Arts, Volume 10, Issue 4 (December 2021) – 21 articles

Although dance as a topic has been explored through various theoretical and thematic discourse, little attention has been paid to the presence of dance motifs in Christian imagery. An examination of Orthodox Macedonian medieval fresco painting provides a fascinating point of entry into this overlooked subject. Analysis reveals the presence of two dominant approaches, conditioned primarily by the position of dancing in the philosophical-ethical discourse present in the Bible and other late antique and medieval theological texts. Some frescoes and icons show the body as a channel through which the Lord is glorified. Others show it as an instrument and reflection of immorality instigated by demonic powers. As in each approach, the bodies have differing semantic qualities, valuable information can be obtained about the performing practices present in this historical period. Full article

Based upon the example of the historic palace and park complex in Maciejewo (Matzdorf), in Western Pomerania, Poland, the issues of the adaptation of historic mansions and palaces to modern functions are discussed. The palace in Maciejewo illustrates the thesis that, in order to survive, historic buildings must be used for purposes corresponding to their structure. Many historic residences in the Western Lands have lost their original function and need a new one to survive. These processes of functional adaptation, in some cases, have to be repeated, when monuments become affected by a loss of their functionality. The concept of “re-adaptation” is introduced, in the sense of the revitalization of a facility, combined with a change in its function. The palace in Maciejewo is an example of a facility that is undergoing another functional metamorphosis—adaptive re-use—after having been an agricultural school, a recreation centre and a hotel, to its current phase of becoming an exclusive nursing home. The article discusses the necessary architectural changes resulting from the introduction of a new function (in the case discussed, that of a nursing home). The re-adaptation was carried out considering conservation guidelines and according to adaptive re-use methodology. Full article

The Vienna Academy was the most important art academy for German-speaking artists in the Baroque period. It shaped the development of art in the capital of the Habsburg monarchy as well as on its periphery, including in Silesia, yet the relationships between Silesian sculptors and painters and the Vienna Academy have been overlooked by scholars. Research in the Academy archives sheds light on a number of important issues related to the social, economic, and artistic aspects of the education and the subsequent activities of Vienna Academy alumni. Surviving student registers record the names of Silesian painters and sculptors studying in Vienna and offer insights into other aspects of education at the Academy. Full article

Barge-Haulers on the Volga is one of the most famous works of the Russian realist painter Ilya Repin. As I demonstrate in this article, on the one hand, it brought Repin resounding success and, on the other, it molded his creative conception. The Russian art critic Vladimir Stasov outlined the artist’s success. In March 1873, Stasov’s poetic depiction of Repin’s painting, where he expressed his admiration for Repin’s talent, focusing on specific aspects that he contended had to be included in a perfect work of Russian art, was published in the daily newspaper Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti. I attempt to show that Stasov’s praise had a devastating effect on Repin’s creative process. By examining Repin’s post Barge-Haulers successful works for this pattern, I show how the painter tried to incorporate every one of the “ingredients” that Stasov outlined and ultimately created a typified group of paintings documenting life on the periphery of the Russian Empire with those features, which marked his entire career. Full article

Nelson Goodman (1906–1998) is one of the leading American philosophers of the twentieth century. His well-known book Languages of Art is considered a major contribution to analytical aesthetics. While his views on particular issues have often been criticized, on the whole, he is considered to be a leading figure in twentieth-century aesthetics. Contrary to such a stance, I intend to argue that Goodman’s overall contribution to aesthetics is not as outstanding and valuable as is often maintained. Rather, I will try to show that his aesthetic views are grounded on a distorted representation of the earlier aesthetic tradition, without which they lose the novelty and originality ascribed to them. Once that representation is corrected, some of Goodman’s proposals turn out to be derivative and redundant. Additionally, where they do actually diverge from the earlier tradition and might stake a claim to originality, they turn out to be simply erroneous and misconceived, and sometimes even logically flawed. To conclude, Goodman’s lofty reputation as an aesthetician certainly requires major revision. Full article

