Area of Specialisation : Surrealism

Surrealism originated in the late 1910s and early '20s as a literary movement that experimented with a new mode of expression called automatic writing, or automatism, which sought to release the unbridled imagination of the subconscious. Officially consecrated in Paris in 1924 with the publication of the Manifesto of Surrealism by the poet and critic André Breton (1896–1966), Surrealism became an international intellectual and political movement. Breton, a trained psychiatrist, along with French poets Louis Aragon (1897–1982), Paul Éluard (1895–1952), and Philippe Soupault (1897–1990), were influenced by the psychological theories and dream studies of Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and the political ideas of Karl Marx (1818–1883). Using Freudian methods of free association, their poetry and prose drew upon the private world of the mind, traditionally restricted by reason and societal limitations, to produce surprising, unexpected imagery. The cerebral and irrational tenets of Surrealism find their ancestry in the clever and whimsical disregard for tradition fostered by Dadaism a decade earlier.

A new approach that was implemented from the influence of  art was the technique that was used extensively in illustration, painting and printmaking. His frottage involved using rubbings to compose directly on paper, he then invented images in them which enabled him to incorporate a variety of images into his work in unexpected ways.

Salvador Dali influenced graphic design  through the use of his deep perspectives which inspired the use of vast depth onto the flat printed page, he also influenced a naturalistic approach to simultaneity which was frequently imitated in posters and editorial images.

Surrealism taught the world to see art not merely visually and literally; but to appreciate it in a subconscious level as well. Today, surrealism is a familiar form of art that continues to grow globally. It’s easy for artists to show their creativity through Surrealism, because the style provides them more freedom to convey their feelings and thoughts through the canvas. Surreal art can be dreamy, gritty, optimistic or depressing.

Forest and Dove by Max Ernst: Frottage

Max Ernst : Frottage

Wolfgang Paaren : Frumage

Most Surrealist web design make use of realistic, three-dimensional images that are recomposed and rearranged instead of drawn illustrations. This is to create more realistic, magical and strange world.

Rain Spell by Temporary Peace

Photo manipulation by Lara Jade

The Remnant by Henrik

With Surrealist web design, Flash is also a popular tool to use, because it can incorporate dreamy effects, animation and music, making it all the more surreal and interesting.

Web Design by The Pixel

Surreal Web Design by Skittles

World War 2- The Atomic Bomb

At 5:29:45 (Mountain War Time) on July 16, 1945, in a white blaze that stretched from the basin of the Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico to the still-dark skies, "The Gadget" ushered in the Atomic Age. The light of the explosion then turned orange as the atomic fireball began shooting upwards at 360 feet per second, reddening and pulsing as it cooled. The characteristic mushroom cloud of radioactive vapor materialized at 30,000 feet. Beneath the cloud, all that remained of the soil at the blast site were fragments of jade green radioactive glass created by the heat of the reaction.
The brilliant light from the detonation pierced the early morning skies with such intensity that residents from a faraway neighboring community would swear that the sun came up twice that day. Even more astonishing is that a blind girl saw the flash 120 miles away.
On August 2, 1939, just before the beginning of World War II, Albert Einstein wrote to then President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Einstein and several other scientists told Roosevelt of efforts in Nazi Germany to purify uranium-235, which could be used to build an atomic bomb.
At the time, uranium-235 was very hard to extract. In fact, the ratio of conversion from uranium ore to uranium metal is 500:1. Compounding this, the one part of uranium that is finally refined from the ore is over 99% uranium-238, which is practically useless for an atomic bomb. To make the task even more difficult, the useful U-235 and nearly useless U-238 are isotopes, nearly identical in their chemical makeup. No ordinary chemical extraction method could separate them; only mechanical methods could work.

Michiko Benevedes, who survived the Nagasaki bombing at age 13, talked about her experiences. “I’m not supposed to be here … I was buried under the house. Lucky I didn’t stay outside. Otherwise I’m burned like my cousin and die … I fainted … I don’t know how long … All of a sudden I woke up … I smell smoke because house is burning. I start screaming, ‘Mother, help me! I’m here!’ ”

Despite being injured, her mother, “a skinny lady,” was able to move the wreckage and dig her out, Benevedes said. “Incredible, the power she had.”

