Test one

Question 1

Q: How does Maurice Merleau-Ponty say we experience the world?

Answer 1

A: We experience the world through a combination of vantage points and
memory.

Question 2

Q: Simone de Beauvoir says women are defined exclusively…

Answer 2

A: Simone de Beauvoir says that women are defined exclusively in their relation
to men. That is to say that in things such as myths, women are defined by the
men whose company they keep/ are in relationships with and don’t exist as
full characters, but rather simply accessories of strong men.

Question 3

3 According to Benjamin, what did the Dadaists achieve?

Answer 3

The destruction of Aura.

Question 4

According to Clement Greenberg what does a painting by Picasso require that a painting by Repin does not?

Answer 4

According to Greenberg appreciation or understanding a painting by Picasso requires intelligence, educational conditioning, thought. Repin does not.

Question 5

What do the synchronized movements of the Tiller girls mimic, according to Siegfried Kracauer?

Answer 5

In short: the Tiller Girls mimic the capitalist factory, distraction factories, or capitalism itself. the mass ornament.

Question 6

As relayed by Anne D’Alleva, C.S. Peirce said an iconic sign is one that…?

Answer 6

!!!An iconic sign is one that resembles or imitates the signified(the tree).!!!

Question 7

What are the different systems developed by Saussure and Peirce?

Answer 7

Saussure developed the signified and signifier relationship (The signifier is the form that the sign takes (the word “tree”), while the signified is the concept it represents (a tree).

Pierce on the other hand developed sign, icon, index taking Sausser’s work one step further. Icon, index and symbol are three basic means why which signs are identified. The icon is a representational signifier: it is what it appears to be (a white flower). A symbol is something that does not resemble the signified, but instead alludes to something else as virtue of tradition (the white flower symbolizes purity). An index is an inferred signifier; it points to something that isn’t visible (smoke would be an index for fire, the character in Munch’s The Scream would be an index for fear, terror, pain, or a psychological disorder).

Question 8

What is the ultimate challenge in fighting the unconscious structured like a language
according to Laura Mulvaney?”

Answer 8

Recreating language, which was crated by the patriarchal order and thus an impossible tool to use for changing the representations of women in culture.

Question 9

According to Lacan, what happens during a child’s Mirror-phase?”

Answer 9

The young child’s identification with his own image (what Lacan terms the “Ideal-I” or “ideal ego”), a stage that occurs anywhere from 6-18 months of age. For Lacan, this act marks the primordial recognition of one’s self as “I,”

Question 10

What element is even the most perfect reproduction of work of art lacking,
according to Walter Benjamin?”

Answer 10

its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.”its presence in time and space

Question 11

According to Sarte, to see the other is to understand what?

Answer 11

That the universe and everything in it doesn’t exist just for you

Question 12

Short Answer: Marxism

Answer 12

Marxism is based on the theories of Karl Marx. Mark was all about creating a classless system in society. He believed that everything was done in service to the economy- economy drives the superstructure- it is the driving force behind everything- art, politics, culture, religion- which promotes cultural hegemony(keeping the poor down. pushed for and open and non dogmatic ideology, believed that art can be a tool of the bourgeois and proletariat. believed that material goods are at the root of the social world. According to Marx, social life is fundamentally about conflict over food, land, money, and other material goods. Marx believed that the ideal government would be a Marxist state where resources are equally shared. Believed in cultural hegemony- the use of culture by the bourgeoisie to brainwash the masses to think that they are working for you but actually just keeping you down.

Question 13

Aura

Answer 13

Aura is the essence of the original piece- it can have root in ritual and tradition. When a piece of art is created it has something- it’s time and place in the space which it was created but also society gives it it’s aura, it’s worth, it’s irreverence. The aura in art includes the atmosphere of detached and transcendent beauty and power supporting cultic societies. It also includes the legitimacy accorded to the object by a lengthy historical existence. Aura perpetuates the ideals of the bourgeoisie. The aura does not reside in the object- we give it that. (this was discussed in the Benjamin article- he was all for the destruction of aura in art believed that art needs to lose its function and ritual and start to be in service of politic p.s. he’s a Marxist). George Zimmerman art has an aura because Zimmerman is famous, and is making lots of money because of it. The decrease in social significance speaks to the removal of aura then the distinction between criticism and enjoyment by the public goes up. Theater has an aura, film does not,

