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SMASH THE CANON. VOL. IV. ISSUE II - ON DIVERSITY

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THE BRIDGE ON REVOLUTION VOLUME IV ISSUE I

REGULARS 4

What’s On in Dublin

From the Editor

Gallery Focus

Exhibition Focus

FEATURES 7

The mediating revolutionary Mingling with aristocracy and Michael Collins, Sir John Lavery’s life is a tale of struggle between success and principle.

Kristjana S. Williams The work of this Icelandic artist intricately maps the psychological landscape of the modern city.

The power of living art Performance art has emancipated us from the shackles of the canon and it deserves to be respected.

The future is mud Cob builds oﬀer an aﬀfordable alternative to city dwellings for the environmentally conscious.

The weapons of a revolution There are still lessons to be learned from Heartfield’s use of photomontage to combat fascist ideology.

COMMENT 16

An ode to Brutalism A re-evaluation of the most reviled architectural style of the twentieth century.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Stacey Wrenn PRO Muireann Walsh CONTRIBUTORS Ciara Kummert, David Boyd, Aoife O’Donoghue, Weronika Kocurkiewicz, Mollyrose Lee, Fiona McLoone, Sulla Montes, Maia Mathieu, Will Abbot, Charlotte Lee, Oisin Vince Coulter

Questions yet to be answered Globalisation, censorship, climate change, the cost of studio space? All of these problems and more, yet artists cannot agree on what is the most pressing issue for them today.

Revival as a form of revolution Street art and public signage should be harnessed as an agency for political change.

The fetishisation of radical politics

Perfect by design

The commodification of Frida Kahlo’s identity undermines her both as an artist and a communist. While it is inevitable that the human hand will eventually be replaced by computers, this change has been gradual and is not one to be feared.

LAYOUT Stacey Wrenn COVER ILLUSTRATION Harriet Bruce

WHAT’S ON IN DUBLIN With essay deadlines fast approaching here are the exhibitons that you should prioritise while procrastinating this winter. Ciara Kummert Douglas Hyde Gallery Abbas Akhaven – variations on a garden This exhibition by Iran-born artist Akhaven looks at the space of a garden as one of leisure, nature, both a public and private space, but also as a site of supremacy and conflict. Entrance is free. No pre-booking required. 27 October – 31 January 2018

The Hugh Lane Eithne Jordan: Tableau The exhibition with Jordan’s work shows her fascination with how light and colour work in tandem in an interior setting. Jordan’s work has focused on contemporary cities such as Paris, Madrid, and most recently Dublin. Her works includes a description of the interior of Charlemont House. Entrance is free. No pre-booking required.

12 October 2017 – 14 January 2018 Molesworth Gallery Blaise Smith The Kilkenny-born, NCAD-educated artist exhibits his detailed artwork in the Molesworth Gallery. His work is bold and beautiful, with his main focus on how textures and colours work in tandem. Entrance is free. No pre-booking required. December 2017

Chester Beatty Francisco Goya: The Disasters of War Forty prints depict the violence of the guerrilla warfare, the suﬀering of the famine, and the disillusionment after Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Spain in 1808. Entrance is free. No pre-booking required. 6 October 2017 – 21 January 2018

The Doorway Gallery The Doorway Gallery Christmas Show 2017 Works from Irish artists such as Lucy Doyle, Tony O’Connor and Sorca Farrell will be shown with every painting costing less than €500. A variety of works, mainly landscape paintings, are on display. Yes, you are allowed just browse without buying! Entrance is free. No pre-booking required.

2 December 2017 – 15 January 2018 Kerlin Gallery Stephen McKenna British-born Stephen McKenna is mainly remembered for his post-modern figurative paintings describing nature, people, and interiors. Mckenna paints in a style one could see as a simplified version of the work of Diego Riviera. Entrance is free. No pre-booking required. 20 October – 26 November 2017

National Gallery of Ireland Frederick William Burton: For the Love of Art An exhibition displaying works by the Irish born artist, most famous for his watercolour painting, ‘The Meeting on the Turret Stairs’. The exhibition shows 70 works by the artist, alongside the work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Daniel Maclise and William Mulready. Entrance is €5 for students and ‘Friends of the NGI’ go free. Pre-booking is advised. 25 October 2017 – 14 January 2018

WINTER 2017/18 Project Arts Centre

Szabolcs KissPál

Szabolcs KissPál: From Fake Mountains To Faith (Hungarian Trilogy) Szabolcs KissPál combines new media and visual arts to demonstrate important social issues. He looks at how history is ideologically manipulated and delves into the concept of national symbolism and its misuse. Entrance is free. No pre-booking required. 23 November 2017 – 13 January 2018

IMMA Temple Bar Gallery and Studios

Freud Project 2016 – 2021

Otobong Nkanga Nkanga’s work include drawings, installations, photographs, and sculptures. She considers serious social matters to do with land, natural and human resources, and how they have been exploited. Entrance is free. No pre-booking required. 8 December 2017 – 10 February 2018

50 works by the realist painter, Lucian Freud. Known for his intimate portraits, Freud aimed to capture the personality of his sitters, many of which he was personally acquainted with. Entrance is free on Tuesdays, and €5 for students Wednesday to Sunday. Prebooking is advised. 21 October 2016 – January 2018

> SPOTLIGHT ON For the third year running almost 40 art galleries and museums across Dublin are gathering together to present a specially programmed series of free public events such as talks, concerts, tours, workshops and more, alongside their existing exhibitions and projects by a range of artists both from Ireland and abroad. One of these events is a lunchtime class of traditional Chinese meditation on the Rooftop Garden of the Chester Beatty Library. The aim of the weekend is for people to discover new forms of art that they had previously been unaware of, and to garner appreciation for the galleries and museums of the city.

FROM THE EDITOR WE NEED A NEW HISTORY Greater accessibility is needed in the art world, and the change should begin with our use of language. Stacey Wrenn This title may sound like an oxymoron upon first glance, how can you have a newer version of something that’s entire basis is in the past? What it means is, we need an entirely new way of approaching and presenting history particularly the history of art and architecture. The format and style of both were developed at the turn of the twentieth century and is no longer suitable for contemporary society the greatest baggage it carries is classism, as there has been little substantial eﬀort to make it accessible to the many and not just for the pleasure of the few. There are a number of habits we must first break out of before we can contemplate exactly what this new history will definitively be. Firstly, we must change our use of language. Academic, formal writing has been the standard for over a century, due to the fact that writing about art and architecture remains an activity largely by and for the middle and upper classes in universities and subscriptionbased societies. As a result of this, it is very formulaic and terminology-heavy, and only those who have the privilege of enough leisure time to dedicate to learning the mishmash of Latin and English it is written are capable of engaging with it. We are conditioned to see anything diﬀerent to this style as being ‘unprofessional’. Yes, John Berger and his

Secondly, we must throw out the concept of a linear progression in the history of art and architecture. The canon still sees the artistic developments of the Renaissance as one of the greatest achievements in human history - this is purely subjective. We should see this development as just that, another development to be looked at critically and analysed with the same objectivity we would apply to any other.