The family took shelter in a cave, where her cousin, who had been burned beyond recognition, died after taking a sip of water. Many survivors have told stories of burn victims who begged for water, only to die the moment they were given some; it was apparently too much of a shock to their systems.

“We have to sleep in the cave, same place with dead people,” Benevedes said.

The family sought shelter at her grandmother’s house in the Goto Islands, a three-hour boat trip from Nagasaki. “On the way … my mother died. Just drink spring water. She said, ‘Oh, delicious.’ That’s the last word. She finally found peace that day.”

Shortly thereafter, Benevedes showed symptoms of radiation sickness. Her hair fell out, she was vomiting blood, and there were purple spots all over her body. When she was taken the hospital, “doctor says, ‘Give up. We cannot save you. We have no medicine to cure.’ ”

She lived through it, but within one month she had lost six family members, including her father and a sister. One sister survived, “but she was handicapped for all her life.”

Benevedes, who later married an American and moved to the U.S., added, “I don’t have children. I cannot give birth to children. (It was a) defect from when I was 13 … from the atomic bomb. Doctor told me, ‘You cannot have no children.’ … I don’t have nobody now, but I keep going.”

Below are images of the victims of the Hiroshima bombing;

Below are the images and anti nuclear bomb posters and campaigns;

Causes of World War 1

In the 1800’s nations began being created by small states that had similar culture and language. These states were ready for independence and have their own recognition in the Europe. Nationalism thus led to the creation of two states, Germany and Italy. During this time war played a major role therefore nations such as Great Britain and Germany were building up their defense forces, Britain was known for its superior navy and it was a pioneer in the field while Germany the larger landlocked nation was known for its army and superior weaponry to the other nations they also had a large navy force.

The tension between Great Britain and Germany increased due to the building of military forces and for security purposes nations felt that the building of alliances ensure that nations would support each other during a time of war. Germany and Austria-Hungary created an alliance, which was natural as they both spoke German and had a similar culture, Italy joined the alliance as Austria-Hungary was to the north and needed support as well. This Alliance was known as the ‘Triple Alliance’. This alliance agreed that “to go to war if attacked by Russia” (www.angelfire.com)

On the other hand France, Russia and Great Britain got into an alliance and it was known as the ‘Triple Entente”. Now that the alliances were formed and tensions were high as both alliances had an interest in the Balkans and relations between the key players of each alliance i.e. Great Britain and Germany were not at good terms the assassination of “Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian terrorist named Gavrilo Princip” (www.angelfire.com)

Therefore the war started on June 28^th 1914 and ended after a three and a half year deadlock along the Western Front.

Bibliography

www.angelfire.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.angelfire.com.

site, h. l. (2013). Causes of World War One. Retrieved 8 6, 2013, from www.historylearningsite.co.uk: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/causes_world_war_one.htm

Metropolis

The film ‘Metropolis’ is about the disintegration of a society over a period of time due to the uprising of the lowly in society due to the unfair circumstances that they have undergone their entire lives. The film presents to the viewer several themes and their attributes as well as other stylistic devices that can be interpreted by the viewer, in this instance that will be me.

Metropolis is an ultra - modern, futuristic society that thrives due to the advancements in technology and the belief in science which for a modern world are its heart and soul. The writer of the film Thea von Harbou presents a fictional film in which she incorporates love, hatred, malice, betrayal and technology in a modern society, for her to do this she used certain characters that are dynamic in nature and somewhat bipolar at certain parts of the film.

The film encompasses around the life of Joh Fredersen who is the ruler of the city of Metropolis and who shows no compassion or care for the workers who live beneath the depths of the city, he is portrayed as a mean and ruthless individual at the beginning of the film intent to make his wealth last and grow bigger. The film portrays him as a greedy man ready to do anything to sustain his good life and has no concern for others. The von Harbou uses irony in this film by making Freder a compassionate character that has a kind heart and does not see the barrier that clearly exists between the poor and the rich, in this case the workers and the city dwellers respectively. When he shows affection for Maria, an underground worker who brings young children to see how the rich live, he falls for her and shows his intent. He shows compassion when he takes care of Josaphat (a machine operator) who was fired by Fredersen and attempted suicide.

