Postmodern Frame Essay †Text in Art Essay

The use of text within to the visual arts can be traced back as far as the inscribed carvings found on cave walls created by the Indigenous population of Australia approximately 46000 years ago. However, over the past few years, the use of text in art, also known as the art of typography, has become a frequent means of communication for artists in the creation of their works. Text within art can be projected, scrawled, painted, computerised and carved to the point that a work may be created of nothing but language. The art of typography is the technique of arranging type in such a way that makes language visible. It treats fonts as individual entities to be enjoyed by the audience. Some artists deal with language as a character on its own as opposed to a surface to draw upon. These artists place texts in ways that are intended to stimulate the way an audience perceives a work, to evoke emotion or to create a statement. However, others, particularly graphic designers, tend to focus on the decorative powers of text. Regardless of the artist’s intentions, the appearance of text within art can shift our appreciation of their sound and meaning. Artists that explore text in art include: Barbara Kruger, Yukinori Yanagi, Katarzyna Kozyra, Jenny Holzer, Wenda Gu, Shirin Neshat, Miriam Stannage, Colin McCahon and Jenny Watson. Artists such as Jenny Holzer, Wenda Gu and Shirin Neshat explore the cultural implications of language in art and the importance of language to identity through the inclusion of text that reflect a postmodern concern with the way we receive information in our contemporary society. Jenny Holzer is an American conceptual artist who belongs to the feminist branch of artists that emerged during the 1980’s. Originally an abstract painter and printmaker, Holzer became heavily interested in conceptual art and began creating works using text. The introduction of text within Holzer’s work occurred gradually however, over time, they have entirely replaced images. These works are usually displayed in widely viewed, public areas. Holzer’s works typically deal with the idea of communication. She is highly aware of the power of words and the power of the media and therefore has a focus on the ability of language to distort or manipulate truths. â€Å"I was drawn to writing because it was possible to be very explicit about things. If you have crucial issues, burning issues, it’s good to say exactly what’s right and wrong about them, and then perhaps to show a way that things could be helped. So, it seemed to make sense to write because then you could just say it†¦ no painting seemed perfect. In particular, I didn’t want to be a narrative painter, which maybe would have been one solution for someone wanting to be explicit.† – Jenny Holzer. Through the use of text in art, Holzer is able to transmit powerful environmental, social and political messages that reveal beliefs and myths and show biases and inconsistencies that highlight her social and personal concerns of today’s contemporary society. Holzer’s works are confronting and provocative and inspire us to make changes. They make us remember that language is not always a factual statement; it can be true or false depending on the context. Holzer forces us to analyse our own behaviour and consider how we have been influenced and manipulated. Her works are designed to make us stop and think about how we are maturing socially. Holzer’s truisms â€Å"MONEY CREATES TASTE – 1982† and â€Å"PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT – 1985† are part of her 1983-85 series – â€Å"Survival†. These are LED installation pieces consisting of large scale text that were projected onto a billboard in Times Square, New York. The inscriptions were bright, clear and menacing and connected themselves to the everyday glow of the city. The phrases were flicked over the busy intersection for two to three seconds creating an element of surprise and capturing the audience’s attention. The main focus of these works was to make a profound statement about the world of advertising and consumer society today. Holzer’s aim was to persuade the audience to pause and reflect on their lives. Her work emphasises the notion that within our society, we are driven by the world of media, thereby producing a mass materialistic, consumerist culture. â€Å"MONEY CREATES TASTE† is almost a plea from Holzer to stand back and assess our needs as a culture rather than what we are fed to believe we want by the media. The use of this concise statement â€Å"PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT† has shown us that we are in the process of losing our identity and sense of culture and can be manipulated by the underlying motives of the media. Shirin Neshat is an Iranian born artist who, upon turning seventeen, moved to California to study art. In 1990 when Neshat flew back to Iran to visit her family, she was confronted by the changes in culture and the narrow restraints of everyday life in the Islamic Republic. She was faced by a very strict, pure form of Islam introduced by the Iranian government in order to erase Persian history. Since having lived in the two cultural contexts of Iraq and the USA, Neshat is able to examine the cultural concerns of individual beings in a metaphorical and poetic way. She attempts to address problems of identity, race and gender in a shocking manner and intends to undermine social stereotypes and assumptions. Her works explore the differences between Islam and the West, males and females, limitations in life and freedom, old and new and the public and the private domains. Neshat aimed to provoke questions amongst her audience as she explored Islam through her art making and comments on issues related to feminism and multiculturalism. However, her works were not only confrontational and symbolic; Neshat