Lecture 013

Textiles and Ethics

Presentor: Dr. Vishal Khandelwa

Art System:

Textiles Politics

Politics of Textile:

Post-colonial India:

Western India - National Institute of Design (NID)

Location: Ahmedabad Time: 1980s Goal: make cloth for commercial using patterns of traditional indian textile

Cranbrook Art Museum: many exhibition of work of textiles

Issue

Post colonial power dynamic: extracting profit from cheap textile designer for "British Consumers"

Rural Workers:

Antiscupture

Teddy Sandoval (with Paul Polubinskas), Gateway to Highland Park (2003)

Measnings:

Art's agency to complicates greek style natural beauty

希腊美学背景

而 Mutu 把丑展现在赞扬自然之美的诗歌中. 丑(癌症)是自然的一部分, 就如同大众认为黑人是丑陋的, 这种丑是否值得被赞扬? 丑是主观的, 并不是有普世性价值的. 所以赞扬丑也是赞扬自然的一部分, 所以动摇了反黑人主义的根基. 但对于生物的客观分类是由社会创造的. 生物学尝试分类然后统一这些分类, 但是在一开始就分类错了, 因为那些分类根本不是绝对客观的. 美与丑也只是人类具有偏见的分类的缩影.

古希腊的艺术, 以及很大程度上文艺复兴的艺术都是对于自然之美的追求. 这种对自然的向往是天生的, 野兽般的好奇心所驱使, 而极少可能是被社会意识形态所驱使(?). 古希腊追求的方式是雕塑和对大自然的模仿. 而文艺复兴对人体的研究较为主动, 以详细的记录人体的比例和对自然界万物总结, 归纳, 以及分类. 文艺复兴对自然之美的追求超脱于表象, 而是追求更本质的, 万物的结构, 其中就包括了分类学, 来追寻自然界的结构. 尽管科学研究的经费由教堂或者财团提供, 但艺术家与科学家对于自然之美的追求都不是政治化目的的, 尽管这些研究可能非常有利于作为政治工具使用: 例如合法化对殖民地的统治. 注意, 我没有说这些研究不能沦为政治工具, 我只是想说这些大理石雕像与手稿体现的更多是对自然之美(表象和本质)的追求.

当时间来到了现代, Mutu 的作品反对了古典时期以及文艺复兴时期对于自然之美的追求. 首先, Jackson 论证了科学家们对于race与species的分类的影响是social的, 就如同 "biological sex is [also] modulated by culture, " "culture is a technology to reprogram human's internal reward system, mimics instinct (p163)" 除此之外尽管现代科学拥有完善的统计分析工具, 例如 Principal component analysis, 也不能保证科学家对科学结果的解释是绝对客观的. 这是因为科学结果在从数学结论转变成决策的过程中往往需要主观的分析, 而主观的分析必然会受到culture的影响. 所以文艺复兴时期对希望通过interpret分类来追求自然界的结构是不现实的. (分类学本身并无罪, 甚至是有利的-例如他很好的预估了不同人群对于某疾病的发生概率, 但是基于分类学而做出超出自然学科的interpretation就是另一回事了) 而恰恰相反, 这种分类学, 尽管目的是天真的, 会在社会层面变成符号, implies something other than pure biological differences, 或被政治运动所利用. 正是因此, Mutu 企图利用并且挑战这种分类系统已达到瓦解分类系统的目的. 通过拼贴画的形式, Mutu 把刻意把丑展现在赞扬自然之美的诗歌中. 丑陋的代表黑人的拼贴画被科学研究的context所赞美. 但是是否丑是值得被赞扬的呢? 根据追寻自然之美的原则, Mutu 拼贴的丑也完全属于自然的一部分. (猴子, ... 都是自然的一部分, 就连被丑化的黑人的sign也是自然的一部分) 这么看来, 丑是值得被赞扬的, 因为它是自然的一部分, 而也正是因为它是自然的一部分, Mutu 告诉了我们丑是主观的, 是socially constructed, 所以丑和美本身就不存在, 也就不存在基于生理特征对于美和丑的划分了. Mutu因此拒绝了了古希腊以及文艺复兴的对于美的追求的 assumption, 所以截断了所有对于经典自然之美追求的根基. Mutu 重新定义了美的边界, 以囊括世间万物.

