World ArtPub Date : 2020-04-24DOI: 10.1080/21500894.2020.1752794
Hiroki Yamamoto
{"title":"Socially engaged art in postcolonial Japan: an alternative view of contemporary Japanese art","authors":"Hiroki Yamamoto","doi":"10.1080/21500894.2020.1752794","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2020.1752794","url":null,"abstract":"This study proposes an alternative view of contemporary Japanese art, which goes against the generally accepted discourse that it characteristically lacks a political edge. It examines how ‘socially engaged art’ practices of Japanese artists have tackled ‘postcolonial’ issues in Japan since the 1990s. Firstly, I analyse Japan's complicated postcolonial status to understand the nature of legacies of Japanese colonialism, which remained almost intact during the Cold War era, followed by three concrete case studies of how artists addressed those deeply contested legacies. The first case study is Takamine Tadasu's ‘Zainichi Series’, which is directly relevant to people called ‘zainichi’ Koreans and the historic and contemporary problems surrounding them. The second case study includes feminist artist Shimada Yoshiko's etchings and performance pieces, which explicitly dealt with the issue of ‘comfort women’, one of the most controversial legacies regarding sexuality and gender of wartime Japanese imperialism. The third and final case study presents the works by Yamashiro Chikako, an Okinawa-born video artist, who approached a geo-political agenda concerning the current situation of Okinawa, the southernmost prefecture of Japan, through art.","PeriodicalId":412489,"journal":{"name":"World Art","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130264709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
World ArtPub Date : 2020-03-18DOI: 10.1080/21500894.2020.1737213
Renato Rodrigues da Silva
{"title":"The (neo)concrete sculptures of Franz Weissmann: between heaven and earth","authors":"Renato Rodrigues da Silva","doi":"10.1080/21500894.2020.1737213","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2020.1737213","url":null,"abstract":"For international audiences, the work and approach of Franz Weissmann (1911–2005) are not very well-known. He has generally been considered part of the concrete movement, but Brazilian art criticism tend to see his work mainly as neoconcrete. His development and trajectory of vital work during the 1950s, when ‘concrete’ and ‘neoconcrete’ approaches and categories became established, have not been given much consideration or contextualisation. This essay moves beyond current appreciations of his work as ‘concrete’, and offers an alternative ‘close’ reading. Here I detail some of his signal and most influential works, including Cubo Vazado, Coluna Concreta, Modelo Neoconcreto, Três Pontos, Ponte, Torre and Terra, to highlight the artworks’ formal and expressive qualities. This exploration of Weissmann’s work finds a divergent sensibility, which influenced Brazilian avant-garde more than is recognized today.","PeriodicalId":412489,"journal":{"name":"World Art","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130980576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
World ArtPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21500894.2020.1735502
Nada Al-Hudaid
{"title":"Karamah (‘marvel’): an exploration of the literal and ethnographic meaning of miracles among Shi`a female artists in Kuwait","authors":"Nada Al-Hudaid","doi":"10.1080/21500894.2020.1735502","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2020.1735502","url":null,"abstract":"This position paper examines new forms of painted artworks made by pious Shi`a female artists in Kuwait, which treat imagery and experience known as Karamah (sing.) and Karamat (pl.), commonly understood as ‘miracle'. I examine current anthropological considerations of ‘miracle' and I find that the most suitable translation of the Arabic word Karamah may be ‘marvel', rather than ‘miracle', although how Shi`a use and understand ‘Karamah' may differ regionally. Fieldwork interviews and ethnography reveal that the paintings objectify the relationship between people and the family members of the Prophet Mohammed known as Ahl Al-Bayt. I argue that the new forms and, increasingly, exhibitions comprise important forms of ‘service’ dedicated to Ahl Al-Bayt.","PeriodicalId":412489,"journal":{"name":"World Art","volume":"52 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115021515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
World ArtPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21500894.2020.1716058
Brad Fox
{"title":"First, swallow the world: a compendium of Muslim dreams of completion – the Maqāmāt, Ibn ‘Arabī, and Fāris al-Shidyāq","authors":"Brad Fox","doi":"10.1080/21500894.2020.1716058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2020.1716058","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores several views on dreams and dream interpretation in Arabic and Islamic traditions. The subject has been central to Islam since the prophet interpreted the dreams of his companions after morning prayers in Medina. In a hadīth, Muhammad claimed that auspicious dreams are ‘one forty-sixth part of prophecy.’ Badī’ al-Zamān al-Hamadhānī, the tenth-century originator of the popular collections of trickster tales known as maqāmāt, attributed the urge to roam the world collecting ruses and anecdotes to troubling dreams, but he includes no dreams in his tales. It is not until the thirteenth century that al-Saraqustī, an Andalusian imitator, includes dreams and dream interpretations in a maqāmāt collection. While the dreams in Saraqustī are exercises in narrative unreliability, submerged in layers of duplicity and doubt, the prolific metaphysician Muhyiddīn Ibn ‘Arabī generated tens of thousands of pages based on a single vision while circling the ka’bah. The visionary writer included complex analyses of the relationship between matter and imagination within his works, many of which were received in dreams. Fāris al-Shidyāq, in his nineteenth-century novel al-Sāq ‘alā al-Sāq, draws again on the maqāmāt and the Arabic tradition of ‘irrational excess.’ When the Fāriyaq, his fictionalized alter-ego, interprets the dreams of Christian missionaries in Malta, the dream interpreter now becomes a vehicle through which the writer is able to mock hypocrisy, ignorance, and patrimony.","PeriodicalId":412489,"journal":{"name":"World Art","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124347542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
World ArtPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21500894.2020.1737212
Nada Al-Hudaid