also paid particular attention to aesthetics. In her 1994 print and ink, â€Å"Rebellious Silence†, Neshat depicts an Islamic, Muslim woman, covered in a veil holding a gun. Her calm face is divided by the starkness of the cold, steel weapon and is laced with Islamic calligraphy symbolic of the Niqab, a more extreme veil that an Islamic woman must wear as it signifies her obedience to the male supremacy in Islamic culture. Her clothing and weapon make us question whether this woman has rejected her submissive female role to embrace violence. She is looking directly at the camera and looks determined to fight. Questions of motives arise amongst the audience. Neshat’s 1996 work â€Å"Speechless† is a black and white photograph in which Neshat has chosen to make herself the subject. This image is a close up of Neshat’s face. She looks determined and powerful however, like her creation â€Å"Rebellious Silence† – her face is covered with an overlay of Islamic text. The Arabic inscriptions that create the veil act as a barrier. It symbolises the support of the Islamic revolution. The visual struggle between Neshat and the veil is representational of the fight for freedom and the support of religion. By putting the text on her face, the body part where people can identify emotions the most, it serves as a reminder of the power that religion has over women and the oppression it has towards free expression. The gun in the picture is another juxtaposition. The woman seems to be embracing the gun as a part of her, giving off a threatening feeling, but at the same time, it does not feel dangerous because of her conflicted emotions: freedom versus oppression. The inscriptions tell of a man who died in the Iran/Iraq conflict of the 1980’s. This is also insulting to the women who also experienced this conflict. Her art does not disapprove nor approve of Islam, but instead encourages the audience to reflect upon their own ideas, assumptions and expectations. He works carry both personal and emotional connotations. Wenda Gu was born in China and studied traditional, classical landscape painting. He was employed to teach ink painting and although he no longer practices in China, text remains central to his work. This initial technical training has provided the incentive for his most confronting pieces in which the powerful use of language challenges social and political traditions. â€Å"These are questioning and symbolic works that violate the orthodox doctrine of artistic value. They represent a direct threat to authority.† Michael Sullivan. Gu ambitiously attempts to address, in artic terms, the issue of globalism that dominates discussions of contemporary economics, society and culture. He aims to appeal not only to the present population, but also to future generations in his quest to extend the boundaries of human perception, feeling and thought and express humanity’s deepest wishes and powerful dreams. Gu strives to unify mankind and create a utopian feel within his works. Gu worked to simplify the Chinese language and to encourage people to embrace new attitudes towards their old language. He combines a long standing fascination with classical Chinese calligraphy with a contemporary take on universal concerns that cross cultural and ethnic boundaries. Gu’s work today focusses extensively on ideas of culture and his identity and has developed an interest in bodily materials and understanding humanity across ethnic and national boundaries. Gu’s 1994-96 work â€Å"Pseudo Characters Contemplation of the world† is a series of ink paintings in which he uses traditional calligraphic styles and techniques but subverts them with reversed, upside down or incorrect letters. The pseudo character series consists of three ink on paper scrolls in which he has combined calligraphy and landscape, disrupting the conventions of both, powerfully distorting artistic tradition of China. Gu has attacked the written word by glorifying the spirit of the absurd. Gu’s most significant artworks have been a series entitled â€Å"United Nations Project†. This is a series of 15 works that were conceptually planned to relate to the locations social, political, historical and cultural situation. This series confronts two taboos. That of language and the human body. The main material for these installations are human hair collected from hairdressers from all over the world and the hair itself serves as a connection to all people. They typically consisted of screens tied together with twine, forming a canopy of internationally collected hair that was fashioned into nonsensical scripts combining the Chinese alphabet and others. His works are distinguished by the two themes which intersect. The first relates to language and the way in which cultural conventions are signified ad the second, is the use of human hair which is a symbol for significant human endeavours. The human hair is a blueprint containing DNA information, which is common to all humans yet seen fundamentally as individual. Jenny Holzer, Shirin Neshat and Wenda Gu all explore the cultural implications of language within art. They share a prime focus on the links between culture and identity. They have used language and text to convey their powerful messages and have drawn upon their own personal experiences. Concerned with the human condition, both they and their artworks have had a significant impact on society and the way in which we interpret information. Madison ******** Year 12 Visual Arts Art History and Art Criticism. Essay on Text The inclusion of text in artworks reflects a post-modern concern with the way we receive information in our contemporary society and the importance of language to identity. Explore the cultural implications of language in the work of Jenny Holzer, Wenda Gu and one other contemporary artist. Analyse specific artworks to support your argument.