此外 Mutu 警醒了人们科学与癌症是强烈的与政治挂钩的

疾病, 尽管其成因是生理的, 但在不可否认的是, 它是有与政治产生了强烈的挂钩的. 传染病是一个典型的例子. 在 COVID 期间, people with low social status 会因为从事更危险的工作更容易染上疾病. 黑人群体特有的癌症种类的分析缺乏研究资金的支持, 会使诊断技术更低, 从而间接地增高死亡率. AID由于不被主流社会舆论与管理阶层的认可, 从而不被重视以至于药物的研发被推迟了. 死亡率中的政治因素是不可被忽略的, 因此疾病是政治的. "tween black and white women are among the most striking and consis-" (p195) "stress hormones, among other outcomes, is linked to an uninhibited inflammatory response" (p196) "but whereas white women experienced a decrease in breast cancer mortality rates between 1980 and 2007, black women did not" (p196)

cancer:

aid:

The order was also built to mimick the nature and 赞美上的创造的人类 ("Thus in the invention of the two different kinds of columns, they borrowed manly beauty, naked and unadorned, for the one, and for the other the delicacy, adornment, and proportions characteristic of women." (Vitruvius (1914) [ca. 30–15 BC]. The Ten Books on Architecture. Translated by Morgan, Morris H.))

xxx 设计了 xxxxx, 并在他死后被赋予了新的意义. 这座雕像的柱子与古希腊. elaborated by Renaissance theorists, with Doric characterized as bold and manly, Ionic as matronly, and Corinthian as maidenly. 根据照片的特征, 我们能很轻易地发现这个柱子的设计参照了希腊的 Ionic 柱子, 体现的是庄严而具有母亲的气质. 这也很好的应征了他像是一个指路人或者守护神: (1) Each "gate uardian" poses with human hands pointing visitors to nearby and distant locations connected by the railway: Pasadena, Union Station, and the Southwest Museum. (2) 更具有象征性的是, (unlike 朝生暮死的 quit project, 因为aid会持续着, 人们需要这么一个守护神)aid 一直不会消失, 因此需要持久的守护. 而这个形象 vertical 竖立着, 坚定地, 指向天空的形象很好的体现了对于 AID 的不屈服的精神. 这个守护神站在前任对于简单的自然之美的古典美学的肩膀上, 增添了对于抗争精神之美的追求. xxx 不仅仅是表象的模仿人类的比例, 而是模仿了人类的精神 - something closer to 本质.

column:

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Comtemporary Art's Complication of Ancient Aesthetics

Much of the development of ancient western art were driven by the desire to imitate the very creation of the nature. The Greek aesthetics, especially sculptures and architectural designs were inspired by the exact proportion of human beings. The scientific investigations during the Enlightenment period continued this pursue as they try to measure, record, and categorize human to discern the order of nature. These ways of persuit of aesthetics by making conclusions out of observations was aligned with the philosophy of Empiricism. In contrast, abstract art took a more rationalism approach, diverged from Empiricism, and depicted directly what Immanuel Kant called "Ding an sich". By analyzing the works of contemporary artists, we see some of the artwork complicates Empiricism approach of aesthetics by including a social stratum. Specifically, Wangechi Mutu's "Histology of the Different Classes of Uterine Tumors (2005)" and Teddy Sandoval's "Gateway to Highland Park (2003)"...

