial-rule-us-museum">appropriation of a work originating from the Republic of the Congo by an American museum</a>.</p>
<p>So recognition could come through the margins. But in these cases, the marginal players could more easily access the established art world because they share its codes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191299/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathalie Casemajor ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>
Creators of NFT art are organizing themselves into new art scenes, but they are still searching for cultural legitimacy while museums remain skittish.
Nathalie Casemajor, Professeure, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/191565
2022-10-18T18:37:22Z
2022-10-18T18:37:22Z
Parintins: A remote Brazilian city overcoming isolation through a festival
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488827/original/file-20221008-43378-5zd8sl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C131%2C3940%2C2377&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People perform during the Boi-Bumbá in Parintins. The city's annual festival has shown how remote communities can thrive despite isolation. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are no bridges or roads that connect the city-island of Parintins to the rest of the world. This remote city in the Amazon is 369 kilometres away from Manaus, the capital of Brazil’s Amazonas state. Parintins is home to thousands of low-income and Indigenous Brazilians and can only be reached by plane or boat. Its position along the Amazon River makes it dependent on commodities and resources that arrive from far away cities. </p>
<p>Despite these isolated conditions, the community of Parintins has developed a novel strategy that celebrates its folk and Indigenous traditions: the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-obsm5JR4CQ"><em>Festival do Boi-Bumbá</em> (meaning “bull dance”)</a>. This annual event is the second most important festival in Brazil, after Rio de Janeiro’s globally renowned carnival. </p>
<p><em>Boi-Bumbá</em>, which takes place at the end of June, fuels the local economy by attracting investment as well as thousands of visitors and artists. Over the years, the festival has become the city’s bridge from the deep Amazon to the outside world, reducing political and physical isolation while reinforcing its social capital and cultural assets.</p>
<h2>Logistical, political and organizational challenges</h2>
<p><em>Boi-Bumbá</em> has a particular feature: a competition between two traditional teams, <em>Garantido</em> (in red) and <em>Caprichoso</em> (in blue). The teams compete during three nights of artistic performances in the <em>Bumbódromo</em> — a thirty-five-thousand-seat arena built specifically for the festival. The festival transforms the city into a colorful, loud and vibrant party.</p>
<p>During the festival, the city’s population almost doubles, creating major logistical challenges that range from providing water to transportation. Thousands of visitors arrive by boat and plane from Manaus and elsewhere. But Parintins’ hotel network has limited capacity. Tourists and vendors from various social classes mix up, sleeping on hammocks, boats, and residents’ homes that are temporarily transformed into hostels.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488816/original/file-20221007-43019-nn7vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man standing next to a large sculpture of a horse painting the horse's eye." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488816/original/file-20221007-43019-nn7vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488816/original/file-20221007-43019-nn7vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488816/original/file-20221007-43019-nn7vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488816/original/file-20221007-43019-nn7vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488816/original/file-20221007-43019-nn7vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488816/original/file-20221007-43019-nn7vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488816/original/file-20221007-43019-nn7vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artists creating sculptures for the festival.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The organizational machine to support the event is set in motion months before the festival. An army of artists, sculptors, welders, painters and tailors work day and night inside <em>galpões</em> (large hangars) to create floats up to 25 metres high and to make the costumes that dancers, acrobats, singers, and musicians will wear during the shows.</p>
<p>For low-skilled workers, most often poorly paid owners of informal businesses, <a href="https://www.thebrasilians.com/parintins-festival-is-a-major-draw-for-amazonian-tourism/">the festival remains an indispensable form of economic support</a>. For everyone in the city, being part of the festival is a question of identity and belonging.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488818/original/file-20221007-44291-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people wearing red shirts gather around a bonfire and a fake cow with horns." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488818/original/file-20221007-44291-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488818/original/file-20221007-44291-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488818/original/file-20221007-44291-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488818/original/file-20221007-44291-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488818/original/file-20221007-44291-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488818/original/file-20221007-44291-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488818/original/file-20221007-44291-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Garantido</em> (the red team) takes to the streets to dance around bonfires on the night of June 12, the eve of Saint Anthony.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Overcoming the pandemic</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/25/world/americas/coronavirus-brazil-amazon.html">The region was one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic</a>. Parintins introduced a curfew which limited work opportunities, especially for informal workers. <a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2020/06/suspenso-por-causa-da-covid-19-festival-folclorico-de-parintins-segue-indefinido.shtml">Pandemic restrictions meant festivities were suspended for two years</a>. During that time, poverty, joblessness, crime and other vulnerabilities worsened.</p>
<p>But the <em>bumbás</em> (the two teams) provided the infrastructure and network to get people the help they needed. Festival facilities were turned into help centres for the most vulnerable. Team members <a href="https://www.facebook.com/boibumbacaprichoso/posts/pfbid0k2Fug9fAFUEtStfn8WSQRZehKhX3Yxm9WXVY5Uk28JfeaZKNofq5BmpEa1TiPH6Bl">distributed hundreds of food baskets</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/garantido/posts/pfbid02Wk7C6x1RoDmvonFiVTGugdWgQENzjRbZ4r5KAJg3v9sTnt7ghoHTMnr6VKwfS8erl">provided support during the vaccination campaign</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488821/original/file-20221007-44109-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People paint a mural on a wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488821/original/file-20221007-44109-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488821/original/file-20221007-44109-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488821/original/file-20221007-44109-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488821/original/file-20221007-44109-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488821/original/file-20221007-44109-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488821/original/file-20221007-44109-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488821/original/file-20221007-44109-e4mr3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Artists take to the streets of Parintins to celebrate the return of the festival.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mauro Cossu</span></span>
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<p>Thanks to the organizers’ efforts, the festival was still able to go ahead virtually. The 2020 edition was put in place without live spectators and was transmitted on Brazilian TV. Something similar happened the year after: the <em>“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO9Wncj6S9M&ab_channel=TVACr%C3%ADtica">Live Parintins 2021</a>”</em> was followed by a large audience on TV and by more than 20,000 people live on YouTube. According to Jender Lobato, president of Caprichoso, it also <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jender.lobato/posts/10216383619736899">generated approximately 10,000 tweets and reached more than three million people on social media</a>.</p>
<p>With fans and enthusiasts watching the event online, buying souvenirs and making donations, the <em>Boi-Bumbá</em> found new ways to exist, contribute to the socioeconomic sustainability of the community, and keep Parintins on the political map of Brazil.</p>
<h2>The return of the <em>Boi-Bumbá</em></h2>
<p>At the beginning of March 2022, the governor of the state of Amazonas, Wilson Lima, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfwLg78PEmc&ab_channel=AlvoradaParintins">announced the return of the festival</a>. Both the government and private investors increased their commitment to creating a “historic 55th edition.”</p>
<p>Streets were asphalted, the city museum was renovated, street art appeared on city walls and the <em>Bumbódromo</em> was given a facelift. Parintins’ festival has become a model for other cities and towns to emulate. <a href="https://hojetemfestadeboi.com.br/?p=322">A recent survey</a> shows the existence of more than 120 <em>bois-bumbás</em> in 23 amazon cities.</p>
<p>Relying on tradition and cultural efforts has proven to be a successful way of overcoming isolation. The <em>Boi-Bumbá</em> does not solve all the challenges facing Parintins and the Amazon region. But it does bring enormous benefits in a territory characterized by marginalization, exclusion and a chronic lack of infrastructure. It is around the festival that Parintins and its residents are able to celebrate their traditions while building a shared vision of their own future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191565/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The “Festival do Boi-Bumbá” changed the fate of Parintins, Brazil. Its success shows the crucial role that cultural festivals play in isolated territories that often lack material infrastructure.