Natural Law theory Essay

With reference to other aspects of human experience, explore the claim that Natural Law theory is irrelevant. Justify your answer. [15] Natural Law is becoming more irrelevant due to our secular culture. Natural Law depends on the belief that the world was designed by a creator, and that morality is absolute according to his standards. Aquinas assumes that all men must seek to worship God. What about an atheist? According to Thompson, if someone does not believe in God, then â€Å"the natural law theory loses its foundation.† Furthermore, in today’s society natural law has largely been replaced by utilitarianism, the belief that our moral choices are less absolute and should be based on creating the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people. It has even been referred to as, â€Å"the ethics of the planet.† It is far less restrictive and many argue it is a superior philosophy to natural law. According to Peter Mullen, Working with Morality, it may be necessary, for example, to torture an innocent person to save the lives of thousands. Peter Singer once wrote a piece condemning natural law in a magazine called Project Syndicate. He prefers practical ethics to theoretical ethics. He cites the case of a South American woman called Beatriz who was pregnant and suffers from lupus, this made the pregnancy difficult. Furthermore, the child had anencephaly. Singer was enraged that the natural law philosophy of Catholic El Salvador prevented her from getting an abortion. He wrote with regard to natural law, â€Å"The use of the term â€Å"being with a rational nature† is very broad, perhaps too broad.† Even the Pope has recently condoned the breaking of natural law in extreme circumstances. Pope Francis has indicated that women exposed to the Zika virus may be permitted to use contraception to avoid pregnancy, in a departure from Catholic teaching. His comments came as women in South America frantically try to terminate pregnancies for fear of giving birth to babies with microcephaly, which gives them unusually small heads. He said that unlike abortion, â€Å"avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil† and in certain circumstances it may be â€Å"the lesser evil†. This proves that natural law is becoming irrelevant even for the Catholic Church. Among more orthodox thinkers, objection to the natural law takes several forms. Many, Protestant evangelicals in particular, presume that natural-law thinking fails to take seriously the condition of human sin and places misguided trust in the powers of human reason debilitated by the Fall. Consequently, natural-law theory is thought to be insufficiently Christocentric and located outside the realm of grace, thereby engendering a version of works-righteousness. These critics remain sceptical out of a concern that natural law is autonomous and somehow external to the centre of theological ethics and God’s providential care of the world. On the other hand, many would argue that natural law is not irrelevant because it is instinctual within all humans. Some believe that God has implanted the natural law as a form of moral instinct. For example, the writer Johannes Teutonicus said that the natural law of men is based on an, â€Å"instinct proceeding from reason.† Therefore even if one is an atheist you cannot escape the urge to follow natural law based on your conscience. Finally, Natural Law continues to be central to Catholic teaching. Early teachers such as Aquinas supported it and so do modern day clergy. The RCC believes that everyone is subject to it from birth (natio), because it contains only those duties which are derivable from human nature itself, and because, absolutely speaking, its essentials can be grasped by the unaided light of human reason. Just recently in March 2015 Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco has invoked the natural law in stressing the moral unacceptability of gay sex and gay marriage.