“ Academic, formal writing has been the standard for over a century, due

to the fact that writing about art and architecture remains an activity largely by and for the middle and upper classes in universities and subscription-based societies.

Lastly, the sterile approach of curating galleries and museums needs to be abandoned in order to allow the wider public to engage with works and ideas as they wish. The standard layout of single-block colour walls with a large painting in the middle and a black and white information box to the side continuously fails to entice us and recreates the atmosphere of a storage facility rather than a centre for education and enjoyment. This is not impossible. The National Museum of Scotland has replicas of some of the most famous artefacts and fossils in its collection in an open display with big, bold font beside them saying ‘PLEASE TOUCH!’. The sight of pink crayon on an ammonite is so incredibly satisfying. These spaces should be used as facilities to bring solace, inspiration, and meaning to our anxious, troubled times, and to inspire future generations to change what we could not. Once we have accepted that these changes need to be made we can begin work on a new history that will be accessible to all who read it, that will have shed any remnants of colonialism and victor-leaning opinion, a full picture. Art and architectural history will become more open to debate and investigation, everyone will be able to engage with it. It desperately needs fresh engagement. The art world is like a body of water. If people do not test the waters, causing ripples and waves every now and then, it becomes stagnant and polluted by predictability. No new ideas or theories can emerge and develop. It becomes ugly and eventually, it is abandoned.

revolutionary Ways of Seeing (1972) provided the platform needed for anyone and everyone to question such academic certainties - but very little concrete change has been made since then. Yes, gender and racial theory are increasingly common but they are both bogged down by the same style as the establishment that they are fighting against.

We should cause ripples.

The mediating revolutionary Mingling with aristocracy and Michael Collins, Sir John Lavery’s life is a tale of struggle between success and principle. Ciara Kummert

It seems incredibly contradictory that an artist living in the nineteenth and twentieth century would have painted portraits for both the aristocracy while also being involved on the Republican side in the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. While this public display of two opposing viewpoints may confuse us, we ought to assess the artist’s situation in detail to get an understanding of what values such an artist held and what his true intentions were. Sir John Lavery (1856-1941) lived through a time of great political upheaval. He was born in Belfast, at a time when the conflict between Catholics and Protestants was relatively fresh. Himself a Catholic, he moved to Scotland in the 1870s, a largely Presbyterian country. These religious diﬀerences did not seem to have an immense influence on his ability to work as an artist, as he moved back to Glasgow from a brief stint in Catholic France in the 1880s. While in Glasgow he was commissioned to paint the state visit of Queen Victoria to the Glasgow international exhibition. It is commonly said that Queen Victoria had a ‘fondness’ for Ireland, reportedly having donated £2000 to the people of Ireland during the Great Famine. However, this

‘fondness’ is said to have changed following the Dublin Corporation’s decision not to congratulate Queen Victoria’s son, the Prince of Wales on her son’s marriage to Princess Alexandra of Denmark and the birth of the Royal couple’s eldest son, Prince Albert Victor. A relatively trivial matter, one might argue.

became an oﬃcial painter for the British Government, was knighted, and then was elected to the Royal Academy. D e s p i t e his close proximity to the ruling classes he and his wife remained very much involved in the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. Despite the After Michael Queen’s altered Collins was ‘Michael Collins, Love of Ireland’ by perception of the assassinated Sir John Lavery, 1922 country, she did in 1922, not protest her portrait being painted Lavery painted Michael Collins, Love by an Irish artist. This commission of Ireland, which is now in the Hugh ended up a major success for Lavery, Lane Municipal Gallery. In another launching his career as a society flip-flop of political positioning seven painter. To fulfil this role Lavery moved years later, Lavery was commissioned to London in 1896 where he became to depict a court reception of King acquainted with the artist James George & Queen Mary, with the McNeill Whistler. He first established rather lengthy title of: King George V, himself amongst fellow artists, but Accompanied by Queen Mary, at the it was his political connections that Opening of the Modern Foreign and would ultimately shape our current Sargent Galleries at the Tate Gallery, image of him. 26 June 1926 (1926) (pictured above). Lavery met Michael Collins in 1913 and quickly became well acquainted, Michael Collins staying at his London home in the ironically titled 5 Cromwell Place during the AngloIrish Treaty Negotiations in 1921. Similar to Collins, Lavery and his wife Hazel hoped to bring reconciliation to both Protestants and Catholics, even though Hazel had changed her religion from Protestantism to Catholicism upon marriage. To further complicate matters, during this time period Lavery

‘King George V, Accompanied by Queen Mary, at the Opening of the modern Foreign and Sargent Galleries at the Tate Gallery, 26 June 1926’ by Sir John Lavery, 1926

Though Lavery painted a vast quantity of works for the British Royalty, he also gained a name for himself in Ireland, Germany and America. His free movement between such diﬀerent groups in such a contentious period shows the level of privilege that Lavery must have had and utilised for his own advancement - which in turn raises the question of how strongly held his political beliefs actually were. His career appears to have been at the forefront of his ambitions, and while there is no question that he maintained his core belief that Catholics and Protestants should be entitled to equal rights, whether or not one should consider him to be a revolutionary or simply a mediator, is still up for debate.

Kristjana S. Williams The work of this Icelandic artist intricately maps the psychological landscape of the modern city. Aoife O’Donoghue The work of Kristjana S. Williams, a fine art illustrator, is a unique aﬀair. A combination of hand-drawing and collage work, she has used a quote from the revolutionary Max Ernst in an attempt to concisely define it: “Collage is the exploitation of the chance meeting of two distant realities on an unfamiliar plane… and the spark of poetry that leaps across the gap as the two realities converge.” Her intricate, eclectic designs are quickly becoming sought after in the fine art world, as they display the mystifying mixture of her Icelandic/ British heritage – the stark and unforgiving Iceland (her own words), and the bright and busy streets of London. Featured as one of the rising art talents in this year’s Saatchi Other Art Fair in London (where over half of the featured artists are women,

“ She has used a quote from the

revolutionary Max Ernst in an attempt to concisely define [her art]: “Collage is the exploitation of the chance meeting of two distant realities on an unfamiliar plane... and the spark of poetry that leaps across the gap as the two realities converge.”

delightfully I might add) Williams’s works stand out from the fold for their astonishing attention to detail, and the commitment woven through every carefully handpainted butterfly and leaf. Williams is confessional in her work, which often portrays her childhood desire to leave the somewhat bleak and isolated landscape of Iceland. She admits that as a child, she couldn’t wait to get away from the Nordic country, but is appreciative of its beauty now as an adult. This contrast feeds into her work, which heavily features maps of cities, and of the world painstakingly decorated with fantastical elements. Her pieces are heavily influenced by nature, and there is an obvious preference for working with animals to people, with deer and birds featuring heavily in the majority of her pieces. Williams mostly takes inspiration from Victorian engravings, but with a modern touch she laser cuts stones, trees, and butterflies to stitch together a new landscape. Before she moved to Victorian engravings, Williams would hand-draw every collage element, which only allowed her to complete one piece a year; now, she mostly works in digital, with the final images having up to 3000 layers in Photoshop. Williams has also started working in three dimensions to help the pieces come alive – she feels as though people can understand the pieces better that way. With digital art, it’s sometimes harder for people to understand, and certainly a lot harder for people to appreciate the work that goes into it. When they see a 3D piece, be it a textured collage, or one of Williams’s designed globes – which she has on display at the Other Art Fair – it is easier for a person to become acquainted with a piece. Her love aﬀair with London is evident in many of her pieces, with several of her works featuring the city, including Lundunar Kort – Shard Gler Nal 2017