Arts organisations have had to reimagine their ways of working, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has severely challenged the venue-based sectors and exposed the fragility of the existing business model of the ‘receiving house’. We use a specific example to address the following question: In what sense can artists lead organisational innovation, learning and change? We analyse Riffing the Archive: Building a Relation by MARIE ANTOINETTE (MA), an artist duo from Portugal, and their collaboration with the Barn, a multi-art centre in Banchory, Scotland, during the coronavirus pandemic in 2021. Édouard Glissant, a Martinique-born poet and philosopher, underpins both MA’s practice and our analysis. We draw on the key concepts of his relational philosophy, including archipelago, opacity, and disaffiliation, to clarify how MA work, what they have offered the Barn and what they can offer to other art organisations seeking innovation and organisational learning. MA’s nuanced approach, informed by Glissant, reconfigures the relationship between the artists and the art organisation and challenges existing assumptions through discontinuous and new thinking, while building a non-confrontational relationship with the Barn. It contributes to both organisational studies and arts research by highlighting the significance of MA’s approach to organisational innovation. Full article

The wall paintings adorning the south transept apse of Santa Maria at Terrassa are among the most notable surviving items pertaining to the iconography of St. Thomas Becket. Recently found documents in which diplomatic archives reveal English connections are essential for understanding the quick reception of the Becket cult in the Crown of Aragon. The presence of an Anglo-Norman canon—Arveus or Harveus (Harvey)—and his position of scribe during the second half of the twelfth century when Reginald, probably also of English origin, was prior there—seem to be the likely source of inspiration for this project. These English connections, which are essential for understanding the quick reception of the Becket cult in the Crown of Aragon, stemmed from the endeavours undertaken some years earlier south of the Pyrenees by the abbot of Saint-Ruf at Avignon, Nicholas Breakspear, who subsequently became Pope Adrian IV. Full article

Absurdity in art creates bizarre juxtapositions that expose, and question conflicted, even dangerous, aspects of life which have become normalized. Absurd art appears in troubled times, subverting moments of extreme contradiction in which it appears impossible to think differently. For example, Dada (1917–1923) used nonsense to reflect the nonsensical brutality of WW1. The power to unsettle in this form of art rests in disrupting the world of the viewer and positioning them as interlocutors in a new framing. Absurdity in art reveals the absurdity that is inherent in life and its institutions, breaking the illusion of control. It can help us to comprehend the ‘incomprehensible’ in other species and spheres of life. In the challenge of anthropogenic climate change, how might the absurd capture the strangeness of current times in which a gap is widening between the earth we live ‘in’ and the earth we live ‘from’? This article explores qualities of the absurd in art as a possible way in which to grasp and reimagine ourselves beyond the anthropocentric, focusing on the work of the artists John Newling (b. 1952, UK) and Helen Mayer (1927–2018, US) and Newton Harrison (b. 1932, US), known as ‘The Harrisons’. Full article

Before his international breakthrough shortly before the turn of the century, Belgian painter Raoul De Keyser (1930–2012) had a long career that reaches back to the 1960s, when he was associated with Roger Raveel and the so-called Nieuwe Visie (New Vision in Dutch), Belgium’s variation on postwar figurative painting that also entails Anglo-Saxon Pop Art and French nouveau réalisme. Dealing with De Keyser’s works of the 1960s and 1970s, this article discusses the reception of American late-modernist art currents such as Color-Field Painting, Hard Edge, Pop Art, and Minimal Art in Belgium. Drawing on contemporaneous reflections (by, among others, poet and critic Roland Jooris) as well as on recently resurfaced materials from the artist’s personal archives, this essay focuses on the ways innovations associated with these American trends were appropriated by De Keyser, particularly in the production of his so-called Linen Boxes and Slices. Made between 1967 and 1971, Linen Boxes and Slices are paintings that evolved into three-dimensional objects, free-standing on the floor or leaning against the wall. Apart from situating these constructions in De Keyser’s oeuvre, this article interprets Linen Boxes and Slices as particular variations on Pop Art’s fascination for consumer items and on Minimalism’s interest in the spatial and material aspects of “specific objects”. Full article