Mauro Cossu, PhD candidate and research assistant at the Faculty of Environmental Design, Université de Montréal
Gonzalo Lizarralde, Professeur titulaire - Faculté de l'aménagement, Université de Montréal
Lisa Bornstein, Professor at School of Urban Planning, McGill University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/190750
2022-09-26T20:03:02Z
2022-09-26T20:03:02Z
Dora Maar and Françoise Gilot were much more than Picasso’s muses or lovers. They are important artists in their own right
<p>Among Picasso’s partners were two formidable female artists: Dora Maar (1907–97) and Françoise Gilot (1921-). </p>
<p>For a long time, these women were known primarily as his muse or lover, but further scrutiny of their extensive careers reveals that they were also his collaborators and innovative artists in their own right. </p>
<p>Both women profoundly influenced Picasso, and both were exceptional talents. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/the-picasso-century/">The Picasso Century</a>, currently at the National Gallery of Victoria, offers a rare opportunity to see their work in Australia. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pablo-picasso-was-not-a-lone-genius-creator-he-was-at-the-centre-of-several-creative-hubs-and-changed-the-course-of-western-art-181329">Pablo Picasso was not a lone genius creator – he was at the centre of several creative hubs, and changed the course of western art</a>
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<h2>Charismatic and unconventional Dora Maar</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486439/original/file-20220926-50607-mcwwzr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="On the beach" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486439/original/file-20220926-50607-mcwwzr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486439/original/file-20220926-50607-mcwwzr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=633&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486439/original/file-20220926-50607-mcwwzr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=633&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486439/original/file-20220926-50607-mcwwzr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=633&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486439/original/file-20220926-50607-mcwwzr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486439/original/file-20220926-50607-mcwwzr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486439/original/file-20220926-50607-mcwwzr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Eileen Agar, Photograph of Dora Maar and Pablo Picasso on the beach, 1937.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/items/tga-8927-8-9/agar-photograph-of-dora-maar-and-pablo-picasso-on-the-beach">© Tate</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Dora_Maar_with_Without_Picasso.html?id=NR10QgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">Dora Maar, with and without Picasso: a biography</a> (2000), Mary Ann Caws writes that Picasso first saw Dora Maar in <em>Cafe les Deux Magots</em>. Sitting alone, she was using a penknife to stab the tabletop between her gloved fingers, staining the white flowers of her gloves with blood. </p>
<p>The pair were later introduced when Maar worked as the set photographer on Jean Renoir’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crime_of_Monsieur_Lange">The Crime of Monsieur Lange</a> (1936). They soon began a relationship.</p>
<p>By all accounts, Maar was intelligent, charismatic and unconventional. When she met Picasso she had a successful and established career as a photographer. </p>
<p>Surrealists had been dismissive of photography until Maar demonstrated its potential, creating some of the movement’s most powerful and important works. </p>
<p>According to NGV’s Meg Slater, Gilot’s centrality to Surrealism arose through experimentation in her commercial photography, as well as her commitment to radical left-wing politics. She was remarkable for a woman at that time. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485160/original/file-20220918-23485-4y10mj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485160/original/file-20220918-23485-4y10mj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485160/original/file-20220918-23485-4y10mj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485160/original/file-20220918-23485-4y10mj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485160/original/file-20220918-23485-4y10mj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485160/original/file-20220918-23485-4y10mj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485160/original/file-20220918-23485-4y10mj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485160/original/file-20220918-23485-4y10mj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Dora Maar Untitled (Hand - shell) 1934 Tireur Tirage de Daniel Valet Epreuve gélatino - argentique 56,6 x 38 cm / 23,4 x 17,5 cm (hors marge)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d’art moderne - Centre de création industrielle Acquisition</span></span>
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<p>Maar has been identified with the nine “<a href="https://useum.org/artwork/Weeping-Woman-Femme-en-pleurs-Pablo-Picasso-1937">Weeping Woman</a>” canvases, which depict how Picasso saw her, profoundly impacted by Guernica’s bombing during the Spanish Civil War. </p>
<p>But these portraits have reductively characterised her as a volatile and emotional woman. Maar <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/nov/15/dora-maar-picassos-weeping-woman">said</a> “all [of Picasso’s] portraits of me are lies”.</p>
<p>Maar often photographed Picasso during their relationship, most notably in creating his 1937 anti-war work Guernica. She was represented within the painting as a figure holding a light. </p>
<p><a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/dora-maar-revealed-picassos-muse-guernica-show-1244849">According to</a> Musée Picasso-Paris’ curator Emilie Bouvard, Maar “did not simply document Picasso painting the great mural. In fact, her Surrealist photography influenced the work itself”.</p>
<p>Renowned for moving from one lover to another, Picasso left Maar for Françoise Gilot – notoriously the only woman to leave him.</p>
<h2>Critically reflective Françoise Gilot</h2>
<p>Gilot had an extraordinary life. <a href="https://www.scrippscollege.edu/news/arts-and-culture/an-artist-in-her-own-right-francoise-gilot-turns-99">Before 25</a> she had lived through the Nazi occupation of Paris, studied dance under Isadora Duncan’s protégée and taken “morning walks with Gertrude Stein”.</p>
<p>She achieved expertise in ceramics well before she met Picasso. It was during their almost 10-year relationship that he took an interest in ceramics, eventually producing <a href="http://ceramic-studio.net/ceramic/pottery/francoise-gilot/">3,500</a> works.</p>
<p>Gilot was physically and psychologically abused by Picasso and lived with very little autonomy throughout their relationship. Many of her works testify to this.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/519039925785327682/">The Earthenware</a> (1951) shows a window with bars. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/t-magazine/francoise-gilot-picasso.html">Paloma asleep in her crib</a> (1950) depicts windows without views. <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/impressionist-and-modern-art-online-2/francoise-gilot-adam-forcing-eve-to-eat-an-apple-i">Adam forcing Eve to Eat an Apple</a> (1946) is an image of coercion with a disturbing likeness to Picasso and Gilot.</p>
<p>In 1953 she left with their children, Claude and Paloma. Outraged, Picasso began to sabotage her artistic career. In 1964 she published a memoir, <a href="https://www.nyrb.com/products/life-with-picasso?variant=9511301382196">Life with Picasso</a>, following his three legal challenges to stop it.</p>
<p>She is unusual for writing critically reflective pieces on her own work, situating her as well ahead of her time.</p>
<h2>The female gaze</h2>
<p>The “<a href="http://femalegaze.com.au/reviews-2/">female gaze</a>” refers to the way female artists express their own unique experience of living in the world as women. Gendered experiences are only one influence among many, but they profoundly impact any creative work. </p>
