Preview of My Final Paper: The Impact of the Early World Fairs on the Modern Image Culture

A result of Industrial Revolution was a rise in production and wealth. A direct result of these factors emerged in the form of World Fairs. Situated in earlier ideas of fairs, which embraced the coming together of buyers and sellers, World Fairs allowed for the exchange of ideas among cultures and societies that would not have been possible in the previous century. Although Walter Benjamin called them the enthronement of merchandise, they also came to represent the society of the spectacle. In a new form of social totality, individual experiences became vital to making up the whole.

The World Fairs represented a type of retraining of the individual, much like panoramas changed the way people experiences visual representations. The new view emphasized continual consumption over thrift and introduced the privileging of expenditure. Social status no longer depended on breeding or heredity, but on the objects possessed. The introduction of the price tag also greatly changed some fundamental societal mores by terminating the centuries long tradition of buying by bargaining. This loss of the social aspect of shopping must have been keenly felt.

The first major World Fair, a practice that would continue almost every two years into the twentieth century, is known as the Great Exhibition of 1851. While the Great Exhibition emphasized mass production and homogenization, it also showed the integration of forms of display and exhibition. The Crystal Palace itself epitomized the Spectacle. Designed by Joseph Paxton, an architect formally known only for the designing of greenhouses, the building emphasized the modern by using the newly mass produced materials of glass and iron. The building also embraced modern practicality and could be dismantled and rebuilt on a separate location. Paxton even took into consideration of the natural surroundings by integrating several ancient oaks into the design of the building.

The objects displayed at the Great Exhibition showed the practical and functional concerns that interested European society at this time. A majority of the displays were related to industrial objects such as machines and tools. When fine art did appear, its display normally focused on new techniques and materials, such as newly developed patinas for bronze sculpture or methods for duplication. This trend for the new is a reflection of the society that embraced the “reality” effects with which this essay is concerned. Progress, change, and industry reigned supreme in this new, constantly moving world.

Trip to the Lab

Last weekend, the Image Culture class visited a neuroscience lab. Why, you may ask, are a group of educators and future arts managers touring such a facility? Well, for these researchers images play a very large part in their studies and help them solve the mysteries of the brain. By touring this facility, we were able to glimpse a different way that images influence what many define as a world functioning on the opposite end of the spectrum from the one we inhibit.

After arriving uptown, the class was ushered into a room where we were given an enthusiastic overview of our host Dan Stettler’s research. While the mapping of neurological olfactory responses in mice went right over my head, I did enjoy his discussion of the importance of gathering aesthetically pleasing images for the purpose of publication and how that can lead to greater funding. The resulting images of the studies also impressed me with their abstract beauty.

Following this talk, we descended to a lab in which the research is conducted. I found it thrilling be in the real inner workings of the lab instead of a in a visitor intended environment.

The tour of the equipment was interesting. I was struck by the cleanliness of the lab. Yet clutter still existed, which reassured me of the humanity of the researchers.

Following the tour, we returned to Dan’s office where we where treated to a look of fruit flies under his microscope.

Drosophila melanogaster, aka fruit flies, only live for a short amount of time, so the flies we observed spent a significant chunk of their lives under this microscope being observed. Thanks fruit flies!

Following the fruit flies, we were allowed to smell single molecule solutions that mimicked more complex smells.

Cloves, orange, and musk liquids were sampled. These solutions have revolutionized the perfume industry as well as helped scientists understand how people process odors.

The trip to the lab made me understand that science and the arts are more connected than most people realize. Past generations were more aware of this fact, as seen in the number of academies that were founded as schools of arts and science. While it’s true that scientists must be disciplined and analytical, to have a truly significant breakthrough a scientist must also have creativity. Likewise, an artist without discipline will never succeed. This field trip helped to show me that the world of art and the world of science are not as different as I originally believed.

75th Anniversary Show

Last week I visited the Museum of Modern Art San Francisco (SFMOMA) for its 75th Anniversary exhibition. I was interested in this show for several reasons, one of which is that the Frick Collection, a small museum of Old Masters, is also celebrating a 75th Anniversary. I was curious to see how a museum with a completely different mission celebrated this milestone.

Founded in 1935, SFMOMA is dedicated to the exhibition and collection of modern and contemporary art from around the world but with a special focus on its geographical region. This exhibition shows the success that the museum has had in this goal. Beginning with early works by American masters such as Georgia O’Keefe and Joseph Stella, each gallery shows a different movement. While not an especially creative way of presenting the collection, the thematic nature of the rooms helps to contextualize the progression of art in the twentieth century. Seeing a room devoted to works by Pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein next to a the industrial sterility of Minimalist sculpture not only highlights the differences of the styles but forces the viewer to acknowledge that multiple forms of artistic expression were being practiced during the same decade.

A floor above the Anniversary Show, a more in-depth exhibition entitled Focus on Artists unfolds. SFMOMA is proud of the relationships with artists it has fostered over its history, relationships that often lead to multiple acquisitions. These galleries are each devoted to the works of a single artist from the permanent collection. The eighteen artists featured span the history of modern and contemporary art, and all have significantly influenced their movements. This exhibition gives a viewer the chance to look closer at the artists they were briefly exposed to on the floor below.

This was my second visit to SFMOMA and by far the more enjoyable. The exhibitions complement each other and the overall theme of celebration that infuses the space lent a joyful atmosphere to the afternoon.

Armory Show

Today the class visited the Armory Show, the premiere event for the viewing (and for the lucky the purchasing) of the hottest contemporary art from around the world. The selections did not disappoint. Located at Pier 92 and 94 on the west side of Manhattan, 167 contemporary dealers, 66 modern dealers and 10 non-profits congregate to display their wears for the New York art community, including collectors, critics, and other art aficionados. From the look of the crowd on this lovely March afternoon, the show is bracing to pass last year’s 56,000 visitors.

The breadth of the work offered was astounding. Gone are the artistic “camps” of the previous century, in which an artist either created abstract or representational art. Today such styles can exist side-by-side in the same gallery, and can even be created by the same artist. From classic minimalist sculpture to playful satires of the work of Degas and Turner, there is something for everyone at this show.

The concept of the Armory Show is interesting. While it is a financially vital event for artists and dealers to gain sales and contacts with collectors, much of the overwhelming crowd is comprised of contemporary art fans who treat the event as an exhibition. Many of the attendees would be just as familiar if observed at the Whitney Biennial occurring uptown.

On a personal note, I appreciated that some of the gallery attendants took time to discuss the art on display with me. While, as a student, I am not currently a potential customer, they treated me as if I one day could be. I will definitely remember these galleries in the future should I ever be capable of collecting.

Expectations for the Course

Currently in my final semester as an Arts Administration student at Columbia University, I am looking forward to Image Culture as a return to the academic part of my visual arts education. Having completed my MA in Art History in 2005, I spent the next three years working at two very different art galleries in Washington, D.C. The first gallery sold nineteenth century impressionist and academic style paintings and sculpture while the second specialized in contemporary pop art with a focus on rock and roll imagery. The range of art that I have worked with is diverse and has left me marveling at the range of human creativity. I am hoping that this course will help me to continue my exploration of the visual arts and the common themes uniting different forms of artistic expression. I am particularly interested in digital media, as my recently submitted thesis dealt with issues surrounding its conservation and storage.