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Volume 13
Issue 5
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Arts, Volume 13, Issue 5 (October 2024) – 21 articles

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14 pages, 264 KiB  
Article
Exhibiting for Purpose: Finnish Art in Moscow in 1934
by Hanna-Leena Paloposki and Katarina Lopatkina
Arts 2024, 13(5), 156; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050156 - 7 Oct 2024
Viewed by 181
Abstract
This article is a case study that illustrates the complex intersection of art, politics, and diplomacy in the interwar period. Based on Finnish and Soviet archival documents and press publications, it examines the entire process of organising a Finnish art show abroad. The [...] Read more.
This article is a case study that illustrates the complex intersection of art, politics, and diplomacy in the interwar period. Based on Finnish and Soviet archival documents and press publications, it examines the entire process of organising a Finnish art show abroad. The exhibition, held from 28 November to 24 December 1934, in Moscow, was seen as a landmark event, drawing significant attendance and fostering Finnish–Soviet cultural exchange. By analysing various factors contributing to its success, we provide a detailed picture of both artistic and political influences, demonstrating how cultural events can transcend mere aesthetic appreciation to become significant diplomatic tools. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Diplomacy and Informal Artistic Relations in East Central Europe in the 20th Century: A Global Perspective)
29 pages, 7258 KiB  
Article
‘The Cultural Mediator between the North and the South, the East and the West’: The 1930 Official Exhibition of Austrian Art in Warsaw
by Irena Kossowska
Arts 2024, 13(5), 155; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050155 - 6 Oct 2024
Viewed by 429
Abstract
This article explores the official exhibition of Austrian art held in May 1930 at The Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Warsaw. Showcasing 474 artworks by 100 artists, the exhibition spanned the years 1918–1930, a period marked by Austria’s efforts [...] Read more.
This article explores the official exhibition of Austrian art held in May 1930 at The Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Warsaw. Showcasing 474 artworks by 100 artists, the exhibition spanned the years 1918–1930, a period marked by Austria’s efforts to overcome post-war political isolation. The article examines the exhibition’s rhetoric and its critical reception in Warsaw within the broader context of Polish–Austrian diplomatic relations, influenced by Austria’s challenging political and economic situation and the priorities of the Second Polish Republic. The introductory essay in the exhibition catalogue, authored by Hans Tietze, emphasized Vienna’s seminal role as a cultural center at the crossroads of European artistic trends. This approach aligned with the cultural diplomacy of Johannes Schober’s government, which aimed to underscore a rhetoric of openness to the cultures of other nations, particularly the successors of the Habsburg Empire. This contrasted with the later identity policy of the Bundesstaat Österreich, which elevated Tyrol as emblematic of the core German–Austrian identity constructed in the new state. The analysis reveals that the exhibition represented the peak of Polish–Austrian cultural relations during the interwar years, suggesting the potential for broader engagement. However, this potential was short-lived, ultimately thwarted by the Anschluss of Austria to Germany in 1938. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Diplomacy and Informal Artistic Relations in East Central Europe in the 20th Century: A Global Perspective)
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13 pages, 18381 KiB  
Article
Sound and Perception in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982)
by Audrey Scotto le Massese
Arts 2024, 13(5), 154; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050154 - 5 Oct 2024
Viewed by 289
Abstract
This paper discusses the renewal of the conception of film sound and music following the technological advances of the late 1970s. It analyses the ways in which film sound and music freed themselves from traditional uses and became elements to be designed creatively. [...] Read more.