The art of ancient Greece and the age of Enlightenment, to some extent were driven by the imitation and investigations of nature. Greek "order" (比例). Similarly, in the name of developing science, Enlightenment scientists tried to understand various creations: plants, human, and other natural phenomenons by drawing down their shapes and closely analyze them in order to get closer to the truth. In contrast to superficial imitation of the "phenomenon", they also created categories to summarize the rules of the nature in hope to discern the "essence" from the "phenomenon." Govern by this philosophy, these imitations and investigations were often apolitical: people were driven by the desire to understand their creator instead of hoping their discoveries might generate utility. However, it is not my intention to declare that the tools of categorization can't be used as justifications for colonialism, but their initial intension was to persue aesthetics of the nature.

古希腊的艺术, 以及很大程度上文艺复兴的艺术都是对于自然之美的追求. 这种对自然的向往是天生的, 野兽般的好奇心所驱使, 而极少可能是被社会意识形态所驱使(?). 古希腊追求的方式是雕塑和对大自然的模仿. 而文艺复兴对人体的研究较为主动, 以详细的记录人体的比例和对自然界万物总结, 归纳, 以及分类. 文艺复兴对自然之美的追求超脱于表象, 而是追求更本质的, 万物的结构, 其中就包括了分类学, 来追寻自然界的结构. 尽管科学研究的经费由教堂或者财团提供, 但艺术家与科学家对于自然之美的追求都不是政治化目的的, 尽管这些研究可能非常有利于作为政治工具使用: 例如合法化对殖民地的统治. 注意, 我没有说这些研究不能沦为政治工具, 我只是想说这些大理石雕像与手稿体现的更多是对自然之美(表象和本质)的追求.

()

In the 21 century, Mutu's work complicated the persuit of aesthetics of the nature by identifying social constituent that played a crucial role in the formation of nature. Sylvia Wynter, quoted in Zakiyyah Iman Jackson's book "Becoming Human", demonstrated that the classification of human into race and has psychosocial impacts: "culture ... can override the genetic-instinctual sense of self where necessary, activating, by their semantic reprogramming, the opioid system," (p163) as "biological sex is [also] modulated by culture." (p159) Although modern science developed sophisticated tools for statistical analysis such as Principal Component Analysis, there is no guarantee that the explanation from the scientific result is objective. This is because to the transformation from mathematical conclusion to meaningful policy decisions involves subjective interpretation which is susceptible to culture impacts. There are two disasters resulted from such subjectivity: Firstly, it is sadly unfruitful to discern the rule of nature by developing taxonomy for the persuit of aesthetics as the categories themselves might have roots in sociogeny. Secondly, although taxonomy shouldn't be blamed as it can create value in disease diagonosis and treatments based on prior knowledge of patient's race, it certainly can be interpreted maliciously for drawing conclusions outside of pure scientific research. From the taxonomy, categories of race and gender gained culture meanings and become symbols that signifies something other than pure biological differences. Because of this, Mutu tried to challenge the product of taxonomy to disassemble and invalidate the symbols created from categories. Using collage, Mutu in "Histology of the Different Classes of Uterine Tumors (2005)" displays distorted black women figure in a scientific manuscript that is intended to praise the aesthetics of nature. By putting a black women figure formed by a monkeys face, female's sexual organs, and an afro, the artwork intentionally provoke distasteful feelings, making the viewer question whether the ugly, similar to aesthetics, should be the objects of persuit as both are phenomenon of the nature. Using the context of the manuscript, the artwork suggests that the both should be equally treated because, down to the very atomic structure, they are both constituents of the nature, and therefore any standard of classification, including race and gender is artificial. By suggesting the socially constructed distasteful concepts can be equally praised, Mutu broaderned the classical aesthetics to include what is thought to be "distasteful" by systematic racism.