‘Pafulga Straumur’ by Kristjana S.Williams, 2015

“ Her pieces are heavily influenced by

nature, and there is an obvious preference for working with animals to people, with deer and birds featuring heavily in the majority of her work. (2017). An astonishingly detailed map of the city, a clash of elements like Victorian engravings and an industrial, modern London with the buildings made out of a collage of tools and industrial iron particles. Williams moved to London in her early twenties and was quickly influenced by the diverse makeup of the major city. Williams has spoken in videos about the constant influence of the city; all the signals, all the fine art, as well as the architecture. She praises the city for the collective consciousness of design work that flourishes there. Her pieces do not try to glamourise the grit of the city, and there is an honesty threaded through the pieces about London’s history; little droplets of blood marked RIP at the locations of all of Jack The Ripper’s murders, and London Bridge’s metal spikes – used for beheading – are represented by two dog heads with plastered over eyes. It’s a contrast to the dainty flowers and bugs, but it works – it’s a sort of Victorian melodrama that gives the pieces even more heart. Williams’s designs are available to private buyers across a spectrum of furnishings, the most coveted being her wallcoverings, of which the intricate details – from pitch-

black world maps draped in collage animals, to gentle and bright florals – would capture any eye wandering a room. However, it is her corporate commissions that she is best known for. Her commissions have been for an incredibly varied range of clients, including a series of projections on the iconic Belmond Copacabana Palace in Rio, as part of the Olympics celebrations in 2016 – Williams used the butterfly, so eponymous with her work, to carry diﬀerent country’s flag on their wings and represent the coming together of nations in celebration of cultural diversity. In other works, an interesting clash can be seen between the industrial-esque designs of modern London landmarks, with the iron, ornate designs of the past that Williams so loves. Her designs also adorn the revamped branding of the Connaught Hotel, the luxury Mayfair hotel in London. Here, Williams was assigned to capture the spirit, richness, and magic of the hotel, combining 200 years of details, traditions, and idiosyncrasies to create a unique piece of art. Her final design incorporates elements from

“ Williams’s designs are available to private

buyers across a spectrum of furnishings, the most coveted being her wallcoverings, of which the intricate details – from pitchblack world maps draped in collage animals, to gentle and bright florals – would capture any eye wandering a room.

every corner of the hotel in its collage; from the curl of the wooden bannisters to the rims of cocktail glasses. The meticulous and tiny hand-painted bugs and flowers are carefully layered on top of each other, and they convey the living history of the hotel. It is possibly her finest work. Williams’s name may soon become synonymous with fine art for the highest bidder, but it’s no surprise that her work is so valuable given that each piece is the labour of thousands of hours of careful attention, each lovingly detailed and unique in its own way. Even though her style does not fit the conventions of the established art world, her popularity indicates a shift towards greater variety in the art world – at least in two-dimensional forms.

‘Lundunar Kort - Shard Gler Nal 2017’ by Kristjana Williams, 2017

The power of living art Performance art has emancipated us from the shackles of the canon and it deserves to be respected. Weronika Kocurkiewicz Performance art, or living art, is considered to be the most radical medium and is generally acknowledged to have revolutionised and shaped the way we perceive art today. Despite this, it still struggles to be accepted. Why this should be so is debatable, it could be because of the ignorance and indiﬀerence of established art media, or that people find it too controversial, viewing it as something that is simply too diﬃcult to comprehend. This lack of attention is unfortunate, as performance gives vibrancy and a true experience of art itself. In a time in which there is a high tendency of labelling, defining and classifying within society, performance art remains independent, unexpected and shocking in a way that cannot be easily categorised. Laurie Carlos perfectly encapsulated

the complexity of the medium as “the one place where there are so few definitions”, which empowers artists to express their reactions to contemporary political, social or personal issues in a more emphatic way than vigorously splashing paint on canvas or constructing a piece of sculpture to symbolise their viewpoint. This revolt began in the1910s when Dadaists performed irrational concerts and festivals in galleries, cafés, and other unconventional locations that disorientated the public. In the 1960s this concept had further evolved into a more provocative form. It benefited from aperiod of social and political upheaval where exhibitionism, nudity and profanity were a popular form of expression by many artists such as Karen Finley, Carolee Schneemann and Yoko Ono. Most recently it has become a powerful tool used by artists to distinctly manifest their fury on inequality between men and women. The most recent example of this is of a French performance artist, Deborah de Robertis who was arrested on 24 September 2017 for exhibitionism in front of the Mona Lisa (c.1517) at the Louvre while shouting through a megaphone: “Ma

chatte, mon copyright!” (My pussy, my copyright!). On 18 October, she was pronounced not guilty as it was understood that her intentions were solely artistic. However, according to the article on Hyperallergic, museum authorities asked de Robertis to delete photographs of her performance in front of the Mona Lisa from the internet.

“ In a time in which there is a high tendency

of labelling, defining and classifying within society, performance art remains independent, unexpected and shocking in a way that cannot be easily categorised.

Green on Red Gallery, 2017

‘Rhythm 0’, by Marina Abramovic, 1974

She stated that this request clearly showed that The Louvre was more concerned about the painting and its reputation rather than exposure of “pink female flesh”. Undoubtedly, the idea of exposing in front of the most famous work of art in the world brings a powerful message questioning the position of conventional forms of art and women in the art world. The backlash de Robertis experienced from the establishment suggests that art world is still constrictive and artists have little choice but to focus on traditional mediums rather than challenging manifestation, which in this case, reinforces the problematic positioning of women in the history of art. Apart from the rebellious character of this form of art, it is worth mentioning the ephemeral nature of living art which undoubtedly distinguishes itself from more traditional forms. It ceases to exist the moment it ends and can no longer be seen but imagined; only photographic evidence can provide a hint of what happened, which does not necessarily evoke the same emotions as watching it live. Furthermore, nothing in the performance happens twice, so the viewer is always expecting the unexpected which brings a sense of excitement and mystery to the whole spectacle. The viewer’s response is essential for the completion of the work, thus becoming performers themselves. There are many great artists that have shocked and astonished their audiences with controversial performances, most notably Marina Abramovi , whose work explores the physical limits of the human body. Her most famous work Rhythm 0 (1974) in which she let herself become ‘an object’ for six hours beside 72 other ‘objects’ on a table, and she encouraged visitors to use them on her body. In a video from the Marina Abramovi Institute, she mentioned

just how fascinating it was to see the visible change in human nature as

by the public’s transformation of morality during those six hours and she noticed that they were visibly vulnerable and scared afterwards. In summary, this intense performance showed how easy it is for a person to become an object that could fulfil people’s darkest desires. The true beauty of performance art can only be understood when one has the opportunity to see it live. I recently went to see an exhibition called Breathing In Breathing Out which composed of six live performances by six artists at Green On Red Gallery in Dublin.