The duality in Fredersen’s character is shown when he sends the Thin Man to follow Freder, who had gone to the underground in pursuit of Maria. When he does meet her he professes his love for her and they have an emotional connection expressed efficiently through action and facial expression.

Maria is represented as an angel to the audience, a good looking woman, who is kind at heart and loving to all. Thea uses her as the focal point of the film and at one point the film focuses on her goodness, this is countered with the evil intent that Rotwang, a scientist and collaborator of Fredersen, who was also in love with Fredersen’s late wife, Hel.

Rotwang’s idea is to bring back Hel’s representation back to life through a robot he has created. The fight between good and bad, black and white is represented during Rotwang’s successful attempt of capturing Maria. The tricks he uses while going after her shows his devious nature while showing her innocence and naivety when she falls for his tricks and in the simple manner in which she is caught. The viewer is manipulated to sympathetic toward Maria and get a connection to her and just end up disliking Rotwang for tricking such a loving character so easily and successfully.

As the film progresses the viewer is reintroduced to the plans by the underground workers for a peaceful uprising that was inspired by Maria. Rotwang with his technology and his sample, Maria creates a bionic likeness of her using the robot he created.

The robot is again used in the film to show the greed and lust of men and how it can be used as a manipulative tool to turn them against each other. The robot performs a seductive dance for the leaders and influential of the city, and they are amazed by her beauty, transfixed on every movement, and lustfully glaring at her well-toned and even body. The men now want her and a fight ensues between them, and it’s a fight to the death. The robot watches this with great joy, to her destruction is ironically life.

 With this he can now use the robot to do his will. Freder attends one of the rallies that is led by Maria but this time it is the robot that comes and the theme of duality through Maria’s likeness is portrayed, she now talks of violence and a forceful uprising, she has the masses (the workers) in the palm of her hand who listen to her every word as f it is life and for that moment they forget their children and leave them behind when they leave the depths of the city to go and destroy the machines that to them is a representation of oppression and suffering rather than the cogs to their everyday life and their survival and destroy every machine that they can see and take out their personal grudges on these machines.

The lifeline of the city the master control is known as the ‘Heart Machine’, it runs the major operations of the city, and to the people that is the target, the bionic Maria leads the people valiantly and like a true general would to war. She is combative, full of rage and somewhat manic as she or rather it ravages the cities lifeline. At the heart machine she gives one remarkable and inspiring speech to the people and they go crazy on the machine despite an attempt by one worker to give the people reason and understanding.

As the destruction ravages on the city begins to flood and havoc rises when the children are in danger, realising this, the people place their leader on a stake for misleading them and place her on fire, a way I feel to which they tried to deal with the guilt of losing their children. As the robot is set on fire Maria’s likeness is lost and the image of the robot is revealed, to the shock and amazement of the people. The real Maria awakes from her capture and her saviour, her night in shining armour is of course Freder. He is used as the saviour and the ‘good guy’ in the film.

The two, Maria and Freder, begin to save the children from the impending danger of drowning, through their efforts and help all the children survive, the writer just makes these two characters more loveable to the audience and a deeper relation is created.

When all seems well and everyone is happy the worst is over, Rotwang appears and goes after Maria, and chases her to the roof of the cathedral, where its life that they are fighting for, good always triumphs over the bad and Rotwang falls to his death.

The good nature of Freder is once again displayed when he brings the two factions together, Joh Fredersen and the head worker together to show that harmony can exist and that the future will be all well.

The film is a classic display of how characters are manipulated to show the good and bad sides of mankind. It brings out the themes of nepotism and oppression and how it is works fantastically well for the beneficiaries, who are the rich. It once again shows how societies at the top of the food chain want to be alone at the top and not share it with anyone else and ensure it remains as such.

Utopias and Manifestos

A manifesto is a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government.

