Arte fotografia e intelligenza artificiale

Il grande animatore Miyazaki si è scagliato contro le immagini realizzate con l'intelligenza artificiale. In prima istanza mi sentirei di condividere questa posizione ma ricordo che alla fine del XIX secolo l'arte andò incontro a una crisi mortale a causa della nascita della fotografia, crisi a cui rispose prima l'impressionismo cercando di imitare l'effetto fotografico e poi l'arte moderna da Picasso a Duchamp in modo ancora più radicale, abbandonando la mimesi stessa. Se l'arte moderna manca della perizia tecnica imitativa  (apparentemente) dell'arte classica è perché la mimesi aristotelica è realizzata in modo molto più perfetto dalla fotografia. L'arte moderna e poi quella contemporanea hanno scelto altre strade che talora reinventano la mimesi classica ma che comunque privilegiano il momento espressivo su quello imitativo

Poesia

 nessuno sa bene cosa siano arte e poesia, però De Chirico ci suggerisce che consisterebbero nel far vedere quello che non si vede.

Sgarbi arte contemporanea e arte antica

 Questo

video mi ha colpito, prima di tutto perché Sgarbi dice quello che pensa e non quello che fa comodo al suo padrone (e la cosa assurda è che il padrone se lo sceglie per divertimento e non percHé faccia parte di una cordata politica). secondo poi perché afferma un concetto che ho ripetutto tante volte in questo blogghetto, cioè che ci sono fortissime somiglianze tra l'arte del '900 e l'arte del Rinascimento. Però il discorso di Sgarbi ancorché giusto è un  po' superficiale - certamente l'arte è al di là del tempo, ma le somiglianze che si vedono tra Antonello e Fontana non le vedi tra Tintoretto e Fontana - il Rinascimento assomiglia così profondamente al secolo scorso perché anch0esso è stato un secolo di ultravanguardia.

Realism in contemporary art

It is not true that the art of XX century abandoned realism. The 12 horses of Iannis Kounellis are more realistc than a horse paintend on canvas (in fact they are the actual horses). The artists of modern and contemporary art are in search of the truth exactly as Rafael, Tiziano and Caravaggio. What these artists abandoned is the search for beauty:

In the 19th century the aim of painting was no more truth but bueaty, This was completely reversed in 20th century.

Futurismo

Il futurismo stra profondamente nelle corde dell'arte italiana - chissà percjé. Solo che curiosamente mentre la versione dell'inizio del XX secolo già si vedeva dove sarebbe andata a finire (nel fascismo), quella ripresa negli anni '70 (Schifano, Matia Bazar, Dalla o meglio il suo poeta) è stata radicalmente e rivoluzionariamente di sinistra.

Capodimonte, concettuale

Sono recentemente stato al museo di Capocimonte di Napoli, che ha tra le sue più peculiari caratteristiche una piccola ma eccellente sezione contemporanea. E come spiegato dallo stesso museo, c'è una perfetta continuità tra le collezioni antiche e quelle del '900. Prendiamo per esempio questo Sanr'Andrea. La croce rossa, assolutamente irreale, non ha nulla di realistico, ma è concettuale anche più che un'opera di Pistoletto o Kosuth.

Geniuses are stealers

Picasso said that good artist copy but geniuses steal. The reason is that cubism was not invented by him, but by African artistis. The "demoiselles d'Avignon" pays hommage to Africa in the ugly mask on the right (in fact it is unvolountarily a short hisotry of African art, from the striking realism of Ife and Nok cultures to the almost abstract art of Yoruba)

But Picasso was too modest (as often geniuses are): 1) first of all, everybody thought that African masks and statues were little more than the horrid attempts of half-monkeys (realistc figures were still unknown); only a genius like Picasso could understand the sophistication and conciousness of African art 2) Picasso at least did a work of translation of African art into Western canons. In particular, African artist make no preparatory drawings, whereas "les demoiselles d'Avignon" was carefully prepared and is obviously the product of a sublime master of drawing

Cerco un centro di gravità permanente

"Cerco un centro di Gravità Permanente" di Battiato è un po' come le "Demoiselle d'Avignon": spiega in modo estremamente chiaro (per chi sa guardarlo) tutto quello che farà dopo.

Muccino e Pasolini

Umberto Eco una volta disse che si può anche dire che Dante era un cattivo poeta, ma solo dopo 50 pagine di fitta analisi testuale. Il problema di Muccino che critica Pasolini perché non ha tecnica cinematografica non è tanto un mediocre che critica un gigante, quanto che non c'è argomentazione, come nelle chiacchere da bar. Tra l'altro, è abbastanza divertente che non si sia accorto che il carattere naif della tecnica cinematografica di Pasolini, assai evidente, rientra pienamente nello stile delle ricerca artistiche di avanguardia del secondo dopoguerra, che disprezzano la tecnica, da Duchamp al punk.

