art as persuasion “art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it”...
TRANSCRIPT
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Art as Persuasion
“art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it”
Berthold Brecht
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Art is an overlooked form of persuasion
Persuasion’s traditional focus has been on oral and/or textual messages emphasis is on persuasion within
the “world of words” the role of images in general,
and art in particular, has been neglected
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The traditional “layperson’s” view of art
Art is created for “art’s sake”
Representational view of art—art seeks to re-create or imitate reality
Romanticism—art seeks to idealize or romanticize reality
Decorative function—art needs to match the sofa, drapes, etc.
Dogs playing poker—kitsch at its finest
Thomas Kinkade, “Seaside Hideaway”—mall art
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An enlightened view of art
Art serves more than an aesthetic or decorative function Just as
“rhetoric” is more than mere eloquence
Just as novels can provide more than mere entertainment
Artists express their opinions in and through their work
Art serves social and political ends
Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica,” which has been described as “the highest achievement in modernist political painting” (Clark, 1997), is a symbolic indictment of man’s cruelty to man during the Spanish civil war.
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Gass & Seiter’s view
The proper study of the “art of persuasion” should include art as a form of persuasion.
Art satisfies the major requirements for persuasion: Intentionality Effects Symbolic action Free
choice/conscious awareness
Tracy Emin, “My Bed” postmodern feminist art
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Controversial art
Art can create controversy, conflict, and even violence
The cover of the New Yorker depicted the Obamas as Muslim extremists
Islamic extremists rioted after a Danish cartoonist drew caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad
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More controversial art
Blessed Art Thou, by Kate Kretz
My Sweet Lord, byCosimo Cavallero
Napalm, by Banksy
Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston, by Daniel Edward’s
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Art shines a spotlight on society
Van Thanh Rudd homage to Banksy
Chris Ofili’s Virgin Mary
Daniel Edwards’ Octo Mom
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Art as a political tool of governments
Greek friezes and frescoes taught citizens moral lessons involving Greek gods and Greek mythology.
The Catholic church commissioned thousands of works of art to promote Catholicism
Politicized art: totalitarian governments used art to further the ends of the state The doctrine of “Socialist
realism”
“Roses for Stalin”
dedicated members of the proletariat work happily during the industrial age
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Chinese revolutionary art
Under Mao, art’s purpose was to promote communist ideology
Poster art deified Chairman Mao
Poster art promoted the ideals of the cultural revolution
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Pro-Government Art in the U.S.A. This painting depicts the “New Deal”
bringing electricity to rural America. At the time nine out of ten farms had no electricity. (David Stone, Electrification, 1940)
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Art directed against governments or society
Eugene Delacroix’s, “Liberty Leading the People,”(1830) both endorses and romanticizes the French revolution.
Picasso’s “Guernica” exposes the horrors of war
Diego Rivera’s murals depicted the subjugation of the peasant class
Edvuard Munch’s “The Scream” (1893) expresses a mixture of anxiety, fear and dread toward society
Guerilla street artist “Banksy” uses stencils to offer social commentary
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public art controversies
Recent social controversies demonstrate the persuasive potential of art A proposal to build a
monument to the firefighters at ground zero was scrapped after a feud erupted over what race the firefighters should be.
Obama-Hitler analogy
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How Art Persuades
Art shines a spotlight on society. Awareness via consciousness raising
The “Guerilla Girls” movement
Awareness through interpretation Suzanne Lacy, “Three Weeks in May”
Awareness through participation Wafa Bilal’s “Shoot an Iraqi” project
The Names Project
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Art with a social conscience
Aschcroft Versus Lady Justice John Ashcroft’s covered the bare breasts
of the Majesty of Justice (known as Minnie Lou) in the Great Hall of the Justice department
Aschroft said he wasn’t comfortable being photographed at press conferences in front of the her large, aluminum breasts
The new, blue velvet drapes cost $8,000
Dread Scott Tyler and the American Flag A Republican led group filed a lawsuit to
ban Dread Scott Tyler’s display, “What is the Proper Way to Display the U.S. Flag?”
The Judge dismissed the suit reminding the court works of art are protected under the First Amendment.
Three boobs in this picture?
Tyler’s “What is the Proper way to Display the American Flag” on display at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago
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Art as a form of consciousness raising
The Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) uses mural to address community issues, foster cross-cultural understanding, and promote civic dialogue
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Art as an instrument for social change
“Art has long been a powerful weapon in the activist's arsenal.” (Fred Baerkircher)
Artists use art to critique society and promote social change
Artists use art to engage the public and increase public awareness of social issues
Activists who belong to the “Art and revolution project” protest multinational corporations and the WTO through performance art
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Participation through interpretation
Participation through interpretation observers reflect on what an
exhibit means or what the artist is trying to say.
