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A Performance-Theory Revisit of the Conflict Scene at the Ventershoek (2927CA1) Rock Art Site
Rock Art and Social Memory in the Deseado Massif: An Approach from the Study of Superimpositions in Cueva 2, Los Toldos, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina
Framing the Calendar of the Sacramentary of Messina (BNE, Ms. 52): Patronage and Byzantine Topics in Late 12th-Century Sicilian Art
Outside the Palaces: About Material Culture in the Almoravid Era
Mexico, Myth, Politics, Pollock: The Birth of an American Art

Journal Description

Arts

Arts is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal promoting significant research on all aspects of the visual and performing arts, published bimonthly online by MDPI.

Open Access— free for readers, with article processing charges (APC) paid by authors or their institutions.
High Visibility: indexed within ESCI (Web of Science), and other databases.
Rapid Publication: manuscripts are peer-reviewed and a first decision is provided to authors approximately 37.3 days after submission; acceptance to publication is undertaken in 6.8 days (median values for papers published in this journal in the first half of 2025).
Recognition of Reviewers: reviewers who provide timely, thorough peer-review reports receive vouchers entitling them to a discount on the APC of their next publication in any MDPI journal, in appreciation of the work done.

Impact Factor: 0.3 (2024)

Imprint Information Journal Flyer Open Access ISSN: 2076-0752

Latest Articles

10 pages, 264 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Кoнец фильма: Ruins, Remnants, and Remains of the USSR Army in Borne Sulinowo as an Inspiration for Performance Artists

by Małgorzata Kaźmierczak

Arts 2025, 14(4), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14040075 - 11 Jul 2025

This article analyzes the significance of the ruins and remnants of the Soviet Army in Borne Sulinowo, a former secret Soviet military base in Western Pomerania (Poland), as a source of inspiration for performance artists. This study draws from a variety of theoretical [...] Read more.

This article analyzes the significance of the ruins and remnants of the Soviet Army in Borne Sulinowo, a former secret Soviet military base in Western Pomerania (Poland), as a source of inspiration for performance artists. This study draws from a variety of theoretical frameworks, including performance art theory, new materialism, and the thing theory. Additionally, it draws from the ideas of Carl Lavery, Richard Gough, Ann Laura Stoler, and Georg Simmel. This text delves into the notion that the transient character of performance art mirrors the fleeting nature of power, particularly in the context of the dissolution of the Soviet regime. Following the Polish reacquisition of the site in the early 1990s, artists such as Władysław Kaźmierczak and Brian Connolly transformed found objects and the decaying environment into performance art. This article analyzes performances such as Kaźmierczak’s кoнец фильма (The End of the Movie) and Connolly’s Frieze Frame. It discusses how these works captured the emotional and intellectual responses to the remnants of military occupation. The performances demonstrate the interplay between decay, memory, and historical consciousness, employing the ruins as a medium for reflecting on the collapse of Soviet influence in Poland and the shifting geopolitical landscape. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contemporary Visual Culture in Conflict Zones and Contested Territories)

22 pages, 14050 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spinners as Signifiers: Eve, Mary, Sardanapalus, and Hercules

by Carlee A. Bradbury

Arts 2025, 14(4), 74; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14040074 - 10 Jul 2025

Analyzing how spinners are represented in art is a way to understand the role of women’s work in the medieval and premodern periods. What do spinners signify? How is this work depicted? Who are spinners? Using a selection of imagery from northern European [...] Read more.

