Arts — Open Access Journal

In Pablo Picasso’s formative period in A Coruña (1891–1895), where he was born as an artist, the child and pre-adolescent who at that time signed himself as Pablo Ruiz, already knowing he was a genius, pursued an intense programme of creative activity while devoting himself to drawing and painting. Making use of his facility for reproducing the world around him in images, he also proved to be an incipient devotee of journalism as an instrument of communication and social awareness, a satirical draughtsman and caricaturist, seeking to give his version of events, in line with the magazines and newspapers of the period, and displaying a critical ability unusual in a child, a committed gaze, not devoid of humour and sarcasm, which prefigures the later Picasso with his progressive views, acute intelligence, meta-ironic approach and support for great causes.
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Since the so-called “type-debate” at the 1914 Werkbund Exhibition in Cologne—on individual versus standardized types—the discussion about turning Function into Form has been an important topic in Architectural Theory. The aim of this article is to trace the historic shifts in the relationship between Function and Form: First, how Functional Thinking was turned into an Art Form; this orginates in the Werkbund concept of artistic refinement of industrial production. Second, how Functional Analysis was applied to design and production processes, focused on certain aspects, such as economic management or floor plan design. Third, how Architectural Function was used as a social or political argument; this is of particular interest during the interwar years. A comparison of theses different aspects of the relationship between Function and Form reveals that it has undergone fundamental shifts—from Art to Science and Politics—that are tied to historic developments. It is interesting to note that this happens in a short period of time in the first half of the 20th Century. Looking at these historic shifts not only sheds new light on the creative process in Modern Architecture, this may also serve as a stepstone towards a new rethinking of Function and Form. Full article

Dating the late 1000s to the mid-1200s CE, petroglyphs of sandal images are among others that distinguish ancient Pueblo rock art in the San Juan and Little Colorado River drainages on the Colorado Plateau from Ancestral Pueblo rock art elsewhere across the Southwest. The sandal “track” also has counterparts as effigies in stone and wood often found in ceremonial contexts in Pueblo sites. These representations reflect the sandal styles of the times, both plain in contour and the jog-toed variety, the latter characterized by a projection where the little toe is positioned. These representations are both plain and patterned, as are their material sandal counterparts. Their significance as symbolic icons is their dominant aspect, and a ritual meaning is implicit. As a component of a symbol system that was radically altered after 1300 CE, however, there is no ethnographic information that provides clues as to the sandal icon’s meaning. While there is no significant pattern of its associations with other symbolic content in the petroglyph panels, in some western San Juan sites cases a relationship to the hunt can be inferred. It is suggested that the track itself could refer to a deity, a mythological hero, or the carver ’s social identity. In conclusion, however, no clear meaning of the images themselves is forthcoming, and further research beckons. Full article

On the Iberian Peninsula, during the Neolithic age, there was a new cycle of post-Palaeolithic rock art: schematic rock art. This rock art style is said to date from the 6th millennium BCE until the end of the Bronze Age (around the transition between the 2nd and 1st millennium BCE). Schematic rock art has been interpreted from different approaches (religious, semiological, social) according to the different lines of research followed in Spain for more than 100 years. In this article, based on the studies linked to “landscape archeology”, we are proposing an interpretative approach of schematic rock art. For us, this rock art style would have a functional character, landscape marker, reflecting close connections between the places chosen as a support for schematic depictions and ones with survival resources or communication routes between territories. Full article

Preserving the authenticity of historical monuments is an inseparable part of restoration activities that has always been asserted by the international principles of historical preservation. However, the local condition of historical sites may influence such a primitive intention of restorers. While historical documents are appropriate sources which can provide restorers with the real condition of ancient structures in the course of time, investigation through these precious materials is a time-consuming process and the reliability of these old evidences is, itself, a challenging issue. The Italian Institute for Middle and Far East (IsMEO) missioned long-term restoration activities in Persepolis between 1964 and the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Generally, this institute is praised for this series of projects. In this paper, the author questions the historical authenticity of restoration activities missioned by this institute in a structure so-called The Gate of All Nations. Indeed, the restoration of this structure was influenced by the 2500^th anniversary of the Persian Empire, which was held in Persepolis in 1971. By tracing the context of historical evidences and presenting a method for obtaining the authenticity of these documents, this paper demonstrates a new perspective towards the arrangement of a stone-made capital, which ornaments the uppermost part of a re-erected ancient column. Full article

In parallel with my social activism, I introduced architecture into my kinetic art and participatory activism into my architecture. Flexibility and participation in architectural design has been a permanent feature of my practice, bringing new opportunities for self-expression in urban living. To form follows function I opposed form follows movement because it is man oriented while function is object oriented. After my 1962–1964 Mecanographs, machine-made images based on an interaction between the movement, the artist and the machine, I joined forces with Len Lye to determine what kind of positive attributes a Museum of Kinetic Art should have, defining three aspects of kinetic movement: illumination, sound, and physical movement. Vasarely and other kinetic artists put their mark on their time by promoting a form of social art, accessible to all, suggesting movement without actual movement. Walking through my medieval village can be a kinetic experience. The sense of wonder you feel at every corner compares with that of optical art. In the past decade, I moved toward a new form of participatory kinetic expression using state-of-the-art technology (plastics, LED, wireless devices). I view my kinetic work as an architectural experience and architecture as a stimulating kinetic experience. Full article

