Objects That Talk

Here are the stories/ philosophical ideas that are expressed through objects.

[cma-african-art]

Figurine, late 1800s-early 1900s, Cleveland Museum of Art: African Art

The Delenne’s stumbled upon this group of seven anthropomorphic figurines (2010.437-443) in an antiques shop in Nice during a holiday in the south of France in 1961. The carvings carry paperboard labels with inscriptions in French that indicate their ethnic and geographic provenance as well as some other details. Stemming from the Kongo region in West Central Africa, these seven sculptures feature a variety of gestures and poses; the use of mirror or glass for the eyes; and a red-white-black color scheme. They belong to the broad category of minkisi (sing. nkisi), containers for medicines in which an ancestral spirit was believed to reside. Two of the group are minkisi of the nduda type, characterized by the attached “guns” loaded with gunpowder and used to shoot witches. Size: Overall: 34 x 9.5 x 25 cm (13 3/8 x 3 ¾ x 9 13/16 in.) Medium: wood and various other materials

https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.439

[objectsthattalk]

My Experience Will Be Yours As Well

Theme: Phenomenology

Question:

Do you think Phenomenology, which uses "embodied engagement" with places, is a viable approach for recreating the lived experience and meaning of past landscapes/buildings? Why or why not? Provide an example to demonstrate your point.

Answer:

To understand the function and purpose of a certain object we must acknowledge the relationship the object has with the person and what affects the perception of the object. The only way to interpret the object is to experience the object yourself. Because you are reacting to the appearance better yet when the object appears to perform in front of your eyes. Its meaning can only be extrapolated from the understanding of the object in your mind then told to the masses from your point of view. Going to view the CN tower can only be described if you had walked the streets of downtown to get the full experience the CN tower offers. And I can describe those feelings and understandings only through my experiences. We are the only one producing the material world so performing in the material world will happen if we like it or not.

By: Nicholas Bosco

[objectsthattalk]

Wearing your Values

Theme: Clothing

Questions:

What do you think makes clothing such a powerful example of material culture? Using the veil in Indonesia as your example, explain what values, norms and/or ideologies might be tied up in clothing?

Answer:

Clothing is a huge part of your identity, it can strengthen you connection to the world you live in. Clothing can give you the confidence to conduct yourself in the world. What you wear is a careful and moral decision on how you want others to perceive you. We live in a world where the stuff that we buy and wear say a lot about ourselves even though no words exchanged. This is the case during the Islamic resurgence in Indonesia during the 1970’s. Some of the women felt that by wearing the Jilbab had more to say about their identity as Muslim women. It shows he world that it's a alternative fashion statement to western fashion the country had experienced for many decades. The jilbab also is used to keep up modesty and privacy from the eyes of unrelated men and is accepted in the modern Islamic world.

By: Nicholas Bosco

[moma]

HOW TO SEE: Charles White

Missed our Charles White retrospective? Explore White’s technical prowess, his ability to depict “images of dignity,” and his groundbreaking collaboration with Harry Belafonte, alongside artist Toyin Ojih Odutola, exhibition curator Esther Adler, and MoMA staff, in our latest episode of HOW TO SEE.

[objectsthattalk]

Being Tech-savvy

Theme: Technology

Question:

How can technology shape society? How can the dissemination of printed materials (e.g. books, pamphlets, flyers, letters) via the printing press be so powerful? How was the way Protestanism spread similar to how information spreads today via social media like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram? Are there any differences?

Answer:

By making things more efficiently and practically the spread of ideas can reach a wider audience. With the introduction of the printing press your ideas can be in the hands of not only the elite but everyone else in the town. Using the printing press can now bring a new aspect to the conversation between people. Now people question whatever they read or see cause not everything is true or as what people make it seem. This is like social media today, many people now have the access to all sorts of information and now people have to sift through what is factual and what is not.

By: Nicholas Bosco

[objectsthattalk]

A Medium That Celebrates Private Possessions

Theme: Marxism

Question:

How does Marxist theory help us shed light on the production and consumption of art? How/why can art be a commodity?

