artintelligence

“Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream of things that never were and say, why not?” . George Bernard Shaw. (more…)

The romantic concept of genius is the foundation stone of the modern and postmodern concept of the “fineness” of fine art. Without it the ability of the fine art institution to create its canon of “great artists” and the capacity of the art market to sell faeces and urinals as precious objects would collapse. But at the same time this concept is insidious because it focuses on the least significant aspect of art: its supposed “fineness”. In order to understand the concept of genius, which has insinuated itself into the popular unconscious, we need to take a look at the phenomenon of romanticism which arose in late 18th-century Europe and had a very significant impact upon art of the 19th century, which in turn laid the foundation for 20th century modern and postmodern art.

(more…)

Video can quite effectively create a highly immersive effect when it takes on a sculptural dimension. Take for instance Ergin Cavusoglu’s Point of Departure, 2005, a multi-screen video installation with an array of screens designed to allow the viewer to ‘walk into the picture’. (more…)

Rebecca Horn’s Der Zwinger was a rerun of a site-specific, immersive installation Horn had contributed to a previous Munster Sculpture Project and which was resurrected for the 2007 Sculpture Project. The venue was an historic building and part of the documentation accompanying the exhibition included a photograph of the building from the Nazi era, the caption for the photograph draws the viewer’s attention to the swastika in the front window. (more…)

Rebecca Belmore represented Canada in the 51st Venice Biennale, 2005. She presented an installation which was of interest because of its faithfulness to Claire Bishop’s description of installation art as differing from “traditional media (sculpture, painting, photography, video)” because it “addresses the viewer directly as a literal presence in the space’ (Bishop 2005: 6). (more…)