'Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam: Towards the Complex—For the Courageous, the Curious, and the Cowards' (2001). Single-channel video projection. I

Nha Trang, Vietnam- 'Towards the

Complex-For the Courageous, the Curious and the Cowards', (2001) is a video project by Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba.

Research this project to identify the ideas behind the work. Can you connect some of the concepts and ideas from the renaissance, Enlightenment or Modernism with the work. Discuss your answer.

Discuss how do you think the title of the work reflects

the artists' intentions?

'Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam: Towards the Complex—For the Courageous, the Curious, and the Cowards' (2001). Single-channel video projection. Image courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York and Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo.

This is some information about this project from the website http://www.nyartbeat.com/nyablog/2008/07/for-the-courageous-the-curious-and-the-cowards/

Progress is slow, due to the weight of the cyclos and the sheer volume of water impeding the fishermen. Often the men and carts alike bob and hover, suspended mid-stride like moon walkers. The cyclos bounce to the floor in eerie silence, the only sounds being that of bubbles from scuba-diving Nguyen-Hatsushiba, and the mix of ambient electronica, flute and bell sounds that put the viewer into a submarine trance. The calm does eventually break, however, and the music, composed by the artist himself, becomes darker, the sense of urgency stronger, and the pedaling and pulling faster and more desperate.

The need to breathe impedes the fishermen whose faces remain calm until the moment they must abandon their cyclos and kick to the surface for air. Changes in music reflect these dramatic moments of surrender when several men will swim up at once, while one pair shoots ahead. The consequences of the dire circumstances are clear: For some, getting ahead is only achieved by denying or transcending even the most vital human needs and physical limitations.

This work is concern with the cyclo, the bicycle-taxi, which was once represents Vietnam culture’s identity now are banned further production by the government. Cyclos were not only the icon of Vietnamese street but also the only source of income for the many unemployed. Cyclos are now considered as old-fashioned and slow in today’s modernized Vietnam. By using the cyclo, Nguyen-Hatsushiba wants to create the mode of good –old day’s things fading away.

This video work has shown the progress philosophy emerged in the Enlightenment.According to Hamilton,P. (1992), progress is the idea that the natural and social condition of human beings could be improved, by the application of science and reason, and would result in an ever-increasing level of happiness and well-being. The government's discouragement of cyclo is a social change to uplift Vietnamese city's conditions. However, paradoxically the progress the government proceeding can result side effects like loss of a mean of living for the poor. This suggested in video when the driver abandoning cyclo in the need for a breath.

I think the title "Towards the Complex- For the Courageous, the Curious and the Cowards" suggests the artist's intention of the different perspective towards the social change that Vietnam undergo now. The complex, the changes that will bring different complicated outcomes and our response can be courageous, facing the new without fear. The Curious, keeping eye on the change while thinking about some implications and the Cowards, who can not accept the new scared to step out from the comfort zone.

Reference

http://www.nyartbeat.com/nyablog/2008/07/for-the-courageous-the-curious-and-the-cowards/ Retrieved 24 May 2010

Hamilton,P(1992). The Enlightenment and the birth of social science, in Hall,S & Gieben B.(eds.) Formations of Modernity

The Sublime

'Untitled' (2002) Richard Misrach

Richard Misrach's photography reflects the concept of the Sublime, from the Enlightenment.

Research Misrach's work by reading about his intentions, and also by looking at the work. Then answer the following questions;

1. What and when was the Enlightenment?

2. Define the concept of the Sublime.

3. How did the concept of the Sublime come out of the Enlightenment thought?

4. Discuss the subject matter, and aesthetic (look) of Misrach's work to identify the Sublime in his work. Add some more images.

5. Identify some other artists or designers that work with ideas around the Sublime, from the Enlightenment era as well as contemporary artists.

6. How does Misrach's photography make you feel? Does it appeal to your imagination?

7. Add a Sublime image of your choice to your blog, which can be Art or just a Sublime photograph.

1. Enlightenment is European intellectual movement of the 17th-18th century in which ideas concerning God, reason, naure and man were blended into a worldview that inspired revolutionary developments in art, philosophy, and politics.(British Concise Encyclopedia,2005)

2.According to Edmund Burke(1757), the sublime is the ultimate experience of divinity, a mixture of awe, fear, and enlightenment produced by the contemplation of powerful, terrifying nature. This is because the life of feeling and spirit depended on a harmony within the larger order of universe.

3.Before the Enlightenment, the nature on the earth,the landscape, considered to be secular and therefore sacrilege. However during the Enlightenment, new philosophy emerged; the association of between the power of nature and a recognition of the divinity, that the landscape or the nature scene in the art was no more to be considered as unholy. Furthermore the German artists during 18th century used landscape as scenes of Christian symbolisms, for example, David Friedrich (1774-1840) Cross in the Mountains.

4.&6. Monolake2. California (1999) is a scene of a lake in California. First of all, it is a breathtaking scene of a lake with amazing reflection of sky on the surface of the lake. The real beauty within this picture is the realistic and precise depiction of nature that we can not see very often. I think the sublime feature on this photo is the precision and accuracy of nature that makes the scene look divine. This photo makes me feel refreshing, clear and cool.

Cloud. Walker lake (1994) depicts a mountain ridge and a cloud at twilight. The colour of sky and the cloud in the photo is very bright and vibrant that contrast the colour of the mountain ridge contour. Also i can see the sun is going over the mountain. The cloud shows the rest-less movement with some sense of speed and on the other hand in the sense with stillness. I can not presume which way the cloud is heading and where it came from nor if it is moving towards the mountain or away from it. Cloud. Walker lake (1994) suggests the sublime as our eyes have no idea of what is really going on in the nature or in the sky because the nature belongs to the area of the divinity. However, i feel that i do not have to know everything when i look at this photo. I feel relaxed and indulged in dreamy thoughts.

Cloud. Walker lake (1994) awakes my curiosity about the cloud and Monolake2. California (1999) surprised me with beautiful exquisite scene of the lake. Both challenged me in different ways but the conclusion or my final opinion was the same, "nature is belong to the divinity."

Reference list

British Concise Encyclopedia (2005) from electric dictionary

Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of Sublime and Beautiful, London, (1757) in Collected Works, T. W. Copeland, ed. London: 1865-1867