Colored glass in the form of stained-glass windows has been used to decorate buildings for over a thousand years. Due to various late-twentieth-century technological achievements, this material allows for a broad spectrum of design solutions. Glass can be used both in contemporary and historical buildings. This paper presents an analysis of the work of Tomasz Urbanowicz, an artist who works with glass, and its objective is to present not only the body of work of this artist but also the means of using colored glass in creating new values in architecture. The work is based on a study of the literature that covers the contemporary application of colored glass, on-site analysis of projects, and a series of interviews with the artist before, during, and after project completion, as well as the authors’ personal experience in the matter. One of the main research methods used was an analysis of the artist’s stance, as to him, the very process of pursuing creative inspiration is a fundamental procedure. Glassworks by Urbanowicz were displayed at the EXPO 2000 in Hanover (Germany), the EXPO 2005 in Aichi (Japan), and the EXPO 2008 in Saragossa (Spain). The United Earth glass sphere has been decorating the agora of the European Parliament building in Strasbourg (France) since 2004. In the paper, the artist’s projects are presented in two groups: The first includes solutions that employ monochromatic color schemes, whereas in the second, color has been used to create a strong contrast. The analysis presented includes interventions in historical buildings under heritage conservation, but also compositions from architectural glass in newly built buildings and that reference place-based history. Both the initial vision and the final effect of the glass architectural compositions are site-specific. The analysis of these differences and how the artist works allowed us to formulate a scheme of how he operates. Urbanowicz’s glass interventions affect the quality of the spaces they create and highlight their existing or expected features. The influence of the works can either play a primary and dominant role in relation with the surrounding space or be a secondary and delicate addition. Applied color may have different functions, from highlighting specific aspects of a building to introducing symbolic or direct reference. In many projects, color works as a source of a building interior’s atmosphere. The artistic interventions in historic spaces emphasize their features without disrupting pre-existing authenticity, whereas contemporary projects with no historic reference offer a wide variety of color applications that focus on the function and form of architecture, landscape, or surroundings. Full article

This communication paper addresses the role of ephemeral and temporary artistic interventions into the systemic problem of homelessness and the question of sustainability in social art practice. I approach these issues through my work with homeless service agencies that are shaped by rules and procedures intended to increase predictability, whereas, as an artist, my work resists such rigidity by carving out space for spontaneity, vulnerability, and renewal. The dilemma of sustaining socially engaged art long-term raises particular questions within the context of institutions such as these. Can a project be successful as a temporary intervention within systems of predictability? If a project does become sustainable in the long-term, is there a way it can retain a level of energy incited by newness and unexpectedness? I discuss these issues in the context of two of my long-term projects, Beauty in Transition (2013–2016) and Choreographing Care (2016–2021), both working within homeless service agencies. Beauty in Transition was a pop-up mobile hair salon offering free haircare for transitional housing residents. Choreographing Care, a project supporting homeless service staff, started as a socially engaged art project and was adopted into an emergency shelter in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.A as an organizational initiative. The ideas I discuss in this paper are supported and inspired by disciplines of research including care ethics of Gilligan, social behavioral science of Goffman, and approaches to participation discussed by Helguera and Kaprow. Full article