Analyzing how spinners are represented in art is a way to understand the role of women’s work in the medieval and premodern periods. What do spinners signify? How is this work depicted? Who are spinners? Using a selection of imagery from northern European medieval manuscripts and premodern prints from the 14th to the 17th centuries allows us to see how pervasive the spinner was as a symbolic device. Characters such as Eve, Mary, Sardanapalus, and Hercules are unified by their spinning. As they work with the spindle and distaff, they are makers in addition to being religious or mythological figures. Though spinning does not always (if at all) appear in their textual narratives, it is part of the established iconography for each and persisted as a way to communicate or demean the value of women’s domestic enterprises. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Early Modern Global Materials, Materiality, and Material Culture)

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16 pages, 304 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The American Centaur: The Afterlives of a Modern Myth

by Tom Peotto

Arts 2025, 14(4), 73; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14040073 - 30 Jun 2025

Sixteenth-century Spanish accounts of the invasions of the Americas claimed that Indigenous peoples found horseback riding so shocking that they mistook cavalry for centaurs. Drawing a one-to-one connection between sixteenth-century Mesoamericans and ancient Europeans, a nineteenth-century historian claimed that this must have happened [...] Read more.

Sixteenth-century Spanish accounts of the invasions of the Americas claimed that Indigenous peoples found horseback riding so shocking that they mistook cavalry for centaurs. Drawing a one-to-one connection between sixteenth-century Mesoamericans and ancient Europeans, a nineteenth-century historian claimed that this must have happened in ancient Greece also, inspiring the centaur myth in the first place. A closer examination of Classical textual and archaeological sources and of the ethnohistory of the contact-era Americas shows this to be wishful thinking by Iberian writers desirous to believe that awestruck American societies saw them as gods or monsters. However, a closer examination of the centaur myth and the responses by contact-era American societies to horses reveals a more complicated reality behind a simple mythology of conquest. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Artistic Imagination and Social Imaginaries–Polysemous Readings of Historical Travelling Accounts)

16 pages, 1045 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Audiovisual Inclusivity: Configuration and Structure of LGBTQIA+ Production on Streaming Platforms in Spain

by Julio Moreno-Díaz, Nerea Cuenca-Orellana and Natalia Martínez-Pérez

Arts 2025, 14(4), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14040072 - 26 Jun 2025

This study presents an exhaustive analysis of LGBTQIA+ audiovisual production available on the main streaming platforms in Spain, covering both Spanish and international content. Using a sample of 1490 works from ten video-on-demand services (Apple TV+, Disney+, Filmin, FlixOlé, Max, Movistar Plus+, Netflix, [...] Read more.

This study presents an exhaustive analysis of LGBTQIA+ audiovisual production available on the main streaming platforms in Spain, covering both Spanish and international content. Using a sample of 1490 works from ten video-on-demand services (Apple TV+, Disney+, Filmin, FlixOlé, Max, Movistar Plus+, Netflix, Prime Video, Rakuten, and SkyShowtime), this study examines how the offered catalogues are configured and structured in response to the commercial dynamics of the LGBTQIA+ production market. Using quantitative methodology, the research addresses the industrial production models, the agents involved and the characteristics of the most widely offered narrative genres and formats, highlighting distribution patterns and visibility in the catalogues. The findings include a marked international abundance, a reflection of the global market guidelines and the hegemony of narratives aimed at transnational audiences. National productions, although less numerous, are a significant contribution to the audiovisual landscape, incorporating cultural identities with an LGBTQIA+ representation that is more aligned with local realities. The central role of independent producers is observed in production models where international agreements are outlined as a key strategy. In addition, it highlights the prevalence of genres such as drama and comedy, together with that of the film format. The visibility and representation of sexual and gender diversity indicates a positive commercial response, although with considerable challenges. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Film and New Media)

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23 pages, 2188 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Producing Feminist Discourses in the Debris of Destruction: Maria Kulikovska’s Response to War in Let Me Say: It’s Not Forgotten

by Kalyna Somchynsky

Arts 2025, 14(4), 71; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14040071 - 26 Jun 2025

The Ukrainian–Crimean artist Maria Kulikovska’s artistic practice has addressed war in Ukraine since the Annexation of Crimea and outbreak of war in the Donbas regions of Ukraine in 2014. In 2019 she created the video-performance Let Me Say: It Will Not Be Forgotten [...] Read more.