<p>My first impression of Gilot’s female gaze is that she takes a micro view of the world around her. </p>
<p>Her 1940s still life works take the domestic and emphasise her seclusion at that time (Picasso had isolated her from family and friends). </p>
<p>She finds inspiration in the small things, the domestic, rather than racing to the monumental or heroic.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485161/original/file-20220918-34763-9oryx9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485161/original/file-20220918-34763-9oryx9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485161/original/file-20220918-34763-9oryx9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485161/original/file-20220918-34763-9oryx9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485161/original/file-20220918-34763-9oryx9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485161/original/file-20220918-34763-9oryx9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485161/original/file-20220918-34763-9oryx9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485161/original/file-20220918-34763-9oryx9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Françoise Gilot Plat de cerises et couteau espagnol 1948 gouache, pencil, charcoal and coloured pencil on cardboard 49.5 x 67.0 cm , 63.5 x 78.6 cm (framed)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d’art moderne – Centre de création industrielle</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>According to Gilot in an interview in <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/life-after-picasso-franoise-gilot">Vogue</a>, she met Picasso in 1943 when he brought a bowl of cherries to her table. </p>
<p>This may be referenced in Plate of cherries and a Spanish knife (1948). Gilot described this painting as “the most ordinary, mundane and non-poetic of things” and offers that she chose the domestic deliberately in an act of resistance to expectations that she be a housewife. </p>
<p>From this painting we can glimpse her her feminism and her female perspective.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485162/original/file-20220918-48449-2t01r9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485162/original/file-20220918-48449-2t01r9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485162/original/file-20220918-48449-2t01r9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485162/original/file-20220918-48449-2t01r9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485162/original/file-20220918-48449-2t01r9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485162/original/file-20220918-48449-2t01r9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485162/original/file-20220918-48449-2t01r9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485162/original/file-20220918-48449-2t01r9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Françoise Gilot Sink and tomatoes ( Evier et tomates ) 1951 Oil on plywood 91.8 x 72.8 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Acquired by the French State in 1952; accessioned in 1953 Centre Pompidou, Paris Musée national d’art moderne / Centre de création industrielle</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Maar’s portraits and advertising images resist objectifying the female figure, directing viewers with the subject’s gaze to something just out of sight. </p>
<p>While often erotic, they don’t present women as objects. The shadow in <a href="https://artblart.com/tag/dora-maar-assia/">Assia</a> (1934) emphasises and celebrates both her form and power. </p>
<p>Maar’s iconography emphasises the female. She incorporates wavy locks of hair, spiders and manicured nails in hair oil advertising images such as <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-voraciousness-and-oddity-of-dora-maars-pictures">Publicity Study</a> (Pétrole Hahn) (1934-1935), face cream advertisement <em>Les années vous guettent</em> (The Years are Waiting for You) (1932) and surrealist images such as Untitled (Hand-Shell) (1934).</p>
<p>Maar and Gilot were creative collaborators, not just muses of Picasso. </p>
<p>Before and after him, their artistic achievements – and exceptional volumes of creative work – locate them as important artists. These include Maar’s retrospective at the <a href="https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Les-annees-vous-guettent/FD4C9067B246F7CF">Tate</a> (2019-20), and Gilot’s many <a href="https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Francoise-Gilot/BE82663B3D59B3C5/Exhibitions">exhibitions</a>. </p>
<p>Across their long careers their output straddled a variety of media and styles, each with her own female gaze.</p>
<p><em>The Picasso Century is at the NGV until October 9.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/male-artists-dominate-galleries-our-research-explored-if-its-because-women-dont-paint-very-well-or-just-discrimination-189221">Male artists dominate galleries. Our research explored if it’s because ‘women don’t paint very well’ – or just discrimination</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190750/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article was based on a discussion as part of the National Gallery of Victoria's public program 'Perspectives on Picasso', an event that ran as part of The Picasso Century exhibition. This discussion was between Meg Slater, Assistant Curator, International Exhibition Projects, and academic Lisa French, who has recently written a book about the 'female gaze'.</span></em></p>
These women were intelligent, charismatic and unconventional – far more than just muses.
Lisa French, Professor & Dean, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/186452
2022-07-22T12:29:30Z
2022-07-22T12:29:30Z
How a 1989 poster became a fixture on the front lines in the battle over abortion rights
<p>For abortion rights advocates, Barbara Kruger’s iconic feminist image “<a href="https://www.thebroad.org/art/barbara-kruger/untitled-your-body-battleground">Untitled (Your body is a battleground)</a>” remains as relevant today as when it was first released in 1989.</p>
<p>Following the <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473">May 2, 2022, leak</a> of Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito’s anti-abortion draft decision, <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2022-04-24%202022-05-08&geo=US&q=barbara%20kruger">Google searches for Kruger spiked</a>. <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2022-06-17%202022-07-01&geo=US&q=barbara%20kruger">Searches spiked again</a> after the official ruling was released on June 24, 2022. </p>
<p>A leading pioneer of <a href="https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/pop-art/appropriation/">appropriation art</a>, Kruger leveraged her skills as a graphic designer to make works of art from readily available images. Art critic Isabelle Graw <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/20711456">describes Kruger’s signature style</a> as “grainy black-and-white photographs with a typical typeface (Futura Bold Italic) in red-and-black blocks of text-like color fields.”</p>
<p>Riffing off <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/culture-magazines/1980s-print-culture">the print culture of the 1980s and 1990s</a>, Kruger’s art combined images and text to parody advertisements that used a <a href="https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*kFkcrWgXg8-a-BwZBy9bgA.png">second-person voice</a> to entice potential consumers. </p>
<p>In “<a href="https://www.thebroad.org/art/barbara-kruger/untitled-your-body-battleground">Untitled (Your body is a battleground)</a>,” Kruger slightly altered the photograph of the original sitter. By splitting this subject’s face into positive and negative halves, Kruger shows how anti-abortion activists cut battle lines into women’s bodies.</p>
<p>Kruger’s original poster has seamlessly transitioned to social media, inspiring a new generation of media-savvy reproductive justice artists and activists.</p>
<h2>Dissemination and evolution</h2>