当时间来到了现代, Mutu 的作品反对了古典时期以及文艺复兴时期对于自然之美的追求. 首先, Jackson 论证了科学家们对于race与species的分类的影响是social的, 就如同 "biological sex is [also] modulated by culture, " "culture is a technology to reprogram human's internal reward system, mimics instinct (p163)" 除此之外尽管现代科学拥有完善的统计分析工具, 例如 Principal component analysis, 也不能保证科学家对科学结果的解释是绝对客观的. 这是因为科学结果在从数学结论转变成决策的过程中往往需要主观的分析, 而主观的分析必然会受到culture的影响. 所以文艺复兴时期对希望通过interpret分类来追求自然界的结构是不现实的. (分类学本身并无罪, 甚至是有利的-例如他很好的预估了不同人群对于某疾病的发生概率, 但是基于分类学而做出超出自然学科的interpretation就是另一回事了) 而恰恰相反, 这种分类学, 尽管目的是天真的, 会在社会层面变成符号, implies something other than pure biological differences, 或被政治运动所利用. 正是因此, Mutu 企图利用并且挑战这种分类系统已达到瓦解分类系统的目的. 通过拼贴画的形式, Mutu 把刻意把丑展现在赞扬自然之美的诗歌中. 丑陋的代表黑人的拼贴画被科学研究的context所赞美. 但是是否丑是值得被赞扬的呢? 根据追寻自然之美的原则, Mutu 拼贴的丑也完全属于自然的一部分. (猴子, ... 都是自然的一部分, 就连被丑化的黑人的sign也是自然的一部分) 这么看来, 丑是值得被赞扬的, 因为它是自然的一部分, 而也正是因为它是自然的一部分, Mutu 告诉了我们丑是主观的, 是socially constructed, 所以丑和美本身就不存在, 也就不存在基于生理特征对于美和丑的划分了. Mutu因此拒绝了了古希腊以及文艺复兴的对于美的追求的 assumption, 所以截断了所有对于经典自然之美追求的根基. Mutu 重新定义了美的边界, 以囊括世间万物.

疾病, 尽管其成因是生理的, 但在不可否认的是, 它是有与政治产生了强烈的挂钩的. 传染病是一个典型的例子. 在 COVID 期间, people with low social status 会因为从事更危险的工作更容易染上疾病. 黑人群体特有的癌症种类的分析缺乏研究资金的支持, 会使诊断技术更低, 从而间接地增高死亡率. AID由于不被主流社会舆论与管理阶层的认可, 从而不被重视以至于药物的研发被推迟了. 死亡率中的政治因素是不可被忽略的, 因此疾病是政治的. "tween black and white women are among the most striking and consis-" (p195) "stress hormones, among other outcomes, is linked to an uninhibited inflammatory response" (p196) "but whereas white women experienced a decrease in breast cancer mortality rates between 1980 and 2007, black women did not" (p196)

The order was also built to imitate the nature and 赞美上的创造的人类 ("Thus in the invention of the two different kinds of columns, they borrowed manly beauty, naked and unadorned, for the one, and for the other the delicacy, adornment, and proportions characteristic of women." (Vitruvius (1914) [ca. 30–15 BC]. The Ten Books on Architecture. Translated by Morgan, Morris H.))

xxx 设计了 xxxxx, 并在他死后被赋予了新的意义. 这座雕像的柱子与古希腊. elaborated by Renaissance theorists, with Doric characterized as bold and manly, Ionic as matronly, and Corinthian as maidenly. 根据照片的特征, 我们能很轻易地发现这个柱子的设计参照了希腊的 Ionic 柱子, 体现的是庄严而具有母亲的气质. 这也很好的应征了他像是一个指路人或者守护神: (1) Each "gate uardian" poses with human hands pointing visitors to nearby and distant locations connected by the railway: Pasadena, Union Station, and the Southwest Museum. (2) 更具有象征性的是, (unlike 朝生暮死的 quit project, 因为aid会持续着, 人们需要这么一个守护神)aid 一直不会消失, 因此需要持久的守护. 而这个形象 vertical 竖立着, 坚定地, 指向天空的形象很好的体现了对于 AID 的不屈服的精神. 这个守护神站在前任对于简单的自然之美的古典美学的肩膀上, 增添了对于抗争精神之美的追求. xxx 不仅仅是表象的模仿人类的比例, 而是模仿了人类的精神 - something closer to 本质.