Techniques in Financial Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Techniques in Financial Analysis - Essay Example Naked DSL was named the product of the year by the Australian PC Magazine. IIN has grown both organically through innovative product development and inorganically by merging with many smaller ISPs. (b) The company has experienced strong growth through the launch of telephony products and deployment of DSLAM infrastructure. With a range of telephony services that include add-on voice and broadband services, IIN offers their own telephone service resulting in a lower line rental price for its customers. In 2006, IIN introduced its DSLAM infrastructure into telephone exchanges across Australia. DSLAM allowed a speed of over 1.5 Mbit/s with a maximum download of 24 Mbit/s. The potential risk with the product development strategy is the possibility of changes in product line and pricing owing to close competition from other major players such as the regulatory conflict with Telstra. Another medium term growth strategy is the inorganic route of acquisitions. In the early 2000s, IIN expande d nationwide by acquiring RuralNet Tas Access, Granite Internet and so on. In 2003, the biggest acquisition of ihug Ltd. followed. Residential ISP business and trademarks of rival OzEmail followed in 2005. After a hiatus, IIN recommenced its acquisition strategy to acquire Perth-based ISPs, Up’n’away and Westnet. Potential risks for acquisition include synergy and funding risks. When IIN acquired OzEmail, the business side remained with its US-parent, MCI but the retail business was neglected. OzEmail moved very late into ADSL and by 2006, IIN had abandoned the OzEmail brand. Fund-raising for acquisitions is a major concern. In 2006, IIN requested a share trading halt after its share value slid by 50%. There was uncertainty from IIN’s bankers as the company had capital raising issues and thus, unable to honour the bank’s covenants. As the third largest ISP, IIN has utilised its brand for strategic purposes. To increase its market share in metros and regio nal Australia, the company has invested in the â€Å"Hallelujah† and the â€Å"Humanology† brand campaigns. A new hi-tech wireless home gateway, ‘BoB’, is featured in its â€Å"Hallelujah† campaign. The increased brand investment has led to increased sales across its businesses. The company has launched its next phase in brand expansion. A potential risk to the brand strategy of IIN is the existing competition in the ISP segment. There are over 600 ISPs in Australia with Telstra leading the market with 43% market share. The second largest player, Optus holds 11% market share. IIN with its 8% share will need to increase its footprint in Australia to compete with the large players and aid its brand recall with customers. Question 2: Liquidity (136/150 words) (a) 2009 Current Ratio = Current Assets/Current Liabilities ($’000) = 46,939/81,763 = 0.6 2008 Current Ratio = 34,494/77,511 = 0.4 2009 Acid Test Ratio = Current Assets–Inventories-P repayments/Current ($’000) Liabilities-Bank Overdraft = 46,939–1,078-13,981/81,763-501 = 0.4 2008 Acid Test Ratio = 34,494-1,073-8,922/77,511-2,846 = 0.3 (b) IIN’s availability of cash and other current assets to cover accounts payable, short-term debt and other liabilities stands at 0.6 in 2009. The current ratio has improved from 0.4 in 2008 to 0.6 There is an increase in the acid-test ratio from 0.3 in 2008 to 0.4 in 2009. The acid test ratio is a more stringent test, incorporating only those assets that can be converted to cash quickly. Current and

External Business Environment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

External Business Environment - Assignment Example The industries dominating the UK economy include the service sector, the automotive sector, and the pharmaceutical industry. The service sector, in particular, contributes more than three-quarters of the country’s GDP, with the booming services within the industry being the financial and aerospace. Being the first county to adopt industrialization, the country boasts of one of the largest globalized economies of the world, and the city of London plays an instrumental role as the business hub for this economic giant. The UK is part of the G8, which is a group of some of the leading economies in the world in terms of economic strength and power. The UK has an elaborate tax system that promotes both internal and foreign investments within the country. So far, the UK boats of being the leader in the following industries across the world, owing to its policies and attractive strategies geared at enticing investors within the country. One, London City is the Hub of financial services in the world, owing to the elaborate banking system adopted by the country, and evidenced by some of the leading multination banking corporations in the world such as the Barclays Bank, and the Standard Chartered Bank. Second, is the Barclays Premier League, adopted after the main sponsor, Barclays Bank, which is the most followed football league in the entire globe. The UK always comes up with economic policies that promote business activities and investments within the country. The hospitality industry plays a major role in the UK economy as it contributes almost 25% of the GDP of the country, comprising of companies such as clubs, hotels, restaurants, leisure outlets and holiday resorts. The Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts is one of the major hotel groups in the UK, with an international disposition of its chains of hotels and resorts across various countries and cities of the world. As such, as a leading hotel group in the United Kingdom, the economic policies set by the government affect its operations adversely, either positively or negatively.  Ã‚  