they were given freedom of choice during that performance. They went from ‘decorating’ her with various objects like roses and jewellery, to more extreme cases like scarring her with knife, taking her clothes oﬀ and giving her a pistol with one bullet as if to challenge her to pull the trigger. Marina Abramovi was fascinated

“ It ceases to exist the moment it ends and can no longer be seen but imagined; only photographic evidence can provide a hint of what happened, which does not necessarily evoke the same emotions as watching

The atmosphere was extraordinary – I was surrounded by people in complete silence with only footsteps to be heard from time to time as artists moved around the gallery, between visitors. Each performance was unique and words fail to adequately describe how I felt while I was watching. One thing that I am certain about is that I was heartbroken when the performances ended as I wished I could linger on those moments a bit longer, the drawback to this medium in general. This constantly evolving medium challenges the canon of art through its provocative nature with no sign of slowing. It is an artform that excels in its use of contemporary issues as inspiration and encouragement of the public to reflect on them. There is a strong case that this is a significant missing piece in the study of art history that will need to be addressed in the years to come.

The future is mud Cob builds oﬀer a natural and aﬀordable alternative to concrete cities for the environmentally conscious. Stacey Wrenn

The technological advance of steelframe construction by the Chicago School in the late nineteenth century is arguably the single most revolutionary move in recent architectural history. It enabled building on a mass scale, in number and in height. The concept of the ‘vertical city’ was born. Smog filled the streets of cities and industrial waste polluted the rivers. This heightened focus on ‘upscaling’ urban centres led to a degradation in living conditions and contributed significantly to the dangers of climate change we are currently faced with through the harmful toxins it released into the atmosphere. We are in desperate need of another revolution, one that is both sustainable and accessible. In the past decade we have seen the creation of scientifically advanced materials with a lesser carbon footprint in the manufacturing process than traditional building materials, but because of their price, they are only available to the few and not the many. There is a small but growing international movement that believes they have found the perfect solution, a carbon-neutral home that can be built for less than a thousand euro. The future is mud. More specifically, the future is cob.

“ We are in desperate need of another revolution, one that is both sustainable and accessible.

Cob is an ancient material that is a mixture of clay, sand, straw, and water. It is found with some variations across the world under diﬀerent names – adobe in Central America, swish in Ghana. Cob was the main material of residential building in Ireland for centuries due to its low cost and ease of manipulation, but after the Great Famine (1845-1852) its reputation was stained and the wider public did its best to forget its existence. The habitation of the ‘daoine beo bocht’ that we know mainly from prints, bodies in ditches with grass stains around their mouths. Tales of the ‘famine cottages’ with damp walls and collapsing thatch roofs were particularly potent in the mid-twentieth century when the Irish government undertook mass housing projects such as the Ballymun Flats – as if to justify what would be revealed to be poor-quality builds by having the public believe things were worse before. While there are some disadvantages to building with cob, such as the limited time you have during the year where the weather conditions are appropriate (basically, it cannot be raining), the benefits far outweigh them. Firstly, the economic argument for cob is that because it is such an easy material to work with – once you provide the physical eﬀort – you can cut back on the amount of labour needed, and outside contractors are not necessary. The man credited with reinvigorating cob architecture in the West Country of the United Kingdom, Kevin McCabe, has built most of his creations with the help of volunteers who are passionate about the medium or want to learn through firsthand experience so they can build their own homes in the future. The clay soil necessary for a sound structure can be found in the subsoil dug up at most building sites when they are in the process of laying foundations, and most cob builders make arrangements with contractors to essentially dump the soil on their property – usually free of charge. Deals are

“ Cob was the main material of residential

building in Ireland for centuries due to its low cost and ease of manipulation, but after the Great Famine (18451852) it’s reputation was stained and the wider public did its best to forget its existence. The habitation of the ‘daoine beo bocht’ that we know mainly from prints, bodies in ditches with grass stains around their mouths.

Bricks of cob made by the author, 2017

also made with local farmers for the straw. Secondly, on an environmental level cob building is nontoxic and the materials are completely recyclable. If one builds walls that are one to two feet thick there is little need for heating even during winter months Above: Exterior of the Riedmuller house. as it’s a natural insulator that retains the heat. McCabe admits to digger and a large pit. In adding sheets of polystyrene on the doing so, however, you lose exterior of his projects but he puts this part of what makes this down simply to the new restrictions such a great material to on planning permissions in the United work with – the satisfaction Kingdom – this is not required under of being able to look at the Irish planning laws. finished product and say ‘I made that possible’. Lastly, in terms of aesthetics, the constraints of building as we know The cob is then separated it are eliminated with curvature and into rounded bricks that abstraction possible with great ease. are stacked on top of the Cob lends itself to more organic forms, stone foundation where with one house by McCabe having a they are merged and floor plan inspired by the geometry of smoothed down – but the a snail shell. You can also freely carve surface has to be dampened when and sculpt designs into the walls as you adding more or else the structure will please, as the image below outlines. crack and potentially crumble when This is the most pleasurable part of the dry. A lime render is added once the process of building with cob, for even construction is complete to protect though it does not require someone to the clay from being washed out by the have twenty years of experience with rain – a necessity in the Irish coastal it before ‘mastering’ it does need to climate in particular. However, the cob be carried out meticulously in order is porous so this is not a major issue, to avoid any unnecessary issues down but most European builders add in the line. wide roof eaves for extra protection from weathering. The balance between the clay, sand, and straw needs to be found, with the A testament to the strength of cob straw being added in after the soils can be found at The Hollies Centre have been mixed together with water. in Enniskeane, Co. Cork where a The straw needs to be threaded into community founded on sustainable the mix and the most thorough way living has continued to grow since 1999. of doing this is by foot with repetitive Their houses vary from straw builds to stomps until there are no visible by-the-book cob, with hemp fibre floors strands simply resting – the straw is and windows made from the bottoms what holds the material together and of recycled glass bottles. A full tour of stabilises it for construction. This is their community is available as part a slow process even with volunteers of their regular workshops and open helping, but if you wanted to you could days, including the ‘studio cottage’ substitute feet for an operational built by the Riedmuller’s son when

Interior of the Riedmuller house. he was only 16 with an eco-roof with wildflowers hanging from the sides, blending in with its surroundings. This building perfectly encapsulates why cob is the way forward for architecture – it’s accessible, it’s clean, and it works with the environment rather than leaving a concrete path of destruction in its wake.

