Madeleine Newman
Oxford Definition:
‘The advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes’
Tate Glossary: Feminist Art
‘May be defined as art by women artists made consciously in the light of developments in feminist art theory since about 1970’
1st wave feminism - 19th and 20th century
2nd wave feminism - late 20th Century 1960s-1980s
3rd wave feminism - 1980s- today?
Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex, 1949
Betty Friedan - The Feminine Mystique, 1963
Germaine Greer - The Female Eunuch, 197-
feminist art history & theory
- feminist analysis suggests that the art system and art history have institutionalised sexism, just as with society
- feminist analysis argues for a total re-evaluation and reinterpretation of art history
Griselda Pollock - Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology, 1981
Challenging traditions of representation and 'The Gaze"
‘Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at' - John Berger - Ways of Seeing, 1972
Who is looking?
Mary Kelly - Post Partum Document, 1973-79.
Challenging Institutions and Ideologies
The Guerrilla Girls
- formed in New York, 1980
- aim to expose discrimination in the art world
Defining feminism today - Tracy Emin, Sarah Lucas etc
Defining 'Post Feminism'
- not dealing with one perspective but many
- represents a shift in feminist theory from 1968 onwards
- pluralistic viewpoint/political position that argues feminism has achieved a deconstruction of patriarchal discourse.
- reaction to 2nd wave feminism.
Conclusions
- feminism is a response to society and culture.
- aims to highlight gender as a social construct
- set of ideas and perspectives about how we understand destabilise dominant ideologies in society and history
Friday, 24 February 2012
Friday, 10 February 2012
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Dr Madeleine Newman
What is it?
A discipline founded by Freud
- a method of investigation focussing on the unconscious meaning of words
- psychotherapeutic model
Sigmund Freud 1856-1939
- Austrian Psychiatrist who revolutionised psychology
- office filled with antiquities from ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt etc
- moved to London to live and work for the last year of his life – resulted in Freud museum
- collection is important as it is linked to the idea of psychoanalysis itself as a kind of archaeology
Sexuality and Development
- Alfred Hitchcock – Spellbound, 1945
Studies on Hysteria
- 1885-1886 Freud worked in a French hospital with neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot working on their interest in neuroses
- Charcot also investigated hypnosis as a diagnostic tool
- Freud used hypnosis until 1896
- Josef Breuer developed the concept of catharsis – the location and replacement of a certain event in ones memory
- Albert Londe – photograph entitled hysterical yawning
(see powerpoint for dictionary definitions of neuroses and catharsis)
Repression
- Freud concluded that sexual emotions that were repressed could cause neurotic symptoms
- lead to investigations into sexual desire
Free Association
- the unconscious mind is seen to be a reservoir for repressed memories of traumatic events that continuously influence conscious thought or behaviour
- psychoanalysis seen as 'the talking cure'
Salvador Dali, Lobster Telephone, 1936
- according to the Tate gallery 'Lobsters and telephones had strong sexual connotation for him, he drew a close analogy between food and sex'
Paula Rego, The Family, 1988
The Three Stages of Infantile Sexuality
- psychoanalysis suggests that as children develop they sense data in the world around them by connecting their bodily sensations to emotions – fear, frustration, satisfaction, anger etc
- for the infant this would be the family unit – the mother as they develop and are weaned
3 Stages – Oral, Anal, Phallic
here the infant's sexual development related to changes in their own body – auto-erotisism
Mary Kelly, Post Partum Document, 1973 1979
The Oedipous Complex
- the concept of being in love with ones mother and jealous of their father
- early childhood emotional relations come into conflict wit each other, producing loving and hostile wishes
- on a basic level this is a desire for the death of the same sex parent and a sexual desire for that of the opposite
Louise Bourgeois - with Filette, photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe, 1968
- The Destruction of The Father, 1974
The Structure of the Mind
The Unconscious
- created when a very young child's drives and instincts start to be disciplined by the cultural rules and norms of society
- the boundary between the conscious mind and the unconscious is breached – dreams, parapraxes etc
Mapping the Mind
- conscious, preconscious and unconscious also followed by the ego, id and super-ego
- Freud's conception of the human psyche in the iceberg diagram
(see vle for full descriptions on these)
Relationship with the external world
- Jacques Lacan – The Mirror Stage (self actualisation) and Lacanaian Psychoanalysis
The Gaze
Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still 6, 1977
Dreams/Surrealism
- ideas of dreams as 'disguised hallucinatory fulfillments of repressed wishes'
- dreams are a balance between censorship and expression
- 'The Dream-Work' – the process of understanding dreams and the metaphors and meanings then contain, this is in relation to 'the latent content' and 'the manifest content'
Automatic Writing
The Exquisite Corpse – method of combining words and images.
