Alfredo Jaar
Let there be light: The rwanda project 1994 – 1998
The Eyes of a Gutete Emerita, 1996
Leonardo Da Vinci
Weapons of war
Guns with array of horizontal barrels and gun with three racks of barrels. c1481. (s)
Treadwheel ’machine-guns’ (s)
Facebook is a global community of networks which provide an easy medium for mass communication between friends and colleges, for this reason I chose to use facebook as my medium to communicate, gather ideas and obtain participation for my blog assignment on Global Art.
Global Art can be described as art directed to a global audience, disseminated via global communication tools and whose topic has global dimension. None of the above elements can exist without the other and none of them can exist without networking or grid-way thinking. (Olga A. Marcinkiewicz, 2008)
I posted the following status updated onto my facebook profile:
“Hi everyone, I am doing an assignment about the understanding of Global Art. This could be about war, global environmental issues or political issues etc. I would really love to know what is YOUR understanding of Global Art and what you think it might mean. If you aren’t sure, please ask someone that might know or take a guess. Please, please give me some feedback 
“
The responses I received were:
Darren Short
“political issues, hmmmmmmmmm…all governments are corrupt!!! lol”
Nathanial Fairweather
“I think global art is art directed to a global audience, disseminated via global communication tools and whose topic has global dimension.
Although the concept of global art has been around for decades, it has been through the growth of the internet which has allowed it to become truly global. Artists who’s art would previously never been seen can be displayed within digital galleries for all to view and comment on, amateurs and people who only create works of art as a hobby are able to create works which are on par with professionals with years of training and experience.”
Adele Drabble
“Hi Candice – I asked a friend of mine who is an art teacher and she said this……
if she talking about art that makes a global message then I wouldnt even know where to start – thats a giant topic – would be way too broad to do well as an assignment I would think, if she wants to do a good job of it I would narrow it down and explain her intentions better (gosh do I sound like a teacher much! lol and its the first day of holidays)”
Dan Willdridge
“global art is like those fellas that have a high stature in art circles and so that allows them to have abstract art peices that dont represent anything unless you know the artist… and the value of the art will be 10000′s of time over the value compared to some unnamed person doing the same peice”
David Annett
“The the pragmatic person in me says it must be artistic renderings of the planet earth earth. Of course Google suggest to me it you could be talk of the Global Art Project which, as your granddad would say, looks a bit arty-farty.”
Tarm Dreaneen
“When is this assisgnment due? I have some mosaics that our intellectually and physically disabled clients at my work created and we have in our gardens and around our centre. This represents global art to me and my colleagues as being of one, having no barriers and promoting tolerance in the community towards minority groups. I am on holidays for 2 weeks so when I come back I can post some photos they are beautiful and represent their own feelings of art”
War is often a subject which prompts emotions and responses from people both for and against. I submitted the following well known war quote on my facebook profile with a request for peoples thoughts.
“You can’t say that civilization don’t advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way“. Will Rogers
The responses I received were:
Dan Willdridge
“well i don think that i would want to be tryin to use a blow dart when the other side has a machine gun”
David Annett
“With rapid development of UAVs and robotic military equipment it will soon be practical to be a military aggressor without risking lives. Will it result in machines fighting machines or higher civilian casualties? We are reaching a point in history when things could change for either the better or the worse, hard to say. And how will the pending technological singularity affect war? Terminator or utopia?”
Nathanial Fairweather
“The biggest advancements in technology have been made during times of war.
Mankind always strives to achieve two main advances in technology, to kill each other faster and make us live longer. Bit of an oxymoron really.”
Ken Annett
“Will Rogers was very, very famous for his witty “one liners.” He was part American Indian, a humourist and a social commentator as well as being a very popular actor and newspaper columnist.
His style was “folksy” (the Americans call it “down home” ) and he always spoke like a poorly educated country boy but was really very perceptive and made shrewd comments.
He frequently used irony, which is the use of words or statements to mean exactly the opposite of what they say. The Tui Brewery advertisements use irony with their yeah right! billboards.
In the quote he implies that we are more civilized because we invent more barbaric ways of killing each other.
To show how perceptive he was he lived through the First World War when the aeroplane and poison gas were first used and died in 1935 (in a plane crash in Alaska) just before the Second World War during which the Atomic Bomb was first used.”
