Preface

From text: The compilation of this volume is one of the very first actions undertaken to promote collaboration and mutual interests within the field of gender studies at the University of the Free State

Prskanja u likovnim umjetnostima, književnosti i glazbi

The article explores somatic metaphors related to explosion, outburst and eruption in diverse media. This inquiry lies in the intersection among philosophy, literary criticism and history of art and its conclusions are relevant to musicology. It is argued that there are various basic orientations, persuasions and biases underlying specific uses of metaphors of somatic eruption. The article endeavours to propose an alternative reading of body fluids as metaphoric sites of festive critique in subversively humorous discourse and art, which differs from more prevalent psychoanalytic interpretations. A text by Hélène Cixous, as well as visual material by Jenny Saville, Cindy Sherman, Bruce Nauman and Pieter Brueghel the Elder is scrutinized. The most appropriate musical example in this context is probably (especially the introduction to) the Háry János Suite by Zoltán Kodály.* By grouping male and female artists together, an underlying picaresque or subversively humorous, non-binary and geneticist match is suggested in their work. Yet, at the same time it is argued that female body fluids present women with metaphoric vantage points that facilitate understandings beyond the borders of patriarchal culture.Članak se temelji na većem istraživačkom projektu koji pokušava sagledati griješnu i komičnu ili feminističku likovnu umjetnost unutar šire pikareskne tradicije vizualne kulture. Termin ‘pikareskno’ (koji se rabi u širem smislu nego što je to uobičajeno u literarnim krugovima) služi da bi se opisalo specifične ideološke iskaze. Povratne pikareskne metafore pomno se ispituju zbog njihova potencijala da priopÊe takve iskaze, i to ne samo u umjetničkim djelima muških i ženskih umjetnika i u predstavljanjima muških i ženskih tijela, nego i među umjetnicima i teoretičarima. Analizira se tekst Hélène Cixous, kao i vizualni materijal Jenny Saville, Cindy Sherman, Brucea Naumana i Pietera Brueghela st. Najprikladniji glazbeni primjer u ovome kontekstu je vjerojatno (osobito uvod) suita Háry János Zoltána Kodályja. (Druga ‘pikareskna’ glazbena djela skladali su Erik Satie i Sergej Prokofjev.) Kao pikareskni mogu se opisati ne samo naslovi poput Tri komada u obliku kruške, Pravi mlitavi preludiji i Hladni komadi (Satie) te Zaljubljen u tri naranče i baletni naslov Priča o lakrdijašu (Prokofjev) nego i izvrtanje i izrugivanje u njihovim zvukovnim teksturama. Isto je i s komičnim i bezbrižnim napastovanjem i namjerno cirkusantskim i kabaretskim parodijama cijenjenih glazbenih djela te veselim pljačkanjem postojećih formi i glazbenog vokabulara. Međutim, valja naglasiti da živahne metafore prskanja u glazbi, usporedive s ovim likovnima opisanim ovdje, treba i dalje istraživati. Motivi u njihovim djelima čitaju se kao motivi ili temeljne orijentacije

Reception, deception, illusion and magic: feminism and theoretical practice

This article is an exploration of the relationship between ideology theory, feminism and “theoretical practice”. It is an attempt to formulate a “figurative semiotics” in which theory is “seen” to be done. There is a tendency within feminist art whereby, as a strategy to address “actual readers” and to concretely affect the “real” world, artists humorously exploit the association of art, magic, illusion and deception in order to shock, move or activate their audiences. We argue that such feminist art, which humorously enhances art’s potentially carnalising impact on a gendered spectator, can be linked to a longer tradition of ideology-sensitive picaresque art which humorouslykeeps alive an awareness of art’s power to deceive

The image and the brazen serpent: division, mediation and the translatability of cultures

This article confronts possible effects of the crisis of intercultural communication by investigating the transforming power of images to reorient or transfigure accepted cultural meanings. With current image theorists such as W J T Mitchell and Hans Belting it emphasises that the image’s power to self-create or to possess a life, presence or soul of its own – that aspect of the image that makes it seem animated and able to trap or immerse – is not merely a relic of ritual, cultic or idolatrous comprehensions, but may rather be one of the constant features in ontologies of the image

Art historiography and Bild-wissenschaft: new perspectives on some objects by the Venda sculptor, Phutuma Seoka

It is argued that the apparatus of western art history has been sharpened by the current media consciousness. Typical art historical tools are self-consciously harnessed in the process of scrutinising objects which resist and expand these methods and theories. The focus is on some objects of Venda polychrome sculpture which “took the South African art world by storm” in the 1980s when these specimens of rural craftsmanship in wood were deemed fit to enter the gallery circuit. An analysis of the Venda sculptors’ religious and social knowledge of the use of patterned decoration on ritual tools in wood, and of performances by firelight of myths of origin with wooden dolls during initiation rituals, informs my alternative interpretation of the modern polychrome sculptures steering away from issues of cross-cultural aesthetics, the dialectic of modernism and traditionalism and post-colonial studies. Rather, I interpret the works as medium-self-conscious objects which extend their own cultural and social agency to communicate more widely to a non-initiate audience which may include visitors to an art museum. This shift of focus from a history of art to a history of media effects an altered perspective on the objects themselves and on the methods used to interpret them

