1. LANDMARKS IN HUMANITIES
Chapter 15
Globalism: Information, Communication, and the Digital Revolution
ca the present

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Postwar Convulsions
The Cold War
Dominated course of international relations
“Power vacuums” in postcolonial East Asia grew hot
Korean Conflict
Vietnam War
Hallmarks: instability of international relations; nuclear threat; costly arms race; fear
1989: Soviet communism collapses; fall of Berlin Wall
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Postwar Convulsions
Existentialism
Body of philosophical thought that expressed the alienation of the postwar era
Sartre
Human beings choose what they become; they have no fixed nature; “condemned to be free”
Challenged fundamentals of traditional philosophy
To blame external causes for our actions is “bad faith”
“We are alone, with no excuses”
Being and Nothingness
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Postwar Convulsions
The Existential Hero
An antihero who bears the burden of freedom and responsibility for his actions
Sartre, No Exit
Kerouac, On the Road; Ginsburg, Howl
Miller, Death of a Salesman
Theater of the Absurd
Rejected traditional dramatic structure, character development
Beckett, Waiting for Godot
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Postwar Convulsions
Postwar Cinema
Challenged traditional moral values
Kurosawa, Rashomon; The Seven Samurai
Bergman, The Seventh Seal
Abstract Expressionism
Emphasized the act of painting itself
Pollock, Autumn Rhythm
“Action painting”
Rothko: color field painting
Works done on enormous canvases
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The Quest for Equality
The End of Colonialism
Quest for liberation from colonial rule dominant theme of the twentieth century
Latin America’s anticolonial movement protracted
Neruda, Canto general
The Quest for Racial Equality
“The Race Era”
School segregation banned in U.S., 1954
Martin Luther King, Jr.; the “Negro Revolt”
“Letter from a Birmingham jail”
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The Quest for Equality
Black Identity in the Arts
Baldwin; writing as a subversive act
Go Tell it on the Mountain
Ellison, Invisible Man
Black estrangement from white culture
Brooks, “We Real Cool”
Morrison, Song of Solomon
Walker, The Color Purple
Saar, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima
Kara Walker; silhouettes
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The Quest for Equality
The Quest for Gender Equality
Feminism
Grimké and other suffragettes instrumental in securing right for U.S. women to vote in 1920
Woolf, “A Room of One’s Own”
Freedom is the prerequisite for creativity
De Beauvoir, The Second Sex
Dethroned “myth of femininity”
Friedan, The Feminine Mystique
Greer, The Female Eunuch
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The Quest for Equality
Focus of feminist artistic expression on gender equality; female identity
Literature confessional, autobiographical, angry
Achievements in architecture
Hadid, Gang
Women celebrated composers, musicians
Zwilich
Tower, Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman
Higdon
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The Quest for Equality
Sexual Identity
Demand for equality among those of untraditional sexual orientation
Stonewall Inn
Increased public awareness: more sexual permissiveness; media; AIDS
Impacted traditional concepts of sexuality
Kushner, Angels in America
AIDS Memorial Quilt
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The Quest for Equality
Ethnicity and Identity
Individual identity: “cluster” of traits that form the totality of one’s self-perceived image
Ethnic identity: manner in which individuals define themselves as members of a group sharing the same culture and values
Became powerful social and political force
Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
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The Quest for Equality
Hispanic Voices
Flowering of Latino culture in the U.S.
Hijuelos, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
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13. Science and Philosophy
String Theory and Chaos Theory
String Theory: all matter consists of tiny loops of vibrating strings; Greene
Chaos Theory: universal patterns underlie all of nature and repeat themselves in physical phenomena
The Human Genome
Successful mapping of the human genome
Preventive treatment of gene-related diseases
Cloning
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14. Science and Philosophy
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15. Science and Philosophy
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16. Science and Philosophy
Language Theory
Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations
All expression dominated by way language is used to convey ideas
Deconstruction
Humans prisoners of the language we use to think and describe the world
Derrida, Of Grammatology
Foucault, The Archeology of Knowledge
Rorty, “linguistic turn”
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17. The Information Explosion
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18. The Information Explosion
Media-shaped Globalism
Interrelatedness and interdependence among various parts of the planet
World Wide Web (1989)
Wikipedia (2001)
Google
YouTube
Facebook/Twitter
Blogs
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19. The Information Explosion
Postmodernism
Bemused awareness of historical past; “reality” processed by mass communication and information technology
Paradoxical; whimsical; ironic
Populist
Art as an information system; as commodity
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20. Contemporary Literature
Postmodern Fiction
Disdain for rational structure/fascination with the function of language
Calvino; Vonnegut
Lessing, The Golden Notebook
Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
Cyberpunk fiction
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21. Contemporary Literature
Docufiction
Original, fictionalized narrative of contemporary events and situations
Delillo, Underworld
Eggers, What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng
Magic Realism
Fusion of fantastic and realistic literary elements
Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
Rushdie, The Satanic Verses
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22. Contemporary Literature
Science Fiction
Influenced by Sputnik, U.S. moon landing
Impact of computers on world’s future
Gibson, Neuromancer
Introduced the term “cyberspace”
Cyberliterature
Poetry
Multicultural; concerned with global issues
Walcott, Omeros
Heaney, Death of a Naturalist; District and Circle
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Art and Architecture
Art and Architecture
No one style; varying trends
Use of new media
Digitization
Traditional distinctions between the arts and between the “high” and “low” have been blurred
The size, scale of art has grown to mammoth proportions
Collectors spending a lot of money on paintings of past centuries and on works of contemporary artists