{"title":"Art, dreams and miracles: reflections and representations","authors":"Nada Al-Hudaid","doi":"10.1080/21500894.2020.1737212","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2020.1737212","url":null,"abstract":"This special issue on Art, Dreams and Miracles presents a series of contributions, drawing primarily from a panel at the 2018 conference of the Royal Anthropological Institute in London. Lying at the core of this issue are studies which treat the relationships between art, people and oneiric experiences (dreams and miracles, broadly, in this case). The contributions consider how dreams and miracles are manifested in various forms of art, and in certain cases the other way around, the agency of art for oneiric experiences. The issue brings together rich and diverse interdisciplinary content, both geographically and in terms of contribution format, including research articles, but also visual essays and position essays. They investigate cultural cases and contexts from around the globe. The kind of artistic expression may vary and there is no explicit intention to define what art is or means, but to be clear, each contribution informs on the type of artistic and creative endeavour. What constitutes art is kept wide open (which abides by this journal’s tradition); and what is being investigated as ‘art’ in this issue can involve street murals, paintings, texts, photography, writing, tattooing, carving, and others. Generally speaking, the subconscious mind is known to harbour deeply ingrained beliefs, although it is not the case everywhere. And art is famously regarded for representing, in material form, human emotions and ideas. What can we learn about human beings when we combine the subconscious mind (mainly represented through dreams) with art? There has been much significant research on dreams and miracles before, yet what this issue adds is fresh perspectives and new engagements with creativity from around the world. Given the original source, the RAI conference panel, most of the contributions contain ethnographic content regarding dreams and miracles, studied in different parts of the world. The various articles also elucidate how dreams or miraculous experiences drive different modes of expression.","PeriodicalId":412489,"journal":{"name":"World Art","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123621028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
World ArtPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21500894.2020.1722961
Aaron D. Martin, Gianna Eisele, I. Hogg, Hannah Neal, Amal Shukr
{"title":"From literal dreams to metaphorical dreaming: art, rhetoric, and self-creation","authors":"Aaron D. Martin, Gianna Eisele, I. Hogg, Hannah Neal, Amal Shukr","doi":"10.1080/21500894.2020.1722961","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2020.1722961","url":null,"abstract":"The rhetorical shifts used to capture oneiric experiences can materialize into a real-life shift between the imaginative and the experiential. By taking a Rortyan approach to the conception of the unconscious, this essay seeks to examine the ways in which the metaphorical and linguistic attachments to dreaming can help guide one’s own self-representation – that is, dreams become vehicles of creation. After tracing the semantic development of dreams, the essay surveys how dream-inspired art can transmit to and through lived experiences, as seen in examples from history. Then, by advancing the pervasiveness of the metaphorical dream, namely through analyzing expressions like the ‘American Dream,’ the essay turns to demonstrate how these pervasive metaphors can materialize into shared experiences. Such experiences can transcend metaphorical boundaries by fostering a representation far beyond mere fantasy toward a calculated self-creation.","PeriodicalId":412489,"journal":{"name":"World Art","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130165430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
World ArtPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21500894.2019.1707707
M. Lamrani
{"title":"Lo and behold the miracle: votive painting in the public sphere","authors":"M. Lamrani","doi":"10.1080/21500894.2019.1707707","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2019.1707707","url":null,"abstract":"This visual essay takes as its point of departure the Mexican tradition of ex-voto, the votive paintings that are offered to the saints to fulfil a vow. In particular, it explores contemporary forms of votive paintings to elucidate what becomes of miracles when they are transposed to the public art sphere. My case study focuses on the work of a Mexican art collective whose members are devoted to Santa Muerte (Saint Death) and reveals that art can act as literal embodiments of a thaumaturgy – the supernatural work of the saint – and as expressions of the rippling effects of a miracle. This paper proposes, that the manifold scales and expressions of a miracle, observed through their paintings, become visible in the public sphere. Ultimately, it contends that by increasing the visibility of thaumaturgy, artwork made in thanks to a saint comes to contain the manifold temporal consequences of a single miraculous event.","PeriodicalId":412489,"journal":{"name":"World Art","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130965342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
World ArtPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21500894.2020.1716387
L. N. Degarrod
{"title":"Embodying dreams and emotions in the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area","authors":"L. N. Degarrod","doi":"10.1080/21500894.2020.1716387","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2020.1716387","url":null,"abstract":"As part of the interdisciplinary project Atlas of Dreams, I created a series of artistic maps, that both show the places where 400 dreamers recounted their memorable dreams and also depict the emotional impact of these narratives in the grid of cities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Atlas of Dreams aims at uncovering the emotional life of cities. I present, from my perspective as both a visual artist and an ethnographer, how the embodied art practices of dérive and the Surrealist techniques of frottage contributed to recreate the dream process, as well as to the creation of a multimodal ethnography.","PeriodicalId":412489,"journal":{"name":"World Art","volume":"76 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132743116","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
World ArtPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/21500894.2020.1737214
David Darl Degner
{"title":"Modern miracles in Egypt, a photographic essay","authors":"David Darl Degner","doi":"10.1080/21500894.2020.1737214","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2020.1737214","url":null,"abstract":"This visual essay presents images and short texts regarding a photographic project about modern miracles experienced in Egypt. It shows a range of miraculous experiences and provided entry points to view and engage with Egypt's peoples and beliefs.","PeriodicalId":412489,"journal":{"name":"World Art","volume":"100 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122404436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}