Roxanne Anderson October 5 at 2:16pm
“This isn’t very accurate for me to say but I think all he’s saying is even though we are supposedly an advanced civilization we still have the primitive urge to kill, and that every war/dispute we get into we use technology to commit atrocities instead of using it for peaceful methods. I think the biggest thing to think about is the nuclear bomb, in WW2 it was the most advanced weapon and now it is used to power peoples homes. Even though it enhanced civilian life it came at the cost of two major cities and the people who lived in them. Not accurate, but my thoughts.”
Geoff Hackell October 5 at 4:45pm
“Anyway my thoughts along these lines would be that Will Rogers made this statement following the stock market crash in 1929. This marked the start of the great depression and eventually created the circumstances that lead to World War II and the creation of the atom bomb, which was certainly a new way to kill people. Perhaps these word were prophetic or just a cynical statement about how to define a yardstick of mankinds apparent progress thoughout history. Will had recently turned 40 which could of made him more cynical than normal.
The context being that the 1920′s was a era of unprecented technological advancement post world war I, which included the beginning of mass media technology, television and radio and valueless consumer lifestyles. The quote could be used to illustrate how mankinds technology has progressed so far but have other more important aspects of our civilizatiom havn’t?
I hope this helps.”
Mark Upshall October 5 at 6:48pm
“it’s a strange quote; for civilisation to advance, wouldnt we need to stop killing one another. The act of war or killing can hardly be considered “civil” rather a failure of civilisation.
just my 2c worth, good luck with your assignment. On the art tip my fav is Sheperd Fairey’s “Obey” project.”
Peter Kite October 5 at 6:56pm
“well, this makes a change from the usual facebook banter.
My thoughts are that the quote needs updating, as the Americans in Iraq are finding that all their high-tech equipment is often no match for a small amount of explosives hidden in a hole in the road….”
Tim Kelly October 5 at 8:56pm
“I agree with Geoff in a way, not so much in the war aspects but in the underlying context that I get from the quote. I think personally that the “war” reference isn’t so much about the killing and fighting but war being used as an anology for the fight we as free thinking people face every day against antiquated governments and religions that were developed or organised when people weren’t as informed as they were in the 1920′s and even more so today and that bar the every day man and woman from true advancement and wealth creation which as we chase that goal with every ounce of energy we have, we end killing ourselves (or letting their suppression of our growth kill us) trying to achieve (which in some aspects people equate to a level of freedonm)”
Geoff Hackell October 6 at 9:46am
“Wow I like Tim’s thoughts, I thinking is always too linear to think of angles like this.
You dont get this sort of discussion in other forums like TV and radio. The Facebook forum is different from other blog formats being that it is only between friends and colleagues so there isnt going to be lots of insults if someone doesnt agree with your ideas like what happens on youtube for example.”
Mark Stones October 5 at 10:29pm
“Perplexing. The answer lies in the definition of true advancement. Whether advancement is in the development of a civilised culture and relations or the fundamental development of everyday survival methodology and it’s tools. Technological advancement or groundbreaking invention is the foundation of our building blocks as a surviving race. However the core advancement of a civilisation can be reflected in the development of the political relations and mind sets within it’s people in conjunction with the advancement of its science. Without the advancement of its mindset, the civilisation is not geared to advance as a people. Advancement of tools is merely a subset of the advancement of a culture. Without the advancement of a culture and its fundamental philosophy, a civilisation’s progress is inhibited by it’s inevitable mission to survive and conquer.”
Sasanka Thews October 6 at 8:27am
“Interesting… Well you may need to comment on with advancements of science and technology to survive as a race, there are the exact processes that could be used to destroy as well. Which is the essence of the statement that Candice had put forward. You may need to quote examples of Atomic/Nuclear – power/medical/war (past), Chemical warfare (again breaking it down). Its not just politics that cause the rifts its religion, creed, colour, anything and everything that makes us different.
Also you have to follow up each of your statements with examples to back up the argument. Not sure if all of this makes sense. haha.”
Tarm Dreaneen October 11 at 11:29am
“I agree with Sasanka, the quote he has put forward will survive throughout the ages however, the advancements she is talking about are relevant to our time. Religion has historically caused alot of wars as well as racism. My own feelings that causes all the problems in this world is power man cannot share his power as it appears to make him weak. Look at Hitler power, Winston Churchill power most great men wanted and demanded power irrespective of the pain and suffering they caused to others on both sides.”