The weapon of a revolution There are still lessons to be learned from Heartfield’s use of photomontage to combat fascist ideology. David Boyd

During the twentieth century, artworks had the ability to mobilise audiences behind political ideologies, and some of the most progressive developments in the use of art as a political weapon were made by the German artist John Heartfield, a pioneer of the use of photomontage in the 1920s and 1930s. By dissecting and reassembling images and text from the German media he sought to expose the reality of social and political issues that photographs alone could not. Having strong leanings towards the radical left of German politics, Heartfield used the medium to agitate and rally the public towards political action. In the process, he developed a visual language that would come to symbolise Germany’s struggle towards communist revolution. Photomontage allowed Heartfield to create some of his most famous works satirising the Nazi party. By splicing images from various sources he subverted the visual narrative of Nazi invincibility and revealed the true face of National Socialism. In Adolf the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk (1932) he cut and pasted images of x-rays and coins to create a grotesque depiction of the dictator’s internal form – a biting critique of a party he saw as enslaved by capitalism and fuelled by violence. The inherent flexibility of the medium Heartfield chose to work with allowed him to create striking artwork that could articulate his political ideas and be readily reproduced in order to stimulate a

political awakening among the masses. It was these explicit desires that made him a leading figure of a burgeoning group of revolutionary propagandists in Europe. He created work that was not only consumable for the general public, but also widely accessible. Through his use of posters and covers in the left wing magazine ArbeiterIllustrierte Zeitung (AIZ), Heartfield endeavoured to educate and enlist the German proletariat to his adopted cause. He made no secret of his wish to create art intent on encouraging a communist response to events within the viewer. While in Moscow in 1931 he stated: “It

“ He created work that was not only consumable

for the general public, but also widely accessible. is our task to influence the masses, as well, as strongly, as intensely as possible.” This quotation raises a vital question about the artist’s work. Heartfield’s intent was not to challenge the Nazis from an objective viewpoint. Instead he worked as an organ of the German Communist Party creating montages that were as didactic as the fascist propaganda he attacked. He sought to manipulate his viewers’ ideological beliefs through the use of sensational imagery rather than to fulfil his claim and expose the truth of political issues. Moreover, problematic to the acceptance of Heartfield as an artist intent on fighting for the proletariat was his promotion of the Soviet Union as a utopian state. In 1934 he created a photomontage titled Lenin’s Vision Became Reality in which a ‘Lenin’s Vision Became Reality’ by John Heartfield, 1934

‘Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk’ by John Heartfield, 1932

messianic Lenin looks down on the thriving industry of the nation. Regardless of the cruelties inflicted in the Soviet Union Heartfield refused to direct the same critical gaze he applied to Hitler. Criticism aside, it is important not to Criticism aside, it is important not to forget the personal danger Heartfield placed himself in by creating his artworks. After Hitler’s rise to power, he fled to Czechoslovakia as one of the most wanted artists in Nazi Germany. He continued to produce images that caught the eye and stimulated the mind of the viewer. It is no wonder therefore that he has left a lasting mark on political artists following in his wake. From Peter Kennard’s arresting images of conflict to the montaged graphics of the punk movement in the 1980s. Heartfield’s resilience and dedication to his political outlook has inspired revolutionaries of many shades. While the partisan nature of Heartfield’s work undermines its ability to present the full reality of German politics, it must be stressed that he was an artist and not a politician. His technical aptitude, along with his sharp wit and his political zeal contributed to an art form that had the ability to provoke or unite its viewers, depending on their outlook. Although his dream of a communist Germany was lost he revolutionised the nature of photomontage as a medium that could kindle political change.

GALLERY FOCUS CRAWFORD ART GALLERY CORK One of the ways in which the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork has expanded its permanent collection over the past two decades has been by commissioning and acquiring portraits of Irish writers. Organised under the theme ‘Writers’, this part of the collection contains portraits executed by means of painting, sculpture and photography by several prominent Irish artists of the past and present.

‘Portrait of Micheal O’Siadhail’ by Micheal O’Dea, 2003

‘Portrait of Anthony Cronin’ by Edward McQuire, 1977

Highlights include a fascinating series of paintings by Louis le Brocquy of James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, and W. B. Yeats, John Minihan’s iconic photograph of Beckett at the Petit Cafe, Paris, and Edward McGuire’s arresting portrait of writer Anthony Cronin, which is the most recent acquisition by the gallery under this theme.

‘Samuel Beckett at the Petit Cafe, Blvd. St. Jacques, Paris’ by John Minihan, 1985

Also on display is a vibrant portrait by celebrated contemporary painter Mick O’Dea of the poet Micheal O’Siadhail, commissioned by the gallery in 2005. As a catalogue of famous Irish writers the collection is far from complete; however, it is subject to continuous development and should be viewed as complementary to other portrait collections such as those at the Abbey Theatre and the National Gallery of Ireland. As such, it represents an important contribution to this aspect of the national art collections and provides a template for their future development.

Visit the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork City for free from 10.00am– 5.00pm Monday to Saturday, with later closing on Thursdays ‘Image of W. B. Yeats’ by Louis le Brocquy, 1994

An ode to Brutalism A re-evaluation of the most reviled architectural style of the twentieth century. Oisin Vince Coulter

In the early hours of the 14 June 2017, a fire engulfed Grenfell Tower in London. This fire resulted in an estimated 80 deaths and 70 injuries. Although it has yet to be proven definitively, it is believed the fire spread so quickly due to shoddy exterior cladding added to Grenfell as part of a renovation in 2015-16. This cladding was added, at least in part, to improve the appearance of this block of social housing sat in the midst of one of the wealthiest boroughs in London. The Grenfell disaster has kickstarted a conversation about the impact of decades of neoliberal city planning generally, and more specifically the continued neglect of social housing since the 1980’s. This necessary conversation inevitably dovetails with one about the legacy of Brutalism, the school of architecture most associated with social housing. In Britain, brutalism proliferated from the 1950’s to the mid 1970’s, and is primarily identified by its use of “raw concrete” and angular building forms. Grenfell Tower was typical of what people think of when they think of Brutalist architecture: a mostly featureless grey tower block. The Berkeley Library and Arts Block are also examples of Brutalist architecture. We are currently in the middle of something of a Brutalist revival; as the New York Times titled an article last year, “Brutalism is Back.” Various stylistic Instagram pictures and loving blog posts have helped to drive a new appreciation of the style. As it turns out, the brash and avantgarde silhouette of a Brutalist building looks good with a nice filter. Of course, the most common critique of Brutalism is that the buildings are often just ugly. This is

often true: many examples of Brutalist architecture are ugly. But this is not a unique nor inherent characteristic of Brutalism. Many buildings built before and after are easily as ugly as the worst of Brutalism. One need only look at the Barbican or Alexandra Road Estate in London to see that Brutalism can rival any other school of architecture aesthetically. The ongoing aesthetic re-evaluation does risk overlooking the social ideology at the core of Brutalism. As architectural critic Catherine Slessor writes, the “commodified comeback is completely at odds with Brutalism’s social agenda.”

