What was Old is New Again - A Meeting of Art and Scholarship

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Yiyi Chen »Contemporary Christian Arts in China«

2011-04-2928:38

Modern day Chinese, believers or not, derive their "picture" of Christianity from copies of Medieval and Renaissance ecclesiastical paintings inserted in books on the Bible as illustrations. These artworks constitute a vital medium for introducing Christianity to China.

Joey Skaggs »Pataphysics: The Science of Imaginary Solutions«

2011-04-2942:00

What lies beyond metaphysics? A great deal for Alfred Jarry (1873-1909), a playwright and culture jammer who coined the term Pataphysics. It is a philosophy that takes in everything written and everything sung and everything done, and like metaphysics has the virtue of meaning whatever you want it to mean. Pataphysics offers a voyage of discovery and adventure into realms where philosophers seldom venture, including art, activism, and onto the street. Dada, Futurism, Surrealism acknowledged the influence of Pataphysics, and nowadays the tradition is carried on by US-based ensembles Act-up/New York, Billboard Liberation Front, Yes Men, Cacophony Society, Negativeland, Improv Everywhere, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. The biting satire of their parodies and absurd theater make effective social commentary.

Muzaffer Ozgules »Sinan’s Sculptural Architecture in Istanbul«

2011-04-2939:10

Although Islam has prohibited sculpturing, the grand master of all Ottoman architects, namely Sinan, was able to surmount this ban skillfully. He regarded the limitations as a challenge for his creativeness. During his half a century long career as the chief architect of Ottoman Empire, he transformed bridges, aqueducts, small buildings, and grandiose complexes into enduring monuments. The aesthetics of these works went far beyond his contemporaries and his predecessors. Architecture was the language he used to express, not only the religious believes, but also his artistic creativity. By the end of the 16th century, Istanbul, where he gave most of his works, became “Sinan’s Istanbul”. This paper aims to reveal the art and science that is the essence of his achievement.

Luke Murphy »The New Raw Unconscious«

2011-04-2948:44

While many artists have employed aleatory elements in their work including ceramic effects, Chinese ink blot drawing and Cozens' blot technique, it has been in the 20th century that chance has become an overt aesthetic or anti-aesthetic strategy. At first with Duchamp, dada and Surrealism's psychic automatism and later with John Cage, chance and randomness have become part of the standard new tool box. But it is the use of random number generation that marks the dividing line between traditional art and digital work. Generative programs, sims, data visualization and other mimetic digital work represent the fountain head of the artist encountering the ability to simulate nature through computer generated random numbers. But to move further we need to examine what is the difference between computer generated random numbers, which are themselves a simulation and what it is to tap into the ultimate source of randomness. Concentrating on the clicks from a Geiger counter brings us into direct communion with the fabric of time and space. It is the sound of the raw material unconscious.

#box-pro-ellipsis-17622127063683{-webkit-line-clamp:2;}What was Old is New Again - A Meeting of Art and Scholarship

What was Old is New Again - A Meeting of Art and Scholarship