Traditions

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Who/what:Abandon

Traditions

Traditions

(in art)

The only true traditional art is pre-civilized art or non-western art (which probably wouldn't describe itself as art), but - for instance - classical art could also be considered traditional. Most works of art from the last century are clearly non traditional when compared to classical art, but the development of the means for making art (defined by evolutionary cultural conditions: the vernacular of the culture) is maybe an other issue and - more importantly - there is also the traditional environment in which art functions. It could be very well possible that all civilized western art is in fact traditional in respect of it's function. Western art (civilized art) has been conceived and realized in mere traditional archaic ways, not so much the materials (like paint - oil or acrylic - and canvas etc.) but the way an object is conceived by the artist and then (consciously - subconsciously - unconsciously) realized with a traditional customary environment in which art functions in mind.

With so called 'media art' (mainly electronically generated art or by means of electronic apparatus materialized art) one could say there is a completely different and new (modern) technique involved: a new material and a new means. This is only true for a small part because the real new (modern) properties of this kind of art were explored long ago by numerous artists of the period at the beginning of the 20th century and (in a certain relation) even before that era.

The medium is not (and should not be) the message and 'the message' has been, for over a period of a century, clearly embedded in the art world: the message is personal and subjective, while in pre civilized art or non western art and classical art the message is communal and /or authorized.
There always has been a certain 'free space' for personal involvement: both in classical and traditional art as well as in modern art, but there was also a boundary in the ways art could function, even at the end of an age of modernism in art.

Techniques

Mostly modern (and classical or traditional) art is classified by the use of materials, techniques, styles, genres and chronology. It is arguable however in which respect a picture (painting) from Rafaël (Pope Leo X with his nephews, 1518); Rembrandt (Jacob blesses the son of Joseph, 1656); Gauguin (Moon and Earth, 1893) and Bacon (Study for selfportret, 1982), are different really.
Obviously there is indeed the difference of the era, but that doesn't say that much about tradition. (which is of course developing in evolutionary terms)
Techniques are roughly comparable as well as the shape and dimensions of the works: ment to hang from walls, where pictures belong. The real difference is clearly the 'growing' free space for personal involvement.

If on a later stage in 20th century art the 'conceptual' art (conceptualism) is considered then it is plausible that this kind of thinking could have been a way to deal with a traditional function af art, but once it comes to materializing it's almost impossible to point out the real difference between art from earlier periods and this conceptual period in most cases.

Some artists were only showing a piece of paper revealing 'scribbles' or outlines of an idea, but compared to the unfinished drawings and numerous notes of highly conceptual potential from Leonardo da Vinci or the notes, sketches and drawings Marcel Duchamp made for his work 'La marieé mise à nu par ses célibataires, même' - it just means that only parts (or the least materialized parts) of the process of making art has been shown. (which is in itself a traditional act) Not that it means less, even more in some cases and of course the most radical way to deal with a traditional function of art is not to produce art, but this is escaping rather than altering the situation.

Back to the media art, photography (and film - which is a form of photography) could be considered as the father of video and computer generated sequences and the book (manuscript) the mother of hyper text / hyper information. An interesting aspect is the 'total art' possibility of the new media (combined visual-, aural-, textual- properties) but that isn't solely true for these media and absolutely not new either. (DaDa-ists and futurists used that idea before and the Bauhaus school was proclaiming this kind of 'gesamt kunst' - total art)

Materials

The palette of materials fitting to construct works of art has been expanded to the very limit of the material world: even litter can be used. (Joseph Beuys: 'HasenGrab' [hare grave] - 1962/1967; Tony Gragg: 'African Culture Myth' - 1984)

It is possible that light beams or (radioactive-) radiation as materials are much more imaginative than dull oil dispersion with pigments, but in essence they are the same thing (matter and light - absorbing - energy) serving the same purposes. (philosophically speaking) If some of the works of Tony Gragg are taken in contemplation, like the 'puppets' (human figures on a monumental scale) made from monotonously coloured (fragments of) plastic litter, we see a rare usage of material - which represents a story about society: communal, but also about coloration / light - and a strictly traditional form. (representing connotations with traditional pre civilized art or non western art)

Is this work modern because of the material used? Is it because the 'puppets' have been only schematically indicated? Or is it modern because it's so personally Tony Gragg? Using traditions in (modern) art to expand them with his own acquired 'free space' of personal involvement. Of course all three considerations makes the work modern, but with the last condition very profoundly as the most important one.

