7-10
IDEAS: LANGUAGE
AND TEXT
TEXT/ LANGUAGE AS SYMBOL
AIMS
To explore a range of current multicultural themes and issues that will
engage students understanding of artists practice and promote empathy for
diversity within the community.
OBJECTIVES
To develop students understanding of the conceptual framework and artmaking
practice through study of historical and contemporary arts practice of artists
from Asia. Students will examine the cultural and political symbols of language
and its power in the text and print media
HISTORICAL STUDY
Areas of research could include;
Western Art Traditions of Calligraphy
Islamic (Moslem) Art traditions of Calligraphy
China: Calligraphy
Modern Art traditions of Posters and Advertising
Propaganda in Art
LEARNING STRATEGIES
Group work, research, video and discussion, debate, presentation, artmaking.
ArtMaking
• Series of language exercises
• Calligraphy
• Mixing of recipe and travel words
Creation of ridiculous road signs e.g. Australian artists Richard Tipping
and Robert Macpherson
• Installation pieces, site specific/ audience engagement, documentation
with video or photography.
• Performance using audience participation by site or interaction
e.g. Xu Bing’s “calligraphisation” of Western words using
practice book and desk
Concepts could include:
Living in a culturally diverse community
Dislocation
Globalisation
Poverty /wealth Marginalisation
Political persecution
Loss of identity
Artists practice as a role mode,
Promotion of community harmony
THE POSTMODERN
Some contemporary artists of the East share a common goal to tackle the
changes of their social realities. This presents a constant debate between
a reality characterised by upholding traditional values and a reality that
is dynamic and tending towards the products, habits and values of the West.
Many have crossed political, cultural and religious borders of their own
society. Some have broken taboos in order to develop individual strategies
and artistic means of expression. Conceptually, they challenge the standards
of their culture, artworld and society.
These artists have chosen to use the calligraphic form and the ancient tradition
of writing, to strike at the heart of ancient cultural conventions. They
use postmodern techniques such as performance often in front of an audience
(documented with photographs and video). In using the body, they are working
with a form that defies and satirises the past concepts of perfection and
permanence and renders the text (a form of permanence and aesthetic tradition)
both transient and useless.
Download a 7-10 program
synopsis for this theme (MS Word 64kb)