Question 14

Scopophilia-

Answer 14

Scopophilia- Scopophilia is usually defined as essentially the love of watching. Voyeuristic | plot stopping, the sadistic desire the punishment or forgiveness of a previous sin or lack. Fetishistic | filler, building up the beauty until it’s and object (Marilyn monroe, binding of the feet, suppressive costumes i.e. high heels. Narcissistic | Looking at other people and seeing yourself in them upon, putting yourself in the hero role, they move the plot forward. This can be viewed as being akin to voyeurism. Movie viewing is often seen to be a voyeuristic act, as the viewer sits in a darkened room and watches other people go through aspects of lives, seemingly unaware of his or her presence. Men in Mulvey’s writings can be said to have narcissistic scopophilia when viewing cinema, in that they often times see other men in films as vessels or extensions of themselves, allowing them to conquer women and become the alpha male. Along with this, cinema allows males the opportunity to objectify and stare at women in a culturally accepted way

Question 15

Phenomenology

Answer 15

“Phenomenology, a 20th century philosophical movement dedicated to describing the structures of experience as they present themselves to consciousness, without recourse to theory, deduction, or assumptions from other disciplines such as the natural sciences. …

What Husserl discovered when he contemplated the content of his mind were such acts as remembering, desiring, and perceiving, in addition to the abstract content of these acts, which Husserl called meanings. These meanings, he claimed, enabled an act to be directed toward an object under a certain aspect; and such directedness, called intentionality, he held to be the essence of consciousness. “

“Literally, phenomenology is the study of “phenomena”: appearances of things, or things as they appear in our experience, or the ways we experience things, thus the meanings things have in our experience. Phenomenology studies conscious experience as experienced from the subjective or first person point of view.”

In relation to Marice Merleau-Ponty- when you look at something you inhabit it- you project. Everything is a reflection of itself, you make it whole with your experiences past and present- phenomenology.

Question 16

Kitsch-

Answer 16

Kitsch can be defined as something that is seen as cheap, tacky, or just generally in bad taste. In the art world, we might define a piece. This can pertain to Greenberg’s discussion on Avant Garde and Kitsch. According to greenberg its art that is pulled from what we know that imitates the avant garde, watered down, for the masses, less cultured, not conditioned or educated to appreciate the high art.
Alexandrianism is kitsch in the old days Romans imitating the greeks, not moving the ideas or techniques forward a mere representation.
Does not move culture forward.

Question 17

Sign, Signifier, Signified

Answer 17

(D’Alleva, Anne. “Semiotics” in Methods and Theories of Art History. Blackboard)

According to the Swiss linguist Saussure, who studied semiotics and is considered one of its most prolific philosophers, the sign (anything interpreted as a sign) consists of two parts: the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the form that the sign takes (the word “tree”), while the signified is the concept it represents (a tree). Therefore, all things signified and signifier but be culturally learned; a person who doesn’t speak english would not recognize the word “tree” as a sign, just as an english-speaker may not recognize “arbre” as a sign for “tree,” while a French speaker would. This is in contrast to Pierce, an American forefather of semiotic study, who argues that a sign is made up of three parts: the symbol, icon and index. The symbol is an arbitrary signifier which does not resemble the signified (“tree”), an icon is a representational signifier (a picture of a tree), and an index an inferred signifier (leaves).

Question 18

Icon, Index, Symbol

Answer 18

(D’Alleva, Anne. “Semiotics” in Methods and Theories of Art History. Blackboard)

Icon, index and symbol are three basic means why which signs are identified, as theorized by Charles Sanders Peirce. The icon is a representational signifier: it is what it appears to be (a white flower). A symbol is something that does not resemble the signified, but instead alludes to something else as virtue of tradition (the white flower symbolizes purity). An index is an inferred signifier; it points to something that isn’t visible (smoke would be an index for fire, the character in Munch’s The Scream would be an index for fear, terror, pain, or a psychological disorder). Typically items belong to more than one category, as in the case of the white flowers, but interpretations are culturally and socially learned (the color white has come to symbolize purity in western cultures, but may not have the same meaning in other cultures and thus would be interpreted differently).

Symbol: alludes to something by tradition
Icon: Representational if you know what the thing is you will know the icon to be associated with with it.
Index: Points to something that is not in the picture.