<p>In 1989, the Supreme Court reviewed a 1986 case related to a Missouri law that hindered access to abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. The law also restricted the use of public funds and buildings for abortion counseling and procedures. Abortion-rights activists responded with a planned <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/09/us/abortion-marchers-gather-in-capital.html">March for Women’s Lives</a> in Washington. </p>
<p>In the early morning hours before the march, Kruger and some of her students illegally plastered New York City with flyers featuring “Untitled (Your body is a battleground).” The original flyer provided logistical information about the march and details about the upcoming Supreme Court case.</p>
<p>Kruger <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hj75h.18">also used the same image</a> in another 1989 poster. That version, commissioned by the French government on the bicentennial of the French Revolution, appeared with the French text “Savoir C'est Pouvoir,” which translates to “Knowledge is Power” and recalls the <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/consciousness-raising-groups-and-the-womens-movement/">consciousness-raising</a> strategies of 1970s feminism. </p>
<p>Since then, variations of “Untitled (Your body is a battleground)” have been exhibited in various forms and languages in museums and galleries. They’ve also popped up on mugs, T-shirts and other merchandise.</p>
<p>Kruger has been involved in some of this dissemination, including the 1990 billboard variation commissioned by The Ohio State University’s Wexner Center for the Arts, which installed it <a href="https://publicartfund.tumblr.com/post/26832733541/barbara-kruger-multi-year-public-art-fund-artist">adjacent to an anti-abortion billboard</a> in Columbus.</p>
<p>In 2019, in response to <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2019/12/state-policy-trends-2019-wave-abortion-bans-some-states-are-fighting-back">continued legislative assaults on abortion rights</a>, Kruger made a <a href="https://youtu.be/1HXJ2eYCnxI">video version</a> of the “Battleground” image, updating the original work to reflect the proliferation of digital media. After the leak of the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson, she again altered it for the cover of the May 9, 2022, issue of New York Magazine.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1523636371470045184"}"></div></p>
<p>Regarding the revised New York Magazine cover text – “Who becomes a ‘MURDERER’ in post-Roe America?” – Kruger <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/barbara-kruger-body-battleground-2112283">predicted</a> that the ruling will create a dilemma: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The issue of who gets charged with ‘murder’ will be a challenge for the right to finesse … Is the ‘little lady’ capable of making that decision, or does the doctor or medical facility do the time or worse because the woman can’t possibly be capable of making the decision on her own?” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Activists take the baton</h2>
<p>For decades, activists have relied on Kruger’s aesthetics. In some cases, they’ve repurposed her actual artwork. In others, they’ve simply borrowed stylistic elements. </p>
<p>In 1991 and 1992, the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw produced <a href="https://obieg.pl/en/209-barbara-kruger-s-poster-and-the-frontline-in-the-culture-war">a Polish-language version</a>. When the Polish courts <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/world/europe/poland-tribunal-abortions.html">outlawed</a> nearly all abortions in 2020, the TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art in Szczecin launched another poster campaign. In 2021, the organization Sanitation First India released a “Krugerizing” selfie filter for Instagram to promote <a href="https://origin.dazeddigital.com/beauty/article/52935/1/star-in-your-own-barbara-kruger-artwork-to-support-menstrual-education">Menstrual Hygiene Day</a>.</p>
<p>Recent responses to Dobbs v. Jackson draw on Kruger’s characteristic text-and-image dissemination tactics. </p>
<p>In New York City, anonymous activists have twice hung large <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/27/1107717283/abortion-rights-green-symbol">green banners</a> with text in white, capital, sans serif letters. They draped a 30-foot-tall sign proclaiming “ABORTION = LIBERTY” from the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty and <a href="https://twitter.com/OskarNupia/status/1540434969562071041">later from the Manhattan Bridge</a>. Less than a week later, <a href="https://www.metrotimes.com/news/activists-cover-anti-abortion-billboard-with-pro-choice-message-in-detroit-30456163">a banner with a similar aesthetic</a> covered a anti-abortion billboard in Detroit, asserting, “<a href="https://www.metrotimes.com/news/activists-cover-anti-abortion-billboard-with-pro-choice-message-in-detroit-30456163">WE WILL AID & ABET ABORTION</a>.” Visually, the work borrows directly from Kruger’s “<a href="https://i0.wp.com/totally-la.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/who-buys-the-con.jpg?resize=960%2C641&ssl=1">Untitled (Who Buys The Con?)</a>.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1542941337128951808"}"></div></p>
<p>Like Kruger, artist Alicia Eggert has also chosen a medium associated with advertising for her activist artwork. In her installation piece “<a href="https://news.cvad.unt.edu/faculty-eggert-alicia-ours-sign">OURS</a>,” she uses pink neon signs that flash three phrases: “OUR BODIES,” “OUR FUTURES” and “OUR ABORTIONS.” </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/02/04/abortion-rights-planned-parenthood-neon-art-alicia-eggert">She installed it</a> on the steps of the Supreme Court building in January 2022 to mark the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and the work continues to travel around the country.</p>
<h2>The importance of public art</h2>
<p>Kruger’s images inspire viewers around the world because they exist outside of the elite spaces of museums and galleries. </p>
<p>Writer and poet Adam Heardman cites the importance of situating political art in <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/habermas/#EarDevHabIntPubSphRea">the public sphere</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.proquest.com/artbibliographies/docview/2509694831/abstract/F9EB8B918F3F40DDPQ/4">Heardman writes</a> that Kruger saw the concentration of corporate power as a direct threat to individuals, particularly women and minorities. To resist corporate America’s efforts to create a single, homogeneous consumer, she wrested advertising tactics from them to quickly and effectively communicate the hopes and fears of marginalized people, enabling the voices of those demanding justice to go viral.</p>
<p>Given the battle ahead to regain the right to abortion, we expect many more artists and activists to draw from Kruger’s work for inspiration, strategy and strength.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Sign with black and white image of woman." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473927/original/file-20220713-9316-rrzb69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473927/original/file-20220713-9316-rrzb69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473927/original/file-20220713-9316-rrzb69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473927/original/file-20220713-9316-rrzb69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473927/original/file-20220713-9316-rrzb69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473927/original/file-20220713-9316-rrzb69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473927/original/file-20220713-9316-rrzb69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A protester holds a sign featuring ‘Star Wars’ character Princess Leia made in the style of Kruger’s iconic ‘Battleground’ poster.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-carrie-fisher-as-princess-leia-is-displayed-news-photo/1240707306?adppopup=true">Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186452/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Barbara Kruger’s ‘Untitled (Your body is a battleground)’ has seamlessly transitioned to social media, inspiring a new generation of media-savvy artists and activists.
