zeitgeist: the spirit of the times an exhibition proposal by jane
Many things in this world do not exist only as a solitary entity; a lot of the time they go hand in hand with another object or subject. For example, geometry is the marriage of mathematics and visual communication; it is technical and calculated yet at the same time can communicate and bring across an idea or feeling when used in art or design. Every 2-dimensional image stems from a point in space, followed by a line. The next level would then be the three most fundamental elements of geometry – the circle, square and triangle. These three shapes ought to be celebrated for their beauty, perfection and simplicity in existence.
The circle, square and triangle have been employed for a long time through history and used in many ways; they are after all the building blocks of visual images and objects. They were especially crucial during the dawn of the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century. At that time, the object makers and mass-manufacturing product designers used these basic shapes in the standardisation of machine components and parts, producing quality products on a commercial scale. It was during this time that the use of basic shapes took a revolutionary turn from the classical world. Their geometrical principles were reinterpreted and turned into new uses in architecture, furniture and other commercial products. Following the Industrial Revolution, the next big break for these geometric shapes in the world of art was then during the periods of Suprematism and Constructivism movements, stemming from Russia in the post-World War I period. The three basic shapes were embraced and used both to convey and evoke both political and non-political messages and emotions. Geometric shapes were now brought into the culture of graphic design.
SUPREMATISM During the period of 1915 to 1916 in Russia, the art movement Suprematism began. Kasimir Malevich originated Suprematism in 1915, with his “Black Square” being one of the most prominent pieces of the movement. The term “Suprematism” was coined by Malevich himself, emphasizing on the supremacy of this new art in relation to the past. To Malevich, art was purely aesthetic and the artist should only concern himself with the form of the piece, hence the artwork should not convey any political or social messages. The purity of the geometric shape was stressed, in particular that of the square and the circle. Suprematism at that time was likened to a form of visual communication, just like contemporary writings. CONSTRUCTIVISM At about the same time, Constructivism also begun, lasting from 1919 to 1934. The art movement rejected the idea of “art for art’s sake”, and instead, embraced the ideal of “art into life”. Constructivism works were geared towards social purposes; they were particularly political propaganda and Communist. The more prominent designers from this movement include Alexander Rodchenko, Aleksei Gan and Kandinsky. El Lissitzky’s "Beat The Whites With The Red Wedge” is one of the more famous artworks of the movement.
SQUARE WASSILY KANDINSKY Wassily Kandinsky was one of the most prominent Constuctivists. He saw art as a spiritual entity and was of a coming New Age. Theosophy was a theory that suggests creation as a geometrical progression, starting from a single point. The innovation of the forms is then expressed by the descending series of circles, triangles, and squares. In Kandinsky’s book, Concerning the Spiritual In Art, he likens the spiritual life of man to a large pyramidal triangle. The onus is on the artist to employ his talent and ability to enlighten and bring others to the peak of the triangle. The top of the triangle comprises of only few individuals who can bring inspiration and enlightenment to others. Moving forward and rising slowly, this triangle is a very spiritual one, which can cause decadent men to fall to the bottom if they only strive for external success and disregard such spiritual forces. To Kandinsky, music and colours are closely interrelated with lines and shapes. Straight lines drawn continuously with no interference have lyrical properties, while those that are exposed to other forces challenge or aggravate each other to form a dramatic recital. The angle formed resulting from these musical extravaganzas also possess characteristics which relates it to Kandinsky’s shape-colour theory – it is warm and yellow for an acute angle like a triangle, similar to red for a right angle like in a square, and cool blue for an obtuse angle like a circle.
The square, a familiar, trusted shape, represents honesty and stability. As most of the text we encounter daily is set in squares or rectangles, the square has thus become a safe, dependable shape that we are very comfortable with. It has since developed into a very important form in graphic design today, and is well respected and carefully chosen in usage. Debbie Lewer is quoted to say in her book, Post-impressionism to World War II, that, “the square is not a subconscious form. It is the creation of intuitive reason. The face of the new art, the square is a living, regal infant.” CIRCLE no start and end point. They can also evoke a sense of protection, like encircling arms that prevents other elements from entering or intruding. The round shape also denotes free movement such as a ball rolling around, or a more controlled movement such as a absence of force, a body will either be at rest or will move in a straight line with constant speed. Hence TRIANGLE The three-point, triangular shape suggests action. or strength. Triangles can direct movement, but movement not of themselves, but of directing the gaze of the reader or viewer to a focal point, drawing attention to an area.
