Week 7-Industrialisation and Cao Fei's RMB City

1. What and when was the Industrial Revolution?

According to Rempel (n.d) "The Industrial Revolution may be defined as the application of power-driven machinery to manufacturing...In the eighteenth century all of western Europe began to industrialise rapidly, but in England the process was most highly accelerated" Kries (2000) goes onto further explain that "the industrial revolution implied that man now had not only the opportunity and the knowledge but the physical means to completely subdue nature."

2. Research both Modernist paintings in order to comment on the subject matter, form and style used to celebrate the machine and motion in each painting. Answer the question in 2 parts for each painting.

From first impressions we can see a horse located in the middle of the composition, struggling to take steps forward as if it is carrying a load. Surrounding people pulling and dragging the horse out of the way making way for the factories that appear in the background. No different to the horse located at the top left of the work being pushed out of the way by a man. The third horse seems to have been frightened, possibly of things to come. It almost seems man is parting from conventional forms of production "out with the old, in with the new". The work depicts that the past still lingered yet at the same time marking the beginning of the industrial revolution and urbanization. The way in which it was painted expresses movement, everyone seems to be in a hurry or a rush to get things done. The background seems to have been painted lighter than the foreground although the light colours seep through. Suggesting that this change in industry and social life would benefit everyone. However when you look upon the face of the man in front of the horse it shows the effect and problems the process of modernization had on man. Hall (1992) explains "the change from rural and agricultural to industrial social formations has had very disturbing effects upon people's moral, religious and everyday patterns of living."

Balla's work explores capturing movement for the first time. As the viewer we see a dog on a leash walking alongside its owner. Hughes (1991) points out “artists faced in transposing the new category of the machine into the conventions of traditional sculpture". Therefore painting was represented in a different way. Motion and rhythm is depicted by the use of sequence. The background are lines suggesting direction. Colour is also important as the figures are dark but their many shadows are lighter. It is almost as if the artist has also captured wind itself and how it moves and sways the objects.

3. Research Cao Fei's RMB City (2007-9)  in order to comment on this work in more depth.

Cao Fei has used iconic symbols to refer to China's present and history. For example the giant panda is referred to as the living fossil due to panda fossils being found, that date back two to three million years ago. Representing peace and friendship, the giant panda was also the mascot for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. We can see the Beijing National Stadium or the bird's nest. Which played host to the 2008 Olympics and was influenced by Chinese ceramics. Most importantly the Chinese Flag which represents unity and the revolution. The Forbidden City which now serves as a museum but use to house emperors and their households. It is a representation of Chinese palatial architecture. In relation to industrialism and urbanization we can see allot of rapid movement from the many forms of transportation, expansion of buildings, housing, importation and exportation planes and boats coming and going on the harbour. Symbolising the beginning but the growth to come.
4. RMB City is described as a utopia/dystopia. Comment on what these terms mean, and how they can be applied to the work.

It is almost like living in a dream, where everything is perfect. You can have anything and everything. Its right outside your door step. What is portrayed as a happy place where anything goes, but like the real world there are consequences. In relation to the work we can see many of China's iconic symbols meshed together depicting progress and advancement Francis Bacon (n.d) "knowledge is power". Amongst all of the success problems China faces are exposed. Environmental issues, unemployment, corruption, human rights to name a few.

5. Although the Modernist paintings and the contemporary digital work have emerged from
different contexts, there are also many similarities. Comment on the similarities that you can see in the work. Look at the moving digital image at vimeo.com/4272260, if you have not
already researched it.

Both modernist paintings and contemporary digital work both depict movement. Both works show how the change in society has effected the artist works and how they have changed the process and outcome of how their art work was formed. There is a discussion in each of the works about industrialisation, urbanisation and the effects on society and economy.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_Rises_(Boccioni)
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/balla/dogleash.jpg.html
http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2008/05/cao_fei_rmb_city.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMB_City
http://scenery.cultural-china.com/en/22Scenery52.html
http://pandajaan.tripod.com/history.htm
http://www.wwfchina.org/english/pandacentral/htm/wwf_at_work/panda_survey/q&a.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_National_Stadium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_People's_Republic_of_Chinahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City
vimeo.com/4272260
http://www.thechinaexpat.com/top-10-dangers-china-faces-today/
Academic Literacy’s in visual communication 1- Resource Book