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Art and Architecture
Pop Art
Depiction of commonplace goods and popular personalities in overtly realistic style
Warhol, Campbell’s Soup Cans
Use of silkscreen, airbrush blurred distinction between high and low art
Oldenburg, soft vinyl and stainless steel sculptures of every day objects
Segal, life-sized figures from plaster casts of live models
Bus Riders
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Art and Architecture
Assemblage
Art that freely combines two- and three- dimensional objects
Rauschenberg, “combines”
Monogram
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Art and Architecture
Post-Pop Abstraction
Geometric Abstraction: purity of elemental forms and colors in often colossal-sized artwork
Stella, “Protractor” series
Minimalism: eliminated representation in favor of simple, geometric shapes
Minimalist sculptors used high-tech materials
Usually factory produced; assembled according to artist’s instructions
Cube, Noguchi
Lin, Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial
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Art and Architecture
New Realism
Re-creation of the artificially processed view of reality captured in the photographic image
Hanson, Tourists
Total Art
Conceptual; ideas take precedence over material objects
Happenings: highly structured series of actions and scripted gestures
Performance was itself the artwork
Kruger; Holzer
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Art and Architecture
Environmental art
Earthwork: natural landscape is both medium and subject
Smithson, Spiral Jetty
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Wrapped structures in fabric; dramatized difference between natural world and artificial domain of Postmodern society
Running Fence
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Art and Architecture
Video Art
Moving image has assumed position of power over other forms of artistic expression
Nam June Paik, “father of video art”
Megatron
Viola
Use of rear-projected video screens to deliver slow- moving visual narratives
Stations
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Art and Architecture
Contemporary Photography
Digital manipulation of electronically accessible images
Use of software programs to manipulate existing images
Digital imaging that generates abstract simulations
Digital art
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Art and Architecture
Computers and New Media Arts
New Media art: art that makes use of digital technologies
Appropriation and collaboration common features
Augmented reality
Virtual reality
Yamaguchi, Keitai Girl
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Art and Architecture
Contemporary Cinema
New technology, film centers developing
YouTube
Computer-generated imaging (CGI)
Use of large-scale sets unnecessary (Jurassic Park; Terminator 2; Matrix)
Replace human actors with computer-generated characters (The Lord of the Rings; Avatar)
No landmark contemporary works depend on CGI
2001: Space Odyssey; Raise the Red Lantern; Schindler’s List; Traffic
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Art and Architecture
Contemporary Architecture
Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture
Postmodernists emphasized visual complexity; individuality; fun
Moore, Piazza d’Italia in New Orleans
Gehry
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
Calatrava, Milwaukee Art Museum
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Music and Dance
Cage and Aleatory Music
Cage spokesman for chance and experimentation
4’ 33”
Works aleatory (based on chance or randomization)
Microtonality and Minimalism
Ligeti, Atmosphères
Use of microtonality
Minimal music reduces vocabulary of expression into elemental or primary components
Glass, Einstein on the Beach
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Music and Dance
Choral Music and Opera
Britten, War Requiem
Corigliano, The Ghosts of Versailles
First Postmodern opera
Adams, I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky
“Music/opera”
Tan Dun, The First Emperor
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Music and Dance
Electronic Music and Computers
Increased accessibility; eliminated patronage system
Used to create new types of sound
Modification of preexisting sound
Musique concrète
Purely electronic generation of sound
Stockhausen
Synthesizer, Babbitt
Sampling
Computer the definitive studio of our time
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Music and Dance
Rock and Popular Music
Rock music
High dynamic level of sound, fast hard rhythms, strong beat, earthly lyrics
Soul merged rhythm and blues with gospel tradition
Rock an expression of youth culture
Beatles made it international phenomenon; Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Electric guitar became hallmark of rock music
Dylan, acoustic exception, “Blowin’ in the Wind”
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Music and Dance
Globalism colors the music of our time
Various influences: reggae; Indian ragas, klezmer, etc.
Hip-hop: loud percussive music, jarring lyrics, break dancing; international popularity
Rap: vocal offshoot of hip-hop
Both fused with musical styles from Cuba and Senegal
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Music and Dance
Dance
Cunningham
Disassociation of music and dance
Pure body movement; abstract form
Summerspace
Morris
Dance motifs specifically allied to musical score
L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato
Contemporary dance also influenced by globalism
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40. Into the Twenty-First Century
The Global Ecosystem
Ecology: relationship between organisms and the environment
Modern technology threatens global ecosystem
Global warming
Wilson
Environment concern in poetry: Snyder, Dillard
Architecture’s “sustainable design”
“Greening” of architecture: “the Gherkin”
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41. Into the Twenty-First Century
Terrorism
Deliberate and systematic use of violence against civilians to achieve political, religious, or ideological ideals
September 11, 2001
Adams, On the Transmigration of Souls
Delillo, Falling Man
Wright, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9-11
Schneemann, Terminal Velocity
Szymborska, Monologue of a Dog
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42. Into the Twenty-First Century
China’s Global Ascendance
China has become powerful world leader
Aggressive economic growth; reception to information technology
Ascendance visible in the arts
Governmental efforts to control relaxed after Tiananmen Square
Plurality of styles
Political Pop
Cynical Realism
Guangyi, Coca-Cola
Minjun, Untitled
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43. Into the Twenty-First Century
The Interactive Spectator
Installations
Combinations of sensory effects in which viewers may participate or interact
Eliasson, The Weather Project
Neto
Serra, Sequence
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