John Corso-Esquivel, Associate Professor of Art History, Davidson College
Lia Rose Newman, Curator and Director of the Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/184199
2022-06-05T16:13:57Z
2022-06-05T16:13:57Z
Ukraine diaries: art in the face of the war
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466660/original/file-20220601-48284-l8xm3k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1326%2C865&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A contemporary work of art? No, a protected one. Taken in Kiev, on 18 April. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romain Huët</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Lviv, 18–20 April 2022. The city is calm. The streets are full of onlookers, sauntering under the intermittent sunshine. At first glance, life looks normal. In reality, the changes are profound.</p>
<p>Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Lviv has welcomed <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/3/14/lviv-as-refugees-flee-a-city-mobilises-for-war">tens of thousands of refugees</a> from throughout the country, mainly from Kyiv and towns in the east. A curfew is in place from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The sale of alcohol has just been authorised again, but not before 8 p.m. Spirits are strictly forbidden. Around the city are several checkpoints, barricades built by civilian volunteers, minor protection on some windows, and sandbags or big tarpaulins protecting monuments from potential shrapnel. During my two days here, six or seven sirens have sounded around the city, disrupting collective life, but only momentarily. On 18 April, a Russian missile killed <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraines-zelenskiy-condemns-shelling-bodies-line-streets-mariupol-2022-04-18/">seven people</a>.</p>
<p>The experience of war encourages people to focus their attention on armed resistance. But war also prompts nonviolent resistance. There is an <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-critique-internationale-2018-3-page-89.htm?contenu=plan">everyday economy</a> of war, woven from collective stitch-ups and arrangements. Behind the scenes, people replenish the frontline’s provisions, take in refugees, develop international networks and seek funding. This has to do with maintaining a peace economy in war time.</p>
<p>I wanted to meet artists and learn about their thoughts on resistance. Art provides a vital language to transcribe what is happening. War also rages <a href="https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/par-les-temps-qui-courent/nadia-kaabi-linke-artiste-plasticienne">within its boundaries</a> as Ukrainians seek to confront Russian cultural dominance in post-soviet states.</p>
<h2>Denys Metelin, a street artist</h2>
<p>Denys Metelin, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/metelin_denys/?hl=fr">a street artist</a>, is from Crimea. In 2014, after Russia’s invasion, his father packed his bags and threw him onto the next train to Lviv. He was 19. War has haunted him ever since.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CcSQG-Pt-WA","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>He has made it the main subject of his work. His point of view is clear: he does not want to indulge in tragedy. To change how war is seen, “you need to find a perspective to understand the bombs”, he says. He plays and works with the symbols from the Soviet Union, subverting their meaning. His work strips war of its horrors and praises collective Ukrainian forces.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459263/original/file-20220422-11-orrhbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Denys Matelin in his workshop on 18 April.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romain Huët</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459264/original/file-20220422-26-1pau9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Work by Denys Metelin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romain Huët</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459265/original/file-20220422-24-8kat0a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Work by Denys Metelin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romain Huët</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the first two days of the invasion, Denys followed into the steps of thousands of Ukrainians by heading to one of the volunteering centres that sprang up throughout the city. He was clueless as to what to do.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“On the first day, I was so bewildered and panic-stricken that I went to buy sweets for child refugees and get a smile out of them. On the second day, we built barricades all over the city. On the third day, I learned how to make Molotov cocktails.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Since then, he took first-aid lessons and also trained to fight. He stills attends these courses three times a week “to be ready if the Russians come here”.</p>
<h2>Viktor Kudin, painting urban text</h2>
<p>I also meet Viktor Kudin, an architect and artist. When the war broke out, he fled Kyiv for Lviv.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459808/original/file-20220426-16-42ic33.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Work by Viktor Kudin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romain Huët</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition to his work as an artist, Kudin raises funds for the Ukrainian army. He experienced Russia’s invasion as a real moral shock. Overwhelmed with stress and “negative feelings”, he went to buy material to paint with. Every day, you can find him on the rooftops of Lviv, painting the city, houses and streets.</p>
<p>His paintings show a somewhat transformed landscape. A detail attests to the ongoing war: graffiti insulting Putin, a small poster indicating the locations of shelters, plumes of black smoke drifting skywards, a Ukrainian flag holding out against the wind. People are absent from his paintings.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When I paint, I will often hear the sirens before a blitz. I’m alone on the rooftops and the streets start emptying.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>War transforms life. It also has an impact on urban texts and cityscapes. Victor tells me his inspiration has taken a real hit. He wavers between “tears and hatred”, adding, “I can’t live with such intense feelings. I want to give names to these forces running through me. I want to understand them.”</p>
<p>Words get stuck in his throat. His anger frees them: “We’ve got to destroy Russia. We’re going to kill them all.”</p>
<h2>Fear and fatalism</h2>
<p>The artists I meet all come back to one consistent reaction: a combination of fear and fatalism. On 24 February 2022, it was disbelief that first took hold of them. <a href="https://www.antiqvitas-nova.art/press/">Alexander Denysenko</a>, an artist who shares a studio with his father, Oleh, confided to me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I was stunned. I didn’t know what to do. I left my house and started walking. I walked without knowing where I was going. I couldn’t stop walking. And then I phoned my friends. We wondered what we could do.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This disbelief was all the more potent as many of these artists were a long way from the volunteer groups that have been operating in the Donbas since 2014. War was going on in the background, but it had been normalised. Its effects were not felt.</p>
<p>It has now broken into everyday life. In Lviv and elsewhere in Ukraine, it has become inescapable, even though it varies in intensity. Alexander’s disbelief quickly turned into a conviction that the Russian invasion was real. It was just that everything seemed submerged. Until then, he did not know anything about war as a tangible reality. But when war suddenly crashes down on you, life is abruptly transformed and, from then on, has to be organised alongside the war. </p>
<p>After their initial disbelief, and its share of disempowering feelings, their despondency turned into rebellion. The list of possible reactions to this kind of situation is limited: you can flee; you can try to maintain your habits in an upended and uncertain daily life; or you can make yourself useful without really knowing how. Some artists have taken up arms and gone to the front. Others have stayed put and continued to practise their art in spite of everything.</p>
<h2>War provides opportunities: promoting Ukrainian art</h2>
<p>These artists are determined to make Ukrainian art better known. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/marta_trotsiuk/?hl=fr">Marta Trotsiuk</a> runs a gallery. Before the war broke out, she would organise exhibitions throughout Lviv. She now works toward solidarity among the city’s artists to tackle the present emergency. She is energetic, even restless: she has been invited to take part in the Venice Biennale in the coming days. For her, this moment is an opportunity to make the uniqueness of Ukrainian art known.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CcnPmZctvzP","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Her first job was to organise a petition and a collective letter to denounce Russia’s aggression and call for sanctions against its artists. She justifies this by explaining that “culture is one of Moscow’s preferred methods in pushing its propaganda. It’s soft power, quite simply.”</p>
