The Industrial Revolution was the next cog in the engine of progress following the Scientific Revolution. Simply put it can be defined as the introduction of power-driven machinery to manufacturing.
Like most major advancements it had its beginning in very early civilisations and is still developing in some places around the globe.However the period referred to as the climax of this cultural/scientific phenomena is the 18th Century .During this era the entirety of Western Europe experienced rapid industrialisation ,with England being the 'hot spot' of the revolution.
(Rempel,2006)
The introduction of machinery to manufacturing processes sparked an interest among creative scholars both in the fields of literature and visual arts. Thus the movement of Futurism was born. The aim of futurism was to glorify the dynamism of modern technology and out of this aim came the futurist style of art.("Umberto Boccioni",2011) Umberto Boccioni and Giacomo Balla were both key artists in pioneering this movement as is clearly evidenced by their works pictured here. When discussing these artists it is interesting to note that in his early career Boccioni was in fact trained by Balla. Futurists in focusing on the dynamism of modern technology had two chief conceits in central to their works : The celebration of the machine and the celebration of motion.
In discussing Giacomo Balla's 'Dynamism of a dog on a leash'(1912) we see that these two conceits are often inextricably linked in Futurist painting.
Up until the 20th Century the idea of movement being depicted by multiple replicas of the same image or aspect of an image was banished from the form of painting as the strict rule structure of traditional European painting. This technique appears in drawings from much earlier dates but was banished from painting until after the industrial revolution .(Lubbock,2009) With the Industrial revolution came the birth of photography and the idea that separate movements could depict motion could not be obliterated from photography. It was thanks to the example of chronophotography that this effect made its way into the realm of painting. To quote Lubbock :"The wish to imitate the machine and the mechanised image seduced the would-be modern artist"
This quote clearly indicates the relationship between venerating the machine and movement concurrently.
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| Giacomo Balla Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash 1912 |
Balla's painting is considered one of the most exquisite examples of this technique.
In terms of subject matter Balla depicts a Lady walking her dog ,her clothing suggests she may be a widow .The sense of movement is created with line and shape .Stark black forms and flowing overlays combine to create a work which is alive with movement. The lady bears approximately 15 feet ,the dog has around 8 tails and its legs are disguised in a blur. (Lubbock,2009)The sense of the machine is slightly more conceptual yet just as evident in this work. The way in which the painting can be seen to replicate a chronophotographic image implicates the artists desire to replicate the machine. While the subject matter of something as basic and banal as a dog acts as a drastic contrast to the dynamic and heroic nature of the mechanised world. The immensity of the machine world is almost comically set against the plain naturalistic idea of a dog.
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| Umberto Boccioni The City Rises 1910 |
Now to consider Boccioni's 'The City Rises' 1910
The City Rises is a painting of monumental scale which details the construction of an electric power plant.
The structure is being overshadowed by the movement of workers whose exertion and activity takes up much of the canvas.('Art through time 2011") This overshadowing of the product by process evidences a penchant for energy ,activity and force,elements that clearly reference the concept/process of machine production.
In terms of movement the painting also conforms to the futurist style of fragmented images to depict movement to some extent yet in Boccioni's work here it is more prominently the stylised almost pointillist rapid brush strokes and the juxtaposition/ fragmented integration of traditional and modern motifs which depict movement.Movement both across the painting and in a sense through time . Out of exceptionally energetic toil rises an industrial masterpiece of a city,an ode to progress. ("Art through time ",2011)
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| RMB City Cao Fei 2007-9 |
As mentioned earlier industrialisation is still continuing ,most currently in China.
In recent decades China has experienced rapid industrialisation and a series of dramatic shifts " from collective idealism to a more individualistic consumption-centred society." (Artspace NZ, 2009).
Cao Fei is a prominent Chinese artist born in 1978 who is part of a transformational generation of Chinese.
Old enough to remember previous times yet young enough to be involved with and intrigued by the development of a new china ,Fei has produced a body of conceptually powerful work.
As stated by Art Space NZ "Her work responds to China’s rapid urbanization and the giddying pace of social and economic development. She depicts states of transformation within a youth culture heavily influenced by Japanese manga and anime and played out against an ever-expanding cityscape. "
A central and repeated motif in Fei's work is the idea of Utopia or escape.
A key work which depicts this theme is RMB city. A work staged on the Internet as part of the Second Life ,Avatar centred, game. RMB City is a fantastic and fanciful island metropolis which balances precariously between utopian and dystopian
states, "utopian /dystopian bliss reads like an iconographic history of China's past and the promise of its present/future economic boom.
The title of the work itself is symbolic as RMB is the currency of China, so the title of the work suggests connotations relating to consumption and the boom of capitalist society.While elements making up the theme park like digital work are rife with implications surrounding communist history, the role of religion in society and the effect of capitalist gain on a state. I feel Fei has chosen a conceptually eloquent and powerful mix of iconography to create a work which clearly communicates China's transformational state in recent times and both the Utopian/Dystopian possibilities for its future with reference to important events of the past.
To clarify the concept of Utopia/Dystopia discussed above Utopia refers to "an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect"("Utopia",2011 ) While dystopia refers to "an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. "("dystopia",2011) Essentially they are opposites yet often volatile situations maybe on the brink of both Utopia and Dystopia concurrently. I think Fei seeks to communicate the careful balancing act required to navigate a state in the desired direction while also referencing the fact that the ideas of perfection are subjective and contextual. The idea that Dystopia can also be a romanticised ideal is also prominent in the vibrant youth culture of the work.
In this discussion we have looked at both Futurist and contemporary works which have emerged from entirely different contexts yet similarities are still exceedingly apparent . Most commonly the ideas of movement and the machine can be seen as evidenced in the modernist works as well as in RMB City. The Modernist works depict machine processes and seek to emulate the production of machines ,RMB city also plays to these ideals in the way in which it functions much like a perpetual motion master each part seems to turn another ,a very mechanised ideal. Also although the works spring from different contexts the idealised depiction of movement towards and fascination with progress is a recurring theme.
The form/colours and line of all works promote movement in a desired direction of progress. However, while the modernist works have a cemented idea of a positive direction ,RMB city balances on the precipice of two opposing ideals perhaps this is due to the gift of hindsight.
References :
Rempel,G. The Industrial Revolution.
Http://www.ecology.com/archived-links/industrial-revolution/index.html
Cao Fei Utopia,Art Space NZ ,2009
http://www.artspace.org.nz/exhibitions/2009/caofeiutopia.asp
Art Through Time ,2011
http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/work/173/zoom.html
Lubbock,T. Great Works: Dynamism of A Dog on a Leash (1912) Giacomo Balla
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-dynamism-of-a-dog-on-a-leash-1912-giacomo-balla-1781174.html
Umberto Boccioni. (2011). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/70885/Umberto-Boccioni
(“Utopia ”,2011). In Oxford Dictionaries.London:Oxford University Press.
(“Dystopia”,2011). In Oxford Dictionaries.London:Oxford University Press.
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