By Man Ray, Joan Miro and Ybes Tanguy
Paul Nouge, The Subversion of images, 1929-1930
images of sleepwalking, trance-like states and automatic writing in action
As a tool for analysis
- it becomes a critical perspective or tool for analysis within the remit of cultural theory
Conclusions
'For Freud, psychoanalysis is about memories, thoughts, feelings, fantasies, intentions, wishes, ideals, beliefs, psychological conflict and all that stuff inside what we like to call our minds' – Ward and Zarate
Dr Madeleine Newman
What is it?
A discipline founded by Freud
- a method of investigation focussing on the unconscious meaning of words
- psychotherapeutic model
Sigmund Freud 1856-1939
- Austrian Psychiatrist who revolutionised psychology
- office filled with antiquities from ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt etc
- moved to London to live and work for the last year of his life – resulted in Freud museum
- collection is important as it is linked to the idea of psychoanalysis itself as a kind of archaeology
Sexuality and Development
- Alfred Hitchcock – Spellbound, 1945
Studies on Hysteria
- 1885-1886 Freud worked in a French hospital with neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot working on their interest in neuroses
- Charcot also investigated hypnosis as a diagnostic tool
- Freud used hypnosis until 1896
- Josef Breuer developed the concept of catharsis – the location and replacement of a certain event in ones memory
- Albert Londe – photograph entitled hysterical yawning
(see powerpoint for dictionary definitions of neuroses and catharsis)
Repression
- Freud concluded that sexual emotions that were repressed could cause neurotic symptoms
- lead to investigations into sexual desire
Free Association
- the unconscious mind is seen to be a reservoir for repressed memories of traumatic events that continuously influence conscious thought or behaviour
- psychoanalysis seen as 'the talking cure'
Salvador Dali, Lobster Telephone, 1936
- according to the Tate gallery 'Lobsters and telephones had strong sexual connotation for him, he drew a close analogy between food and sex'
Paula Rego, The Family, 1988
The Three Stages of Infantile Sexuality
- psychoanalysis suggests that as children develop they sense data in the world around them by connecting their bodily sensations to emotions – fear, frustration, satisfaction, anger etc
- for the infant this would be the family unit – the mother as they develop and are weaned
3 Stages – Oral, Anal, Phallic
here the infant's sexual development related to changes in their own body – auto-erotisism
Mary Kelly, Post Partum Document, 1973 1979
The Oedipous Complex
- the concept of being in love with ones mother and jealous of their father
- early childhood emotional relations come into conflict wit each other, producing loving and hostile wishes
- on a basic level this is a desire for the death of the same sex parent and a sexual desire for that of the opposite
Louise Bourgeois - with Filette, photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe, 1968
- The Destruction of The Father, 1974
The Structure of the Mind
The Unconscious
- created when a very young child's drives and instincts start to be disciplined by the cultural rules and norms of society
- the boundary between the conscious mind and the unconscious is breached – dreams, parapraxes etc
Mapping the Mind
- conscious, preconscious and unconscious also followed by the ego, id and super-ego
- Freud's conception of the human psyche in the iceberg diagram
(see vle for full descriptions on these)
Relationship with the external world
- Jacques Lacan – The Mirror Stage (self actualisation) and Lacanaian Psychoanalysis
The Gaze
Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still 6, 1977
Dreams/Surrealism
- ideas of dreams as 'disguised hallucinatory fulfillments of repressed wishes'
- dreams are a balance between censorship and expression
- 'The Dream-Work' – the process of understanding dreams and the metaphors and meanings then contain, this is in relation to 'the latent content' and 'the manifest content'
Automatic Writing
The Exquisite Corpse – method of combining words and images.