It is surprising how these simple shapes have become so important and crucial in our lives. The very nucleus of the atom, the simplest building block of any substance, is a spherical shape – a circle. They exist everywhere around us, hidden in the products we use, the images we see and the forms of all objects around us. Through the ages, they have importantly in graphic design and visual communication. They are the most fundamental elements and pixels of design and art; yet in this era failing to see the beauty of their simplicity just as they are. These shapes can be functional yet spiritual, aesthetically beautiful and belonging to a universally understood language of semiotics. Using them today in graphic design can be an indication of simplicity, boldness, risk-taking and strength.
celebrate the three fundamental geometric shapes. The circle, square and triangle will be celebrated in this crossbred exhibition of design and mathematics. There will be a segment on the amazing mathematical nature of these shapes and how they are created with perfection that it is indeed one of the natural occurring wonders of mathematics. Also, the viewer will witness, from the historical contexts of these geometric shapes, to its ments, and following that, how these elements are back in employment in today’s contemporary graphic design world. The following are artworks and famous posters that can be put up in the museum: they celebrate the shapes in their simplest, purest states. The exclamation is bold and it will set people thinking: why is this art/design?
SOUTH BEACH DEVELOPMENT BUILDING Today, the South Beach Development building is still used for art exhibitions, such as the recent Biennale 2008. It is available to use as an artistic showcase hall before it is torn down and renovated for the South Beach Development Process due in 2012. There are several vital reasons why this particular building is chosen. Firstly, the South Beach building is old and run-down, the perfect setting to showcase historical periods such as during the Industrial Revolution and during the art movements of Supermatism and Constructivism. The old, rustic feel of the existing building can evoke a deeper understanding of the use of these shapes during the zeitgeist of that time, and the context in which they were employed. This is in comparison with many of the available musuem spaces in Singapore, which tend to be very new and clean. Places such as National Museum of Singapore or Singapore Arts Museum would be too “sterile� and clinical The second reason why this place is chosen is that there is a great span of space to be used there, which is rare in tiny little Singapore due to limited land space. The area encompasses large courtyards and many huge individual rooms, each of whom is different and this makes it easy to manipulate and manifest an artwork or installation in it. Lastly, being an old building to be torn down soon, it can be used as an actual art canvas, allowing the art work to remain permanently there, instead of the artist having to worry about cleaning up the gallery after use. For example, during the Biennale 2008 exhibition, the famous contemporary artist Felice Varini was invited to paint directly on the walls of one of the open halls in the building. Such permanent art pieces can only be created in rare public spaces in Singapore, hence we should make use of this opportunity to use the walls of the rooms of this place as the actual art canvas, although they would be torn down in a few years time for the development process.
By coming up with such a simple theme such as the circle, square and triangle, this would spark the public’s curiosity. How could an entire exhibition be paying tribute to something so minimal and fundamental as three geometric shapes? Hopefully, the public’s attention. The objective of coming up with this exhibition is to emphasize the beauty of these simple, perfect shapes, and their importance in our daily lives that we have so easily taken for granted. Stemming from this idea, the audience will also be exposed to the many uses of the shapes – their importance in creating quality functional products on a commercial scale, conveying both political and non-political messages in graphic design, and even a peek into its spiritual uses, an aspect that has not been exposed much to the Singapore masses before this exhibition. It must be emphasized that this is not only a purely art and design exhibition, but one that also incorporates mathematics, science, social themes, politics, product design, architecture, and even spiritual aspects. It is quite clear that the youth today are increasingly apathetic towards these subject matters, such as history, politics and economics. Hence the exhibition, in general, targets Singaporeans who are below the age of 40, educated and knowledgeable yet simply apathetic. They can be split into two main categories of audience, mainly: families with children, and youths and young adult. Firstly, the nuclear family would consist of young parents who are keen to expose their curious children
To attract children, installations and interactive play areas have to be installed. There would be one area of the exhibition to be used only by children – tables and chairs are laid out for the children to sit and get comfortable. Cut-outs of different sizes and colours of the three shapes would be made available, and the children can create art pieces like those of the Suprematism movement. When they have completed, they can paste their art works on the wall to have a feel of exhibiting their masterpieces alongside the real masterpieces. Adults as well can simply use the geometric shapes cut-outs to write or doodle on and paste it on the wall to form a large collage of geometric forms. shapes all around the exhibits, the interest levels of the children would be kept high. As for those of an older age, exciting large-scale artworks will be brought in to show them the amazing works that can be formed with the play of geometry. Felice Varini, who has previously painted at the Biennale 2008, can be invited to paint across the walls again. His play with geometric shapes painted across different depths of walls and pillars allows the viewer to only see the full shape from one particular vantage point. Varini has worked on many of such works, and in recent pieces, have only gone on impressively larger scales, even spanning across an entire village such as this one previously done in summer 2009. More contemporary graphic designers, especially those focusing on poster designs, can also be asked to exhibit their works. Unorthodox, novel and open-minded ways of using these geometric shapes in graphic design will help to impress even more of our young design-loving target audience.
recognize and relate to these shapes. The children will learn about abstract art and graphic design, learning about concept and form of the art piece, and why it was created in a particular way. A more important audience would be young people. Those who might be interested in the exhibition would include people in the arts scene in particular, such as students at design schools or those involved in architecture and industrial businesses. Moreover, the South Beach Development area is strategically situated at Bras Basah area, which is known for its strength in the arts and where many design and arts schools, such as Laselle and NAFA conglomerate. and accessible to pop by and view the exhibits.