In media art the medium is (often) the material. However, the presentation in museal environments mostly takes the form of 'installations', complete with the addition of what could be considered sculptural structures or objects. (which is in a way again very traditional, at least in modern art)

But in which respect is the material (in the case of media art representing the medium) different from the material in other works of art? In some cases a stack of let's say marble plates can be more interesting than a carved sculpture made from this material. It depends greatly on the qualities of the sculptures themselves but the material is clearly an inalienable part (and medium) of the work of art in both cases.

'Readymades' and appropriation

It's a common place, but Marcel Duchamp introduced several extensions to the way art is conceived both to the maker as well as the spectator of art. Looking at his work for 'La marieé mise à nu par ses célibataires, même' (1912-1923) there is a reservoir of 'predictive' contemplations involved in both the accompanying material ('Boîte verte' - Green box) and the work itself. But making this distinction (which Marcel Duchamp initially did in the first place) between the large number of notes and sketches and the object from glass and the various materials attached to it, (which is only a part of the work as a whole: Green box and Glass) the initial approach was finally and again traditional. However odd and extremely personal the act of making of the work was, it had been culminated into the usual object of art (though by it's nature the work was not usual at all of course).

But the history of 'La marieé mise à nu par ses célibataires, même' did take a slightly different turn: the work was still unfinished and Duchamp wasn't finished with the concept! In 1923 he declared the work as 'finally unfinished'. He started to bundle all of the notes and sketches he'd made during the work and issued it as the 'Boîte verte' (1934). The Green box and the Glass were (again) a unity, one continuous - never finishing - living work of / for the mind.

To understand Duchamp's hand made and 'readymade' objects (for clarity limited here to only the readymade 'fountain' (urinal - R. Mutt) and the work 'La marieé mise à nu par ses célibataires, même' ) one must consider the early days of such an enhanced 'free space' for personal involvement in the process of making art, where for an independent mind suddenly anything was possible. Marcel Duchamp however was disappointed about the new dogmas in the art world, especially when his (unorthodox) cubist painting 'Nu descendant un escalier' was heavily criticized by the Paris cubists Peutaux clan, in 1912, during the opening of the exhibition 'Paris Independants'. They pressed Duchamp, through his own brothers, to withdraw the painting But not every artist or supporter of the avant-garde was capable (or willing) of abandoning all boundaries of the aesthetics. For Marcel Duchamp this particular event and his obstinate refusal to 'exchange churches' (the trade of styles and schools) urged him into contemplation and eventually to 'a state of visual (aesthetic) indifference'.

'A point which I want very much to establish is that the choice of these 'readymades' was never dictated by aesthetic delectation'

'this choice was based on a reaction of visual indifference with at the same time a total absence of good or bad taste... in fact a complete anaesthesia'
Marcel Duchamp - Museum of Modern Art - NY - 1961

Duchamp introduced the readymade as food for thoughts and personal enjoyment rather than to confront the spectator with it, but in 1917 he did send the 'fountain' (urinal - under the pseudonym R. Mutt) in to the art show of the 'Society of Independent Artists' in New York. He was a member of the board of this society which was established with the 'Paris Independants' as a model, and he wanted to test the motto of the board: 'No jury, No prices'. They refused, but the readymade was from that moment on a serious topic in the art world. Since then the readymade has been incorporated (and raped) by official institutes and numerous artists. (secret artist's ideal: 'gefunden es fressen' - found food)

Appropriation (and post modern style quotation) can be considered as the next stage in which the readymade has evolved. In media art this type of readymade is very profoundly the most frequently applied technique. This is obviously part of the intrinsic properties of the medium: you can copy as much as you like, but also - because the medium is a mass medium - a logical and legitimate action to alter views and generate new.

Appropriation could very well be the utmost important property of the new media. Various things are appropriated: from images to complete synonyms of mere traditional art arrangements (i.e. installations), but is this only the field of media art and is it an additional artistic process? Absolutely not! It's even classical in a sense: the image of certain paintings have been copied, even complete paintings have been redone, as a habit or as a tribute or for various other reasons, by many artists - during classical stages; late-renaissance; pre modern times (symbolism, impressionism) and in the modern age.