Throughout the world, iconic rock art is preceded by non-iconic rock art. Cupules (manmade, roughly semi-hemispherical depressions on rocks) form the major bulk of the early non-iconic rock art globally. The antiquity of cupules extends back to the Lower Paleolithic in Asia and Africa, hundreds of thousand years ago. When one observes these cupules, the inquisitive mind poses so many questions with regard to understanding their technology, reasons for selecting the site, which rocks were used to make the hammer stones used, the skill and cognitive abilities employed to create the different types of cupules, the objective of their creation, their age, and so on. Replication of the cupules can provide satisfactory answers to some of these questions. Comparison of the hammer stones and cupules produced by the replication process with those obtained from excavation can provide support to observations. This paper presents a manual of cupule replication technology based on our experience of cupule replication on hard quartzite rock near Daraki-Chattan in the Chambal Basin, India. Full article

Beginning with the chariot as an ancient and pan-cultural example of the way in which art has humanized technology, this essay explores the limited role which modern art has thus far played in dealing with the current crisis of technocentrism. It does so by bringing to bear on the subject a newly-promulgated theory of the development of modern art which focuses on the absence therein of an evolved kinetic sculpture. Full article

Australian Aboriginal symbols are visual forms of knowledge that express cultural intellect. Being classified by a Western interpretation of “art” devalues thousands of years of generational knowledge systems, where visual information has been respected, appreciated and valued. This article highlights how Aboriginal creativity has little concept of aesthetical value, but is a cultural display of meaning relating to Creational periods, often labelled as The Dreamings. With over 350 different Aboriginal Nations in Australia, this article focuses of the Dharug Nation, located around the northern Sydney area of New South Wales. The Dharug term for the Creational period is Gunyalungalung—traditional ritualized customary lores (laws). These symbols are permanently located within the environment on open rock surfaces, caves and markings on trees. Whilst some symbols are manmade, others are made by Creational ancestral beings and contain deep story lines of information in sacredness. Therefore, creative imagery engraved or painted on rock surfaces are forms of conscious narratives that emphasise deep insight. Full article

TheShamsali and Gorgali rock shelters were discovered during an archaeological survey in 2009 at Kohgiluye Bouier Ahmad province, west of Iran. In total, 50 paintings occur at both rock shelters; 21 at Shamsali, and 29 remains at Gorgali rock shelter. The paintings consist of “ibex”, “Predators”, and “riders” in red and black. They are depicted stylistically in singular or plural subjects in profile. In addition, the most numerous images in the Shamsali and Gorgali rock shelters represent “ibex”, comparable with a large numbers of such motifs identified in other regions of Iran. There is no certainty in attributed dates, because we are lacking absolute dating methods. Full article

In this paper, we explore the effect that the increasingly powerful discourse of sustainability is having on the field of architecture. The term “field” derives from Bourdieu’s conceptualization of fields as dynamic spaces of social relations tending towards transformation or conservation. While the overlapping fields of sustainability and architecture have historically been characterized by resistance, shifts in environmental discourse towards complexity and systems thinking and the inclusion of cultural, social, political and economic concerns within the broader mandate of sustainability signal a more synergistic ideological terrain. We use methods of narrative analysis to explore these shifts through the localized discourse of the award for sustainable architecture within the Australian context and offer a brief comparative analysis of the sustainable architecture awards discourse in Britain and North America. As arguably the most public elucidations of the profession’s ideology, architecture awards are a productive place in which to explore constructions of “sustainable architecture”. The narrative analysis reveals a trajectory towards assimilation supported by the positioning of sustainability as fundamentally a social, as well as an environmental practice. Contentions surrounding the ultimate disappearance of the award, however, reveal a more perverse relationship between sustainability and architecture. Full article

Recent field works have shown a great potential of rock art in western Iran, particularly in Kermanshah province. This paper has been prepared based on recent fieldwork, which has resulted in identifying new clusters of petroglyphs at the western part of Kermanshah province. Several rock art sites have been identified in Bi-Ravas, Havar Poinrhis in north of Paveh, the rock art to the west of Paveh and the petroglyphs of Ryjab or Ryjav village. The depictions include anthropomorphs, zoomorphs, geometric forms and cupules. A remarkable characteristic of the rock art in the region is the considerable number of cupules, which were identified in Bi-Ravas, North of Paveh and Ryjab village. Only one specimen of a purported hunting scene has been recognized in Biravas, where a primary chronology could be made with regard to the depiction of a horse-like animal, which has been illustrated with a harness. More fieldwork will be required in order to shed more light on the rock art of western Kermanshah. Full article

This paper is inspired by the manuscript of Philip Kitcher’s forthcoming book Deaths in Venice: The Cases of Gustav von Aschenbach, in which he offers a brilliant, philosophically inspired reading of Thomas Mann’s novel, as well as his views on the relationship between literature and philosophy. One of Kitcher’s claims, which is my starting point, is that philosophy can be done not only by philosophers but also within some art forms, such as literature and music. Within the literary text, Kitcher claims, philosophy lies in the showing and the text can influence the way readers think and perceive the world. Due to this claim, I see Kitcher as pertaining to the group of literary cognitivists. He offers some powerful arguments in support of the cognitive value of literature, although his approach is substantially different from the arguments usually put forward in defence of literary cognitivism. In this paper, my aim is twofold: firstly, I want to analyse the relationship between philosophy and literature with the aim of showing that despite some overlap between the two disciplines, we have to keep them separate. Secondly, I want to explore what ramifications this has for literary cognitivism. Full article