Question 19

ID, Ego, Superego

Answer 19

From (D’Alleva, Anne. “Psychology and Perception in Art” in Methods and Theories of Art History. Blackboard)

Freud developed the id, ego and superego as a method of translating psychological phenomena. While Freud’s theories have been widely disputed today, his ideas remain revolutionary in deciphering the mind and human behavior patterns. D’Alleva explains the id as the “part devoted to the pleasure principle, the part that can’t suppress or defer pleasure, but instead always demands immediate gratification” (P90). The id, therefore, embodies both a pleasure principle and a death wish and is something we are born with and remains with us throughout our lives- this is your crazy do anything be wild side. The ego is the aspect of ourselves which “understands that sometimes it’s preferable, even safer, to delay gratification” Ego grows stronger and stronger in the youth so you have control. (P90). We are also born with this and it becomes the “I.” While the ego is responsible for controlling the id, Freud argues that the id still manages to escape in (usually) small doses which are seen in Freudian slips, art, our unconscious, ect. The superego, lastly, is the pshycological (ideas) part of us which we are not born with. It is responsible for morals, ethics and other codes which we follow as part of a society. It can be divided into both the conscience (what is right and wrong) and the ego ideal (what we’ve been told by society is the ideal life). Because of this constant battle between the two conflicting parts within us, Freud sees art as an accurate way of exposing the repressed desires and emotions within us because art is generally a purely emotional release.

Question 20

Myth/Idol (Simone DeBeauvoir)”

Answer 20

Myths according to Beauvoir have been constructed in a manner that places women in a
subservient position. “Woman thus seems to be the inessential who never goes back to being the essential, to be the absolute Other, without reciprocity.” This is reflected in both women’s position in patriarchal creation myths where women are not created “as and end in herself” but merely as a plaything for man; ultimately created to placate man’s boredom and women in myth are defined by and in her relation to man. This is a direct path to the duality of women in myth, they are at once the whore and the virgin, “an idol, a servant, the source of life, a power of darkness; she is the elemental silence of truth, she is artifice, gossip, and falsehood; she is healing presence and sorceress; she is man’s prey, his downfall, she is everything that he is not and that he longs for, his negation and his raison d’être.”!

“Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with absolute truth.”

In creation stories Woman is created for man from man, or in Greek mythology they are defined in relation to man a (dualistic whore/virgin death/creator) she is everything he is not and that he longs for his negation and his reason to live

p151-152

All the idols made by man (however terrifying they may be) are in fact subordinate to him. That is why he will always have it in his power to destroy them. (Men create idols and therefore can destroy them).

The basics- idol speaking to the fact that idols being created by man can be destroyed by man. We take women and ornament them - like with scopophilia (foot binding, heels) - men wishes her to be carnal and beautiful/ organic and pristine

Idol is objectification- creation by man and therefore ability to destroy.
Myth- the stories that have been created around women and very ingrained in us and our society, damsel in distress, whore…
(P152) Myth- creation myth duality of women within greek myths

Question 21

Real, Imaginary, Symbolic

Answer 21

Real, Imaginary, Symbolic
http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/psychoanalysis/lacanstructure.html!
Lacan’s theory of the evolution of self.

The Real: (0-6 months old): with no sense of Self, feelings are dominate. The closest to nature that we get as humans. There is nothing in our existence but need and the search for satisfaction.

From Purdue:

The Real. A state in which there is nothing but need. A baby needs and seeks to satisfy those needs with no sense for any separation between itself and the external world or the world of others. Lacan sometimes represents this state of nature as a time of fullness or completeness that is subsequently lost through the entrance into language. The primordial animal need for copulation (for example, when animals are in heat) similarly corresponds to this state of nature. There is a need followed by a search for satisfaction. As far as humans are concerned, however, “the real is impossible,” as Lacan was fond of saying. It is impossible in so far as we cannot express it in language because the very entrance into language marks our irrevocable separation from the real. Still, the real continues to exert its influence throughout our adult lives since it is the rock against which all our fantasies and linguistic structures ultimately fail- something that can never be returned to, that we are always searching for- which everything fails to accomplish. The real for example continues to erupt whenever we are made to acknowledge the materiality of our existence, an acknowledgement that is usually perceived as traumatic (since it threatens our very “reality”), although it also drives Lacan’s sense of jouissance.

The Imaginary: (6-18 months old): a primarily narcissistic stage, where need becomes demand. here we are forever separated from the Real. The Mirror-Phase begins to aid in the unarticulated (“before it is objectified in the dialectic of identification with the other, and before language restores to it its function as subject”)formation and perception of Imago.