Answer:

Marxism ever since its conception has always played its role in the lives we live in. Many people take for granted the social implications the ideology has in the ways we see. The oil paintings in the video capture something more than a striking image it explains many factors like what people owned, what people desire and more importantly what other people do not have. The oil paintings, in particular, are owned by the rich (bourgeoisie) and depict what the poor/workers (proletariat) cannot afford. So these paintings become more than an image painted it is seen as how you want others to view you. If you are seen with an oil painting it does all the talking for you about what you own, and how you want others to view you. This is why people must get their hands on the paintings because of what it represents. More specifically what you own.

By: Nicholas Bosco

[art-wallpapers]

Martin Rico y Ortega (1833 - 1908)

Venetian Canal

View of Paris from the Trocadero

Canal in Venice

Santa María della Salute de Venecia

A Spanish Garden

The Riva degli Schiavoni in Venice

La Torre de las Damas in the Alhambra, Granada

Doorway of a House in Toledo

Courtyard of the Palace of the Dux of Venice

[art-wallpapers]

Otto Dix (1891 - 1969)

Metropolis

Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden

Pragerstrasse

Three Prostitutes on the Street

Self-Portrait

Card-Playing War Cripples / The Skat Players

[objectsthattalk]

Forgiven Not Forgotten

Theme: Museums

Questions:

Museums have been viewed as "sites of memories" that "block the work of forgetting." How can museums, which have often originated as colonial collections of artifacts, provide an ethical narrative of Indigenous history? Provide a few examples of how this can be achieved.

Answer:

One of the many takeaways I get from class is this wrongfulness and unjustified understanding of collection these colonial groups have participated in throughout the centuries. From plundering to taking a souvenir to show the family back home, the colonial collection just really puts a real strain on the human story we (as archeologists/ cultural heritage groups) are trying to piece together. Now I am not saying all ways of the collection is bad, nor am I saying it is perfectly fine to take without really asking it just is mind-boggling to see or hear about the conception of museums (how dark it is). Today I am proud to say that there is some shift in the usefulness of collection through the consultation with various indigenous groups when asking to present artwork or artifacts found in the region of the indigenous peoples. It provides young museum-goers like myself to have a rich and meaningful understanding of the interaction of the western thinkers and non-western actors/prime movers in this case. In some cases, this can mean I could look at a spoon with a more critical eye rather than disregarding it as a mundane object. To sum up, my thoughts acknowledging the colonial collection were negative (which was forgiven) but it is turning into a positive (but not forgotten).

By: Nicholas Bosco

[objectsthattalk]

Going Worldwide

Theme: Globalization

Question:

Why is globalization pertinent to the study of material culture? What is "creolization" and how can it be viewed as a form of counter-globalization? 

Answer:

Objects, touch hands and are exchanged with many people with many different backgrounds. As the owners of the objects change the actual objects themselves carry an imposed meaning with them that they can represent or what they can say about a particular culture. This blending of cultures through objects attempts to make the cultures themselves equal and just leaving the remnants of a western culture imposed ideologically upon non-western identities. Creolization is the word used to describe the absorption of many cultures forming one homogeneous culture that emerges from the two seemingly different cultures. This culture usually a variation to what was western culture. An example of globalization is McDonald's, no matter who you as or where you are in the world, McDonald's has made their company known with their two “golden arches”. Even as a kid I knew what McDonald's was because of the logo.

By: Nicholas Bosco

[objectsthattalk]

Carbon Freezing Is Never the Answer to Conservation

Theme: Conservation

Question:

Should all cultural heritage objects be physically preserved for future generations? How can we preserve the intangible aspects of our heritage (e.g. customs, rituals, traditions, etc.)? Is the preservation of the intangible aspects of heritage an impediment to the preservation of tangible aspects?

