THEME 5
MULTIMEDIA AND NEW MEDIA - ALTERNATIVE CONTEMPORARY AND
POPULAR ART FORMS
INTRODUCTION
This theme deals with the post-World War II art world. Art that exists as a representation of an idea and relies, in
part, on the relationship formed between the viewer and the experience the work creates.
These forms are represented in international trends, yet we are interested in South African artists working with
these forms
INFLUENCES
(1) CONCEPTUAL ART
• Conventions of craftsmanship, formal aspects and style are bypassed, and a renewed emphasis is placed on
content
• During a time of social upheaval and therefore the central aim of concept art was to draw attention to social
issues
• Based on the premise of the idea itself becoming the artwork
• It denies the tradition of the artist physically engaging with materials
• Make an art product that can be bought and sold
BARABRA KRUGER - Barbara Kruger abandoned her wall-
hangings (a nod to “women’s craft”) for agitprop text-based
slogan work that famously called attention to gender
inequalities. - Form of Feminist art - Focus is more on the
message behind the ideals of feminism instead of the artwork
itself
This work is a comment on the social construction of gender
stereotypes ascribed by society - the image was appropriated
form a Saturday evening post newspaper and she added advert
style lettering with lyrics by Tina Turner
Untitled (we don’t need another hero), 1987
Photostat print with tape and plastic self-adhesive lettering in artist's frame
(2) INSTALLATION ART
• Involves a space that has been utilized to create and artwork through the arrangement of objects
• Is usually recorded through photography
• Invariably overlaps with other forms of art
1600 chairs stacked in a gap between two buildings – 2003
DORIS SALCEDO – A Columbian artist wanted to create a ‘topography of war’ – the
work is related to a specific event that she knows about but does not refer to link in
the meaning of the work making it more universal as a statement about absence,
oppression and the gap between the disempowered and the powerful
, (3) LAND ART
• Landscape and work are completely connected
• Photography is essential tool for artists as land artworks are ephemeral
• Planned specifically for the land in which it is to be installed in
Andy Goldsworthy
(4) PREFORMANCE ART
• Related to conceptual art
• Influenced by the Dadaist – strove to break the traditional rules
• The artist proclaims it to be art and it is therefore and consequently Is art
• It is conceptual in its subject matter and does therefore doesn’t necessarily have a storyline
MARINA ABRAMOVIC – ‘The artist is present’
Challenging the idea of what is considered as art
By the artists imply sitting in the gallery she becomes the artwork
(5) DIGITAL ART
• Is a form of art form in which the artist makes us use any digital media such as the internet, cell phones or
computers
NATHANIEL STERN
a suite of four interactive works that has us encounter some of
the complex relationships between materiality and text. Each
piece stages the experience and practice of bodies and
language in a different way, enabling in-depth explorations of
how they are always implicated across one another.
Body language – 2000/2013
(6) VIDEO ART
• Art that uses television and video as part of its creation and exhibition
• The issue addressed by artists are related to conceptual artists
• More recently it become a form of digital art due to the increase in technology
GILLIAN WEARING – she assembled 26 British police officer to pose
for a formal portrait. Although at first glance the life-size work
resembles a backlit photograph – the viewer soon learns that it is a
video with tension and strain building up over the hour they try to
remain perfectly still - the power is reversed between the viewer
and the viewed
As the authority normally given to the officers is stripped away as
they are held captive by the portrait photograph- like situation
MULTIMEDIA AND NEW MEDIA - ALTERNATIVE CONTEMPORARY AND
POPULAR ART FORMS
INTRODUCTION
This theme deals with the post-World War II art world. Art that exists as a representation of an idea and relies, in
part, on the relationship formed between the viewer and the experience the work creates.
These forms are represented in international trends, yet we are interested in South African artists working with
these forms
INFLUENCES
(1) CONCEPTUAL ART
• Conventions of craftsmanship, formal aspects and style are bypassed, and a renewed emphasis is placed on
content
• During a time of social upheaval and therefore the central aim of concept art was to draw attention to social
issues
• Based on the premise of the idea itself becoming the artwork
• It denies the tradition of the artist physically engaging with materials
• Make an art product that can be bought and sold
BARABRA KRUGER - Barbara Kruger abandoned her wall-
hangings (a nod to “women’s craft”) for agitprop text-based
slogan work that famously called attention to gender
inequalities. - Form of Feminist art - Focus is more on the
message behind the ideals of feminism instead of the artwork
itself
This work is a comment on the social construction of gender
stereotypes ascribed by society - the image was appropriated
form a Saturday evening post newspaper and she added advert
style lettering with lyrics by Tina Turner
Untitled (we don’t need another hero), 1987
Photostat print with tape and plastic self-adhesive lettering in artist's frame
(2) INSTALLATION ART
• Involves a space that has been utilized to create and artwork through the arrangement of objects
• Is usually recorded through photography
• Invariably overlaps with other forms of art
1600 chairs stacked in a gap between two buildings – 2003
DORIS SALCEDO – A Columbian artist wanted to create a ‘topography of war’ – the
work is related to a specific event that she knows about but does not refer to link in
the meaning of the work making it more universal as a statement about absence,
oppression and the gap between the disempowered and the powerful
, (3) LAND ART
• Landscape and work are completely connected
• Photography is essential tool for artists as land artworks are ephemeral
• Planned specifically for the land in which it is to be installed in
Andy Goldsworthy
(4) PREFORMANCE ART
• Related to conceptual art
• Influenced by the Dadaist – strove to break the traditional rules
• The artist proclaims it to be art and it is therefore and consequently Is art
• It is conceptual in its subject matter and does therefore doesn’t necessarily have a storyline
MARINA ABRAMOVIC – ‘The artist is present’
Challenging the idea of what is considered as art
By the artists imply sitting in the gallery she becomes the artwork
(5) DIGITAL ART
• Is a form of art form in which the artist makes us use any digital media such as the internet, cell phones or
computers
NATHANIEL STERN
a suite of four interactive works that has us encounter some of
the complex relationships between materiality and text. Each
piece stages the experience and practice of bodies and
language in a different way, enabling in-depth explorations of
how they are always implicated across one another.
Body language – 2000/2013
(6) VIDEO ART
• Art that uses television and video as part of its creation and exhibition
• The issue addressed by artists are related to conceptual artists
• More recently it become a form of digital art due to the increase in technology
GILLIAN WEARING – she assembled 26 British police officer to pose
for a formal portrait. Although at first glance the life-size work
resembles a backlit photograph – the viewer soon learns that it is a
video with tension and strain building up over the hour they try to
remain perfectly still - the power is reversed between the viewer
and the viewed
As the authority normally given to the officers is stripped away as
they are held captive by the portrait photograph- like situation
