European Day of Languages

We went onto the square to ask people which languages they could speak. As we expected - English, German and Russian were the most widespread. We also found people who could speak Latin, Spanish, French, Polish, Hungarian, Italian and Czech.

Third Year Art and Culture - Kitsch and Beauty

 You can find the ppt at this link

http://eu.lib.kmutt.ac.th/elearning/Courseware/ARC359/Beauty.ppt



Kitsch
Kitsch refers to the low-art artifacts of everyday life. It encompasses lamps in the shape of the Eiffel Tower, paintings of Elvis Presley on velvet, and lurid illustrations on the covers of romance novels. The term comes from the German verb verkitschen (to make cheap). Kitsch is a byproduct of the industrial age’s astonishing capacity for mass production and its creation of disposable income.

The critic Clement Greenberg characterized kitsch as “rear-guard” art—in opposition to avant-garde art. Kitsch, he observed (in “Avant-Garde and Kitsch,” published in Partisan Review in fall 1939), “operates by formulas…it is vicarious experience and faked sensation. It changes according to style, but remains always the same. Kitsch is the epitome of all that is spurious in the life of our time.” He defined kitsch broadly to include jazz, advertising, Hollywood movies, commercial illustration—all of which are generally regarded now as popular culture rather than kitsch. Although Greenberg’s definition of kitsch is overly expansive, his analysis of how it operates remains apt. Today kitsch is most often used to denigrate objects considered to be in bad taste.
Attitudes toward kitsch became more complicated with the advent of Pop art in the early 1960s. What had been dismissed as vulgar was now championed by individuals who were fully aware of the reviled status of the “low-art” objects of their affections. This ironic attitude toward kitsch came to be known as “camp,” following the publication of the essay “Notes on ‘Camp’” by the cultural commentator Susan Sontag in Partisan Review in fall 1964.
Obscuring the distinctions between low and high art was key to the repudiation of modernism and the emergence of postmodernism. Beginning in the late 1970s, kitsch became a favorite subject for such artists as Kenny Scharf, who depicts characters from Saturday-morning cartoons, and Julie Wachtel, who appropriates figures from goofy greeting cards.
Extracts from 'Artspeak' by Robert Atkins (copyright (©) 1990, 1997 by Robert Atkins) reproduced by permission of Abbeville Press, Inc.

(source: Museum of Contemporary Art. http://moca.org/pc/viewArtTerm.php?id=19)

Postmodern Architecture: The Birth of Kitsch

MJ5446

FOLLOW

Postmodernism has a different attitude to mass culture. Modernism had drawn rigid distinctions between high and low culture.

Postmodernism was one of the most significant cultural developments of the twentieth century. In the fields of architecture and design it can best be understood as a reaction against the Modern Movement of the early twentieth century.

Architects began to find the Modernist vocabulary restrictive. They grew bored with the sterile, puritan forms. This shift was signalled by two famous statements. The Modernist architect Mies van der Rohe had coined the phrase ‘Less is more,’ meaning that decoration and detail had to be stripped away. The postmodernist architect Robert Venturi responded with the phrase ‘Less is a bore’. The faith in a universal aesthetic was shattered. Postmodernism marks a return to colour, variety and historical reference.

In particular, Postmodernism has a different attitude to mass culture. Modernism had drawn rigid distinctions between high and low culture. The Modernist art critic Clement Greenberg published an influential essay entitled ‘Avant Garde and Kitsch’, which makes a distinction between high culture (such as opera, abstract art and indeed Modernism) and low culture (television, Hollywood movies and so on). He argues that high culture is the preserve of a privileged, educated few and that popular culture represents a lowering of standards, which he calls this the ‘democratization of culture under industrialisation.’

This is an elitist view that is challenged by Postmodernism and its enthusiasm for mass culture. Postmodernism actively celebrates kitsch (a German term for cheap, tacky artefacts) because it is a language that everyone can understand. For example, the Disney Corporation has been hiring famous postmodernist architects for the last few decades. The Eisner Building was designed by Michael Graves. It features the Seven Dwarfs in place of the caryatids found in Ancient Greek buildings. 

This is how the device looks in genuine ancient Greek architecture - the Erechthium at Athens, which has columns sculpted into the form of female figures.  Michael Graves has appropriated this device, but altered it to create in a parody of Classicism.

Postmodern Architecture: The Birth of Kitsch

MJ5446

FOLLOW

Postmodernism has a different attitude to mass culture. Modernism had drawn rigid distinctions between high and low culture.

Postmodernism was one of the most significant cultural developments of the twentieth century. In the fields of architecture and design it can best be understood as a reaction against the Modern Movement of the early twentieth century.

Architects began to find the Modernist vocabulary restrictive. They grew bored with the sterile, puritan forms. This shift was signalled by two famous statements. The Modernist architect Mies van der Rohe had coined the phrase ‘Less is more,’ meaning that decoration and detail had to be stripped away. The postmodernist architect Robert Venturi responded with the phrase ‘Less is a bore’. The faith in a universal aesthetic was shattered. Postmodernism marks a return to colour, variety and historical reference.

In particular, Postmodernism has a different attitude to mass culture. Modernism had drawn rigid distinctions between high and low culture. The Modernist art critic Clement Greenberg published an influential essay entitled ‘Avant Garde and Kitsch’, which makes a distinction between high culture (such as opera, abstract art and indeed Modernism) and low culture (television, Hollywood movies and so on). He argues that high culture is the preserve of a privileged, educated few and that popular culture represents a lowering of standards, which he calls this the ‘democratization of culture under industrialisation.’

