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South African Journal of Art History
The South African Journal of Art History is a peer reviewed journal publishing articles and review articles on the following subjects: Art and architectural history; Art and architectural theory; Athetics and philosophy of art; Visual culture; Art and the environment; Film; Craft
| Publisher | AHWG |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Quarterly |
| Coverage | Vol 21 Issue 1 2006 - current |
| Accreditation(s) |
Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) |
| Language | English |
| Journal Status | Active |
| Collection(s) |
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The restructuring of temporality during art making
More LessExperienced time, neural time and clock time are not the same. Temporality may be restructured due to psychopathologic experiences resulting in the perception that time may speed up or slow down, before the living present has been appropriated by reflection. There is growing evidence that the awareness of linear time has the ability to become distorted when, during art making, artists experience the brain state referred to as flow, during which psychic energy is focused on the unfolding present, with a general absence of rumination associated with past or future events. From a neuroscientific point of reference flow necessitates a state of transient (short of duration) hypo- (unusually low) frontality (anterior part of each cerebral hemisphere, in front of the central sulcus). Flow has been associated with a (form of) altered state of consciousness, which may share, amongst others, characteristics such as time distortions, attention, perception, imagery and fantasy. Through the use of electroencephalography and interviews, this paper links selected artists’ restructuring of temporality with concepts of human consciousness and time perception
Die herstrukturering van tyd gedurende kunsskepping
Ervaringstyd, neurale tyd en horlosietyd verskil. Dit gebeur dat tydservaring as gevolg van psigopatalogiese ervarings hergestruktureer word, wat tot die persepsie kan lei dat tyd versnel of vertraag, alvorens die hede deur nabetragting toegeëien word. Daar is toenemende bewys voor dat die besef van liniêre tyd tydens kunsskepping verwring word wanneer kunstenaars die breintoestand bekend as vloei ervaar. Daartydens fokus psigiese energie op die ontplooiing van die hede sonder die moontlikheid om oor die verlede of die toekoms na te dink. Uit ’n neurowetenskaplike oogpunt vereis vloei ’n toestand van verbygaande hipofrontaliteit. Vloei word geassosieer met ’n vorm van veranderde bewussyntoestand wat aan belewenisse van tydswysigings, aandag, persepsie, verbeelding en fantasie verwant is. Deur die gebruik van elektroënkefalografie en onderhoude bring hierdie artikel gekose kunstenaars se hergestruktureerde tydsverloop met konsepte van menslike bewustheid sowel as tydspersepsie in verband.
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Temporality in the [re]shaping of the landscape of Pretoria’s Church Square
More LessAlthough data collection from Surveyor General’s diagrams and Title Deeds is rarely seen as part of the creative process, it forms an essential part of any architect’s design methodology and the findings from these legal documents finally find a proud, albeit understated, place in the visual, architectural design outcome. The same is true of an historical architectural study. Any attempt at reconstructing the past of the built environment in context will inevitably refer to land parcels, -ownership and -use, which often provide more insight into the powers that shaped and reshaped the landscape over time, than the buildings themselves. A visual record[ing] of surveyed change over time confirms the notion that landscapes are always temporal, of the moment and in process, that they reflect human agency and action and that they provoke memory and facilitate or impede action. This article focuses on the historical area in an around Pretoria’s Church Square. It proposes to reveal both the dimension of historical time and the dimension of historical space, therefore including both meanings of temporality: as the real physical world and as one being limited by time. It aims to offer a new focus and approach to historiography of the area and to reveal the significance that the temporal relationship gives to data gathered in architectural history writing.
Temporaliteit in die [her]vorming van die landskap van Kerkplein, Pretoria
Alhoewel dataversameling uit Landmetergeneraalsdiagramme en Titelaktes selde as deel van die kreatiewe proses gesien word, vorm dit ’n noodsaaklike deel van enige argitek se ontwerpmetodologie en die bevindinge uit hierdie regsdokumente vind uiteindelik ’n trotse, alhoewel ondergeskikte plek in die visuele, argitektoniese ontwerpresultaat. Dieselfde is waar vir ’n historiese argitektuurstudie. Enige poging om die verlede van die bou-omgewing in konteks te herkonstrueer, sal onvermydelik verwys na grondgebied, -besit en -gebruik wat gereeld meer insig gee in die magte wat mettertyd die landskap gevorm en hervorm het, as die geboue self. ’n Visuele weergawe en opname van opgemete verandering oor tyd bevestig die gedagte dat landskappe altyd temporeel, in die oomblik en in proses is, dat dit menslike agentskap en aksie reflekteer en dat dit geheue ontlok en aksie fasiliteer of verhinder. Hierdie artikel fokus op die historiese gebied in en om Pretoria se Kerkplein. Dit stel voor om beide die dimensies van historiese tyd en historiese ruimte te ontbloot en dus beide betekenisse van temporaliteit in te sluit: naamlik as die werklike fisiese wêreld en as een wat deur tyd beperk word. Dit beoog om ’n nuwe fokus en benadering tot historiografie van die gebied te bied en om die waarde te ontbloot wat die temporele verhouding in ’n historiese argitektuurskrywe aan die versamelde data verleen.