From Purdue:

The Imaginary Order. This concept corresponds to the mirror stage (see the Lacan module on psychosexual development) and marks the movement of the subject from primal need to what Lacan terms "demand." As the connection to the mirror stage suggests, the "imaginary" is primarily narcissistic even though it sets the stage for the 
fantasies of desire. (For Lacan's understanding of desire, see the next module.) Whereas needs can be fulfilled, demands are, by definition, unsatisfiable; in other words, we are already making the movement into the sort of lack that, for Lacan, defines the human subject. Once a child begins to recognize that its body is separate from the world and its mother, it begins to feel anxiety, which is caused by a sense of something lost. The demand of the child, then, is to make the other a part of itself, as it seemed to be in the child's now lost state of nature (the neo-natal months). The child's demand is, therefore, impossible to realize and functions, ultimately, as a reminder of loss and lack. (The difference between "demand" and "desire," which is the function of the symbolic order, is simply the acknowledgement of language, law, and community in the latter; the demand of the imaginary does not proceed beyond a dyadic relation between the self and the object one wants to make a part of oneself.) The mirror stage corresponds to this demand in so far as the child mis recognizes in its mirror image a stable, coherent, whole self, which, however, does not correspond to the real child (and is, therefore, impossible to realize). The image is a fantasy, one that the child sets up in order to compensate for its sense of lack or loss, what Lacan terms an "Ideal-I" or "ideal ego." That fantasy image of oneself can be filled in by others who we may want to emulate in our adult lives (role models, et cetera), anyone that we set up as a mirror for ourselves in what is, ultimately, a narcissistic relationship. What must be remembered is that for Lacan this imaginary realm continues to exert its influence throughout the life of the adult and is not merely superseded in the child's movement into the symbolic (despite my suggestion of a straightforward chronology in the last module). Indeed, the imaginary and the symbolic are, according to Lacan, inextricably intertwined and work in tension with the Real. 

The Symbolic: (the rest of your life): From need comes demand, and from demand comes language. The Symbolic stage is where we enter into language, and narrative. In beginning to accept societal conventions (“Name-of-the-Father”), according to Lacan, we perpetuate the Oedipus complex.

From Purdue:
The Symbolic Order (or the “big Other”). Whereas the imaginary is all about equations and identifications, the symbolic is about language and narrative. Once a child enters into language and accepts the rules and dictates of society, it is able to deal with others. The acceptance of language’s rules is aligned with the Oedipus complex, according to Lacan. The symbolic is made possible because of your acceptance of the Name-of-the-Father, those laws and restrictions that control both your desire and the rules of communication: “It is in the name of the father that we must recognize the
support of the symbolic function which, from the dawn of history, has identified his person with the figure of the law” (Écrits 67). Through recognition of the Name-of-the-Father, you are able to enter into a community of others. The symbolic, through language, is “the pact which links… subjects together in one action. The human action par excellence is originally founded on the existence of the world of the symbol, namely on laws and contracts” (Freud’s Papers 230). Whereas the Real concerns need and the Imaginary concerns demand, the symbolic is all about desire, according to
Lacan. (For more on desire, see the next module.) Once we enter into language, our desire is forever afterwards bound up with the play of language. We should keep in mind, however, that the Real and the Imaginary continue to play a part in the evolution of human desire within the symbolic order. The fact that our fantasies always fail before the Real, for example, ensures that we continue to desire; desire in the symbolic order could, in fact, be said to be our way to avoid coming into full contact with the Real, so that desire is ultimately most interested not in obtaining the object of desire but, rather, in reproducing itself. The narcissism of the Imaginary is also crucial for the establishment of desire, according to Lacan: “The primary imaginary relation provides the fundamental framework for all possible erotism. It is a condition to which the object of Eros as such must be submitted. The object relation must always submit to the narcissistic framework and be inscribed in it” (Freud’s Papers 174). For Lacan, love begins here; however, to make that love “functionally realisable” (to make it move beyond scopophilic narcissism), the subject must reinscribe that narcissistic imaginary relation into the laws and contracts of the symbolic order: “A creature needs some reference to the beyond of language, to a pact, to a commitment which constitutes him, strictly speaking, as an other, a reference included in the general or, to be more exact, universal system of interhuman symbols. No love can be functionally realisable in the human community, save by means of a specific pact, which, whatever the form it takes, always tends to become isolated
off into a specific function, at one and the same time within language and outside of it” (Freud’s Papers 174). The Real, the Imaginary, and the Symbolic thus work together to create the tensions of our psychodynamic selves.

Fragmented body is two forms: the one where we’re destroying ourselves in dreams (breaking down of the ego) also the formation of the I (fortress) = building up of ego. In mirror phase we’re doing one of these things at all times. (building ego or destroying ego) Also in mirror phase: innenwelt to umwelt (sp?) innerworld to outerworld – we are taking what we thought was inside of us and placing it outside of us because we ar erecognizing that there are others besides ourselves. Break from imaginary to symbolic comes from LANGUAGE and, thus, structure of culture we’re in.

NEED, MIRROR, LANGUAGE