History, ruin and sacrament : the breaking of images and the breaking of the bread

The current renewed interest in the phenomenon of iconoclasm (a form of ruination) is a symptom of the re-thinking of the image in a medium-aware milieu. When the medium is attacked in iconoclastic acts, images endure and circulate more vigorously. In this article the focus is on the ambiguous historical moment of destruction; on the impending blow; on the hammer or sword in mid-swing – on the breaking of images as a moment of the dissemination and endurance of historical meaning. The metaphorical power of the ruin to evoke not only loss, but also completion or fulfilment, is exploited here to intimate a systematic distinction between allegory and symbol. Through the performative interpretation of a number of art works which stage ruination, destruction, deterioration or violence, the historical processes of the emancipation, transformation, translation and re-mediation of images is related to conflicted understandings of the meaning of history. I endeavour to show how diverse beliefs about the mystery of the meaning of history are related to the ways in which the world is made to signify in nuanced artistic ways, either allegorically or symbolically.Die hernieude kontemporêre belangstelling in die verskynsel van ikonoklasme (‘n vorm van ruïnering) is ‘n simptoom van die heroorweging van die beeld in ‘n medium-sensitiewe omgewing. As die medium aangeval word in ‘n ikonoklastiese handeling, oorleef beelde en sirkuleer dit meer drasties. In hierdie artikel is die fokus op die dubbelsinnige historiese oomblik van vernietiging; op die voorgenome slag; op die hamer of swaard terwyl dit swaai – op die aftakeling van beelde as die oomlik waarin historiese betekenis oorleef en versprei word. Die ruïne se metaforiese vermoë om nie alleen verlies nie, maar ook volheid en voltooiing te suggereer, word hier gebruik om aspekte van ‘n sistematiese onderskeid tussen allegorie en simbool te laat deurskemer. Deur die performatiewe interpretasie van ‘n paar kunswerke wat ruïnering, vernietiging, aftakeling of geweld voorstel, word die historiese prosesse van die vrymaking, transformasie en re-mediasie van strydende beelde, verbind aan konflikterende insigte oor die betekenis van die geskiedenis. Ek onderneem om aan te toon hoe uiteenlopende aannames oor die geheimenisse van die betekenis van die geskiedenis, nou verbonde is aan die genuanseerde maniere waarop kunswerke òf allegoriese òf simboliese betekenis genereer.ai201

Reception, deception, illusion and magic: feminism and theoretical practice

This article is an exploration of the relationship between ideology theory, feminism and “theoretical practice”. It is an attempt to formulate a “figurative semiotics” in which theory is “seen” to be done. There is a tendency within feminist art whereby, as a strategy to address “actual readers” and to concretely affect the “real” world, artists humorously exploit the association of art, magic, illusion and deception in order to shock, move or activate their audiences. We argue that such feminist art, which humorously enhances art’s potentially carnalising impact on a gendered spectator, can be linked to a longer tradition of ideology-sensitive picaresque art which humorously keeps alive an awareness of art’s power to deceive

Fighting from within: gender equity at the University of the Free State

This study sets out to assess the extent to which gender equity has been mainstreamed at the University of the Free State (UFS). The external environment is briefly discussed in terms of the policy framework within which the institution operates. This is followed by a gender analysis of the institution. It is first compared with other universities. Data are then presented in respect of the position of women academics at the institution, as well as of their experience of and reaction to the organisational culture. Several employment barriers are identified and the relevant legal implications of the Employment Equity Act are indicated

Fighting from within: gender equity at the University of the Free State

This study sets out to assess the extent to which gender equity has been mainstreamed at the University of the Free State (UFS). The external environment is briefly discussed in terms of the policy framework within which the institution operates. This is followed by a gender analysis of the institution. It is first compared with other universities. Data are then presented in respect of the position of women academics at the institution, as well as of their experience of and reaction to the organisational culture. Several employment barriers are identified and the relevant legal implications of the Employment Equity Act are indicated

Art historiography and Bild-wissenschaft: new perspectives on some objects by the Venda sculptor, Phutuma Seoka

It is argued that the apparatus of western art history has been sharpened by the current media consciousness. Typical art historical tools are self-consciously harnessed in the process of scrutinising objects which resist and expand these methods and theories. The focus is on some objects of Venda polychrome sculpture which “took the South African art world by storm” in the 1980s when these specimens of rural craftsmanship in wood were deemed fit to enter the gallery circuit. An analysis of the Venda sculptors’ religious and social knowledge of the use of patterned decoration on ritual tools in wood, and of performances by firelight of myths of origin with wooden dolls during initiation rituals, informs my alternative interpretation of the modern polychrome sculptures steering away from issues of cross-cultural aesthetics, the dialectic of modernism and traditionalism and post-colonial studies. Rather, I interpret the works as medium-self-conscious objects which extend their own cultural and social agency to communicate more widely to a non-initiate audience which may include visitors to an art museum. This shift of focus from a history of art to a history of media effects an altered perspective on the objects themselves and on the methods used to interpret them