This paper discusses the renewal of the conception of film sound and music following the technological advances of the late 1970s. It analyses the ways in which film sound and music freed themselves from traditional uses and became elements to be designed creatively. The soundtrack composed by Vangelis for Blade Runner (1982) is exceptional in this regard: produced in parallel to the editing of the film, it forged an intimate connection between sound and image. Through the method of reduced listening put forward by Michel Chion in Audio-Vision (2019), this paper scrutinizes the specific ways in which sound shapes the perception of the image and narrative in Blade Runner. The first part of this paper analyses how sounds come to replace music to characterize moods and atmospheres. Ambient sounds create a concrete, sonically dense diegetic world, while music is associated with an abstract, extra-diegetic world where spectators are designated judges. This contrast is thematically relevant and delineates the struggle between humans and replicants; sound and music are used for their metaphorical implications rather than in an effort for realism. The second part discusses the agency of characters through the sonorousness of their voices and bodies. Intonations, pronunciation, and acousmatic sounds anchor characters’ natures as humans or replicants to their bodies. Yet, these bodies are revealed to be mere vessels awaiting definition; in the third part, we explore how sound is used to craft synaesthetic depictions of characters, revealing their existence beyond the human/replicant divide. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Film Music)
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21 pages, 11762 KiB  
Article
Close Encounters of the Feathered Kind: Orpheus and the Birds
by Zofia Halina Archibald
Arts 2024, 13(5), 153; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050153 - 5 Oct 2024
Viewed by 193
Abstract
Abstract Birds were observed in divinatory rituals in antiquity [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Animals in Ancient Material Cultures (vol. 3))
12 pages, 243 KiB  
Article
Calculated Randomness, Control and Creation: Artistic Agency in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
by Mariya Dzhimova and Francisco Tigre Moura
Arts 2024, 13(5), 152; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050152 - 2 Oct 2024
Viewed by 559
Abstract
The recent emergence of generative AI, particularly prompt-based models, and its embedding in many social domains and practices has revived the notion of co-creation and distributed agency already familiar in art practice and theory. Drawing on Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and its central notion [...] Read more.
The recent emergence of generative AI, particularly prompt-based models, and its embedding in many social domains and practices has revived the notion of co-creation and distributed agency already familiar in art practice and theory. Drawing on Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and its central notion of agency, this article explores the extent to which the collaboration between the artist and AI represents a new form of co-creation and distributed agency. It compares AI art with artistic movements such as Dada, Surrealism, Minimalism and Conceptual Art, which also challenged the notion of the autonomous artist and her agency by incorporating randomness on the one hand and rule-based systems on the other. In contrast, artistic practice with AI can be described as an iterative process of creative feedback loops, oscillating between order and disorder, (calculated) randomness and calculation, enabling a very specific kind of self-reflection and entanglement with the alienation of one’s own perspective. Furthermore, this article argues that most artistic projects that explore and work with AI are, in their own specific way, a demonstration of hybridity and entanglement, as well as the distribution of agency between the human and the non-human, and can thus be described as a network phenomenon. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Artificial Intelligence and the Arts)
47 pages, 39256 KiB  
Article
Gothic Locks: Pioneering Drawings for Hydraulic Works in 16th-Century Holland
by Merlijn Hurx
Arts 2024, 13(5), 151; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050151 - 2 Oct 2024
Viewed by 217
Abstract
Just as Gothic cathedrals have long dominated the perception of medieval architecture, the spectacular drawings of the German lodges have shaped our view of the medieval design process. However, their towering importance has diverted scholarly attention from alternative drafting practices and reinforced the [...] Read more.
Just as Gothic cathedrals have long dominated the perception of medieval architecture, the spectacular drawings of the German lodges have shaped our view of the medieval design process. However, their towering importance has diverted scholarly attention from alternative drafting practices and reinforced the view of a homogeneous Gothic design practice based on quadrature. Historians generally accept that in the 16th century a new Renaissance graphic language challenged and ultimately replaced the Gothic tradition north of the Alps. However, this antagonistic narrative of one dominant practice superseding the other needs to be re-examined because hitherto neglected drawings for other types of buildings reveal that medieval drafting practice was more varied and open to new developments than is often believed. This paper will examine three rare sets of architectural drawings, together consisting of over thirty sheets, made for three stone sluices in the provinces of Utrecht and Holland between 1556 and 1563. They show that for technically demanding hydraulic works, drawings directed every step of the process, from enabling discussion of the most suitable design to guiding the stonemasons in the execution of the work. Moreover, they demonstrate that for such projects, Gothic masters did not adhere to tradition but engaged with new design methods, using scale, colour, and multiple views to convey all aspects of the project, thus indicating that changes in style and method were not always interrelated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Paper-Thin: Imagining, Building and Critiquing Medieval Architecture)
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19 pages, 3001 KiB  
Article
Judith Leyster’s A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and an Eel: An Intersectional Approach
by Elizabeth Sutton
Arts 2024, 13(5), 150; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050150 - 1 Oct 2024
Viewed by 588
Abstract
In A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and an Eel, concerns about class, decorum, and civility intersected with contemporary dialogue about the distinction between humans and animals, specifically, how human children needed to be educated to be distinguished from the [...] Read more.