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Temporality and timelessness in the work of Carlo Scarpa : moments on the staircases of the Castelvecchio Museum, Verona.
More LessCarlo Scarpa’s approach to restoration and museum design, evident in his refurbishment of the historic Castelvecchio Museum in Verona, Italy, is to juxtapose the contextual narrative of the built fabric and the displayed artefacts from different moments in time to create an understanding of history. The modernist concept of promenade, a journey through space in real time, becomes a conscious experience of ime, using temporal devices such as sequence, tempo and rhythm. Nowhere is this more evident than in his careful design of staircases, to be discussed in this paper. In the very process of highlighting temporality, he succeeds in situating the viewer in time and creates an awareness of realities that transcend change and decay, resulting in a sense of timelessness.
Carlo Scarpa’s Verständnis von Restauration und Museumsentwurf liegt in der Gegenüberstellung von Kontext, Gebäude und Artifakt aus verschiedenen Zeitabschnitten. Er inszeniert so ein bestimmtes Verständis von Geschichte im Austellunsraum. Dieses wird besonders deutlich in dem Entwurf für das historische Museum Castelvecchio in Verona, Italien. Das modernistische Konzept der Promenade als Reise durch Raum und Zeit wird zu einer bewußten Erfahrung in der Gegenwart durch die Anwendung der zeitgebundenen Entwurfsparameter Sequenz, Tempo und Rhythmus. Nirgendwo wird dies deutlicher als in der sorgfältig artikulierten Entwicklung von Treppen, die diese Abhandlung diskutiert. Indem er Temporalität als Raumqualität herausarbeitet, kreiert Scarpa ein Bewußtsein von unterschiedlichen Realitäten und übersetzt Veränderung und Vergänglichkeit in eine Art von Zeitlosigkeit.
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AntheA Delmotte : performing temporality and returning to chaos at AfrikaBurn 2016
More LessVisual artist AntheA Delmotte is widely known for realistically rendered landscapes and the influential Portals of Creation series of paintings, which feature portraits of southern African artists such as Willie Bester, Bongi Bengu and William Kentridge. She is also experimenting extensively with performance of trance-state flow painting in public settings. Live music, dance, copious amounts of paint and huge canvases are some of the ingredients she harnesses when executing paintings arising from her freely flowing subconscious during such sessions. A history of her trance-state flow paintings includes events from 2012 onwards in and around Cape Town, as well as with alternative band Croak at AfrikaBurn 2014 and 2015. These served as foundations for the erection, then daily performance and eventual ritual burning of Return to Chaos at AfrikaBurn 2016. This article aims to contextualise and describe this performance artwork, as well as seek to establish whether there might be links between Big Bang and Chaos theory and Delmotte’s reference to chaos in the title of this work.
AntheA Delmotte : uitvoering van temporaliteit en terugkeer na chaos tydens AfricaBurn 2016
Die visuele kunstenares AntheA Delmotte is wyd bekend vir realistiese landskappe en die invloedryke reeks skilderye, Portals of Creation, waarin portrette van Suid-Afrikaanse kunstenaars, onder meer Willie Bester, Bongi Bengu en William Kentridge, afgebeeld is. Haar eksperimente omvat voorstellings van trance-agtige vloei-skildering in openbare plekke. Lewende musiek, dans, buitengewoon veel verf en groot skilderdoeke is van die middele wat sy betrek wanneer sy skilderye in sodanige sessies uit haar vry-vloeiende onderbewuste tot stand bring. ’n Oorsig van haar tranceagtige vloei-skilderinge sluit gebeure in Kaapstad en omgewing sedert ongeveer 2012 in, asook deelname aan AfricaBurn 2014 en 1015, tesame met die die alternatiewe orkes Croak. Sodanige voorafgaande optredes het as die grondslag gedien vir vir die oprigting van, en daarna daaglikse optrede en uiteindelike rituele verbranding van Return to Chaos tydens AfricaBurn 2016. Hierdie artikel het ten doel die kontekstualisering en beskrywing van sodanige voorstellende kunswerk, asook om te bepaal of daar moontlik ’n verband tussen die Oerknal en Chaosteorie en Demotte se verwysing na chaos in die titel van hierdie werk kan wees.