'Britain does not really have a constituton at all, merely a system of Essay

'Britain does not really have a constituton at all, merely a system of goverment.' - Essay Example Traditionally a constitution is taken as a written document clearly establishing principles and rules governing a given political body. It guarantees specified rights to nationals, establishes duties, the level of powers and important political principles of each government. With constitutions from many countries from the common wealth being written, British constitutions has never been written down. What the Britons have as their constitution is a combination of statute law, convention and common law. The 1982 Reform Act which was responsible for the parliamentary representation reforms, Magna Carta (1215) protecting the community rights against the crown and the Bill of Rights (1689) that made it impracticable for the sovereign to ignore the government wishes by extending the powers of the parliament. Though it has never been well defined, common law is presumed to come from legal precedents or customs and interpreted in court cases by the judges. Practices and rules which are not legally enforceable are called conventions but regarded as crucial to the smooth working of the government. It is from the historical events through which the British system of government has originated that conventions are extracted. For example, there is a convention holding ministers accountable and responsible for what happens in their dockets although it is not legally enforceable. A general agreement Act of parliament can amend a convention thus amending the constitution. Unlike many constitutions in the world the British â€Å"constitution† is very flexible a thing that has led to it realizing full development over the decades. Rulings of the European court of justice have coded and determined British la sections under areas covered by numerous treaties where Britain is involved. This is making the legal and constitutional document is the Magna Carta. It has sixty one classes that set out vivid community

Neurological Disorders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Neurological Disorders - Essay Example Migraines can be caused by variations in the brainstem and the interactions it has with the trigeminal nerve, which is the main pain pathway. Another cause may be an imbalance in brain chemicals such as serotonin since it helps regulate pain in the nervous system.Some of the signs of migraines include Vision disturbances that occur in both eyes and can involve blurred vision, seeing stars, eye pain, a temporary blind spot, and tunnel vision. Sometimes one may experience yawning, nausea, a problem in finding the right words or even difficulty concentrating.Precipitating factors include external stimuli, psychological factors, and physiological phenomena. Stress is a commonly recognized trigger phenomenon associated with a migraine attack. The sufferers are sensitive to changes in both eating and sleeping patterns. Vasoactive substances such as alcohol, tyramine, nitrate, and caffeine are also precipitating factors. Estrogen and progesterone in women play a great role in occurrence and timing of migraine attacks.Migraines don’t have a specific cure. The goal is to treat the symptoms immediately by changing and avoiding triggers. If one experiences regular migraines, they may be prescribed medicine to minimize the number of attacks. The medicines may include blood pressure medicines, antidepressants, and seizure medicines.Analgesics are drugs designed to relieve pain. There are various types of analgesics: acetaminophen (available without a prescription) and a various opioid analgesics.

Ted.com Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ted.com - Essay Example This led Maskowitz to eventually determine that rather than developing a singular product, companies must develop a series of variations on this product to appeal to a broad range of people. The video goes into relay when Prego asked Maskowitz to help them develop a sounder product. Maskowitz responded by developing a multi-differentiated product line. Rather than attempting to determine the most popular spaghetti sauces among this group, Maskowitz worked to determine the groupings for form that would be the most popular. It was ultimately determined that extra-chunky was one of the popular types of spaghetti sauce that had not been developed yet had considerable public demand. Prego would release this brand and go on to net over $600 million dollars over the next decade. The main point Gladwell is making is that rather looking for universal answers, companies must consider human variability when designing products. Seth Godin on standing out As my major is finance and marketing, I c hose a video on marketing referred to as Seth Godin on standing out. Seth Godin is a recognized entrepreneur and blogger, and is greatly concerned with marketing in the digital age. This particular video considers ways that individuals can stand out in the contemporary marketing world.