“ Brutalism was always more about ethics than aesthetics

Brutalism was the architectural wing of this movement, the belief that highquality housing and public amenities could be available to all. In a recent Guardian interview Neave Brown, one of the most famous British Brutalist architects, responsible for the Alexandra Road Estate: “I didn’t think I was designing social housing, but just housing. Good London housing.” Brutalism was married to this social democratic project because it oﬀered an answer the question of how to provide housing and services on a large scale within the means of the welfare state. Brutalist housing projects oﬀered a high quality of living, in comparison to the cramped tenements of the prewar period, at an

aﬀordable price and on a large scale. It allowed for thousands of people to be housed rapidly, along with the building of libraries and civic buildings. Unfortunately, since the 1980’s the quantity of social housing being built in the West has declined dramatically. In Ireland, there was an average of 6,200 social housing units completed on average annually between 1970 and 1985. There was a brief increase in the 2000’s, for example with 5,000 units of social housing built in 2008. But in 2015 there were only 158 units built, years into the worst housing crisis Ireland has seen in decades. This decline obviously ties into the right-wing shift in the west since the 1980’s as governments abandoned the idea that housing was a human right and left its provision to the whims of the market. As Neave Brown said: “Neoliberalism has stripped out the social ideology from our country and led to a ruinous economy with ruinous housing.” We don’t need to return to Brutalism or repeat it’s mistakes to learn from it. At it’s best, Brutalism stood for the ability of society to provide for the needs of all. Aﬀordable high-quality housing, large and accessible civic and social amenities: these are things we need in Ireland and internationally now more than ever. It is a moral imperative, after Grenfell and as homeless people die on the streets of Ireland, that we put the social values of Brutalism back at the heart of our planning policies.

Alexandra Road estate by Neave Brown, c. 1978

In an article by The Guardian earlier this month, several artists working across a range of mediums were asked what the biggest issue they faced was, reflecting on the conditions of the art world today. The overwhelming majority of responses came down to patronage and the issues of morality that surround achieving a living wage from working full-time as an artist. These issues, while thrown into a modern setting, are not new. Problems surrounding patronage and subject matter are something artists have long struggled with, with the Christian church being the only way for artists to truly make a living from the birth of the church in the early centuries CE. It was only with an increasing interest from private buyers with an interest in secular scenes and topics that artists had a chance to start exploring their own ideas. And yet even still, artists had to depend on set pieces that were perceived to be popular – primarily portraits, landscapes, and history paintings.

world at any one time, is it hypocritical for you to be involved in an exhibition sponsored, for example, by an oil company? Or is it better to be getting your work out there and attempting to shape discussion within, rather than not being visible at all? With museums and galleries depending so heavily on these big corporations – of often dubious moral standing – is there any scenario where it’s feasible to cut them out? Another problem that comes under the wider umbrella of patronage is that of censorship. If you are entirely dependent on patronage from an individual or company that is fundamentally conservative, how much are these views going to influence the kind of work produced by an artist? What kind of influence is this going to have on works chosen (and perhaps more importantly, not chosen) to be displayed in museums and galleries? These are public spaces, but even where they are state funded, there can still be shades of censorship depending on accepted societal norms and who is the head of collections.

the numbber of private buyers with an interest in secular scenes and topics that artists had a chance to fully start exploring

Brazilian artist Rivane Neuenschwander worries about the strain put on the arts in her country, where both individual artists and institutions have come under enormous pressure from conservative politicians and other powerful groups. Stefan Kalmer, director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London also considered this, focusing in particular on the unanswered question of how many galleries across America have Trump supporters as their biggest donors, sitting on their boards. While he doesn’t oﬀer an alternative to this, he is at least willing to start a conversation about this inherent bias stating ‘at least we can talk about them, instead of pretending they’re not there’.

According to artists like Oreet Ashery, the issue is not just about trying to make money, but where that money comes from. If you are an artist interested in social issues, and the atrocities taking place all over the

Visual artist, Tacita Dean also confirmed outside influence as her biggest fear, but she oﬀered the beginnings of a solution, stressing the importance

“ It’s arguable that it was only with an increase in

of artists balancing what she saw as the need for the market with a detachment from it. But how can artists do just enough to keep donors happy, and as a result keep their funding going, without compromising their own creativity and point of view? There should be choices, not just one way to do things. Art, at least according to the Oxford Dictionary definition, is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination…primarily for their beauty or emotional power”. In a world where artists rely on the support of others, Dean seems to have the right idea. When you can’t depend on the morality of corporations, and even your government could have an agenda, the only way forward seems to be having multiple ways of getting your work seen. If you can’t be forced down a particular path, then you can’t be forced into censorship or manipulation of your message – but can this be achieved? It all comes down to being true to oneself and one’s artistic talent. Photographer Catherine Opie has called for artists to persevere at their work, even when things get hard, and to always be authentic. She thinks that the ultimate question facing artists is what type of artist they want to be, however, she doesn’t think it matters much what their answer to this is, as an artists work tends to live on in the context of political and contemporary culture even when their opinions do not match that of the consensus. This can all perhaps be summed up in what Jeremy Deller gave as his response to The Guardian: ‘WTF? That’s the question facing artists today.’

Revival as a form of revolution Street art and public signage should be harnessed as an agency for political change. Fiona McLoone The giant billboards and moving visual displays we are confronted with on the streets of Dublin are very dependent on both digital printing and vinyl wrapping – which they justify by arguing that the goal of the major brands and advertising companies is to bombard the public eye as quickly as they can with their messages and products. Environmental responsibility aside, what the corporate world needs to remember is that advertisement campaigns will only be effective if they trigger a reaction. The current revolution brewing in the world of design demonstrates that this ‘digital era’ still appreciates the intricacy of hand-crafted design origins – the most common example of this being graffiti. The origins of graffiti in it’s most basic sense of writings/drawings on a surface in a public place can be linked as far back to ancient Greece. Throughout the course of history, it has been implemented in a plethora of social and political agendas. Even today politicians today are utilising this art-form in their election campaigns. Society appears to have much more understanding and acceptance of street art and murals because of their association with modern art and popup exhibitions. This raising up of graffiti design to the same level of respect as more ‘traditional mediums’ such as sculpture, along with it’s merging with sign painting is not only an inspiring way to communicate your viewpoints and ideas in an enticing way but also provides us with a novel resource to delve into our past and pay homage to our design roots. A

question that is frequently asked in the art world is whether or not culture has been dumbed down if it ‘pales in comparison’ to earlier epochs with regard to its aesthetic achievements. As far as I can see, our creative resources have far from run dry.