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Frozen moments : visualising memory
More LessThis paper takes into consideration the notion of photography as a trace of the subject and then considers theorists such as Pierre Nora, Annette Kuhn and Marion Hirsch, who engage with photography as a mnemonic device for personal and cultural memory. The emphasis is placed on the visualised lived experience – for the purpose of this article, the photograph – as a contributor to historical recollection furthering Susan Sontag’s (1977: 4) notion that “to photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge – and therefore, like power”. The paper argues that photography of transient experiences and constructed identities allows the re-interpretation of past events from a contemporary visual perspective. The significance of the study lies in the potential to both affirm and disrupt naturalised socially constructed identities through the insightful reading of an individual woman’s socialised and unique reflection of herself during the 1920s.
Oomblikke vasgevang : ʼn voorstelling van herinneringe
Hierdie navorsing neem die idee in oorweging dat fotografie die spoor is van n onderwerp en konsidereer die teorieë van Pierre Nora, Annette Kuhn and Marion Hirsch wat fotografie as n mnemoneutieke middel vir persoonlike en kulturele geheue gebruik. Die aandag word gevestig op die belewenisse wat voorgestel word, en vir die doel van hierdie navorsing word die foto bydraaend tot historiese herinnering en beaam Susan Sontag (1977: 4) se idee dat fotografie beslag lê op die onderwerp as dit afgeneem word. Dit beteken om jouself in n sekere posisie teenoor die wereld te plaas wat voel soos kennis – en daarvolgens, ook soos mag. Vanaf ’n kontemporêre visuele perspektief word aangevoor dat fotografie van verganklike belewenisse en saamgestelde identiteite toelaat vir die herinterpretasie van gebeure in die verlede. Die belang lê egter om deur middel van insigewende studie van een vrou se gesosialiseerde en unieke weerspieëling van haarself in die 1920’s, die potensiaal van sosiaal aanvaarde saamgestelde identiteite, beide te bevestig of omvêr te werp.
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A brief history of the hourglass : its design as a functional device and symbolic representation in European art
More LessTo measure time duration before the modern era a variety of devices were designed by various cultures, of which the sundial, candle clock, water clock, and hourglass were known in the West. The hourglass, on which the discussion focuses, was probably invented in ancient Egypt. It consists of a structure that supports two globular glass conduits connected by a slender neck through which fine sand flows alternately to demarcate more or less precise hours. It was probably reinvented by a French monk during the early Medieval period and subsequently developed to a remarkable degree of accuracy. As its use as a functional timepiece became widespread the hourglass acquired a notable presence in late Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque paintings. The way in which the hourglass makes the passage of time visible by means of flowing sand persuaded allegory-minded Europeans of its symbolic potential as a reminder of human beings’ temporary sojourn on earth. Eventually it became a conspicuous presence in representation of alchemical workshops and the Vanitas genre of pictures. The research focuses on the eminence of the hourglass as a time-keeping device and the symbolic connotations it acquired in European art.
’n Bondige geskiedenis van die sandloper : die ontwerp daarvan as ’n funksionele toestel en simboliese voorstelling in Europese kuns
Ten einde tydsduur te meet, het verskeie kulture voor die moderne tyd ’n verskeidenheid toestelle ontwerp, waaronder die sonwyser, kersklok, waterklok, en sandloper in die Weste bekend was. Die sandloper, waarop die navorsing fokus, is waarskynlik in Oud-Egipte uitgevind. Dit bestaan uit ’n ondersteunende struktuur vir twee balvormige geleiers aan ’n dun nek verbind, waardeur fyn sand alternatiewelik vloei om min of meer noukeurige ure aan te dui. Dit is waarskynlik gedurende die vroeë Middeleeue deur ’n Franse monnik heruitgevind en is daarna tot ’n hoë mate van noukeurigheid ontwikkel. Namate die gebruik daarvan as ’n funksionele tydstoestel wydverpreid geraak het, het die sandloper ’n beduidende teenwoordigheid in laat-Middeleeuse, Renaissance- en Barokskilderye verwerf. Die wyse waarop die vloei van sand in die toestel die vloei van tyd sigbaar maak, het allegorie-bewuste Europeërs van die simboliese potensiaal daarvan as ’n herinnering aan die mens se tydelike aardse verblyf oortuig. Dit het uiteindelik ’n beduidende teenwoordigheid in die voorstelling van alchemistiese werkwinkels en die Vanitas-genre van skilderye geword. Die navorsing fokus op die belangrikheid van die sandloper as ’n toestel vir die meet van tydsduur, asook die simboliese konnotasies wat dit in Europese kuns verwerf het.
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© Publisher: AHWG