<p>In addition to this political initiative, Ukrainian artists are trying to organise a series of cultural events for refugees: concerts, plays, films, exhibitions – so many daily events that could help refugees “unwind”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb0aksONfB3","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>As the world collapses, art comforts people in the face of an unbearable reality. The purpose of these cultural events is not to directly express war or look at it differently. It is mainly to relieve people afflicted by war and forced in exile. Like others, Marta has set herself a challenge:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[I want to make] people feel less inhibited about art, making our events attractive to them. We hope that they will come to think that there’s something for them in these events, and that our art will speak to them… People come from all over the country: from Kyiv, Odessa, and many other cities. They’re shy, they keep their distance, but when they come they’re always pleased to be there.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>“Being lumped together with the Soviet Union is simply unbearable.”</h2>
<p>This claim that Ukrainian art is unique is especially heartfelt. Marta is disappointed and tired of people’s habits: like others, she bristles against the common confusion between Russian and Ukrainian art. She explains angrily:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When we’re not being confused with Russians, we’re being portrayed as their ‘little brothers’… Being lumped together with the Soviet Union is simply unbearable. Our history is different. What’s more, our language is closer to Polish than it is to Russian. We’ve been independent since 1991. Since then, we’ve been fighting Russia’s imperialism and its daunting propaganda.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Marta readily asserts how proud she is of Ukraine:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I’m a proud Ukrainian. We have to carry on fighting. We even have to fight to get back our border from 1991, when we became independent. We have to change Russia’s government and get it to recognise what it’s carried out: genocide in Ukraine.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This nationalistic line is unapologetic. The main tension in nationalism seems to reside in Marta’s words:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We’ve got to be patriotic and keep our traditions alive, because we’ve been attacked. Otherwise, we’ll be wiped out as a people.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>National pride flourishes where a people is threatened with extinction. The war is giving the people the feeling they have discovered a collective power, a unity that is all the more strong as the threat is real. Behind Marta’s revolt, some prospects brought on by war are taking shape: the possibility of the world taking an interest in Ukrainian culture, artists, works and uniqueness. In a world crumbling, these artists have started dreaming of a new future: a people aware of itself, forging its destiny and promoting its uniqueness worldwide. The imagination is a place where reality can be defied.</p>
<h2>Turning viewers into witnesses</h2>
<p>Remarkably, art is not presented as it would be in peacetime. It does not seek to make war intelligible, or offer a break in which the world, in its cruelty, can find expression. Rather, it seeks to supplement war. It encourages uprising and a refusal to give up among all those who still have strength. Lastly, it records memory. All these works produced as the war rages capture the people’s accomplishments, actions and words, helping them escape transience. Artists hope to make us not just viewers but also witnesses.</p>
<p>And while some carry on creating works during the war, others try to salvage them. Bogdana Brylynska works at the <a href="https://cityofliterature.lviv.ua/mans/bogdana-brylynska">“Territory of Terror” Memorial Museum</a> in Lviv. From the outset of the war, she has been salvaging works throughout Ukraine, especially in the south and east of the country, where a large portion of Ukraine’s national cultural heritage can be found: “Our aim is to preserve heritage in Mariupol and so many other cities”, she says. Volunteers swing into action to protect monuments, using either tarps or sandbags, to protect them from shrapnel.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459268/original/file-20220422-16-ryrfj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romain Huët</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some statues are hidden in secure locations – abroad or in underground passages. Volunteers also get organised to transport the most important works to Lviv. In all the country’s museums, people find creative ways to get works out:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We’re not waiting for government orders to save these works. Since the Maidan Revolution, we’ve got used to getting organised on our own. Since then, we’ve forged so many ties with the whole country that we’re in touch with volunteers everywhere. Since the revolution, we’ve realised what our collective capacities are really like.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Volunteers transport the artworks. This requires finding answers to practical questions, like how to pack up the works without damaging them:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“At first, we really didn’t know how to do it. We tried lots of methods before finding techniques that worked well enough… But that’s not the only problem. Because we don’t have any official licence to transport these artworks, there are tedious negotiations at checkpoints to establish that we’re not stealing the works but protecting them. You have to be resourceful. We’re used to it!”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In such a situation, resistance is about salvaging the materiality of the world, the memory of the country. It is about saving the world from destruction as much as you can. I’m now leaving Lviv to head for Kyiv, and then Kharkiv.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article could not have been written without the precious help of Julia Sinkevych, a film producer. I am indebted to her for making my many meetings in Lviv possible</em>.</p>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Thomas Young for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en">Fast ForWord</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184199/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article is a continuation of the author's research and ANR 'Ethnographie des guerillas et des émeutes: formations subjectives, émotions et expérience sensible de la violence en train de fait - EGR' <a href="https://anr.fr/Projet-ANR-18-CE39-0011">https://anr.fr/Projet-ANR-18-CE39-0011</a>.</span></em></p>
The experience of war also inspires non-violent forms of resistance.
Romain Huët, Maitre de conférences en sciences de la communication, Chercheur au PREFICS (Plurilinguismes, Représentations, Expressions Francophones, Information, Communication, Sociolinguistique), Université Rennes 2
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/176656
2022-04-21T20:13:56Z
2022-04-21T20:13:56Z
Contemporary Muslim artists continue to adapt Islamic patterns to challenge ideas about fixed culture
<p>What is culture? In today’s globalized world, we are familiar with seeing various cultural objects and ornamentation outside of their original location or context.</p>
<p>If culture is not fixed and bound to a particular location, how does culture move and transform?</p>
<p>Ornamentation in Islamic art — patterned <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/engraved-ornament-project/what-ornament-what-ornament-print-and-why-do-they-matter">decoration or embellishment seen on objects or in architecture</a> — is a great example of such movement of culture that can now be found across the world.</p>
<p>Throughout the centuries, Islamic geometric patterns <a href="https://artofislamicpattern.com/resources/introduction-to-islimi">and arabesque (Islimi) designs</a> — otherwise known as biomorphic, floral patterns — have moved from east to west. </p>
<p>These patterns have been built upon and adapted, and as such may not even be recognized as bearing the imprint or influence of Islamic societies. </p>
<h2>Islamic art influence on western design</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458639/original/file-20220419-24-j7x5r6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A carpet with an orange, burgundy and rust floral design over a teal background with a circular centre." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458639/original/file-20220419-24-j7x5r6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458639/original/file-20220419-24-j7x5r6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458639/original/file-20220419-24-j7x5r6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458639/original/file-20220419-24-j7x5r6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458639/original/file-20220419-24-j7x5r6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458639/original/file-20220419-24-j7x5r6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458639/original/file-20220419-24-j7x5r6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What may appear to some viewers in certain contexts as a quintessentially British design, like patterning in William Morris’s ‘Holland Park’ carpet, is actually inspired by Islamic arabeseque (Islimi) ornamentation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Rawpixel)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Morris-British-artist-and-author">19th century English designer William Morris</a> — renowned for patterning that became known in fabrics, furniture and other <a href="https://www.theartstory.org/movement/arts-and-crafts/history-and-concepts/">Arts and Crafts movement</a> decorative arts — was inspired by the biomorphic floral designs of the Islamic arabesque (Islimi) ornamentation. </p>
<p>A recent exhibition, <em>Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity</em>, at <a href="https://madparis.fr/Cartier-et-les-arts-de-l-Islam-Aux-sources-de-la-modernite-2028">Musée des Arts décoratifs</a> in Paris showcases the influence of Islamic art on the designs of French jewelry <a href="https://www.harpersbazaararabia.com/hbanews/cartiers-high-jewellery-masterpieces-are-on-display-at-diriyah">designer Maison Cartier</a>. </p>
