The Imagined Community

As I consider identiy in our globablized world, I am particularly interested in the ways people identify themselves within a Nation. National Identiy is considered by some most meaningful and effective as it "provides individuals a place in the world." (quoted from Anthony D. Smith, "National Identity") In my search for the origins of National Identities, I have come across the book "Imagined Communities" by Benedict Anderson, in which he argues that Nations are imagined, constructed by the minds of masses. He states that they are "imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion." In a way, a Nation gives one a false sense of comfort, granting the image of a community that exists outside of reality. What is it that causes us to be so passionate about our nations? How can our identity be wrapped up in something so imaginary? However, the idea of "nationness" is undeniably influential and perhaps this is because it "endows human action with a meaning that endures over time, thus carrying a promise of immortality." (Yael Tamir, The Enigma of Nationalism) I am currently studying artwork from the Pacific Polynesian islands, and I am struck in the passion artists exhibit in keeping their culture/nation alive through art. Certainly their is the idea that one can live on in the lives of his/her descendants, but is it dangerous to wrap ones identity up in something imagined? Is it dangerous to assume immortality through the continuity of culture? I am reminded as the author of Ecclesiastes has said, "God has set eternity in the heart's of men." How do we identify ourselves within a nation and why?…

Dublin!

I have just returned from a 4 day trip to Ireland. My three classmates and I arrived in Dublin last Saturday late in the evening. I learned so much about the history of Ireland through our visits to the National Museum, the National Gallery, Christ Church Cathedral, and Trinity College, where we saw the Book of Kells. The highlight of the trip for me was our day tour by the coast of Ireland and through the Wicklow hills to Glendalough. The tower at Glendalough was built by Vikings in the 11 century. It is all stones, no mortar! There is also a church there built around the same time period. I was most interested in the entrance of Christianity into the Celtic cultures of Ireland in the eleventh century and beyond. St. Patrick is one of the most well-known saints who brought Christianity from his native homeland, Rome. Our tour guide described how the celtic religion which existed in Ireland long before Christianity was rooted in a belief in Mother nature and the circle of life. St. Patrick sought to minister to the peoples of Ireland by amalgamating their existing beliefs with Christianity. One representation of this is the celtic cross, in which Jesus is seen in the center, but he is inclosed in a circle, which would illustrate the Celtic belief in the circle of life.

We saw TONS of other interesting things, not to mention the sites where much of the film Braveheart was filmed. (Located behind me...)

Ireland is a great place to visit. Now it's back to the books for me. I am focusing now on some interesting contemporary artists whom I wish to highlight on my blog soon....

Kunstwollen: Can't Beat that Artistic Urge

This weekend I've been writing a paper on the Nineteenth Century art historian from Austria, Alois Riegl. I was first attracted to Riegl's interest in artistic periods that had been commonly overlooked by his contemporaries. Riegl had a special interest in ornamental art, but he also studied late antiquity art. He based many of his theories on the idea of "Kunstwollen." Literally translated this means "artistic urge" or "will to form." It was his belief that all art is a product of an artistic urge, and these urges are influenced by how artists perceived the world differently. In this way, he felt all art plays an important role in the development of art through the ages. I like the idea of Kunstwollen.
I was reading a converstaion between two contemporary theorists. In the book "Conversations before the end of Time" Ellen Dissanayake, author of "What is Art For?" speaks with Suzi Gablik. Ellen considers all art a form of biologically based behavior, reflecting a universal human need to make things special. This applies to all art forms including the contemporary. She uses Barbara Kruger as an example. Because Barbara Kruger chooses to single phrases or ideas out, she is choosing to make that phrase special, draw attention to it. Ellen says "she's putting them into a frame, instead of just telling somebody, "Oh, I had this really amusing one-liner thought today: 'I shop therefore I am'." She actually takes the trouble to set it down, and then to set it apart..." I agree with both Riegl and Ellen. As artists we create out of a natural tendency, but it is also our own choice what we will create and set apart. Artists feel an urge to create, and we respond to that urge by making our own choices.

(image by Barbara Kruger, 1987)

Aphrodite by William Turnbull, 1984-2005

The artist William Turnbull worked with abstract forms. He once asked the question, How little will suggest a head? How much load will the shape take and still read head? Head as a colony/head as a landscape/head as a mask/head as ideogram/head as sign…” This thought starkly contrasts the thought of Classic sculptors in which a very specific ideal was sought. This sculpture of Aphrodite sits in the British Museum.

It serves as a perfect example of the ideal sought in Classical Greek sculpture and later admired and imitated by Renaissance artists. What made such sculpture so appealing? Is it not a dream sought through physical forms? Modern art challenges such ideals in search of something more real: presence. Turnbull’s work does just this. In his book, Figuring It Out: the Parallel Visions of Artists and Archaeologists, Colin Renfrew describes Turnbull’s work as a “classicism of another kind…to establish the human presence itself…the horizontal representing the solidity of the earth…the gravity-defying vertical suggesting the human figure – to establish presence and balance. This is a Classicism of being rather than of action.” Turnbull’s work represents a promise of presence. As Greek sculpture begs for attention it remains the end point where our eye will rest. In contrast, Turnbull’s work allows us to look beyond the surface; it challenges us to look at ourselves and feel our own presence in the world.

Head, William Turnbull, 1955