This is an elitist view that is challenged by Postmodernism and its enthusiasm for mass culture. Postmodernism actively celebrates kitsch (a German term for cheap, tacky artefacts) because it is a language that everyone can understand. For example, the Disney Corporation has been hiring famous postmodernist architects for the last few decades. The Eisner Building was designed by Michael Graves. It features the Seven Dwarfs in place of the caryatids found in Ancient Greek buildings. 

This is how the device looks in genuine ancient Greek architecture - the Erechthium at Athens, which has columns sculpted into the form of female figures.  Michael Graves has appropriated this device, but altered it to create in a parody of Classicism.

Rockscape

The old open-air cinema in Banska Bystrica has been done up and it reopened with a three-day rock festival. Dasa and I went along on the first evening and saw 5 different bands. The best in my opinion was Helenine Oci (Helena's Eyes) who managed to get the crowd singing, dancing and waving. I also enjoyed Peacock Ball and the Czech band Buty.

A Volcano of Bears

Last week we went mushroom picking in the evening in a valley near Hrochot. It turns out we were in the crater of an extinct volcano. I also learnt that the biggest hungriest bears in Slovakia are also found here. As I got out of the car Maros pointed out I was basically in a volcano of bears.

We climbed up the damp and darkening hillside and found quite a few mushrooms though rather wormy. When I got in I fried them up with an onion (including a couple of worms no doubt that sneaked passed my inspection) and the next day I had them in an omelette for breakfast.

The Return to Slovakia

We woke up to another bright sunny morning in our strange little campsite. We cheerily greeted our fellow campers who seemed a friendly bunch and clearly understood proper bedding airing techniques.

We tried to pay at the reception of the penzion. It wasn't easy - the receptionist was very cheerful but rather inefficient, and then we were off and bombing along the German autobahn again.

Soon we got to the Polish border and the next hundred kilometres of awful rutted pitted road surface on the 'motorway' with stretches overgrown with grass stands as a monument to human folly. As we drove along all the pots and pans rattled in the cupboards of the campervan, as did the plates and cups and cutlery, and the table threatened to rattle itself into pieces, our bones rattled around and our teeth rattled in our heads. The only entertainment was watching the lorry in front of us bounce along in a bizzare way. Then it started raining.

By the time we got to a more normal road surface, the sun was out and we stopped for coffee and the delicious sour soup zurek. We drove across Poland and crossed into the Czech Republic and then into Slovakia.

The weather grew colder and greyer and we were dismayed by all the roadside billboards spoiling the views of the hills and mountains. There had been very few in Norway, Denmark and the other countries - even free-wheeling Poland had reined in the excesses but in Slovakia they appeared as a blight. We also bounced along the 'tankodrome' road between Martin and Turcianska Teplica which also made us annoyed. Then we had bryndzove halusky at the famous St Christof salas (shepherd's hut) and even they tasted like they'd been made from a packet mix. So though we were all glad to be back, we suffered a bit of a culture shock and felt a bit sad.

We travelled 8,100 km in three weeks and stayed in four countries - Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and we drove across the Czech Republic, Poland and Finland. We'd been in 7 boats, 5 of which were ferries. Highlights were experiencing the midnight sun, whale and dolphin watching, seeing Copenhagen and Oslo, swimming in the sea, spaghetti, the beauty of the fjords, first sights of the reindeer, delicious fish, oystercatchers on the beach, and rowing on the fjord. It was a really great holiday and we had seen and learnt a lot on our trip.

From Denmark to Germany

Another nice sunny day again in Bisserup. We had breakfast and set off to catch the ferry to Rostock from Gedser.

We arrived in Gedser in good time and Katka and I went for a walk around the town. We found a garden of the senses and ate red currents and gooseberries and sniffed the herbs.

Then we got on the ferry to Rostock and the journey took two hours. At the big Hanseatic port of Rostock, Maros spotted the big cruiseliner we had seen in Oslo.

Then we travelled for about 4 hours on the good German autobahns. We went around Berlin and found a strange and rather crowded campsite by a motorway that was rather full of mosquitos and near Cottbus.

Katka prepared the last Swedish carrot for our last soup. We enjoyed pasta squares with sauerkraut for supper - and I learnt to eat it the caravan way, that is, with plenty of sugar and pepper. We also had a couple of beers and listened to country and blues music on a German radio station and discussed theories of the origins argriculture, the benefits of red current wine and different fermented foods. It was a good evening.

A day by the beach in Bisserup

Today we had a nice day at the beach - walking, cycling, reading and a lovely meal at a smart restaurant in the pretty village. Maros joined a toddler (and possible future member of Danish squad) and grandparents playing football. We also all went swimming in the Baltic where the water was quite warm. KAatla and Maros went twice and I went once.

In the evening we had supper and a pleasant walk. We saw a pet hare on someone's lawn. Then later we watched the dreary Argentina-Holland match with the Danish holiday makers. It was a lovely sunny day, though rather windy.

Copenhagen pt 3

After visiting Christianshavn we returned by metro and drove out to the south west coast of Zeeland to a campsite in the quaint village of Bisserup. We went to dip our toes in the Baltic sea and after a good supper we watched Germany annihilate Brazil in the world cup semi-final on a screen outside at the camp. It was a popular match and the result seemed to delight the Danish viewers - me too, but Katka and Maros were not so happy.

Copenhagen pt 2

After visiting the aquarium we took the metro into the centre to the borough of Christianshavn, and went for a walk around Freetown Christiania - the anarchist commune which has been operating since 1971. There were lots of signs asking people not to take photos so I don't have many. There were people openly selling and smoking dope, stalls for t-shirts, musicians practising, home-made Buddhist temples, people lying in the sun reading by the lake. We discussed anarchy, freedom and the Vietnam War as we wandered round.