Part IV

Question 1

“before art, man created the……?”

Answer 1

Symbol -Gidieon

Question 2

“it was in the……. that the symbol was formed.”

Answer 2

Tombs -Gidieon

Question 3

What does” it was in the……. that the symbol was formed” mean?

Answer 3

Tomb is a consciousness of death, mine and others. What happens to everyone else will eventually happen to me. -Gidieon

Question 4

“……………….., eternally crying out for …………………”

Answer 4

Stands there like a tragic chorus. help and mercy - Gargas

Question 5

meaning of the hand

Answer 5

Invisible Powers- protection, averting of evil, aid in the success of some enterprise

Gargas Cave: handprints were made out of mutilated hands with many fingers cut off
This was either a funerary practice or to show of strength

Question 6

Eliade

Answer 6

sacred consciousness – definitions

Question 7

consecration of objects

Answer 7

Making objects religious

-controlling the relationship

Question 8

What was consciousness of early human species?

Answer 8

-The function of art in early society. -Being in the world rather tan just being part of it.

Question 9

The Sacred

Answer 9

Analytical sense. Meaning exponentially special. We cannot conceive it- like Kants sublime (tremendous power of the universe that is external to the human and instills terror and awe.) It is completely different than me and surrounds me. Basic religious motivation, motivates religion.

Question 10

The Profane

Answer 10

ordinary, secular

Not exactly profanity. Ordinary stuff. My body and my normal course of living life in the world. Secular- normal business of like.

Question 11

Profane and Sacred

Answer 11

A place of real danger. The Sacred must be protected from the profane or else it will be infected.

Question 12

Taboo

Answer 12

Rule to protect the sacred from the profane

• This is how we maintain the relationship with the sacred and profane.
• Exponentially forbidden. A set of rules that protect the sacred from the profane. Giving normal objects a feeling of sacredness.

Question 13

How and why did they use marks, sounds, objects?

Answer 13

Communication from human beings to powers that control our destiny. Communicate in a proper way so that it works right. Accounts for the mutilation of fingers. Handles in a regulated way to create super symbols.

Question 14

Icon

Answer 14

-a physical object that to the believer, it is an embodiment of the presence of God
Religious picture in which one can communicate with

-In the setting of devotional practice. Used to represent the image of saint/holy figure. He thinks it offends God snd brings about dire consequences.

Question 15

Iconoclast

Answer 15

The destroyer of icons. He shares the idea that the icon has the potential to influence the suprernatural figure.
He thinks it offends God and brings about dire consequences.

Question 16

Iconsalsm quotes

Answer 16

“Thou shall not bow down to these images or serve them”

-Had to be destroyed because they thought it was defacing God

Question 17

Example of Iconsalsm

Answer 17

• Taliban’s destruction of the 1500 year old Budda’s carved in a rock in Afghanistan.
• that painting in discussion of the virgin mary using cut out pictures of pornography

Question 18

Example of an Icon

Answer 18

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Question 19

Taliban’s argument

Answer 19

They see it as profane, an attack on God’s wrath. The consequence is internal damage. This relationship with God, concerning with profaning sacred touristy is a priority.

Question 20

Contemporary art iconoclasm and censorship

Answer 20

• Andres Serrano 1987: Piss Christ - he purchased a cheap crucifix and placed it in a vat of piss and photographed it
• David Wojnarowicz: show called Hide and Seek about the history of gay artists, video called a Fire in my Belly which had an image of a crucifix with ants crawling over it with some images painted on the cross as well

Question 21

Osborne on Medieval Aesthetics

Answer 21

Seems to think that the sensuous qualities of the visible world were suspect to the medieval mind

Question 22

What does Osborne mean?

Answer 22

Medieval mind sees the visible world as a symbol of the divine and those symbols have no meaning or importance except as a symbol.

Question 23

What is a didactic function of art?

Answer 23

Didactic art is intended to teach (Church educating rude/illiterate populace in Christian morality and doctrine)

Question 24

Steven Dubin: p. 228-230 are a useful summary, leading up to the collisions in contemporary culture. think of some examples – use the text.

Answer 24

-Religion remains a primary source of social values and identity despite Marx’s grim prediction about religion

-relgiously based controversies over art
demeaning portrayals of themselves
-Attempts to recast images threaten established centers of power
Of history and boundaries
-Art’s primary purpose is no longer transmission and exaltation of spiritual ideas…at present art is just (as likely to focus) on material values
-Sacred is transcendental and inspiring
-Profane is mundane and having much more transitory nature
-There is a sense of impending apocalypse for negative religious response in art
-Brings up Mapplethorpe
-Incorporation of sexual referents in traditional images
-Artists intentions are pointing out how consumer society exploits sacred symbols

Question 25

Steven Dubin- how are these contemporary examples different than conflicts between the iconoclasts and. icon users?

Answer 25

Before, it was just a matter of creating religious icons out of fear that people are creating objects that they will worship as opposed to God himself. Now, it is a matter of taking a religious image and portraying it in a more secular/shaming light? Example: Piss Christ.
-instead of having someone creating a religious icon that others disagreed with, people now create “religious” works that are purposefully blasphemous

Question 26

Steven Dubin-In those earlier conflicts is it fair to say both sides were in a sacred mode? Now, it seems to be sacred vs. secular

Answer 26

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