Answer:

When I was thinking about this weeks theme, I had thought of a scene in Star Wars where Darth Vader froze Han Solo in the Carbonite Chamber. The parallel between freezing Han Solo and the conservation practises of museums back them have some startling similarities. In the conception of museums, people would go around collecting, objects taking them out of their commonplace and putting the object into a display case for people to look at. Now you could say the same about Han Solo, Darth Vader captured him and hanged him up on the wall like a trophy. As time moved forward many people were outraged at the representation of these objects/people. Objects have a function/ purpose that goes way beyond that we see being presented to a mass audience (what we see in museums or the walls of private collectors). So people had fought for a co-operative and collaborative approach to representing one’s tangible and intangible aspects of heritage. And if you breach the guidelines set forth there will be consequences!

In my opinion, we should preserve cultural heritage objects however, it should not be the actual object themselves may be a replica of some sort. I feel that there is an extremely fine line when it comes to representing and respecting one’s culture because it could hinder the message the curator is trying to present. By allowing other cultures to show the performance/ education side of the object to understand and respect the objects we can see/hear/feel and experience a deeper attachment to the object. By practising the conservation methods of the different cultures (like using the First Nation Conservation techniques) conservationists learn a thing or two on new techniques to protect the objects longer than western methods of conservation. I would also argue that the intangible aspects of heritage enhance the tangible by acknowledging the significance of the object it can convey the message of objects being important to the people creating/given meaning to them.

By: Nicholas Bosco

[andrascsuka]

Museum incident

[objectsthattalk]

The Trick Of The Trade

Theme: Collecting

The question was:

On who do you think is the onus/responsibility in acquiring legally sourced/purchased or authentic artifacts for the museum? The art dealer, auction house, museum curator, museum executives, etc.? Why? Do you think it makes a difference for visitors to museums? Explain.

So here’s my answer:

The art of collecting isn’t for the faint-hearted it requires one to jump through the cultural and legal obstacles that come your way... and that’s the easy part. Once the collector does his thing, flying into a foreign country, immersing himself into the country so much, has a coffee (or two), he then has this urge of picking up some extra souvenirs (you know to tie the room/workspace together). He returns home, either with the souvenirs on the person or the souvenirs arrive a few weeks later. Now he has to come up with an excuse for how he acquired said souvenirs so he “turns to the five myths” (Elia 2010). After all, that is done the souvenir turns out to be a priceless heirloom that he just so happened to have found. Now to me, this story sounds too good to be true but the people at the museums do not know that, nor they care how it has ended up in the museum. Matter of fact the patrons are glad it ended up in the museum and not in some private collection because then they will not be able to see it.

I believe it was Keyser Soze once said: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.” Turns out Keyser Soze was quoting Charles Baudelaire (a famous French poet). Well, the greatest trick the collectors/curators pull is that they prove time and time again, they are not the problem to the antiquity industry. If they are not hiring people to obtain the material for them or going in and taking a slice of the action everything would be simple. Unfortunately, the research the collectors do for finding a specific reason why they must have that priceless heirloom makes it okay for them to continue the practise they do. Mind you I too am a collector but there are right and wrong ways to do it and in the confines of material culture, through the collection practises museums have partaken in or continue to partake in are inherently wrong. But we are taking little shuffles in the right direction ending up at a masterpiece that only one could dream of and that is the portrait of an honest collector.

By: Nicholas Bosco

Works Cited:

R. J. Elia. “Mythology of the Antiquities Market.” In Cultural Heritage Issues: The Legacy of Conquest, Colonization, and Commerce, edited by J. A. R. Nafziger and A. M. Nicgorski. Leiden, NL: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2010, pp. 239-255.

The Usual Suspects by Bryan Singer

[objectsthattalk]

Looking Through A Window

Theme: Visual Culture

Question:

What is "visual culture"? How can the visual have "culture"? How does culture/society affect the way we view pictures?