By Man Ray, Joan Miro and Ybes Tanguy
Paul Nouge, The Subversion of images, 1929-1930
images of sleepwalking, trance-like states and automatic writing in action
As a tool for analysis
- it becomes a critical perspective or tool for analysis within the remit of cultural theory
Conclusions
'For Freud, psychoanalysis is about memories, thoughts, feelings, fantasies, intentions, wishes, ideals, beliefs, psychological conflict and all that stuff inside what we like to call our minds' – Ward and Zarate
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Task 5 - Lefebvre & Space
Social Space - Photographic Studio based in Leeds College of Art
'Every space is already in place before the appearance in it of actors: these actors are collective as well as individual subjects inasmuch the individuals are always members of groups or classes seeking to appropriate the space in question. This Pre-existence of space conditions the subject's presence, action and discourse, his competence and performance; yet the subject's presence, action and discourse, at the same time as they presuppose this space, also negate it.'
Lefebvre, H (trans 1991) The Production of Space. Oxford, Pg 57
The above quote from Lefebvre is a basic explanation of his Spacial Triad Theory, in this he attempts to explain the way that a space is assigned a purpose and a certain level of character regardless of the current state of it and the people in it, for example a photographic studio is always a photographic studio, regardless of whether a photo shoot is currently taking place or not. This partially comes down to the contents of the room and the layout, the lighting, white backdrops and organisation of the space ensure that one person or item is the focal point of the room and thus all people, lights, cameras or other objects are pointed at them. However if you walk into an empty studio, the lights, backdrop and empty space still define the room as a studio and thus we feel we must behave, or 'act' as Lefebvre puts it, in a way that would be acceptable in this space; this may be through making as little noise as possible and attempting to not make a mess or even jumping and flailing in the open space as a celebration and something to be looked at. Given an empty studio people will make the choice to either be the centre of attention and act as if the studio were currently in use or the polar opposite and stay quiet and close to the walls attempting not to disrupt an event that may not even be happening at the time. This is to say that the representation of a space and the implications of it have a long lasting effect on the inhabitants of the room, be it a crowd of people or an individual they convince themselves to act accordingly in regards to the room, this is elevated furthermore over time as people become more familiar with the space. A photographic studio is presented as that and during its use it is exactly that, this is coupled with our interpretations and assumptions of what it should be and thus results in the aforementioned behaviour. Overall a photographic studio is a space that denotes a certain response and regardless of your role in the studio, be it photographer, model, assistant etc, you still respond to the environment in a way that you feel is appropriate; this is a strong example in terms of Lefebvre's Spacial Triad but also of panopticism and the effect of a space on a person's behaviour.
'Every space is already in place before the appearance in it of actors: these actors are collective as well as individual subjects inasmuch the individuals are always members of groups or classes seeking to appropriate the space in question. This Pre-existence of space conditions the subject's presence, action and discourse, his competence and performance; yet the subject's presence, action and discourse, at the same time as they presuppose this space, also negate it.'
Lefebvre, H (trans 1991) The Production of Space. Oxford, Pg 57
The above quote from Lefebvre is a basic explanation of his Spacial Triad Theory, in this he attempts to explain the way that a space is assigned a purpose and a certain level of character regardless of the current state of it and the people in it, for example a photographic studio is always a photographic studio, regardless of whether a photo shoot is currently taking place or not. This partially comes down to the contents of the room and the layout, the lighting, white backdrops and organisation of the space ensure that one person or item is the focal point of the room and thus all people, lights, cameras or other objects are pointed at them. However if you walk into an empty studio, the lights, backdrop and empty space still define the room as a studio and thus we feel we must behave, or 'act' as Lefebvre puts it, in a way that would be acceptable in this space; this may be through making as little noise as possible and attempting to not make a mess or even jumping and flailing in the open space as a celebration and something to be looked at. Given an empty studio people will make the choice to either be the centre of attention and act as if the studio were currently in use or the polar opposite and stay quiet and close to the walls attempting not to disrupt an event that may not even be happening at the time. This is to say that the representation of a space and the implications of it have a long lasting effect on the inhabitants of the room, be it a crowd of people or an individual they convince themselves to act accordingly in regards to the room, this is elevated furthermore over time as people become more familiar with the space. A photographic studio is presented as that and during its use it is exactly that, this is coupled with our interpretations and assumptions of what it should be and thus results in the aforementioned behaviour. Overall a photographic studio is a space that denotes a certain response and regardless of your role in the studio, be it photographer, model, assistant etc, you still respond to the environment in a way that you feel is appropriate; this is a strong example in terms of Lefebvre's Spacial Triad but also of panopticism and the effect of a space on a person's behaviour.