FUTURISM

1. We want to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and rashness.
2. The essential elements of our poetry will be courage, audacity and revolt.
3. Literature has up to now magnified pensive immobility, ecstasy and slumber. We want to exalt movements of aggression, feverish sleeplessness, the double march, the perilous leap, the slap and the blow with the fist.
4. We declare that the splendor of the world has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing automobile with its bonnet adorned with great tubes like serpents with explosive breath ... a roaring motor car which seems to run on machine-gun fire, is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.
5. We want to sing the man at the wheel, the ideal axis of which crosses the earth, itself hurled along its orbit.

The utopian ideal for the futurists movement was to live ion a world where speed and danger were connectedand moved hand in hand. Theirs was to live in a world where science and technology dominated and ruled the style and manner in which the society lived.

DADA

An International word. Just a word, and the word a movement. Very easy to understand ( Dada comes from the dictionary. It is terribly simple. In French it means "hobby horse". In German it means "good-bye", "Get off my back", "Be seeing you sometime". In Romanian: "Yes, indeed, you are right, that's it. But of course, yes, definitely, right". And so forth.). Quite terribly simple. To make of it an artistic tendency must mean that one is anticipating complications. Dada psychology, dada Germany cum indigestion and fog paroxysm, dada literature, dada bourgeoisie, and yourselves, honoured poets, who are always writing with words but never writing the word itself, who are always writing around the actual point. Dada world war without end, dada revolution without beginning, dada, you friends and also-poets, esteemed sirs, manufacturers, and evangelists. Dada Tzara, dada Huelsenbeck, dada m'dada, dada m'dada dada mhm, dada dera dada, dada Hue, dada Tza.

Dadaists were just a rebellious group of artists who believed that there was order in disorder and that it was a responsibility that they undertook to show the world how blinded society is from the on goings in the world. Their utopian ideal was to live in a informative and open world with no social order.

DE STIJL

1.  There is an old and new consciousness of time.
2. The old is connected with the individual.
3. The new is connected with the universal.
4. The struggle of the individual against the universal is revealing itself in the world-war as well as in the art of the present day.
5.  The war is destroying the old world with its contents: individual domination in every state.
6.  The new art has brought forward what the new consciousness of time contains: a balance between the universal and the individual.
7.  The new consciousness is prepared to realise the internal life as well as the external life.
8.  Traditions, dogmas and the domination of the individual are opposed to this realisation.

A utopian ideal for the De Stijl movement artists was a world where the old was done and the new was to be ushered in with a code where the form was determined by the function of the object.

'The Source' is a magazine that covers hip hop, music, politics, and culture The magazine mainly focuses on the hip-hop culture which is dominated by African Americans and thus their likes and interests are expressed in this magazine.There is a general theme of how a member of the "black" community in the USA should appear and express themselves. Fashion is a big theme that is represented, aesthetic material such as gold chains and gold teeth. The reader is led to believe that immense wealth and success is achieved through hip-hop and once the goal is achieved one should adorn themselves in such clad.

Today's society is heavily linked on social media and express their views online and this has made the world a much smaller place. People post about war, love, money, being young and political matters e.t.c. The modern man/woman believe in technology heavily and rely on it with the same effort. Societies moral ground has been lost, and the youth are now praising the use of drugs and alcohol all in the excuse that they live once and experience is the best teacher.

Contemporary utopia I fell is a place where their is ultimate freedom to satisfy curiosity without being judged and pointed fingers at, a place where everyone has a fair opportunity to discover themselves and be successful and financially stable.

My personal manifesto states that we should live in a world where design should be approached with the function dictating the form of the object. A simplistic, minimalistic style is the utopia I want to live in. Minimalism in art will allow the viewer to be able to comprehend the design easily and quicker. The artist will also be more in control of the artwork and apply their creativity and be able to push themselves to come up with something that is visually appealing as well.
The world is filled with various cultures and lifestyles, if all these are applied in a minimalist manner then design and art as a whole will be more universal and open to everyone.
1. The artist should convey and be able to express themselves.
2. The artist must approach the composition in a function follows form view.
3. The artists should be conceptual and factual.
4. The artists should also approach the work with an open mind and let the function dictate.