Felice Varini’s artwork
To entice them, invitations will be sent out to all schools from secondary to tertiary levels, including art schools like Laselle, NAFA and ADM. Posters should also be put up in primary schools to draw the children’s attention and hence bring along their parents to the exhibition.
Beat the whites with the red wedge El Lissitzky, 1919 Constructivism art movement
Sony Playstation Control Buttons Contemporary product
Master Pyramid Sakke Soini Contemporary Graphic Design
The story of the little red square El Lissitzky Constructivism art movement
Black Circle Kazimir Malevich, 1915 Suprematism art movement
Kaptiza’s Book on Geometry Contemporary Graphic Design book
Sliced Pixel Project Victor Van Gaasbeek Contemporary Graphic Design
Circle Felice Varini Installation
The entire South Beach Development building will be converted into a single installation: a route will be mapped out such that there is only one single way through the building, hence making the transition from old to new very clear. The works will be arranged in chronological order – exhibiting rooms used will also change accordingly to the time period, for example, colour themes that will accurately portray the time period. Red, black and off-white can be used for the Suprematism period, while bolder colours of CMYK will be used for rooms depicting contemporary graphic design works.
INTERACTIVITY Area where kids and adults alike will be able to use paper cut-outs of geometric shapes to form images and doodle on them, creating their own abstract masterpieces with geometry. They will then be able to pin them up on a wall specially dedicated for the public to form a huge collage. INSTALLATIONS Felice Varini can be invited to come down and paint the walls of the place again, to further bring about a more three-dimensional experience.
The exhibition will be set to begin in Summer 2010 from June to September. The reason for this is that it is the school holidays for most students – June holidays for the primary and secondary school children in Singapore, while tertiary students have their summer break. During this period, there would be no short of volunteers to help around with the setting up and other miscellaneous administrative matters. Moreover, should artists agree to come and do their artworks live, students can also sign up for internship programmes by helping them out. These artists, offering insight of their art works, can also conduct workshops and master classes free for the public to sign up for.
November 2009 – Seek permission from National Arts Council to exhibit works – Seek approval to use South Beach Development building – Start to contact various artists (both local and overseas) to submit their works – Get copyrights to exhibit certain older works (re-prints of famous artists of the past)
December 2009 – Begin to prepare the places for art works and installations – Repaint walls where they have been used for exhibiting other art works – Reach out to tertiary students to ask for volunteers – Reach out to tertiary students to ask for interns – Get sponsors
June – September 2010 February – March 2010 January 2010 – Exhibition opens – Prepare lighting for – Invite artists to exhibits view exhibition – Send out invites to space/ set up schools and public their own – Organise school/ installations public tours – Painting of rooms, setting up of appropriate furniture for Item Quantity Price certain Invitations 5 000 pcs 0.50 installations Publicity material 50 pcs 0.10 – Print material for Rental of space – 1000.00 invitation and Rental of lighting equipment – 1000.00 publicity Framing for art works 100 pcs 10.00 Painting of walls – 200.00 Furniture – 800.00 Tables and chairs for kids 10 sets 50.00 Coloured paper 5 pkts 5.00 Scissors, glue 20 sets 5.00 TOTAL
Subtotal 2500.00 5.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 200.00 800.00 500.00 25.00 100.00 $7130.00
The invitation consists of an interactive package – pieces of geometric shapes cut-outs in red, yellow and blue, not unlike a miniature version of the interative wall in the exhibition. The recepient can play around with the shapes on the graph paper wall, triggering their own imagination in creating forms and graphics out of the circles, squares and triangles.
“Designing Exhibitions” by Ausstellungen Entwerfen “National Museum of Singapore guide” by Iola Lenzi “Post-impressionism to World War II” by Debbie Lewer “Art and Artifact – The Museum As Medium” by James Putnam “Shape - Basic Elements of Design” by Jennifer Kyrnin, About.com http://webdesign.about.com/od/webdesignbasics/p/aashape.htm “Hard edge: geometry in design” by Robert Bell, Senior Curator http://nga.gov.au/hardedge/index.cfm http://www.answers.com/topic/suprematism