In A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and an Eel, concerns about class, decorum, and civility intersected with contemporary dialogue about the distinction between humans and animals, specifically, how human children needed to be educated to be distinguished from the wild, uncivilized state of animals and peasants. Both animals held significance surrounding behaviors that separated the moral from the immoral; cats and eels were pets and food, and they were used in baiting pastimes: cat clubbing and eel pulling. Paired with the children, Leyster’s choice of animals raised multiple moral questions and allowed for multiple interpretations, making the work widely appealing and setting Leyster apart in a tight market for genre paintings. These layers of possible meanings continue to make the work compelling today and shed light on how visual culture reflected and reinforced human–animal and social class distinctions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human-Animal Interactions in Western Art)
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20 pages, 1436 KiB  
Article
The Distributed Authorship of Art in the Age of AI
by Paul Goodfellow
Arts 2024, 13(5), 149; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050149 - 30 Sep 2024
Viewed by 427
Abstract
The distribution of authorship in the age of machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI) suggests a taxonomic system that places art objects along a spectrum in terms of authorship: from pure human creation, which draws directly from the interior world of affect, emotions [...] Read more.
The distribution of authorship in the age of machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI) suggests a taxonomic system that places art objects along a spectrum in terms of authorship: from pure human creation, which draws directly from the interior world of affect, emotions and ideas, through to co-evolved works created with tools and collective production and finally to works that are largely devoid of human involvement. Human and machine production can be distinguished in terms of motivation, with human production being driven by consciousness and the processing of subjective experience and machinic production being driven by algorithms and the processing of data. However, the expansion of AI entangles the artist in ever more complex webs of production and dissemination, whereby the boundaries between the work of the artist and the work of the networked technologies are increasingly distributed and obscured. From this perspective, AI-generated works are not solely the products of an independent machinic agency but operate in the middle of the spectrum of authorship between human and machine, as they are the consequences of a highly distributed model of production that sit across the algorithms and the underlying information systems and data that support them and the artists who both contribute and extract value. This highly distributed state further transforms the role of the artist from the creator of objects containing aesthetic and conceptual potential to the translator and curator of such objects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Artificial Intelligence and the Arts)
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1 pages, 112 KiB  
Editorial
Arts—Update on the Aims and Scope
by Andrew M. Nedd
Arts 2024, 13(5), 148; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050148 - 26 Sep 2024
Viewed by 214
Abstract
Arts was launched in 2012, with Dr [...] Full article
21 pages, 36686 KiB  
Article
Designed Segregation: Racial Space and Social Reform in San Juan’s Casa de Beneficencia
by Paul Barrett Niell
Arts 2024, 13(5), 147; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050147 - 26 Sep 2024
Viewed by 583
Abstract
In the 1840s, San Juan, Puerto Rico witnessed the construction of an institutional building dedicated to “beneficencia” (social welfare)—the Casa de Beneficencia. This facility sheltered a diverse population, including orphaned children, women, the mentally ill, and the unhoused. An early plan of the [...] Read more.