Answer:

When I look at an object I find the meaning I get out of the object says more about me than the actual object itself. Visual culture is such a powerful tool when understanding the material world because we are looking at things with our eyes before we get a chance to immerse ourselves and experience the culture. The object is doing lots even though it just seems to “stay put”. In today’s context, thanks to technology one picture can walk, talk and take over people’s lives. It can make any picture seem important if the right kind of people are looking at it interpreting their kinds of meanings from it. The visual itself can be loaded with a particular political view or message which may seem minuscule but can change the way a culture thinks. Take for example the WW2 Uncle Sam posters. What we see is just an old dude wearing a hat covered head to toe in the American flag colours. What the message Uncle Sam is trying to tell is that “we need soldiers to fight for our freedom”. To the Germans, they used the same idea of the poster but made their own to combat the Americans. Other types of art, like paintings, drive home the fact about how women are the ones asserting themselves into a male ran society and men are the ones observing these pictures. This is why in most art pieces the nude woman is positioned in a way where she posing for the beholder (the man). So now it is hard to take a step back and describe what “visual” without acknowledging the biased culture has in the visual. At times it is easier to say we cannot understand a culture because we have not immersed ourselves in the culture, however you do not need to be in that specific place or time to understand what the culture is. That is where the visual comes into play.

By: Nicholas Bosco

[objectsthattalk]

Perceiving The Immaterial As Material

Theme: Scent, Sound and Colour

Question:

How can material objects be the extensions of the senses (e.g. smell, sound, touch, sight, etc.) even though these are immaterial? How might this be culturally variable?

Answer:

Our fondest memories come from our senses. Our minds and bodies are connected in ways that make it hard to draw the line on how we interpret things. So far we tried to view the experience of a particular object through the conversation we as individuals have with the object itself. Whether that be visually, politically, conceptually it all has something to do with a dialogue of some sort between man and object. This is interpreting objects through our other senses of hearing, smell, touch and well sight. We all perceive the world differently but as a collective, in society, there are things where people can tie other sorts of senses to a common judgment laid down by society. Some may call this hodgepodge of senses to produce the meaning of the object is called Synesthesia. In the reading Mesoamerican synesthesia was viewed in their writing however when reciting these poems, the reader would be dancing or signing hence adding more to the experience of the relationship between the material object and the immaterial senses.

By: Nicholas Bosco

[objectsthattalk]

One Way Or Another

Theme: Structuralism and Semiotics

Question:

Explain how the Structuralist approach views (material) culture like a language that can be decoded. Use the Kwakiutl festivals as your example to show how (material) culture can be decoded according to Structuralist principles (e.g. binary oppositions).

Answer:

Metaphors are good at putting an image/ idea in your mind of what something has the potential to become about what it truly is not. To paint a picture for the reader on how structuralism affects the way we perceive objects and the material world I will draw on the example of the Rosman and Rubel reading. In the reading, the authors discuss the social concepts and cultural values that were playing in the background during the Kwakiutl creations of the baxus and tsetsequa. The materials themselves (masks) are viewed as binary opposites meaning you know what one object is because the other does not fall into the same category, this was used as your true identity. The difference in the objects is socially motivated, at different times the testsequa (winter season) and Baxus (Summer Season). The winter is deemed of higher importance because there is some variation to the stories and dances seen both during the winter period and summer period. In the summertime, it is usually filled with a different variation of moves in the same dance. This just goes to show that culture cannot be understood in isolation- it must be viewed by taking a few steps back and looking at the bigger picture of what is going on.

By: Nicholas Bosco

[objectsthattalk]

A Mosaic Of Culture

Theme: Post-Structuralism and Post-Colonialism

Question:

In a post-colonial world, how might colonial ideologies and stereotypes influence art criticism and curation? Can art born in a post-colonial nation be free from all vestiges of prior colonialism? Should it be? 

Answer:

We live in a world where there is a beautiful mosaic of different cultures and religions. There is no social order of which way of thought is greater or lesser than. However in a post modern world the west and its ideology has spread to its eastern counter part leaving a large scar for the identity oneself. The idea of what is aesthetically beautiful is tainted with a colonial view on how beauty and aesthetics is interpreted and expressed. This in-turn has a strong influence on the curation and criticism of non-European art. Art born now during a post-colonial period will always have colonialism lingering. And unfortunately there is not much to change that because we have created too large of a gap from pre-colonialism. 

By: Nicholas Bosco