Week 8 - Industrialisation Industrialisation and Cao Fei's RMB City

THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

Week 8 - Industrialisation

Industrialisation and Cao Fei's RMB City

Dynamism of a dog on a Leash (1912) Giacomo Balla

Industrialisation in the late 1800s, and today.

RMB City (2007-9)  Cao Fei

The artists of the late 1800's and early 1900's, in Europe, were influenced by the Industrial revolution.

1. What and when was the Industrial Revolution?
The industrial revolution was a time period when Europe began to be industralised rapidly with power-driven machinery and manufacturing. Inventions  like electricity, railroads and advancements in communications happened in that time and the European world forged ahead. 

Both paintings featured on this blog, that are from the early 1900s were painted by Modernist painters from the group called 'Futurists'. The Futurists celebrated the machine, and objects in motion. Their primary objective was to depict movement, which they saw as symbolic of their commitment to the dynamic forward thrust of the 20th century.

2. Research both Modernist paintings in order to comment on the subject matter, form and style used to celebrate the machine and motion in each painting. Answer the question in 2 parts for each painting.

UMBERTO BOCCIONI-

The City Rises

This painting records the building of an electrical power plant. The painting is dominated by the constant moving figure of masculine men who are slaving away to get the job done. It is  typically a Modernists painting beacause it shows the advancement of times and the results of that being; making way for new buildings or factories, in this case an electrical power plant. The painting is energetic and lively showing movement in an urban setting, it celebrates and beautifies the progress that is taking place. 

DYNAMISM OF A DOG ON A LEASH-

GIACOMO BALLA 

In this painting Balla aims to record the movement of the scurrying dachshund. Beside the dachshund is its owner who is a lady, it looks as though she is also scampering around like her dog, her skirt looks clumsy and as though she might trip over it. The word "dynamism" was used to describe the modern machine world, so it is said to be comical to describe this mere little dog by using such a powerful word.

Cao Fei's RMB City (2007-9) refers to China's recent rapid industialisation and urbanization.

(www.artspace.org.nz/exhibitions/2009/cafeintopia.asp)

3. Research Cao Fei's RMB City (2007-9)  in order to comment on this work in more depth.

Cao Fei RMB City is based around the rapid advancement of her home country China. Cao Fei was born and raised in Guangzhou China where in the early 1990's art was greatly influenced by rapid urbanisation. Her work is influenced by the electronic world of entertainment and pop culture. Cao Fei makes her characters look magical she places them in the midst of the city to add a sense of  fantasy which is acts as an escape from mundane city life.

i.e describe the images that has she used in her digital collage that refer to China's present and history, and explain why has she used these images.

In the title RMB stands for 'renminbi' (chinese) which means people's money in English. The work combines real symbols of China for example the national flag and the panda. At the top there is a rotating ferris wheel that leads to the People's Heroes. There are also well known places in China for example Feilai Temple, the Grand National Theatre found in Beijing. Over the city hovers gigantic planes and floating statutes of Mao Zedong who used to be the leader of China. The real and virtual subjects in the painting cover boundaries between the past and future, and depicts China as cosmopolitan and contemporary.

4. RMB City is described as a utopia/dystopia. Comment on what these terms mean, and how they can be applied to the work.

Utopia refers to an idyllic place where it is perfect in all social, political and moral aspects. Dystopia is "an imaginary place where the conditions and quality of life are unpleasant. " (Farlex Inc 2012) it is the opposite of utopia. 

These two terms can be applied to the work because it paints an image of China that it fantasy like it makes the viewer feel as though its wonderland, an idyllic place, almost like a dream come true. The symbols in the painting are real Cao Fei has taken China's heroes and well known places and have put them altogether into one City. However it has a double meaning at the same time Cao Fei is showing the bad effects of China's rapid advancement, where city life has become mundane, oppressive and unenjoyable. It feels unnatural to live in such a place.

5. Although the Modernist paintings and the contemporary digital work have emerged from different contexts, there are also many similarities. Comment on the similarities that you can see in the work. Look at the moving digital image at vimeo.com/4272260, if you have not already researched it.

One similarity between Modernist paintings and a contemporary digital work are the movement that we see in both. The whispy strokes and thrust that is felt in the two. Movement represents the advancement that has been made it illustrates the progress of technology and inventions, that occur constantly in today's world. The Second similarity is colour for example looking at "The City Rises" and "RMB City" we see  vibrant colours used in both this depicts liveliness and dynamism, to show the energy that arises when urbanisation occurs. 

References

http://www.mutualart.com/OpenArticle/Cao-Fei--Building--RMB-City-/5A8FD7ADF04F9369

http://interventionsjournal.net/2012/01/26/rmb-city-spectatorship-on-the-boundaries-of-the-virtual-and-the-real/

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/utopia

http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/work/173/index.html