In the 1840s, San Juan, Puerto Rico witnessed the construction of an institutional building dedicated to “beneficencia” (social welfare)—the Casa de Beneficencia. This facility sheltered a diverse population, including orphaned children, women, the mentally ill, and the unhoused. An early plan of the architectural complex by Spanish engineer Santiago Cortijo reveals a design emphasizing bilateral symmetry, clear spatial organization, and functionality for housing residents, shaping their daily routines and assigning them work tasks. Notably, Cortijo’s plan divided wards not only by gender and age but also by race, with separate spaces designated for “blancas/os” (whites) and “gentes de color” (people of color). This article examines the social delineations of Cortijo’s plan and explores the implications of a building that functioned as a nineteenth-century institution dedicated to reformist ideas of social welfare within San Juan’s colonial context, paying close attention to its embedded racial and gendered order. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Race and Architecture in the Iberian World, c. 1500-1800s)
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12 pages, 2924 KiB  
Article
How Did 19th-Century Alphorns Sound? A Reconstruction Based on Written Accounts of Its Musical Timbre
by Yannick Wey
Arts 2024, 13(5), 146; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050146 - 25 Sep 2024
Viewed by 376
Abstract
This paper reconstructs the sound of 19th-century alphorns based on contemporary written descriptions, which allows for a better understanding of literature and compositions that quoted and imitated the alphorn throughout the 19th century. In the absence of sound recordings, historical documents and literary [...] Read more.
This paper reconstructs the sound of 19th-century alphorns based on contemporary written descriptions, which allows for a better understanding of literature and compositions that quoted and imitated the alphorn throughout the 19th century. In the absence of sound recordings, historical documents and literary sources provide valuable insights into the timbre of these traditional Alpine instruments. The research examines descriptions from 19th-century texts, comparing them with modern understandings of musical timbre. By analyzing the language used to describe the alphorn’s sound, the study identifies recurring descriptors and contextualizes them within the broader acoustic environment, including the influence of natural sounds like waterfalls and echoes. Historical sources reveal a complex perception of the alphorn’s timbre, described in terms of its resemblance to muted trumpets and a blend of brass and woodwind qualities. Authors such as Hermann Alexander von Berlepsch and François-Joseph Fétis provided detailed accounts, noting contrasting characteristics like “rough”, “soft”, “sharp”, and “melodious”, which varied with the listener’s distance from the instrument. These descriptions highlight the alphorn’s unique sound profile, distinct from modern perceptions that emphasize a warmer, fuller timbre. The findings underscore the importance of considering ecological and psychoacoustic contexts in the study of historical musical instruments. Full article
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33 pages, 37704 KiB  
Article
‘Archetypal Load of Tension’: Idiosyncratic Idioms of Surrealism Created by Aleksander Krzywobłocki and Margit Reich-Sielska in the 1930s in Lviv
by Irena Kossowska
Arts 2024, 13(5), 145; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050145 - 24 Sep 2024
Viewed by 435
Abstract
This article examines the artistic contributions of two members of the ‘artes’ group, active in Lviv (Lwów during the interwar period) from 1929 to 1935: Aleksander Krzywobłocki (1901–1979) and Margit Reich-Sielska (1900–1980). Situated within the ‘artes’ milieu, which emerged as the most cohesive [...] Read more.
This article examines the artistic contributions of two members of the ‘artes’ group, active in Lviv (Lwów during the interwar period) from 1929 to 1935: Aleksander Krzywobłocki (1901–1979) and Margit Reich-Sielska (1900–1980). Situated within the ‘artes’ milieu, which emerged as the most cohesive community among phenomena with a surrealist profile in the history of Polish art, their creative endeavors have faded from the collective memory of subsequent generations of art historians and critics, both within and beyond Poland. With the aim of elucidating the distinctive characteristics of Krzywobłocki and Sielska’s artistic attitudes, deeply rooted in the cultural landscape of interwar Galicia, this study explores their work as both manifestations of the avant-garde milieu in Lviv and contributions to the transnational surrealist movement. This examination takes a relational approach, considering their artistic output within a framework of trans-local and trans-regional connections. Drawing upon the works of various surrealists active in different European centers, I juxtapose the artistic approaches of Krzywobłocki and Sielska with other practitioners of the movement to highlight both convergences and differences in their expressions. By situating their artistic profiles within the broader modalities of surrealism as a polycentric movement and within the unique cultural context of Lviv—a city marked by its multiethnic, multicultural, and multiconfessional character—I argue that their imaginings should be classified as idiosyncratic idioms of surrealism. This hybrid expression, which developed on the peripheries of European artistic hubs, is primarily distinguished by an ‘archetypal load of tension’—a continual quest for archetypal content that has been lost in the modern world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Visual Arts)
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13 pages, 4066 KiB  
Article
The Fold as a Design Strategy: Analogy between Architecture and Issey Miyake’s Work
by Marta Muñoz and Ángel Cordero
Arts 2024, 13(5), 144; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050144 - 23 Sep 2024
Viewed by 311
Abstract
There is a notable similarity between the objectives of Architecture and Fashion Design. Both disciplines aim to protect and establish a sense of identity for their users. Similarly, analogous design strategies may be employed. One such strategy is the fold. The act of [...] Read more.