Cucina, avanguardie artistiche e estetizzazione della vita

In Italia, la centralità ,per non dire l'ossessione, del cibo non è certo nuova, però recente è la divizzazione degli chef, che sono diventate delle vere star. In parte è una moda, in parte è segno del raggiunto benessere (tanti che una volta si potevano permettere al massimo pane e mortadella oggi possono togliersi lo sfizio di un buon risotrante), però in parte è un fenomeno più profondo e generale, quello dell'estetizzazione della vita. Fare della vita un'opera d'arte, idea nata nel XIX secolo, è forse il motivo conduttore di tutta l'arte moderna, dagli arts and crafts al Bauhaus alla Soziale Plastik di Beuys. E il programma, sperimentato dalle avanguardie, ha avuto uno straordinario successo. Siamo circondati da oggetti materiali e immateriali (per esempio i video) informati dalla ricerche estetiche delle avanguardie. Il cinema per esempio è stato profondamente influenzato dal cubismo. E la cucina non fa eccezione.

Contemporary art in Rome, where it is and where it is not (at MAXXI)

If you want to seecontemporary art in Rome, don't go in the official institutions, MAXXI and MACRO and the rare exhibitions.  The only places in Rome where you find contemporary art (apart from a few outstanding examples of street art) are underground realities, in particular Forte Prenestino and MAAM (Metropoliz), both on the road Prenestina. Forte Prenestino hosts true treasures, for instance the graffiti of Blue, and I suspect that a rich collectionist would crave such pieces of art. MAAM has more amateurish pieces (with notable exceptions), but it represents something unique: it is not a collection of works, but a collective work, where single pieces are only elements of a whole. The Galleria Borghese has some similarity, since its countless masterpieces are connected in a sort of Gesamtkunstwerk.

Passepartout

Passepartout aveva molti livelli di lettura, ma proprio per questo veniva capito da tutti, dal più sofisticato al più semplice. Gli unici che non ci capivano niente erano i dirigenti raccomandati della RAI che infatti l'hanno chiuso.

P.S.Contrary to a common opinion i raccomandati abbondano anche a Mediaset e nel privato tutto.

Francis Bacon (the ancient master of the moderns)

Francis Bacon is an autodidact. He learned to paint studying the ancient masters, whose techniques he master wonderfylly, and this is probably a his biggest strenght, since he is fully contemporary and yet he paints like an ancient.

MAAM-MAXXI

When Walter Veltroni created the MAXXI, he watned to create the Roamn ewuivalent of the Beaugourg. The operation failed, not only because, after having spent billions to build the building,. They had no more money to buy the art to put into the container, but mainly because museum of modern art are daramatically different from museum of classic art. Museum of classic art are collections, with the objective of displaying the history of art, of simply for the amusement of the visitors. A museum of contemporary art is mainly a place wher the artistic world meets – artists but also critics, collectionists, the public.And nobody meets in the MAXXI, apart from families with little children.

The failure of the MAXXI was the first idea that catched my mind when I visited the MAAM, a strange museum in a squat in an abandonend factory in the suburbs of Rome. Here there are 400 pieces of art – and here the artistic world of Rome meet, and the context is not designed by an archistar but is new and fascinating like the Beaubourg when it was build in the 80’s.

But why MAAM succeded where MAXXI failed? The problem is that only the king can found big institution of art – like the Uffizi, the Louvre and the Beaubourg. In Rome, the last king was Tarquinius the Superb (apart from Totti), and the power passed to the Senate and the People of Rome (Senatus populusque romanus). The Senate is the church, and the people is .. the people. And the people of Rome is the people of the suburbs, the people that occupied the abandoned factory and that has the power to commit artists to embellish his dwelling.

The people of the MAAM like to compare their effort to the artistis of Mediaeval cathedral. They say so because they reject the artist as god that arose in the XVIth century and became so annoying in the XXth, but the art of the cathedrals was for the glory of god. When I walk the rooms of the MAAM I feel more like in the Vatican Stanzas, and it is no case that one of the paintings is named “La Cappella Porcina” (The Swines’ Chapel). Michelangelo Pistoletto, in a video, thinks to something like the “Soziale Plastik” (this is not suprising, he deruives from Beuys), but here again I think there is a misunderstanding: here the squatters are not like Beuys, they are more like Peggy Guggenheim (the home of Peggy Guggenheim in Venice reminds strongly the MAAM).

It is perhaps surprising that such an enterprise occurs in a period where market and money are the only legitimate power and political power is scowled at; but perhaps not.

Ut pictura poesis

I always wonder at the abyss of my ignorance. I did not know the saying "ut pictura poesis" - famous at is can be. It is finely discussed in the english version of wikipedia. The idea has been widely criticized. In a previous post I reversed the statement, referring to contemporary art, and I don't know if it is more tenable in this form.