<p>What is fascinating about this exhibition is the paring of jewels and precious objects with the artifacts from Islamic lands such as a <a href="https://www.tatler.com/article/cartier-jewellery-islamic-art-influence-musee-des-arts-decoratifs-review">14-15th century Iranian mosaic tile</a> that were the original sources of inspiration for Cartier. This exhibition travels to the <a href="https://dma.org/press-release/dallas-museum-art-announces-major-exhibition-exploring-cartier-s-inspirations-islamic">Dallas Museum of Art in May 2022</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca28SONAEi-","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>‘Cultural translation’</h2>
<p>Part of the reason for this movement of culture is the mobility of people and the portability of ornamental objects. </p>
<p>The notion of “cultural translation,” coined by <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Location-of-Culture/Bhabha/p/book/9780415336390">cultural theorist Homi K. Bhabha</a>, is the act of translation, which is neither one cultural tradition nor the other cultural tradition, but is the emergence of other positions. The root of the English word translation is from <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/translate">the Latin <em>translatus</em> meaning “to carry over” or “to bring across.”</a></p>
<p>Movement resulting from migration gives rise to people’s acts of cultural translation. Translation is the negotiation arising from encounters of two social groups with different cultural traditions. </p>
<p>For Bhabha, cultural difference is never a finished “thing.” Migrant experiences exist at the borders or edges of different cultures and are in flux. Consequently, people’s acts of translating language or visual signs and symbols is an act of constant negotiation between cultures. </p>
<p>In this process, the migrant’s struggle operates in a process of transformation in the in-between space of cultures <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803103943993">called the third space</a>. The third space is a hybrid space of negotiating cultural interactions.</p>
<h2>Muslim artists in diaspora</h2>
<p>A good example of these kinds of cultural negotiations happens in the works of contemporary artists from culturally diverse backgrounds living in the western societies (in diaspora). </p>
<p>For Muslim artists in diaspora, traditional Islamic art forms contextualize their connections to their cultural backgrounds within broader social, political and cultural concerns — concerns like migration, cultural identity and diversity. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"968880625125076997"}"></div></p>
<p>Pakistani Canadian artist <a href="http://www.tazeenqayyum.com/">Tazeen Qayyum</a> uses the language of the traditional Islamic ornamentation in her work such as <a href="http://www.tazeenqayyum.com/a-holding-pattern/"><em>A Holding Pattern</em></a> (2013) in order to investigate what it means to live between two cultures. </p>
<p>Upon first glance, the viewer perceives an aesthetically pleasing geometric design reminiscent of arabesque tile works in Islamic architecture. However, a closer inspection reveals that the ornamental pattern is a repetition of cockroaches’ silhouettes. </p>
<p>In a recent article for <a href="https://blackflash.ca/2022/01/14/distance-difference-destiny/"><em>BlackFlash</em> magazine</a>, Qayyum explains this work: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I also intricately painted a set of airport lounge chairs representative of the liminal space of an airport, where migrants and refugees are neither here nor there but instead wait for clearance upon arrival at Pearson Airport. The title ‘holding pattern’ solidifies this thinking as it connotes an aircraft awaiting clearance to land. It is a state of waiting that references my own displaced identity of living between two cultures, always in transit and never truly at home.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>‘In-between space’</h2>
<p>Contemporary cultural theorists, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Strange-Encounters-Embodied-Others-in-Post-Coloniality/Ahmed/p/book/9780415201858">such as Sara Ahmed</a> and Bhabha have argued that such artists enter a mode of cultural translation. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458656/original/file-20220419-18-e40ong.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Goose etched with pattern is being examined by a viewer wearing a hijab, seen from the back." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458656/original/file-20220419-18-e40ong.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458656/original/file-20220419-18-e40ong.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458656/original/file-20220419-18-e40ong.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458656/original/file-20220419-18-e40ong.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458656/original/file-20220419-18-e40ong.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458656/original/file-20220419-18-e40ong.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458656/original/file-20220419-18-e40ong.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What do you see in this gold connective pattern etched over geese and mallards?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Soheila Esfahani)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Artists destabilize the idea of a monolithic culture and instead construct works that are influenced by locations of cultures that reflect an “in-between space”: a site of dialogue reflecting these interconnected influences.</p>
<p>I recently created artwork in which I investigate cultural translation and question displacement, dissemination and reinsertion of culture by re-contextualizing culturally specific ornamentation. This work is for a three-person exhibition, <em><a href="https://canada-culture.org/en/event/jude-abu-zaineh-soheila-esfahani-xiaojing-yan-de-lart-de-vivre/">The Art of Living: On Community, Immigration, and the Migration of Symbols, Jude Abu Zaineh, Soheila Esfahani, Xiaojing Yan</a></em>, curated by Catherine Bédard, at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris (opening May 12, 2022). </p>
<p>In my work <em>Mallards Reeds</em>, a vintage wooden sign depicting a flock of Canada geese and mallards flying over a marsh at sunset has been laser-etched with an arabesque pattern. </p>
<p>By placing the arabesque design on the wood cutout of Canada geese and mallards — a vintage “Canadiana” object — I aim to question the origin of culture and the role of ornamentation. I acquired this object at a local company where I live in Waterloo Region, Ontario, that salvages and reclaims wood materials. At one time, the sign apparently hung at a restaurant. </p>
<p>This pattern is replicated from sections of the mosaic design of the interior dome of the Imam Mosque in Isfahan, Iran. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Highly highly detailed ornament, in hues of gold, tan, teal and brown, is seen organized in a circular patterns, is seen on a cobalt blue cieling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458262/original/file-20220414-18-ivspl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458262/original/file-20220414-18-ivspl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458262/original/file-20220414-18-ivspl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458262/original/file-20220414-18-ivspl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458262/original/file-20220414-18-ivspl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458262/original/file-20220414-18-ivspl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458262/original/file-20220414-18-ivspl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Detail of the interior dome of the Imam Mosque in Isfahan, Iran.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Diego Delso/Wikimedia Commons)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/photo/10moorishart-persia">This mosque</a>, also known as the Royal Mosque, is part of a complex of buildings in an urban square <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/115">designated as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization world heritage site</a>.</p>
<h2>Experiences, cultures inform readings</h2>
<p><a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Mediation_of_Ornament.html?id=qEjangEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">As art historian Oleg Grabar notes</a> in his book <em>The Mediation of Ornament</em>: “ … ornament is the ultimate mediator, paradoxically questioning the value of meanings by chanelling them into pleasure. Or is it possible to argue instead that by providing pleasure, ornament also gives to the observer the right and the freedom to choose meaning?” </p>
<p>My work aims to become a mediator allowing the viewer to enter the third space and hinges on an act of negotiation. The viewers’ unique experiences and cultures inform their reading of the work. This allows them to “enter the third space” by engaging in cultural translation: viewers carry their culture across and onto the work of art and vice versa. </p>
<p>I am interested in the notion of the third space not only in contemporary art/culture, but also as a means of opening a space of dialogue across fields of study in order to mobilize multiple perspectives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176656/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Soheila Kolahdouz Esfahani has received funding from
Canada Council for the Arts
Ontario Arts Council
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council</span></em></p>
As Islamic geometric patterns and arabesque designs have migrated globally, they’ve been adapted, and may not even be recognized as bearing the influence of Islamic societies.