There is a notable similarity between the objectives of Architecture and Fashion Design. Both disciplines aim to protect and establish a sense of identity for their users. Similarly, analogous design strategies may be employed. One such strategy is the fold. The act of folding a surface results in the formation of a three-dimensional volume. The intrinsic two-dimensionality of the surface gives rise to the formation of space, which is characterised by three dimensions. The air that is trapped by the envelope provides the necessary space for the users. In the context of clothing, the enclosed space is relatively limited and personal. In contrast, in the field of Architecture, the space is of a larger scale and serves a collective purpose, accommodating a variety of activities. Consequently, the processes of designing a building or a piece of clothing are analogous, differing only in terms of scale, time, and materials. The employment of the fold as a point of departure for architectural and Fashion Design projects entails a comparable design process in which concepts such as continuity, superposition, and faceting are associated with this folded mechanism. Consequently, the resulting outcomes, particularly those pertaining to mass and aesthetic perception, exhibit notable similarities. Full article
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24 pages, 3861 KiB  
Article
Aesthetics of Afro-Andean Smoking Culture: Early Modern Peruvian Tobacco Pipes at the Edge of the Atlantic World
by Brendan J. M. Weaver, Jerry Smith Solano Calderon and Miguel Ángel Fhon Bazán
Arts 2024, 13(5), 143; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050143 - 20 Sep 2024
Viewed by 866
Abstract
Although situated at the geographic margin of the early modern Atlantic World, the Pacific coast of Peru was an important region in the development of African diasporic material culture. Adopting an interdisciplinary material historical approach, we present the first systematic discussion of the [...] Read more.
Although situated at the geographic margin of the early modern Atlantic World, the Pacific coast of Peru was an important region in the development of African diasporic material culture. Adopting an interdisciplinary material historical approach, we present the first systematic discussion of the known Afro-Atlantic-style tobacco pipes to be archaeologically recovered in Peru. Eighteen Afro-Atlantic-style tobacco pipes or pipe sherds dating to Peru’s Spanish colonial period have been identified across sites in the coastal cities of Lima and Trujillo and from a vineyard hacienda in rural Nasca. Tobacco pipes are among the most recognized and debated forms of early modern Atlantic African and diasporic expressions of material culture, as such, they present a powerful entry point to understanding the aesthetic consequences of colonial projects and diverse articulations across the Atlantic World. The material history of Afro-Atlantic smoking culture exemplifies how aesthetics moved between localities and developed diasporic entanglements. In addition to the formal analysis and visual description of the pipes, we examine historical documentation and the work of nineteenth-century Afro-Peruvian watercolorist Francisco (Pancho) Fierro to better understand the aesthetics of Afro-Andean smoking culture in Spanish colonial and early Republican Peru. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Black Artists in the Atlantic World)
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44 pages, 53744 KiB  
Article
The Author Takes a Bow: A Self-Portrait in Assistenza in the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari
by Anastasiia Stupko-Lubczynska
Arts 2024, 13(5), 142; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050142 - 20 Sep 2024
Viewed by 975
Abstract
In art-historical terms, a self-portrait in assistenza refers to an artist having inserted their own likeness into a larger work. In Renaissance-era art, more than 90 examples have been identified, famously including Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi (c. 1478/1483). There, Botticelli glances out [...] Read more.