Everywhere we look we can see creative forces combining to make great works of art. We see artists every day on the streets of Dublin reviving the almostlost craft of manually-made signs and poster boards, at every protest and rally. This is an irreplaceable nuance of art and design that deserves attention. The Repeal the 8th mural commissioned by Hunreal Issues and realised by Maser Art on the wall of the Project Arts Centre in Temple Bar encapsulated this perfectly. The hype that the mural generated led to a cascade of positive action which spurred the Wicklow based artist Dara Kenny to add his voice and more importantly his eﬀort to the concept of a campaign mural. He used a designated graﬃti wall in Arklow, Co. Wicklow for his project, which spared him the ‘planning permission’ debacle which led to the removal of the Maser Art mural. In an interview Dara explained the rationale behind his work: “Maser’s mural shows how powerful a symbol can be but it’s important that artists continue to create pieces that directly address issues, to flood social media, open the general public’s eyes and put pressure on those who can pass the bill.” This quote encapsulates the need for this revival – an avenue that society can explore in order to push boundaries, shatter expectations and have their say in how politics, society and civic engagement plays out. Street art reminds us both of what we have to fight for and what we have lost. By fueling rally campaigns and

Repeal the 8th mural by Dara Kenny, 2016

protests; sign painters are adding their voice to the struggle for revolution. Validating the work of these hardworking people who cling to their craft while simultaneously bringing Irish society on this revolutionary journey with them is the challenge now. The only reason that 95% of new shopowners and campaigners go for the digital fix is that it’s cheap. There is however an arguably greater issue to address, our current obsession with the artisan. Let’s scrap the economy of faux-craftsmanship and pseudoethical sourcing which is hiding behind the artisan label. It’s all about sentiment, tapping into the unique and the special instead of churning out one-size-fits-all signs time and time again. Personal, hand-crafted signs allow so much more scope for self-expression and personal flourish – Lincoln Place’s Makeshop, the Lighthouse Cinema’s monolith and Block T’s multicoloured logo all stand as stellar examples of this. The only solution, of course, is to ask questions, to dare to be diﬃcult, and to take a stand. If more of our citizens took a look at the streets around them we’d have a better city to promote as a world-class design platform.

The fetishisation of radical politics The commodification of Frida Kahlo’s identity undermines her both as an artist and a communist. Maia Mathieu You know her unibrow, even if you don’t know her art. Since celebrities like Madonna discovered her art in the early nineties, Frida Kahlo has become a symbol of feminine perseverance, unconventional beauty, and individuality so readily identifiable that she’s an easy Halloween costume or calavera, even outside of the Latinx community. A recent Etsy search turned up 12,682 results tagged with her name and the Frida Kahlo Corporation, run by her descendants, offers the opportunity to have an officially licensed Frida VISA credit card. If she were alive to see it, I think she’d be disgusted. Much of the pop culture of Frida Kahlo is posthumous myth building on a deeply sentimental biography and an artsy biopic. Both of these soft-pedalled a very important detail about her life in favour of the more soapy stuff: Frida Kahlo was a devout communist, and she’d hate your tote bag. Born in 1907, Kahlo would later fudge the year of her birth to 1910, the year of the Mexican revolution, as she considered herself a true daughter of the revolution. She joined the Mexican Communist party in 1928 as a young woman and can be seen at the forefront of future husband Diego Rivera’s painting of the same year, ‘En el Arsenal,’ taking up arms

as part of the workers’ struggle. In 1930, Kahlo travelled to New York with Rivera when he was commissioned as a muralist by various patrons, including Nelson Rockefeller in 1932. The fresco was chiselled oﬀ the wall of Rockefeller Center soon after, as Rockefeller would not tolerate a mural prominently featuring Lenin. Kahlo’s disdain for ‘Gringolandia’ was obvious in her paintings and letters of the time. To the Communist League of America, Kahlo wrote, “I’ve learnt so much here and I’m more and more convinced it’s only through communism that we can become human.” Proudly Mexican, but with a German immigrant father, ‘Frieda’ dropped the Germanic ‘e’ from her name in 1935 to distance herself from the developing association of all things German with fascism. Politics mattered a great deal to Kahlo, even though being in and out of hospitals didn’t lend itself to much practical action. She lived with chronic pain due to surviving a terrible trolley accident in her youth, and this left her bedridden for much of her life, with only her painting and interior world as solace. These unglamorous details are never included when she’s deemed ‘The Selfie Queen’, nor the fact that she was her own primary subject due to much of her work being done flat on her back on a specially made easel, and she had her inner world and a mirror to work from. Kahlo’s flower crowns, shawls and long skirts were a rebellion against the imperialism of Western beauty and fashion - they were elements of traditional Mexican peasant dress, and the long skirts hid the brace on her leg, withered from polio in her youth. Her ‘iconic’ unibrow

was not a simple branding stunt, her autonomy over her own body deserves more respect than that.

“ Frida Kahlo was a devout communist and she’d hate your tote bag.

Towards the end of her life, the inwardlooking artist began to be more explicitly political in her work. Those later paintings show a less deft hand than her early work due to the pain medication she was on, particularly following the amputation of her leg due to gangrene. Until her death in 1954, Kahlo worked on several pieces featuring major communist luminaries. This work goes generally unexhibited and not merely because much of it is unfinished. The painting known posthumously as ‘Marxism Will Give Health to the Sick’ was originally titled ‘Peace on Earth so the Marxist Science may Save the Sick and Those Oppressed by Criminal Yankee Capitalism’ -- there is no mistaking her intentions. It’s an ugly truth faced by any woman with something to say and who exercises her right to say it that her personal life and appearance will attract at least as much scrutiny as her message. The fact that Kahlo’s face has become more ubiquitous than her work is the clearest example of this. Marketing never tells the whole story. The smallest glimpse of the life of this incredible artist, considering her values and her struggle and her art, highlights just how disturbing it is that her suﬀering and rebellion have become a visual shorthand for a certain sort of commodified funky, faux-rustic, in direct opposition to everything she strove for. Consider this when you’re looking at Etsy or whatever, and while you’re at it, maybe re-think that Che Guevara t-shirt, too.

Perfect by design While it is inevitable that the human hand will eventually be replaced by computers, this change has been gradual and is not one to be feared. Sulla Montes I firmly believe that there will come a time when the old-fashioned pencil sketches on tracing paper will be completely replaced with computeraided architectural design (CAAD) files on a hard drive of a computer. Ever since this program was created in the 1960s the architectural world has been fundamentally changed in how it views the creation process, with a strong argument to be made that it is faster and more eﬃcient now than before when we relied on straight edges and charcoal to get our ideas across. Resisting this technology is like pushing the invention of email and social media away and sticking with licking the back of stamps for envelopes to send a handwritten mail. By carrying that chunk of metal that controls your whole life inside your pockets you have already embraced technology. It’s time to let go of your drafting tables and buy a fastprocessing computer. If you do reach this point, make sure you request one with the best graphics card in the market, because if you are an architect or a product designer, you will need a tool that can keep up with the everchanging needs of the industry. This economic inconvenience does not mean that the traditional way of design is easier though. I had to design a stool for a building class and it was much faster using a mouse than a pencil which I would have had to re-sharpen multiple times.