Soheila Kolahdouz Esfahani, Assistant Professor, Visual Arts Department, Western University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/177712
2022-03-17T16:55:16Z
2022-03-17T16:55:16Z
The cultural sector needs support in order to benefit from a digital remake
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451946/original/file-20220314-103117-5s5abp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C4216%2C2819&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The pandemic shifted many concerts, events and performances online.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 crisis has dealt a massive blow to the <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2021001/article/00033-eng.htm">cultural and creative sectors in Canada</a> and around the world. The impact was <a href="https://en.unesco.org/news/disruption-and-resilience-unesco-reports-reveal-new-data-impact-covid-19-culture">broad and deep</a>. </p>
<p>In 2020, museums were closed for an average of more than 155 days, and in 2021, many of them had to shut their doors again, resulting in a 70 per cent drop in attendance.</p>
<p>The film industry, which relies heavily on box office revenue, has <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2021/04/here-are-all-the-movies-and-tv-shows-affected-by-coronavirus.html">seen most theatrical releases cancelled or delayed</a>. The crisis <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelkramerbussel/2020/05/27/how-publishers-decided-to-move-publication-dates-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/?sh=3283078949dc">shook the book publishing industry</a>, putting smaller publishers at risk and delaying the launch of several new books and literary works. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/road-to-recovery/2021/01/12/pandemic-entertainment-changes/">Music festivals, concerts and plays were forced online</a>, delayed or cancelled and many artists had to find other work.</p>
<p>When these sectors hurt, Canada hurts. </p>
<p>Creative industries have long been one of the leading drivers of innovation and economic growth in this country, making up <a href="https://canadianart.ca/%20news/culture-industries-have-58-9-billion-impact-in-canada/">almost three per cent of the GDP</a>. By promoting social inclusion and social capital, the cultural sector is a key contributor to well-being as well. Our culture drives our identity as community and as country.</p>
<h2>Just above survival level</h2>
<p>The pandemic has exposed the structural fragility of the businesses and people foundational to supporting the cultural and creative sectors. </p>
<p>For the most part, <a href="https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/app/cis/summary-sommaire/51">these are</a> small businesses, non-profit organizations like art centres, fairs, festivals, museums or theaters and independent artists and creative professionals like writers, painters or musicians — many who are operating just above survival level. </p>
<p>The pandemic has removed their main sources of revenue but has not diminished their costs of creation. If they go under, they may never recover. This would create a long-lasting dent in the production of cultural content in Canada.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A video by The Wall Street Journal about how k-pop is reinventing virtual concerts.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Even though the federal and provincial governments have implemented <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/news/2022/02/government-of-canada-launches-program-to-provide-additional-support-for-cultural-workers-in-the-live-performing-arts-sector.html">support policies</a> for organizations and professionals affected by the pandemic, the measures have not adapted to the new reality. </p>
<p>Supports also appear to be poorly targeted and fail to account for the medium- and long-term <a href="https://www.cambridgeblog.org/2019/07/how-digitization-impacts-the-creative-economy/">impact of digital transformation</a> on how we produce and consume cultural products and experiences.</p>
<p>For many arts institutions and creative professionals, continued survival and relevance will hinge on how well they can transition from in-person to digital. Doing so will build their resilience to face future shocks and offer an economical pathway to reach larger audiences. </p>
<h2>Supply and demand</h2>
<p>In the near future, emerging technologies such as virtual and augmented reality have the potential to <a href="https://research4committees.blog/2020/09/07/the-use-of-artificial-intelligence-in-the-cultural-and-creative-sectors/">fuel new types of cultural experiences</a> that can be marketed not only to large audiences but also to new audiences who were not consuming the cultural content before. </p>
<p>In economic terms, digitalization has affected both the demand and supply for cultural content. Thanks to increasingly sophisticated technology and the adoption of digital devices to experience things remote because of the pandemic, consumers have <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/digitization-culture-pandemic-1.6015861">developed a taste</a> for new ways to “tour” museums, “attend” theatre and participate in book readings. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whos-zoomin-who-how-the-coronavirus-crisis-is-finally-putting-the-social-into-social-media-136109">Who's Zoomin' who? How the coronavirus crisis is finally putting the 'social' into social media</a>
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<p>For culture producers, this has forced them to re-imagine not only <a href="https://www.artsmanagement.net/Articles/The-Pandemic-as-a-Factor-of-Transformation-in-Arts-and-Culture-The-Ascendance-of-Digital-Culture,4174">what and how they create</a> but also their business methods, distribution channels, advertising and funding. </p>
<h2>Digitalization of cultural experiences</h2>
<p>The digitalization of cultural experiences takes many shapes and forms: musicians streaming concerts when live concerts aren’t possible, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/digitization-culture-pandemic-1.6015861">museums providing online tours</a> or online book releases with authors reading from their homes. </p>
<p>The pandemic forced cultural producers to think about how they might transition the delivery of their cultural content from in-person to digital in ways that wouldn’t diminish the experience of cultural consumers.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Met takes you on a virtual tour of Making The Met, 1870–2020.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Digitalization has affected competition as well, in cross-cutting ways. It has <a href="https://pooja-bhatnagar.medium.com/the-long-tail-strategy-65973fee9301">lowered the cost of starting a new culture-based enterprises</a>, which should spur competition. But it has also led to greater concentration among those who are able to adapt to the digital world, adding to the decade-long trend of <a href="https://www.globalissues.org/article/159/media-conglomerates-mergers-concentration-of-ownership">increased market concentration in cinemas, radio, television and the press</a>. </p>
<p>Greater market concentration usually leads to <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/archive/au/entry/its-time-to-put-markets-ahead-of-monopolies_a_21647051">higher prices and poorer quality</a>, with serious long-term consequences for access and diversity of content — that is the most worrisome. </p>
<p>Access to culture and the guarantee of respect to one’s culture are not only <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/CulturalRights/Pages/Covid19.aspx">rights explicitly recognized</a> by the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a> and promoted by the United Nations and UNESCO, but they are quintessential to our identity as a community and country.</p>
<h2>Policy interventions</h2>
<p>Given the importance of access to culture, <a href="https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/culture-shock-covid-19-and-the-cultural-and-creative-sectors-08da9e0e/">public policy interventions</a> must aim to support the digitalization of cultural experiences as one way to help face the uncertainty of the future. </p>
<p>Even in stable times, <a href="https://theconversation.com/at-moments-like-these-we-need-a-cultural-policy-141974">governments have struggled to adapt their policies</a> to the <a href="https://blogs.salleurl.edu/en/9-keys-adaptation-business-models-cultural-companies-midst-covid-19">nontraditional business models that mark the cultural sector</a>. That needs to change.</p>
<p>The form of measures and aid provided can vary but two objectives must be prioritized. </p>
<p>One, the aid must help to guarantee the survival of companies and organizations, employees and artists who make access to culture possible. Cultural producers — particularly those that are small and independent — will need help to build their digital skills. </p>
<p>And two, looking to the future, the aid must be competition-neutral — business and organizations must not be favoured over others — to ensure lively innovation by new entrants. If necessary, anti-competition law should be applied to avoid abusive practices that reduce access to culture. </p>
<p>With the fulfilment of both conditions, we can emerge from this crisis a culturally stronger and more forward-looking and resilient country than before.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177712/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ricard Gil receives funding from SSHRC. Ricard Gil is a member of the American Economic Association, Canadian Economic Association and the Society of Institutional and Organizational Economics. Ricard Gil is also a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Cultural Economics.</span></em></p>
We can emerge from the pandemic a culturally stronger and more forward-looking and resilient country than before if we support the culture sector and digitalization.
Ricard Gil, Associate Professor, Smith School of Business, Queen's University, Ontario
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.