Non traditional art culture

If western art would be traditional then why is modernism as a separate classification widely accepted and referred to in about any text considering art? What is modern art anyway? Is it inspired by philosophical and /or aesthetic revelations by Hegel, Konrad Fiedler, Benedette Croce or Bergson, or did it emerge from the daily practice of the artist, from the artistic process itself? In accordance to Goethes ' TAT thinking' (thinking of the action) it is plausible that the combination of intuition (sensibility) and intellect of individual artists had given the insight that visual reality is just one aspect of appearance and that works of art were representing both the visual world and the inner intellectual world of the artist. Of course modernism also marks the (in reality diffuse) division line between naturalistic and abstract or non naturalistic figurative art.

So, what can be modern, new, about art and specifically about media art? First of all - as in every evolution - each step is new, albeit in a traditional way and some experiments were (are) very promising but covered with the blanket of acknowledgement it is not as effective as before. Referring to Marcel Duchamp's considerations with the work 'La marieé mise à nu par ses célibataires, même' and his later experiments with optical kinetic objects, which he showed at fairs and any other place 'but' the museal context, and considering the predictive (and of course self fulfilling) qualities of much of his work, there's very much to say for the settlement with the traditional context and environment in which art could function.

' At a Dada exhibition in Dusseldorf, I was impressed that though Schwitters and Picabia and the others had all become artists with the passing of time, Duchamp's work remained unacceptable as art.'

1973 - John Cage - Interview

This notion is not new of course but the relatively new (mass) media makes such an idea much more feasible. It would mean general culture instead of 'high brow' and an adjustment of which expressions of culture are qualifying to be art. (are the cinema and video games the real art of our time?) Possibilities as the internet could provide the means to reveal the scope and magnitude of such art.
The internet however, is - and should be - free for all (i.e. for all sophisticated westerners not by change belonging to the poor), but how does the artist get paid? For Duchamp such ideas were maybe in his range of possibilities by a certain kind of coincidence (embedded in the avant-garde circle) and a sober life for long periods of time. (he could not live from his work at an early stage of his life and even later on in the USA, being a cultural celebrity, he had to live in a very moderate way) There's absolutely no reason to be overly optimistic about the possibilities of an extra museal, non traditional environment in which art could function. It's rather expectable that the museal institutions (and the traditional environment of art as a whole) even manage to incorporate such elusive entities as the internet as well. (conserving obsolete internet sites)
But there's always the inertness of such an acknowledgement and that means there is a gap in which there actually is a possibility to make a difference: for the time being.

N.B. - This short text about traditions in art is not exhaustive and it is certainly by no means an attempt to be scientifically correct. (I'm no art historian) It simply expands on the ideas and direction of ABANDON, while various opinions and ideas expressed here are subjective.

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Link:. 'media art'

Media art is the art of the 'mass media'; like photography and film, video (tape, TV); audio (tape, records and radio); computer (CD-ROM, internet); but also printed matter (offset printing).

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Link: 'paid' (how does the artist get paid?)

After 70 years of communism in Russia (and the Soviet Union as a whole) and the compelled subservience of artistic expressions to the proletariat (in which even Malevitsch participated), there wasn't an artist's soul left who could maintain a free and uncompromised way of working. There were no artist circles - other than authorized - and no possibilities to show work and to share experiences, but even more important they could not live from their work, not even in a within reason foreseeable future. And it died! (only those few artists with contacts in the western world - like some writers and film directors - could continue their work)

In 1958 the presidents of the United states and the Soviet Union - Nixon and Chroetsjev - reached a bilateral agreement on cultural interchange between the continents. This resulted in the spreading of Hollywood productions in the Soviet Union and films as 'The Idiot' and 'The Swan lake' from Russia in the United states. But this was as far as it did go concerning the arts, because the agreement resulted merely in cultural (political) agitation: the Sputnik and agricultural machines had to advertise the accomplishments of communism while the consumer products Pepsi Cola and the fancy cars of General Motors were the flagships of capitalism.

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