Similarly, Teddy Sandoval's "Gateway to Highland Park (2003)" broaderns Greek aesthetics to include the "essence" of human spirit. After Sandoval's AIDS-related death, the sculpture has been attributed with a set of new meanings perhaps not intended by the artist. The sculpture is topped with a winged gate guardian" that is supported by a classical order in the style of Ancient Rome. According to classification in the ancient book called "Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura" (by Branko Mitrovic, N.Y. 1999), the sculpture resembles Ionic order. Many Renaissance theorists believed that Ionic order is matronly (http://sites.scran.ac.uk/ada/documents/general/orders/classical_orders.htm) and Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, an architect of Ancient Rome, in his book "De Architectura" draws relationship between female body and the Ionic order. Sandoval's intentional choice to use Ionic order confirms with sculpture's deign to be a guider and guardian. As a matronly guider, the statute serves as a street sign by the railroad, pointing towards "Pasadena, Union Station, and the Southwest Museum" (p147). As a guardian, the statute stands vertically and firmly, pointing towards the sky, providing courage to fight back AIDS. Unlike the NAMES project AIDS Memorial Quilt that is intentional to be ephemeral,(p119) the statutes is permanent site that provide spirit of resistance to government's inactive attitude towards marginalized groups until AIDS fully disappears. In "Gateway to Highland Park (2003)", the winged figure standing on the shoulder of Ionic order, attaches human spirit, the "essence", to the classic Greek aesthetics that tries to imitate female body's natural shape, the " phenomenon".

================================================ Comtemporary Art's Complication of Ancient Aesthetics from Empiricism to Rationalism

Much of the development of ancient western art was driven by the desire to imitate the creation of nature. The Greek aesthetics, especially sculptures and architectural designs were inspired by the exact proportion of human beings. The scientific investigations during the Enlightenment period continued this pursuit as they try to measure, record, and categorize humans hoping to discern the rule and the order of nature. These ways of pursuing aesthetics by making conclusions from observations were aligned with the philosophy of Empiricism. Diverged from Empiricism, abstract art took a more Rationalistic approach, and depicted directly what Immanuel Kant called "Ding an sich", or the "essence", rather than the "phenomenon". By analyzing the works of contemporary artists, we see some of the artwork complicates Empiricism's approach to aesthetics by including a social stratum that ultimately contributes to the formation of "phenomenon". Specifically, Wangechi Mutu's "Histology of the Different Classes of Uterine Tumors (2005)" and Teddy Sandoval's "Gateway to Highland Park (2003)" transform the Empiricism approach to aesthetics to include some aspects of Rationalism.

The art of ancient Greece and the age of Enlightenment, to some extent, were driven by the imitation and investigations of nature. Greek sculptures were intended to capture the beauty of the idealized human form. (A World History of Art by Hugh Honour, John Fleming 2005). Similarly, Enlightenment scientists tried to understand various creations: plants, animals, humans, and other natural phenomena by drawing down their shapes in their manuscripts and analyzing them in order for them to get closer to the truth. In contrast to the superficial imitation of the "phenomenon" that the Greeks embodied, they also created taxonomies to summarize the rules of the nature in hope to discern the "essence" from the "phenomenon." Govern by this philosophy, the imitations and investigations were likely to be apolitical: people were driven by the desire to understand their creator instead of hoping their discoveries might generate utility. However, it is not my intention to declare that the tools of taxonomies can't be used as justifications for colonialism, but their initial intention was to pursue the aesthetics of nature.