In their effort to understand the exhibit viewers engage in active thinking or central processing
Active participation (increasing involvement) observers don’t just observe they become part of the art Peggy Diggs “Domestic
Violence Milk Carton Project”
Barbara Donachy, “Amber Waves of Grain”
Suzanne Lacy, “Three weeks in May” (1977)
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Participatory art
Shoot an Iraqi: Wafaa Bilal lived in a room for 30 while Web viewers were allowed to shoot him via a remote-controlled paint gun.
Over 60,000 shots were fired by people from over 100 countries.
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Art as consciousness raising--continued
The AIDS memorial quilt, a.k.a. the NAMES project the largest community
art project in the world hand-sewn folk art
panels commemorate those who have died of AIDS
the quilt is designed to increase awareness and decrease homophobia
each panel puts a human face on the grim statistics
traveling exhibits take the quilt to the people
“There was hope we could beat the disease by using the quilt as a symbol of solidarity, of family and community; there was hope that we could make a movement that would welcome people—men and women, gay and straight, of every age, race, faith, and background” (Cleve Jones, co-founder of
the NAMES project).
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How art persuades--iconicity
Images stand for and resemble the things they represent
Images can sum up a concept: the “trash can” icon in
Windows, female and male silhouettes on a restroom door
Paintings of portraits, landscapes, and still life are iconic representations of people, places, and things
Assorted icons
The bald eagle as an icon for America
An icon for ignoring a problem
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Iconicity--continued
Iconic art needn’t be accurate, objective
Iconic art can glamorize, romanticize, stereotype, vilify Example: political
caricatures Example: paintings of the
crucifixion or the last supper
Example: Medieval paintings as allegories
Icons can evoke emotional responses in receivers
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iconicity in political cartoons
Pinocchio’s long nose is an iconic representation lf lying
Depicting a politician with a long nose makes the visual claim that the politician is a liar.
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Appropriating corporate icons
Health Gap is an activist group seeking increased awareness and funding for HIV/AIDS in Africa Coca Cola is the largest private
sector employer in Africa, but only 1.5% of Coke’s workers are eligible for HIV/AIDS drugs
Controversial art transforms a passive viewer into an active thinker may increase central
processing may trigger cognitive
dissonance
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Indexicality in Goya’s art
• Goya’s, “The Third May” (1808) depicts Spanish partisans, arms outstretched, being ruthlessly gunned down by Napoleon's troops
• Notice: the painting offers visual “proof” that the atrocity took place.
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Indexicality
This painting by John Trumbull supposedly “documents” the signing of the Declaration of Independence. However, no such ceremony actually took place.
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Indexicality--continued
The documentary aspect of images can be misleading Art can serve up
inaccurate records of events
Greek sculptures idealized the human body
Photographs can be airbrushed or digitally altered
When Time magazine reproduced O.J. Simpson’s picture on its cover, the image was darkened to make him appear more sinister and menacing
The Cottingly Fairies: In 1916 Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright, perpetrated a hoax involving photos taken with fairies.
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The camera always lies: the myth of photographic objectivity April 2, 2003: Brian Walski, a photographer for the
L.A. Times, digitally “doctored” a photograph of a British soldier guarding civilians. The photo was published on the front page of the L.A. Times
The photo, shown below, is actually a composite of the two separate photos on the right.
Walski was fired because "Times policy forbids altering the content of news photographs."
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The camera always lies
More digital editing
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You can’t trust what you can see…
In the digital age, images are malleable, changeable, fluid. In movies, advertisements, TV shows, magazines, we are constantly exposed to images created or altered by computers.
“photography is highly interpretive, ambiguous, culturally specific, and heavily dependent upon contextualization by text and layout.“
Fred Ritchin, In Our Own Image: The Coming Revolution in Photography, New York: Aperture, 1990, 81.
Soon after 9/11, a camera was “found” on the sidewalk that happened to survive the collapse of the Twin Towers. When the film was developed, it revealed a tourist in the wrong place at the wrong time. The picture is a fake.
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How art persuades—syntactic indeterminacy
Images, unlike language, lack logical operators
Images can’t convey: cause-effect relationships if-then relationships either-or relationships
Images can convey spatial relationships:
higher, lower, bigger, smaller
chronological relationships: before, after, the passage of time
analogies or comparisons
Joe Rosenthal’s photo of Iwo Jima, 1945
Tom Franklin’s photo of Ground zero, Sept. 11, 2001
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But syntactic indeterminacy can be an advantage
Images can equate one thing with another via associations
The associations may be subtle or obvious
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syntactic indeterminacy--continued
Images as narratives: panels from Diego Rivera’s “History of Mexico,” 1929-35 tell a story about the ongoing conquest and subjugation of the peasants
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In conclusion
Art can be controversial It can challenge the existing
social order. It can make people angry. It can
offend. It can heighten people’s
awareness. It can make people question their
assumptions. It can change the way they see things.
It can make them reconsider their assumptions.
In so doing, art persuades.