In art-historical terms, a self-portrait in assistenza refers to an artist having inserted their own likeness into a larger work. In Renaissance-era art, more than 90 examples have been identified, famously including Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi (c. 1478/1483). There, Botticelli glances out from the painting, making direct eye contact with the viewer, a feature that appears in other self-portraits of the type. In ancient Egypt, it was not commonly accepted that an artist would lay claim to it, especially when the work’s scale imposed diversification of tasks to be performed or teamwork organized on a workshop basis. This article will present evidence discovered in the Chapel of Hatshepsut in her temple at Deir el-Bahari that can be interpreted as a self-portrait in assistenza and indicates that Djehuty, Overseer of the Treasury under Hatshepsut, took the lead role there. If this identification is valid, the room’s decoration gains an additional layer of meaning and may be “read” in terms of Djehuty’s message, comparable to Botticelli gazing out from his Adoration of the Magi. This ancient Egyptian case will illustrate how that artist-designer, in interweaving subtle indicators of his involvement in the work, expresses awareness both of his intellectual skills and of his pride in creation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ancient Egyptian Art Studies: Art in Motion, a Social Tool of Power and Resistance)
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16 pages, 6931 KiB  
Article
Exploring Artistic Hierarchies among Painters in Ramesside Deir el-Medina
by Jennifer Miyuki Babcock
Arts 2024, 13(5), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050141 - 20 Sep 2024
Viewed by 527
Abstract
Scholarship has described Deir el-Medina as a sophisticated community composed of highly trained and educated individuals, at least compared to most ancient Egyptian villages that were primarily focused on agrarian labor. The tombs at Deir el-Medina indicate that some community members were well-off [...] Read more.
Scholarship has described Deir el-Medina as a sophisticated community composed of highly trained and educated individuals, at least compared to most ancient Egyptian villages that were primarily focused on agrarian labor. The tombs at Deir el-Medina indicate that some community members were well-off financially and may have aspired to reach elite levels in ancient Egypt’s social hierarchy. However, this understanding of Deir el-Medina’s community lacks the nuance of the hierarchical structure that defines success and status among the workers, artists, and craftspeople living in the community. This paper will investigate how one’s status within the community might dictate the allocation of artistic roles in the execution of painted royal tomb scenes. It will explore who within the community would have the privilege of depicting the primary motifs of a tomb and who would be responsible for less noticeable areas of the tomb. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ancient Egyptian Art Studies: Art in Motion, a Social Tool of Power and Resistance)
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16 pages, 190 KiB  
Article
Empathy and Listening in Research-Based Theatre
by Christina Cook, George Belliveau and Luke Bokenfohr
Arts 2024, 13(5), 140; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050140 - 19 Sep 2024
Viewed by 360
Abstract
This article shares excerpts from the playscript Unload, which brings to life research on military veterans and the lived experience of civilians carrying trauma. Co-developed by veterans, artists, researchers, and counsellors, the play follows a veteran’s journey to overcome challenges in and [...] Read more.
This article shares excerpts from the playscript Unload, which brings to life research on military veterans and the lived experience of civilians carrying trauma. Co-developed by veterans, artists, researchers, and counsellors, the play follows a veteran’s journey to overcome challenges in and out of uniform and sees him guide a civilian friend through unspoken grief that has been haunting him for decades. This research-based play artistically synthesizes extensive data collected from focus groups, interviews, and surveys conducted with veterans, artists, counsellors, and audiences involved in a five-year research project. This article begins by situating the research-based play within the literature on theatre and empathy. Then, alongside excerpts from the playscript, the authors, who were co-writers of the script and members of the cast, offer insights gleaned from the performance of Unload. Full article
1 pages, 129 KiB  
Correction
Correction: Lončar and Pavlović (2024). “Beyond Quantum Music”—A Pioneering Art and Science Project as a Platform for Building New Instruments and Creating a New Musical Genre. Arts 13: 127
by Sonja Lončar and Andrija Pavlović
Arts 2024, 13(5), 139; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050139 - 13 Sep 2024
Viewed by 232
Abstract
The authors requested to add the following to the Acknowledgments section of the original publication (Lončar and Pavlović 2024): We want to thank Martin Depken (TU Delft) for his kindness in opening the door to art and science dialogues, organizing concerts and lectures, [...] Read more.