This essay explores David Bowie’s so-called “Berlin Triptych”: Low, “Heroes”, and Lodger. The essay takes issue with previous interpretations that have claimed that the albums do not form a “triptych” of any meaningful kind, and that this pretentious term was only applied ex post facto as a marketing strategy. At the heart of my argument is the concept and experience of migration. In the mid-1970s David Bowie was living in Los Angeles at a highpoint of fame and acclaim. His life, however, was also an increasingly hellish nightmare of delusion, paranoia, and cocaine psychosis. In order to save his music, and his life, the singer decamped to Europe. For the next several years he lived an itinerant life with Berlin at its centre. The experience of displacement, and a series of encounters that this displacement facilitated (with the European new wave and a longer tradition of avant-garde modernism), led to both a reshuffling of the self and a radical new sound. The “triptych” tells the story of this progression, both narratively and sonically. Full article

In this article, we present our analysis of how one of Belgium’s largest auction houses has creatively dealt with the forced transition to online auctions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews and participant observation conducted at Bernaerts Auctioneers in Antwerp over a period of three months between February and April 2021, we show how the auction house has succeeded at maintaining relations with its clients and the public while exclusively moving its sales online. Our specific focus was on the mediation of expertise. Drawing on recent publications from the fields of economic sociology and anthropology, we analyzed how expert narratives of origin, authenticity, and uniqueness are communicated online to affect an object’s auction value. Based on our empirical research, which also includes narrative analyses of Bernaerts Auctioneers’ internet publication Prelude, as well as content shared online via social media, we argue that expert knowledge and practices of expertise are resilient and—contrary to what neoclassical economic theory might suggest—that they continue to be central to negotiations of value, as well as in online auctions. Full article

The day of the last live auction at Sotheby’s in the spring of 2020 was on 19 March 2020 as multiple coronavirus lockdowns forced auction rooms to close worldwide. In the following months, hundreds of live auctions were cancelled or postponed, and combined revenue at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips for the second Quarter 2020 plummeted 79% year on year from USD 4.4 bn in Q2 2019 to USD 0.9 bn in Q2 2020. This article focuses on public auctions at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips and uses primary research to demonstrate how leading auction houses responded to the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis. Leveraging Pi-eX’s public auction results database and its 12-month-rolling methodology, our analysis shows (1) the surge of online only auctions while the number of live auctions plummeted; (2) the limitations of online only auctions and the rise of new opportunities; and (3) a comparison of the COVID-19 crisis with previous art market crisis in the past 15 years. Full article

Victorian artists were remarkably literate; they wrote autobiographies, diaries, and essays and befriended writers and journalists. Writing had become a way to present themselves on the open market and to generate a public image as individuals and collectively within the new professionalism emerging in the century. Letter writing was purposed to solidify and improve artists’ social capital, and their comments were always embedded in social relationships and practices. Thus, artists’ letters reveal much about the artworld structure; its players; and its overlapping spheres of social, economic, and professional identities. Their letters combined frankness with rhetorical pleading and contained their own press releases, studio invitations, and responses to criticism and were often intended for public consumption if used in critics’ reviews. Through letters, artists and critics revealed their reciprocal authority and agency and did not simply reflect the artworld but shaped that world. In their letters, economic gains were sublimated by artists’ desire for fame, Royal Academy acceptance, and a place in art history, then an emerging university discipline, seeking symbolic investments in their reputations and demonstrating that the market is cultural, not just economic. In their letters artists made clear that commodification does not destroy or pollute subjectivity. Full article

The church of San Miguel of Almazán (Soria, Spain) houses a twelfth-century antependium ornamented with scenes of Thomas Becket’s martyrdom. Discovered during restoration works in 1936, its origin and its original location are unknown. The aim of this article is twofold—to frame its manufacture chronologically in light of recent research on late-Romanesque sculpture in Castile, and to use this information to discover who commissioned this work: The bishops of Sigüenza, whose diocese included Almazán? The canons of the monastery of Allende Duero built at the foot of Almazán’s town wall? Or, as has always been claimed, the Castilian Monarchs Alfonso VIII and Eleanor of England, who were the chief promoters of the Becket cult in their dominions? Whatever the answer, this relief is one of the earliest examples of Canterbury saint iconography in the Crown of Castile. Full article