Illustration

ANIME
The word is the abbreviated pronunciation of "animation" in Japanese. The term, "anime", itself did not emerge until the mid-1980s, and its intended meaning of the term sometimes varies depending on the context. Among Japanese, the term references all animation. In English, the term is defined as a Japanese-disseminated animation style often characterized by colorful graphics, vibrant characters and fantastic themes. Arguably, the stylization approach to the meaning may open up the possibility of anime produced in countries, other than Japan. Yet, for simplicity, many Westerners strictly view anime as an animation product from Japan.
Anime is animated manga where the stories are drawn out and stylised in comic from, and from there animators take the characters and stories and animate them into cartoon series. The anime culture is heaviest in Japan and has a faithful and strong following, other European countries and the USA have avid followers and fanatics of the anime theme and participate in it as well.

Code Geass Anime

Naruto Anime

Bleach Anime

One Piece Anime

MANGA
These are comics created in Japan, or by Japanese creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. They have a long and complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art.In Japan, people of all ages read manga. The medium includes works in a broad range of genres: action-adventure, romance, sports and games, historical drama, comedy, science fiction and fantasy, mystery, suspense, detective, horror, sexuality, and business/commerce, among others.

Manga is a more traditional, it influenced the birth of anime and over time has become better in the aspect of illustrating and animating the stories. Manga usually has stories of characters who have super natural abilities yet live among the people and are proud of the Japanese culture and embrace it.

Acid Town Manga

Blade of the Immortal

Conductor Manga

Dragon Ball Z Manga

OTAKU

This is a Japanese term that refers to people with obsessive interests, commonly the anime and manga fandom. Its contemporary usage originated with Akio Nakamori's 1983 essay in Manga Burikko. Otaku can be used as a pejorative; its negativity stems from the stereotypical view of otaku and the media's reporting on Tsutomu Miyazaki's "The Otaku Murder" in 1989.
In modern Japanese slang, the term otaku is mostly equivalent to "geek" or "nerd". However, it can relate to any fan of any particular theme, topic, hobby or form of entertainment. "When these people are referred to as otaku, they are judged for their behaviors - and people suddenly see an “otaku” as a person unable to relate to reality"

Mobile Suit Gundam

KAWAII

This is a "lovable", "cute", or "adorable") is the quality ofcuteness in the context of Japanese culture. It has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personalappearance, behavior, and mannerisms.
To be Kawaii one should keep up with the latest trends, stand out and be noticed, dress in brightly coloured garments, be cheerful, hygienic, accesorise, be made up e.t.c. These are all their qualities and they are the Japanese pop culture movement.

A Kawaii

Assignment2 : Industrial Revolution

During the industrial revolution the use of text had become paramount on the as it was used among the people to send a message and communicate effectively with people and its use was as well just noted on its importance and its influence mattered in how it was applied.

The fonts of that age were bold text that had serifs, they were loud and shouting and there aim was to grab the readers attention in a manner in which the viewer would be captured and transfixed on that message and get influenced by it, the power of advertising had just been manifested and there was no looking back.

The invention of printing also developed due to the demand, Koenig developed a printing machine that increased productivity and lowered the price making it affordable for a wider market of people who would also have the power of being able to advertise.

New aspects came about due to the rate of printing and its increased demand forced designers to now apply colour and images onto the posters thus chromolithography was born and the best designers were those who were able to apply the two that is; text or typography with the images and conceptualise a design that would be able to communicate to the public and catch their attention in an instant and send the message that quick.

The industrial revolution was a time where technology was shared quickly and no one man could keep a discovery, an invention away from his rivals cause information was flowing smoothly and once one invention was out another inventor would discover about it and try make improvements on where he saw fit and applicable to make his work more effective and have better quality with maximum production.

The use of this new way of printing with images and colour, also known as chromolithography was used in every aspect of life, from making presidential campaign posters for Grover Cleveland to valentine cards. The application of colour made the images seem more realistic and gave the composition life thus more and more people applied it to their businesses especially n this time where machines were being introduced and everything was on a major scale of production, despite it being an inventive age there was a lot of showmanship as the inventors would want to show off their new technologies thus they would ensure that they would dazzle and impress the public.

Chromolithography had its downside as well, the use of acids made the poster redundant in a short while and therefore it was not as effective despite it being a cheaper than a painting.