MAXXI

Come si sa, il MAXXI –uno dei tre musei di arte contemporanea di Roma, versa in cattive acque. Per pubblicizzarsi di fronte al vasto pubblico, ha fatto una campagna pubblicitaria piuttosto efficace. Lo slogan era “lo sfidi, ti trasforma”. Dicevo in un altro post che il soggetto all’arte contemporanea è l’esperienza. Questa esperienza ricorda molto l’ indovinello della sfinge, che rappresentano ovviamente un momento inziatico nella vita di Edipo. Che poi non era un granché difficile.

Art and poetry

I often hear contemporary artist that, in order to explain the ridde of contemporary art to the laymen, liken their work to music. Music doesn’t represents things (with a few exception such as “Le Quattro Stagioni” by Vivaldi), and yet it conveys emotions. But I think that this likening is somewhat ill conceived. Contemproary art does represents things – actually, it imitates things so well that it usually present the thing that should be represented itself! Kounelli’s horses is so good an imitation of 12 horses that the horses … are actual horses in a staple! Morevoer, the feelings that arise from a piece of art are probably more mental than the very direct emotions raisen by music. Bach is very mathematical, and yet it is full of passion; the deep pleasure I feel when I look a performance of Rikriit Tirvanja is almost completely intellectual. This intellectual side of art is not new to contemporary art: Mona Lisa is nice to contemplate, but becomes terribly involving only after understanding.

In my opinion, a better likening would be with poetry. Poetry is basically grounded in metaphor, and it seems to me that the same can be said of contemporary art. When Damien Hirst arranges hundreds of pills on glass shelves he makes a metaphor; when Jeff Koons puts his electric hoovers on a pedestal he is doing an hyperbole (another rhetoric figure). Metaphor ethymologically means transport, and Duchamp’s ready made are “transported” from their original context into a new environemt. Art of the first half of the XXth century is still mimetic, although it is the mimesis of the not representable (Kandinskyj tries to represent spiritual entities, Malevic the fourth dimension), art of the second half of the XXth century is metaphoric. It is perhaps a coincidence, but many – well informed and by no way conservative – don’t like it and found it … rhetorhic, giving unjustly the fault to the market of art.

Metaphor is a short circuit, that flashes reality and illuminates – hopefully – the hidden meanings of things. The subject of classical art is truth, the subject of poetry and contemporary art are experience. The difference is not big, but important.

History of art

Philippe Daverio, the art.., says that the traditional classification into periods dates to XIX century, when modern art was Raphael and contemporary art was Hayek, and that it has do be deeply rethinked. To my knowledge, he has not put down explicitly a new periodization, but, from sparse hints, it seems to be 1300-1700 (From van Eyck and Giotto to Poussin), 1800-about 1920 (from Ingres and David to Picasso, Kandinskij and the other historical vanguards), and 1920-today (from Duchamp onwards). If I don’t mistake the ideas of Daverio, it seems very sensible. The art of XX century, in fact, is very different before and after World War II, and Picasso and Hirst have probably very little in common.

This periodization of the history of art suggests a parallel segmentation of the history of Man. The end of the Midle Age is traditionally dated at the end of XV century, after the discovery of Americas by Columbus. This dating is understandable, but it expresses the timing of a radical change of perspective, economy and society from the point of view of France. Yet, the same change had occurred two centuries earlier in Italy. Montaigne is often considered the beginner of the modernity, but the subjective perspective of the Essais is already perfectly mature in Petrarca. Thus, modernity begins in the XIV century in Italy and in part in the Flandres, and then spreads slowly to Europe, attaining a turning point with the rise of national states and the beginning of colonialism. And it ends in the XX century, with the rise of mass society – this is the surprising idea of Daverio. This pre-dated passage from modernity to post-modernity is related to the astounding rush of technological innovations, the expansion of the middle classes, World War I, the end of colonialism, and Russian Revolution.

Warhol's postmodernism

Postmodernism is usually dated at the 80’s. But I tjink that the actually it begins with Warhol’s Campbell’s soup (1968). Postmodernism is already there: meaningless signs citing things out of context, a dreadfyl picture of contemporary times. When Warhol devises the portrait of Marilyn (in the early 60's), the revolution is already complete: no more signs, that bear a meaning but icons, that can only be adorated. Warhol was utterly conservative, but often conservatives are long-sighted, often more than progressist artists. Pistoletto, Kounellis, Merz and the others of the “Arte Povera” in 70’s  produced a number of masterpiece, but their relative scars commerical fortune is due, probably, to the fact that their research continues substantially along the lines of Beuys, of “Soziale Plastik”, of an art that is still meaningfyl in its commitment to change the society, and that rejected the pessimistic message of Warhol. Chia, Cucchi, and Clemente, leaded by the genial critic Achille Bonito Oliva, acknowledged that it was no more possible a meaningful art, and turned to a sophisticated mannerism, gaining wide acceptant and colossal  market quotations.

Yes-No

A joke, and I don't know if Raetz cites the cover of Hofstadter's Gödel Escher Bach (that was perhaps better devised).

Anyway, a funny joke.