The Ukrainian–Crimean artist Maria Kulikovska’s artistic practice has addressed war in Ukraine since the Annexation of Crimea and outbreak of war in the Donbas regions of Ukraine in 2014. In 2019 she created the video-performance Let Me Say: It Will Not Be Forgotten that responds to the ways artworks and women’s bodies are targeted by derisive retaliation and physical attacks during periods of political instability. Informed by explorations of feminism in post-Soviet countries, theories of prosthetic memory, and destruction art of the 1960s, I argue that Kulikovska does not let the destruction of her artwork silence her, but, rather, she uses destruction as a strategy to take control of oppressive forces. In their place, I argue that Let Me Say: It’s Not Forgotten demonstrates subjective and complex ways of building resilient feminist presents and futures that overcome oppressive violence and testify to continual perseverance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ukraine Under Fire: The Visual Arts in Ukraine and Abroad Since 2014)

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22 pages, 4659 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

What Does Street Art in Florence, Depicting Women, Aim to Convey to Its Residents and Tourists?

by Aleksander Cywiński and Michał Parchimowicz

Arts 2025, 14(4), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14040070 - 25 Jun 2025

The article analyzes the meanings embedded in street art in Florence that portrays women, likely created by female artists. Between 18 May and 27 May 2024, during the Communities and Artistic Participation in Hybrid Environment (CAPHE) project, we observed a significant number of [...] Read more.

The article analyzes the meanings embedded in street art in Florence that portrays women, likely created by female artists. Between 18 May and 27 May 2024, during the Communities and Artistic Participation in Hybrid Environment (CAPHE) project, we observed a significant number of feminist street art pieces in Florence’s historic center. Using qualitative content analysis based on Gillian Rose’s methodology (2016), we interpreted the collected visual materials through semiotic and socio-cultural lenses. The findings revealed the deliberately interventionist nature of the analyzed works, addressing themes such as gender inequality, human rights, violence against women, and cultural stereotypes. This street art serves as a social manifesto and a means of activating both the local community and tourists, aligning with global feminist discourse while addressing Florence’s local issues. We conclude that Florence’s street art provides a space for visual resistance, education, and the promotion of gender equality and women’s emancipation in the context of contemporary social challenges. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Visual Arts)

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12 pages, 7070 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Virtual Archaeology and Medieval Art History: Fundamentals and Applications

by Jaime García Carpintero López de Mota

Arts 2025, 14(4), 69; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14040069 - 21 Jun 2025

Virtual Archaeology is defined as ‘the scientific discipline that seeks to research and develop ways of using computer-based visualizations for the comprehensive management of archaeological heritage’. In essence, it involves the creation of virtual models of various types whose purpose is to represent [...] Read more.

Virtual Archaeology is defined as ‘the scientific discipline that seeks to research and develop ways of using computer-based visualizations for the comprehensive management of archaeological heritage’. In essence, it involves the creation of virtual models of various types whose purpose is to represent elements of the past based on historical data obtained from research. It is a discipline that has experienced a boom in recent years, thanks to the democratization of both technology and training, and has become one of the most fruitful branches of what is known as Digital Humanities. However, despite its name, it has applications beyond the field of archaeology, notably in Art History. In this sense, it allows recovering the original likeness of lost or altered works, the formulation of research hypotheses, or the generation of resources with great didactic and dissemination potential. This study aims to offer an overview of the fundamentals of the discipline and explore the possibilities it offers to Medieval Art History. Furthermore, this study serves as a starting point for new projects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue History of Medieval Art)

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21 pages, 564 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sounding Identity: A Technical Analysis of Singing Styles in the Traditional Music of Sub-Saharan Africa

by Alfred Patrick Addaquay

Arts 2025, 14(3), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030068 - 16 Jun 2025

This article presents an in-depth examination of the technical and cultural dimensions of singing practices within the traditional music of sub-Saharan Africa. Utilizing an extensive body of theoretical and ethnomusicological research, comparative transcription, and culturally situated observation, it presents a comprehensive framework for [...] Read more.