You will not find any university that bans CAAD tools - in fact, we are encouraged to take advantage of this technology. In architecture, it is important that measurements are precise for the prototypes that are made. Computers are arguably better than humans in solving complex mathematical problems and much faster at computing measurements, so accuracy will not be as much of an issue. You can also print as many prototypes as you need at a much lower cost and faster time than traditional prototyping. A building rarely has one window, and as an architect drafting a structural design, the task of reproducing fifteen identical windows would be tedious and time-consuming. But with computers, all it takes is a simple copy and paste. The time spent redrawing the same thing over and over again is better utilised on improving design and safety, or finding flaws. Our hands, when it comes to design, are ultimately replaceable, but perhaps CAAD tools will fully integrate the use of a drawing stylus to give you, the designer, more control over your piece. New software might react to pen pressure and angle and give the illusion of raw perfectly imperfect lines and curves. All is not changed forever, but one must understand, even when one draws on a touchscreen, the endresult is always just processed data of ones and zeros optimised by advanced algorithms. Your human hand might think it’s doing all the work, but the

“ A building rarely has one window, and as

an architect drafting a structural design, the task of reproducing fifteen identical windows would be tedious and time-consuming. But with computers, all it takes is a simple copy and paste.

Conceptual drawing by Le Corbusier, c. 1920

CAAD drawing by Zaha Hadid, c. 2015

truth is your design is technically not only yours anymore because it was done on a digital surface. The aid of a computer in the realisation of ideas might cause some to fear that works will be void of emotions and will lack in true creativity, but design is more than just the physicality of the human hand. It’s about the story you tell through shapes, colours, edges, shadows and light, the feeling of being in the space that is created. A CAAD prototype of a skyscraper will not take away the structure’s ability to evoke feeling in anyone

“ All is not changed forever, but one must

understand, even when one draws on a touchscreen, the endresult is always just processed data of ones and zeros optimised by advanced algorithms.

who lay eyes on it or enters. People will still feel how they do regardless of how the building came to fruition. Architects and designers like to challenge the laws of physics. Anyone who tried and succeeded is seen as a visionary. Jørn Utzon, for example, the architect of the Sydney Opera House (1973), dreamed of a flamboyant architectural marvel. The question posed to Utzon most frequently was how was it going to stay up? And this would have remained unanswered without the help of CAAD tools.

The Opera House’s structure was simulated. Special tiles were made just for it. Now, the Unesco Heritage site attracts millions of tourists yearly and it has become one of the most photographed buildings of all time, visitors to this day look at it with amazement and admiration. While they do so, it is imperative to keep in mind that computer software helped him design it. The Burj Khalifa (2010) in Dubai, the tallest building in the world, was also made with CAAD. Architectural challenges shouldn’t stop us from building higher or designing better. A massive project like this, if done manually, will require more sheets of paper, hundreds of drawing materials and more importantly, a long list of risks that will need testing. With CAAD, these resources are minimised and managing the project becomes more reliable and eﬃcient. Designs and measurements are stored in a computer, which makes it accessible anywhere in the world through the internet. An architect with a high level of expertise in one area, living on the other side of the world, might have valuable input that will forward the process. This also means that, unless the worldwide network system fails, information will never be lost. Despite all of this, computer-aided architectural design does reveal vulnerabilities. It is only good for reading and processing inputs

that are expected and repetitive. They can’t design cherished wonders like the Eiﬀel Tower (1889) or the Pantheon (BCE125) all on their own. They lack what makes architects build such wonders - curiosity. Without a doubt, machines can design a building that is practical and stable, but they don’t (as of yet) have consciousness in their microprocessors. These tools will replace your hand if they haven’t already, but they still rely on the initial input of your creativity and the cradle of invention that is the brain.

The floors of the Burj Khalifa, c. 2010

EXHIBITION FOCUS Francisco Goya: The Disasters of War CHESTER BEATTY LIBRARY

Goya’s innovations to the field of photojournalism have never been so succintly displayed. Will Abbott Francisco Goya (1746-1828) is considered to be the most important Spanish painter of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for his contribution to commentarial art – the summa of which, The Disasters of War, is currently on display in The Chester Beatty Library. They describe the prints of Francisco Goya’s secret protest at Napoleon’s 1808 invasion of Spain currently on display there as “the predecessors of modern photojournalism”. Indeed, it’s hard not to draw comparisons with the now-iconic images captured during, say, the Vietnam War. While these etchings may not compare with the accuracy oﬀered by film, they oﬀer a chilling insight into the horrors of war that few polaroids could ever hope to achieve.

desperation of civilians attempting to ward them oﬀ, and the grotesque fates that await those who fail. It features some of the most disquieting images of the entire series. ‘Enterrar y callar (Bury them and keep quiet)’ brings to mind Michael Longley’s “landscape of dead buttocks” from his poem Wounds; the loss of simple dignity becoming almost surreal. ‘Famine’ casts its gaze to the famine in Madrid; a direct result of the invasion. Despite being based on this specific event, any of the images could easily represent the grief of the survivors from the previous set of tableaus; ‘Las camas de la Muerte (The beds of death)’ is an especially haunting portrayal of massive loss of life. ‘Caprices’ is an allegorical take on the post-war period. Here the metaphorical becomes real, and civilians are subject to the whims of demons and beasts.

The prints are categorized into 3 sections. War focuses on the dehumanising eﬀects of armed conflict; the devastation caused by the rape and pillaging of an invading army, the

REMEMBERING Linda Nochin (1936-2017) The rippling eﬀects of Linda Nochlin’s revolutionary writings on gender and art have yet to cease. Charlotte Lee

The statement that “there have been no supremely great women artists” is, admittedly, an unexpected basis for the most influential feminist essay in art history. Or, for that matter, one of the most influential essays in the field full stop. However, Linda Nochlin specialised in subverting the norm and with her death aged 86 on the 29 October 2017, the world lost an exceptional feminist and scholar. In her 1971 essay Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? Nochlin held the field of art history to account by railing against the convention that ‘Great Art’ is produced in a vacuum by an individual with Great Genius. She argued that ‘Great Art’ is produced by those with the freedom and education to do so; overwhelmingly white men. This was a seminal turning point in

These images are given additional weight by those that precede; it elevates them from a typical political cartoon to an anguished wail against the sheer scale of injustice. Many of the titles given to the prints are ironic, or give into the despair shown in the images – with the title of a cruel depiction of the hanging of a civilian, simply translating as Why?. Many prints focus solely on the victims and the suﬀering they are forced to endure. Often only a lone victim is in focus, with those in the background obscured in shade and in shadow. Two prints take this approach to its logical extreme, by featuring only the tips of the perpetrator’s guns (with those who pull the trigger conspicuously absent). In the final pair of prints, Goya mourns what is often the first victim of war, truth itself. This collection, and subsequently this exhibition, however, shows the power of the human to withstand hardship as he has managed to preserve the truth of the atrocities of war. Such perseverance remains an important quality for viewers of the exhibition to take away with them in this day and age.

the field, as was her later work on the racism implicit in the tradition of artistic orientalism. Nochlin changed how women and their art are seen, and she will be missed. However, her work lives on in the artists and feminists who succeed her in the belief that… “the fault lies not in our stars, our hormones, our menstrual cycles, or our empty internal spaces, but in our institutions and our education.”

LUIS BUÑUEL (1900-1983)

“A writer or painter cannot change the world. But they can keep an essential margin of nonconformity alive.”