The authors requested to add the following to the Acknowledgments section of the original publication (Lončar and Pavlović 2024): We want to thank Martin Depken (TU Delft) for his kindness in opening the door to art and science dialogues, organizing concerts and lectures, and establishing links with the scientists at the Bionanoscience department, TU Delft [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Musicology and Ethnomusicology)
15 pages, 2561 KiB  
Article
A Machine Walks into an Exhibit: A Technical Analysis of Art Curation
by Thomas Şerban von Davier, Laura M. Herman and Caterina Moruzzi
Arts 2024, 13(5), 138; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050138 - 31 Aug 2024
Viewed by 879
Abstract
Contemporary art consumption is predominantly online, driven by algorithmic recommendation systems that dictate artwork visibility. Despite not being designed for curation, these algorithms’ machinic ways of seeing play a pivotal role in shaping visual culture, influencing artistic creation, visibility, and associated social and [...] Read more.
Contemporary art consumption is predominantly online, driven by algorithmic recommendation systems that dictate artwork visibility. Despite not being designed for curation, these algorithms’ machinic ways of seeing play a pivotal role in shaping visual culture, influencing artistic creation, visibility, and associated social and financial benefits. The Algorithmic Pedestal was a gallery, practice-based research project that reported gallerygoers’ perceptions of a human’s curation and curation achieved by Instagram’s algorithm. This paper presents a technical analysis of the same exhibit using computer vision code, offering insights into machines’ perception of visual art. The computer vision code assigned values on various metrics to each image, allowing statistical comparisons to identify differences between the collections of images selected by the human and the algorithmic system. The analysis reveals statistically significant differences between the exhibited images and the broader Metropolitan Museum of Art digital collection. However, the analysis found minimal distinctions between human-curated and Instagram-curated images. This study contributes insights into the perceived value of the curation process, shedding light on how audiences perceive artworks differently from machines using computer vision. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Artificial Intelligence and the Arts)
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27 pages, 445 KiB  
Review
Art Notions in the Age of (Mis)anthropic AI
by Dejan Grba
Arts 2024, 13(5), 137; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050137 - 30 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1734
Abstract
In this paper, I take the cultural effects of generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) as a context for examining a broader perspective of AI’s impact on contemporary art notions. After the introductory overview of generative AI, I summarize the distinct but often confused [...] Read more.
In this paper, I take the cultural effects of generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) as a context for examining a broader perspective of AI’s impact on contemporary art notions. After the introductory overview of generative AI, I summarize the distinct but often confused aspects of art notions and review the principal lines in which AI influences them: the strategic normalization of AI through art, the representation of AI art in the artworld, academia, and AI research, and the mutual permeability of art and kitsch in the digital culture. I connect these notional factors with the conceptual and ideological substrate of the computer science and AI industry, which blends the machinic agency fetishism, the equalization of computers and humans, the sociotechnical blindness, and cyberlibertarianism. The overtones of alienation, sociopathy, and misanthropy in the disparate but somehow coalescing philosophical premises, technical ideas, and political views in this substrate remain underexposed in AI studies so, in the closing discussion, I outline their manifestations in generative AI and introduce several viewpoints for a further critique of AI’s cultural zeitgeist. They add a touch of skepticism to pondering how technological trends change our understanding of art and in which directions they stir its social, economic, and political roles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Artificial Intelligence and the Arts)
22 pages, 5060 KiB  
Article
Constructing British Selfhood through Depictions of China: The Art of the Macartney Embassy
by Yushu Chen and Bing Huang
Arts 2024, 13(5), 136; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13050136 - 23 Aug 2024
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Abstract
The Macartney Embassy, the first official British diplomatic mission to China, contributed to the visual record and understanding of China in Britain. The embassy artists were ambitious in their mission to deliver authentic visual knowledge of China to the British at the same [...] Read more.
The Macartney Embassy, the first official British diplomatic mission to China, contributed to the visual record and understanding of China in Britain. The embassy artists were ambitious in their mission to deliver authentic visual knowledge of China to the British at the same time that they were subconsciously influenced by both the old chinoiserie tradition, and the nascent British Enlightenment thought process. In contrast to contemporary Britain’s scientific and humanitarian advancements, the embassy’s portrayal of China was pastoral, barbaric, and autocratic, allowing the British to revel in the humanism and progressivism of their own values and social system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Visual Arts)
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