This article presents an in-depth examination of the technical and cultural dimensions of singing practices within the traditional music of sub-Saharan Africa. Utilizing an extensive body of theoretical and ethnomusicological research, comparative transcription, and culturally situated observation, it presents a comprehensive framework for understanding the significance of the human voice in various performance contexts. The study revolves around a tripartite model—auditory clarity, ambiguous auditory clarity, and occlusion—that delineates the varying levels of audibility of vocal lines amidst intricate instrumental arrangements. The article examines case studies from West, East, and Southern Africa, highlighting essential vocal techniques such as straight tone, nasal resonance, ululation, and controlled (or delayed) vibrato. It underscores the complex interplay between language, melody, and rhythm in tonal languages. The analysis delves into the influence of sound reinforcement technologies on vocal presence and cultural authenticity, positing that PA systems have the capacity to either enhance or disrupt the equilibrium between traditional aesthetics and modern requirements. This research is firmly rooted in a blend of African and Western theoretical frameworks, drawing upon the contributions of Nketia, Agawu, Chernoff, and Kubik. It proposes a nuanced methodology that integrates technical analysis with cultural significance. It posits that singing in African traditional music transcends mere expression, serving as a vessel for collective memory, identity, and the socio-musical framework. The article concludes by emphasizing the enduring strength and flexibility of African vocal traditions, illustrating their capacity for evolution while preserving fundamental communicative and artistic values. Full article

13 pages, 895 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Perspectives on Generative Sound Design: A Generative Soundscapes Showcase

by Grzegorz Samson

Arts 2025, 14(3), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030067 - 12 Jun 2025

Recent advancements in generative neural networks, particularly transformer-based models, have introduced novel possibilities for sound design. This study explores the use of generative pre-trained transformers (GPT) to create complex, multilayered soundscapes from textual and visual prompts. A custom pipeline is proposed, featuring modules [...] Read more.

Recent advancements in generative neural networks, particularly transformer-based models, have introduced novel possibilities for sound design. This study explores the use of generative pre-trained transformers (GPT) to create complex, multilayered soundscapes from textual and visual prompts. A custom pipeline is proposed, featuring modules for converting the source input into structured sound descriptions and subsequently generating cohesive auditory outputs. As a complementary solution, a granular synthesizer prototype was developed to enhance the usability of generative audio samples by enabling their recombination into seamless and non-repetitive soundscapes. The integration of GPT models with granular synthesis demonstrates significant potential for innovative audio production, paving the way for advancements in professional sound-design workflows and immersive audio applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sound, Space, and Creativity in Performing Arts)

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13 pages, 8252 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ephemeral Art as Political Commentary: Russia’s Financial Woes and French Satirical Postcards, 1905–1907

by Alison Rowley

Arts 2025, 14(3), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030066 - 6 Jun 2025

This article looks at the ways in which satirical postcards provided political commentary at a pivotal moment in the Franco-Russian alliance. Often overlooked as a medium of communication, turn-of-the-20th-century postcards reflected contemporary cultural values and were an important art form. Here, the focus [...] Read more.

This article looks at the ways in which satirical postcards provided political commentary at a pivotal moment in the Franco-Russian alliance. Often overlooked as a medium of communication, turn-of-the-20th-century postcards reflected contemporary cultural values and were an important art form. Here, the focus is on postcards created by Orens and Mille, two of the best caricaturists of the day, as their work offered scathing critiques of Russia’s constant need for financial assistance from its ally and point to the ways in which the public was growing weary of these demands. Closely examining some of their postcards shows how such sentiments were expressed in visual form while also revealing the power of ephemeral materials as historical sources. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue In the Center and on the Periphery: Russian and Soviet Art and Visual Culture)

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13 pages, 217 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Museums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical Curation

by Priscila Arantes

Arts 2025, 14(3), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030065 - 4 Jun 2025

Museums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical Curation analyzes contemporary debates in the museum field through the lens of tensions between technology, digital culture, and political and epistemological disputes. Structured in three parts, the article develops a critical approach that, in [...] Read more.