Due to the lack of social systems supporting the cultural productions of migrant societies in Turkey, the venues and opportunities to which migrant musicians have access for the maintenance of their musical practices are limited. Under the given circumstances, especially in the first years after their arrival, street musicianship emerged as a new musical practice for Syrian musicians in Istanbul, and Beyoğlu District, the city’s cultural and political center, has become the venue for street musicians’ performances. Despite undergoing a rapid neoliberal transformation, Beyoğlu district, with Taksim Square and Istiklal Avenue, is a venue of interaction among locals, tourists, and various migrant groups from diverse social classes and identities. As such, it still possesses the potential to be the public sphere which can operate as the space of “a democratic ideal.” For migrant musicians, the street music practices, which fill the very heart of city with their voices and sounds, are means of claiming their existence in the city as potential actors of this public sphere. However, conducting the interaction with the other public space actors and the state officials through street music is not an easy task for Syrian musicians, and it requires the use of tactics from them. In this article, I summarize the given circumstances of Syrian street music performances and discuss the Beyoğlu district in the frame of being—or not being—a public space. I propose street music practice as political action, a “social non-movement”, as Asef Bayat calls it, and situate migrant musicians as political actors who are possible allies of other subaltern groups in Turkey. Full article

Hans Baldung (1484/85–1545) emerged as an artist under the shadow of Germany’s most famous contemporary artist, Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), thus as a younger rival with considerable catching up to do. His time as a young artist with Dürer in Nuremberg (1503-ca. 1507) prompted Baldung to develop his own innovative imagery, even as it prepared him with the skills of later activity in drawings, woodcut prints, and, finally, paintings. Nuremberg also gave him his first contacts with prestigious patrons, local at first but also farther away, surely through Dürer’s well established network to nobility in Saxony. Afterward, once he was out on his own, Baldung quickly turned his acquired skills and recognizable style into his own definitive, deeply pessimistic imagery about human limitations and mortality, especially when measured against the awesome, holy magnitude of Christ and the saints. Full article

On the 9th of October, 1170 Pope Alexander III resided in Anagni, which had been the ancient residence of the court of the Popes for at least two centuries. He wrote to two influential local archbishops for help in pacifying King Henry II and Archbishop Thomas Becket, who had been in dispute for six years. Sensing Becket’s looming tragic fate, Alexander III began slowly to encircle the archbishop with rhetoric of the new martyr of Libertas Ecclesiae. When he had to flee from Rome besieged by factions led by Frederick I, the pope found refuge in Segni, where he canonised Thomas Becket on 21 February 1173. However, it was in faithful Anagni that he settled on and off from March 1173 through the following years (November 1176; December 1177–March 1178; September 1179). It was here that he decided to elaborate a powerful speech in images. In an oratory in the crypt of the grandiose cathedral, Alexander III had the last painful moments of the Archbishop’s death painted in a program imitating that of St. Peter’s in the Vatican. Becket thus became the new imitator of Christ, the new Peter, the new martyr on the altar of the Church of Rome. Full article

The subject of this work is the monumental art of Jerzy Nowosielski (1923–2011), one of the most outstanding contemporary Polish painters, who combined modernity with the orthodox icon aesthetics. This work discusses the monumental realizations of Nowosielski, especially the architectural polychromes made by the artist in Catholic and Orthodox churches in Poland in the years 1950–1999. The aim of the inquiry is to present his work theoretically and place it in a broader artistic context. The research shows that Nowosielski’s monumental works results from a strongly defined artistic concept aimed at ‘mystagogy of space’. Nowosielski’s work is an original synthesis of the modernist avant-garde and traditional canons of religious art. The analysis of the problem was carried out in two areas: (1) analysis of the artist’s theoretical statements; (2) analysis of the artistic form with particular emphasis on the color aspect, based on the example of selected churches in Wesoła, Tychy, and Biały Bór. The work uses comparative references to the ideas of Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, and Le Corbusier. Full article