In the 21 century, Wangechi Mutu's work complicated the pursuit of aesthetics of nature by identifying social constituents that played a crucial role in the formation of nature. Sylvia Wynter, quoted in Zakiyyah Iman Jackson's book "Becoming Human", demonstrated that the classification of humans into races has psychosocial impacts: "culture ... can override the genetic-instinctual sense of self where necessary, activating, by their semantic reprogramming, the opioid system," (p163) as "biological sex is [also] modulated by culture." (p159) Although modern science developed sophisticated tools for statistical analysis such as Principal Component Analysis, there is no guarantee that the explanation from the scientific result is objective. This is because the transformation from mathematical conclusions to policy decisions involves subjective interpretation which is susceptible to cultural impacts. Two disasters can result from this subjectivity: Firstly, it would sadly be unfruitful to discern the order of nature by developing a taxonomy for the pursuit of aesthetics because the categories themselves might have roots in sociogeny. Secondly, although taxonomy shouldn't be blamed for creating the racial complex as it can create value in disease diagnosis and treatments based on prior knowledge of a patient's race, it certainly can be interpreted maliciously for drawing conclusions outside of pure scientific research. From the taxonomy, categories of race and gender gained cultural meanings and become symbols that signify something other than pure biological differences. Because of this, Mutu tried to challenge, disassemble, and invalidate the symbols created from taxonomy in manuscripts of the 20 century. Using collages, Mutu's "Histology of the Different Classes of Uterine Tumors (2005)" displays distorted black women figure in old scientific manuscripts that were intended to praise the aesthetics of nature through scientific discoveries. By putting a black female figure formed by a monkey's face, a female's sexual organs, and an afro, the artwork intentionally provokes distasteful feelings, making the viewer question whether the ugly collaged figure from pieces of human organs, similar to other unmodified human organs, should also be the objects of pursuit. Using the context of the manuscript, the artwork, therefore, suggests that both the beauty and the ugly should be viewed equally in their relation to aesthetics because, down to the very atomic structure, they are both constituents of nature. It also suggests that any standard of classification, including race and gender, is therefore artificial. By alerting the social construction of race and gender, Mutu broadened the classical aesthetics to include what is thought to be "distasteful" and "ugly" by systematic racism.

Similarly, Teddy Sandoval's "Gateway to Highland Park (2003)" broadens Greek aesthetics to include the "essence" of the human spirit. After Sandoval's AIDS-related death, the sculpture has been attributed with a set of new meanings perhaps not intended by the artist. The sculpture, topped with a winged gate guardian, is supported by a classical order in the style of Ancient Greece. According to classification in the ancient book called "Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura" (by Branko Mitrovic, N.Y. 1999), the sculpture resembles Ionic order. Many Renaissance theorists believed that the Ionic order is matronly (http://sites.scran.ac.uk/ada/documents/general/orders/classical_orders.htm) and Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, an architect of Ancient Rome, in his book "De Architectura" draws the relationship between the female body and the Ionic order. The use of Ionic order is in alignment with the sculpture's function as a guider and guardian: As a matronly guider, the statute serves as a street sign by the railroad, pointing towards landmarks such as "Pasadena, Union Station, and the Southwest Museum" (p147). As a matronly guardian, the statute stands vertically and firmly, pointing towards the sky, providing courage to fight back against AIDS. Unlike the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt which was intended to be ephemeral,(p119) the statute is a permanent site that provides a spirit of resistance to the government's inactive attitude towards marginalized groups until AIDS fully disappears. Therefore, in the artwork "Gateway to Highland Park (2003)", the winged figure standing on the shoulder of the Ionic order, attaches a human spirit, the "essence", to the classic Greek aesthetics that tries to imitate the female body's natural shape, the "phenomenon".

Both "Histology of the Different Classes of Uterine Tumors (2005)" and "Gateway to Highland Park (2003)", when put into the context of the ancient pursuit of aesthetics of nature, generate their own philosophy that lies between Empiricism and Rationalism as they both captures some degree of the "essence" that is beyond physical traits of human beings. While my analysis covers only a specific angle of both artworks, it surely gives insights into where contemporary artworks lie in the philosophical spectrum in the history of art.

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