Museums in Dispute: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Culture, and Critical Curation analyzes contemporary debates in the museum field through the lens of tensions between technology, digital culture, and political and epistemological disputes. Structured in three parts, the article develops a critical approach that, in the first section, revisits critiques of the modernist museum model, highlighting how discourses from New Museology, institutional critique, and decolonial perspectives challenge the idea of neutral, universal, and Eurocentric museums. The second part explores the shift from temple-like museums to interface-museums, focusing on the analysis of practices such as digitization, immersive exhibitions, and gamification. It argues that while these technologies may expand access, their uncritical use can reproduce inequalities and render plural and inclusive narratives invisible. The third part addresses the emergence of hyperconnected museums and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in curatorial, mediating, and reconstructive processes, analyzing collaborative and artistic projects such as Demonumenta and Curationist that critically reinterpret collections. Throughout the article, the concept of meta-algorithmic curation is developed, which is understood as a practice that makes algorithms visible, open to critique, and reconfigurable as cultural and political devices. Methodologically, the article combines critical theoretical review with analysis of institutional and artistic case studies, highlighting practices that appropriate the supposed neutrality of data to develop a critical pesrpective and advocate for more inclusive, distributed, and politically engaged curatorial narratives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Museums in the Digital Age)

37 pages, 5617 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Signalling and Mobility: Understanding Stylistic Diversity in the Rock Art of a Great Basin Cultural Landscape

by Jo McDonald

Arts 2025, 14(3), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030064 - 31 May 2025

This paper explores Great Basin arid-zone hunter–forager rock art as signalling behaviour. The rock art in Lincoln County, Nevada, is the focus, and this symbolic repertoire is analysed within its broader archaeological and ethnographic contexts. This paper mobilises an explicitly theoretical approach which [...] Read more.

This paper explores Great Basin arid-zone hunter–forager rock art as signalling behaviour. The rock art in Lincoln County, Nevada, is the focus, and this symbolic repertoire is analysed within its broader archaeological and ethnographic contexts. This paper mobilises an explicitly theoretical approach which integrates human behavioural ecology (HBE) and the precepts of information exchange theory (IET), generating assumptions about style and signalling behaviour based on hunter–forager mobility patterns. An archaeological approach is deployed to contextualise two characteristic regional motifs—the Pahranagat solid-bodied and patterned-bodied anthropomorphs. Contemporary Great Basin Native American communities see Great Basin rock writing through a shamanistic ritual explanatory framework, and these figures are understood to be a powerful spirit figure, the Water Baby, and their attendant shamans’ helpers. This analysis proposes an integrated model to understand Great Basin symbolic behaviours through the Holocene: taking a dialogical approach to travel backward from the present to meet the archaeological past. The recursive nature of rock art imagery and its iterative activation by following generations allows for multiple interpretive frameworks to explain Great Basin hunter–forager and subsequent horticulturalist signalling behaviours over the past ca. 15,000 years. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Rock Art Studies)

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21 pages, 16644 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Ancient miḥrāb of the Friday Mosque in Ronda (Malaga, Spain): Historical Evolution and Future Perspective

by María Marcos Cobaleda and Sergio Ramírez González

Arts 2025, 14(3), 63; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030063 - 30 May 2025

The aim of this article is to analyse the material remains of the ancient miḥrāb of the Friday Mosque in Ronda (Malaga, Spain), preserved in the present-day church of Santa María de la Encarnación la Mayor, and to propose preservation and [...] Read more.

The aim of this article is to analyse the material remains of the ancient miḥrāb of the Friday Mosque in Ronda (Malaga, Spain), preserved in the present-day church of Santa María de la Encarnación la Mayor, and to propose preservation and valorisation measures to bring these remains to light. After the Christian conquest of Ronda, the church of Santa María de la Encarnación la Mayor was built on the site of the former Friday Mosque. In the 16th century, an altarpiece featuring niches and wall paintings was built, covering the plasterworks of the ancient miḥrāb. The primitive altarpiece was replaced by a Baroque one in the 17th century (El Sagrario altarpiece). At the beginning of the 20th century, the remains of the ancient miḥrāb and the 16th-century altarpiece were discovered while preparing the space for burial sites. Since then, a section of the plasterworks was recovered, although part of them remains covered by the 17th-century altarpiece. In this article, we analyse in detail the remains of the Islamic plasterworks that covered the qibla wall and the ancient miḥrāb, and propose a series of preservation and valorisation measures aimed at restoring these remains, without damaging the 17th-century altarpiece. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Islamic Art and Architecture in Europe)

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18 pages, 12506 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Rock Imagery and Acoustics at the White River Narrows (WRN), Lincoln County, Nevada

by Margarita Díaz-Andreu, Lidia Alvarez-Morales, Daniel Benítez-Aragón, Diego Moreno Iglesias and Johannes H. N. Loubser

Arts 2025, 14(3), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030062 - 30 May 2025

This study explores the archaeoacoustics of rock imagery at Site 26LN211, the northernmost petroglyph site in the White River Narrows (WRN) Archaeological District, Nevada, USA. The research examines the relationship between rock writing placement and acoustic properties, considering their potential significance to indigenous [...] Read more.

This study explores the archaeoacoustics of rock imagery at Site 26LN211, the northernmost petroglyph site in the White River Narrows (WRN) Archaeological District, Nevada, USA. The research examines the relationship between rock writing placement and acoustic properties, considering their potential significance to indigenous groups such as the Southern Paiute and Western Shoshone. Fieldwork conducted in 2024 employed impulse response recordings to analyze sound behavior in various spatial configurations, including near and distant measurements. The results indicate that, unlike other WRN sites with strong echoes and reverberation, Site 26LN211 exhibits clear sound transmission with limited acoustic reflections. This suggests its suitability for oral storytelling, song recitatives, and ritual practices rather than sound-enhanced ceremonial performances. Additionally, the presence of vision quest structures above the site implies spiritual significance, although the results do not show a significant acoustic relationship between them and the petroglyph zone. Comparative studies with other indigenous sites reinforce the role of acoustics in shaping cultural landscapes. These findings contribute to broader discussions on the interplay between rock writing, sound, and indigenous traditions, emphasizing the need for preservation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Rock Art Studies)

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27 pages, 15985 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Representation of Suffering, Destruction, and Disillusion in the Art of Marcel Janco

by Alexandru Bar

Arts 2025, 14(3), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030061 - 29 May 2025

This article examines Marcel Janco’s Holocaust drawings, positioning them within the broader discourse of Holocaust representation, trauma, and avant-garde aesthetics. Created in response to the Bucharest Pogrom of January 1941, these works resist both forensic realism and pure abstraction, instead embodying rupture, instability, [...] Read more.

This article examines Marcel Janco’s Holocaust drawings, positioning them within the broader discourse of Holocaust representation, trauma, and avant-garde aesthetics. Created in response to the Bucharest Pogrom of January 1941, these works resist both forensic realism and pure abstraction, instead embodying rupture, instability, and fragmentation. Janco’s grotesque distortions neither document events with the precision of testimony nor dissolve into conceptual erasure; rather, they enact the instability of Holocaust memory itself. This essay argues that Janco’s Holocaust works, long overshadowed by his modernist and Dadaist contributions, challenge dominant frameworks of remembrance. Through comparative analysis with artists, such as David Olère, Anselm Kiefer, and George Grosz, it situates Janco’s approach at the limits of witnessing, exploring how his figures embody violence rather than merely depict it. While Olère reconstructs genocide through forensic detail and Kiefer engages with the material traces of memory, Janco’s grotesque forms share an affinity with Grosz’s politically charged distortions—though here, fragmentation serves not as critique but as testimony. Furthermore, the study interrogates the institutional and critical neglect of these works, particularly within Israeli art history, where they clashed with the forward-looking ethos of abstraction. By foregrounding Janco’s Holocaust drawings as both aesthetic interventions and acts of historical witnessing, this article repositions them as crucial yet overlooked contributions to Holocaust visual culture—demanding recognition for their capacity to unsettle, resist closure, and insist on the incompleteness of memory. Full article

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34 pages, 43549 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ancestral Pueblo and Historic Ute Rock Art, and Euro-American Inscriptions in the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Colorado, USA

by Radoslaw Palonka, Polly Schaafsma and Katarzyna M. Ciomek

Arts 2025, 14(3), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030060 - 26 May 2025

In the central Mesa Verde region, rock art occurs on canyon walls and on boulders that are frequently associated with other archaeological remains. Moreover, rock art, together with architecture and pottery, is actually a primary source of archaeological information about the presence of [...] Read more.

In the central Mesa Verde region, rock art occurs on canyon walls and on boulders that are frequently associated with other archaeological remains. Moreover, rock art, together with architecture and pottery, is actually a primary source of archaeological information about the presence of various cultures in the area. It includes paintings and petroglyphs of Ancestral Pueblo farming communities, images and inscriptions made by post-contact Ute and possibly Diné (Navajo) people as well as historical inscriptions of the early Euro-Americans in this area. This paper presents the results of archaeological investigations at four large rock art sites from Sandstone Canyon, southwestern Colorado, within the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument (CANM). Methods of rock art recording included advanced digital photography, photogrammetry, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), hand tracing, and consultations with members of indigenous societies and rock art scholars. Geophysics and sondage excavations were conducted at one site revealed important information about archaeology, environment, and geology of the area. Analysis of rock art and other material evidence aims to help reconstruct and understand the mechanisms and nature of cultural changes, migrations, and human–environmental interactions and later cross-cultural contacts between indigenous peoples and Anglo-American ranchers and settlers in southwestern Colorado and the US Southwest. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Rock Art Studies)

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16 pages, 6328 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spectrophotometry of Chromatic Variability in the Rock Paintings of Tecsecocha, Ccorca, Cusco

by Carlos Guillermo Vargas Febres, Ana Torres Barchino, Juan Serra, Edwin Roberto Gudiel Rodríguez and Ernesto Favio Salazar Pilares

Arts 2025, 14(3), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030059 - 26 May 2025

This communication presents an approach to the chromatic study of rock painting scenes in the Tecsecocha sector, Ccorca district, Cusco, Peru, through the application of color spectrophotometry using Capsure by XRite, considered a portable device that facilitates reference measurements of color codes belonging [...] Read more.

This communication presents an approach to the chromatic study of rock painting scenes in the Tecsecocha sector, Ccorca district, Cusco, Peru, through the application of color spectrophotometry using Capsure by XRite, considered a portable device that facilitates reference measurements of color codes belonging to the visible spectrum (400–700 nm). It is evident that this methodology does not perform the physicochemical characterization of the pigments present in the rock paintings, which are cataloged as artistic heritage of the nation, making it unfeasible to extract physical samples or significantly alter the rock paintings. Therefore, the NCS color notation system allowed for the non-invasive recording of color tones. The results showed a predominance of white and red tones with variations in their shades; among the most frequent codes, S2030-Y70R and S3010-Y40R stand out, indicating yellow tones with red influences of 70% and 40%, respectively. In the anthropomorphic figures, a slight variation in the proportion of red was identified, suggesting differences in the application of pigments, while in the representations of camelids, the tones varied from S3005-Y20R (yellow with 20% red) to S2030-Y70R (greater red influence). Full article

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22 pages, 3210 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Construction Processes of the Military Orders in the Kingdom of Castile (12th–15th Centuries)

by David Gallego Valle and Jesús Manuel Molero Garcia

Arts 2025, 14(3), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030058 - 22 May 2025

Military Orders in the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages were greatly involved in both the processes of conquest and subsequent transformation of the territories seized from Islamic rule. Evidence of this involvement is still visible today through solid and long-lasting buildings raised [...] Read more.

Military Orders in the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages were greatly involved in both the processes of conquest and subsequent transformation of the territories seized from Islamic rule. Evidence of this involvement is still visible today through solid and long-lasting buildings raised in response to the new needs of the dominant Christian society. The most significant were fortresses, and all their variants, followed by the temples of various sizes and categories. However, there were also other lesser-known constructions including mills, hospitals, houses of the commandery, and houses of agricultural domains. This study, based on written and archaeological sources, focuses on the constructions linked to the Military Orders, especially those of the Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, and St. John throughout the Kingdom of Castile between the 12th and 15th centuries. This analysis thus delves into the temporal sequence and regional variations of these features that not only led to a transformation of the landscape but also reflected changes in the framework of a particular type of society affected by power relations, technological evolution, available resources and wealth, as well as by its mentality and identity. Founded on data gleaned through basic research, this study thus attempts to reconstruct, among other aspects, this historical development by identifying the operational sequence which began with the procurement of raw materials, passing through the construction processes, and the application of different techniques. The study has likewise placed a special emphasis on the alarifes and the final results of their duties by analysing their choices of construction techniques and their functions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue History of Medieval Art)

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43 pages, 21483 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Surviving New Kingdom Kings’ Coffins: Restoring the Art That Was

by Kathlyn M. Cooney

Arts 2025, 14(3), 57; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030057 - 22 May 2025

This article examines the material data preserved in king’s coffins used to bury and/or rebury five different kings, which represent the surviving material evidence we have of the art produced to manufacture divinized kingship during the New Kingdom: Seqenenre Taa, Kamose, Thutmose I/Panedjem [...] Read more.

This article examines the material data preserved in king’s coffins used to bury and/or rebury five different kings, which represent the surviving material evidence we have of the art produced to manufacture divinized kingship during the New Kingdom: Seqenenre Taa, Kamose, Thutmose I/Panedjem I, Thutmose III, and Ramses II. All of them were removed from their original 17th and 18th Dynasty sepulchers, stripped of valuable materials, modified, and reused in later cache burials of the 20th, 21st, and 22nd Dynasties by 20th and 21st Dynasty High Priests of Amen, who used these recrafted coffins as a means of claiming their political and ideological legitimacy. Supported with detailed evidence of the five surviving king’s coffins as objects of social and political value and sometimes relying on the coffins recovered from Tutankhamun’s tomb for comparison, this article attempts to reconstruct some of the original material state of this art as a tool of power. 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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20 pages, 21160 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Shamans, Portals, and Water Babies: Southern Paiute Mirrored Landscapes in Southern Nevada

by Kathleen Van Vlack, Richard Arnold and Alannah Bell

Arts 2025, 14(3), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts14030056 - 22 May 2025

Delamar Valley is a unique landscape located in southern Nevada that contains places associated with ceremony and Southern Paiute Creation. This ceremonial landscape is composed of volcanic places, a large Pleistocene Lake, and an underground hydrological system that allows for the movement of [...] Read more.

Delamar Valley is a unique landscape located in southern Nevada that contains places associated with ceremony and Southern Paiute Creation. This ceremonial landscape is composed of volcanic places, a large Pleistocene Lake, and an underground hydrological system that allows for the movement of spiritual beings known as water babies between Delamar Valley and neighboring Pahranagat Valley. Paiute shamans traveled to Delamar Valley to interact with the portals along a volcanic ridge that allowed them to travel to a mirrored ceremonial landscape in another dimension of the universe. While in this mirrored landscape, shamans engaged with elements of Creation. This essay examines the ways in which Paiute shamans interacted with various components of the physical and spiritual landscapes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Rock Art Studies)

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