Module 2 // Video Review Blog

1. For each video and article list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

*Video #1-- Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts

• Aesthetics: the study between the difference of beauty & art
• Artists & Philosophers-- Plato, Aristotle, Joseph Addison, Francis Hutcheson, Shaftesbury, Immanuel Kant, Sedhal, Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Leo Tolstoy, R.G. Collingwood, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Morris Weitz, Richard Wollheim, George Dickie, John Dewey,
• This video went in depth with the different centuries and eras throughout art history. With all of the artists and philosophers, it explained what each person theory was and why-- with many quotes from the artists/philosophers.
• In each clip, it also had different professors and doctors in university’s views on the artist and philosophers. They picked out their favorite theories as well and went into depth on why they favor a specific theory and why.
• First formulation of aesthetic disinterestedness: the idea that there is a special attitude of disengagement from the practical concerns that is essential to appreciating art. (The first person to practice this was Francis Hutcheson “An Inquiry Concerning Beauty, Order, Harmony, Design.”)
• This video explored why and how music and language, including lyrics and poetry are forms of great art as well and the philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, who pushed that.
• The Kantian theory of Genius & how it shaped romanticism & the movement whose main tenet was the importance of the artist. How there is no school to teach someone how to be an artist and how to make a masterpiece.
• Apollonian Art-- refers to Apollo, the God of the clear images that appear in the light of the day and the blurred images of dreams (visual, figurative, and the imaginary) Principle of happiness and purification through the images.
• Principle of Formal Order: Harmony, symmetry & order
• The Dionysian Principle of Art: Derives from the Dionysus, God of wine and revelry-- conjures the impulse to dissolve the go, lose all limits, and submit to delirium, in lyric poetry and music. Prevails pleasure.
• Dadaism, Cubism, Surrealism, Pop Art, & other movements in the 20th century. Expression theory of Art by Ludwig Wittgenstein (1953)
• Avant-garde works: Popular works of art, heavily known. New and unusual. (films, musicals, jazz, photography, science fiction, & comics)
• Technology made art become less original, because no piece can stay it’s own with it (television, movies, posters, etc.)
• Aestheticians/Artists= Two different things and how you cannot teach an artist a set way of aesthetics.

*Video #2-- CARTA: Neurobiology Neurology and Art and Aesthetics

• Changeux explained the different types of skulls throughout human life, explaining that they are all symmetrical and how they remained symmetrical throughout time.
• Art & Aesthetics Definitions--

1. Works of art- Artefacts, human productions, specialized for intersubjective communication, symbolic forms genetically & enginetically encoded.
2. Distinct form language- Non-verbal communication of emotional states, knowledge, experience with multiplicity of codes yet, under implicit constraints of rules.
3. With aesthetic efficacy- Staggering effects on emotion and reason mobilizing conscious and non-conscious processes.
4. Art in constant evolution- Art history. Renewal without apparent progress.

• Efficacy aesthetics & access to consciousness. Difference between women’s brains & men’s brains.
• Sexual selection (Darwin) Group selection (Kropotkine) Intersubjective & communication social bonding (JPC) By product of brain evolution (James)
• Ramachandran explained the Science of Art: Neurological science of Artistic Experience
• Art is distorted or made into a hyperbole to make it art, not reality on purpose.
• Artistic universals: Chinese art, Greek art, Roman art, Indian art, etc.
• 8 Laws of Art (Aesthetics)--

1. Grouping or “binding”: Aesthetic “jolt” we get when viewing abstract art and how lawful distortions are pleasing to the eye for that reason. Explains camouflage.
2. Peak shift principle: Caricature
3. Contrast
4. Isolating a single cue to optimally excite cortical visual areas (“attention”): Isolation-- art of understatement. Less= more, an outline, minimalism. How autistic brains might have a part of brain that has a super function.
5. Perpetual ‘problem solving’: Playboy vs. Outline of woman in the shower-- when brain has to essentially search for an image, it automatically becomes more pleasing to the eye.
6. Symmetry: Human face, butterfly, monuments and the building in the Athens.
7. Abhorrence of unique vantage points & suspicious coincidences: Brain likes generic viewpoints & not unique viewpoints.
8. Art as metaphor

• Kisch art: Bad art that does not use the 8 principles.

*Article- What the brain draws from: Art and neuroscience by Elizabeth Landau, CNN

• Why we recognize art, lines, & faces.
• “The human brain is wired in such a way that we can make sense of lines, colors and patterns on a flat canvas. Artists throughout human history have figured out ways to create illusions such as depth and brightness that aren't actually there but make works of art seem somehow more real.” I think this is a very influential quote in the article because it really shows why humans understand and appreciate art the way that we do.
• The science that goes behind art and all of the experiments with monkeys, infants, and different cultures.
• Color vs. Luminance- 3 kinds of cones in the eye's retina: red, blue and green. The brain compares the activities in two or three cones and that is how you know what color you’re looking at. Luminance combines activities from the cones together and determines how much light gets through a different area.
• 3 Dimensions to give illusion, that’s how artists play with color and luminance.
• The Mona Lisa explained and why her expression changes-- The technique that makes her expression change is the shadows that were painted on the piece of art.
• Distortion with mirrors & shadows

2. Which philosopher's theory on aesthetics do you feel is most important? Be sure to mention the philosopher's name, era (time in history), and contribution to the aesthetic theory in your response.

From the video, the philosopher who I found had the most important theory on aesthetics had to be Georg W.F. Hegel, who was a western philosopher in the 19th century (Victorian era). “The work of art is a sensible object not only for the sensible intuition, but also for the spirit. The beautiful is defined as the appearance of the sensible reflection of the Idea, of the Absolute” -A quote by Georg W.F. Hegel. His theory on aesthetics was influenced largely on the spirit believing that art was connected with the spirit. I find that important because it means it’s a deeper than anything physical and I just really like how he found that connection between a surreal world and the real world.

3. What do you think about Changeux and Ramachandran scientific view of aesthetics and art?

I like that Changeux and Ramachandran, as professional scientists, can make a connection between science and art. A lot of people view science completely separate from any humanity topics like art. Honestly, I couldn’t  really understand Changeux but I like how he explained how symmetrical all human skulls are and how they evolved. I enjoyed Ramachandran’s speech a lot (probably because I could understand him & he cracked jokes) because he studies neurology and vision-- and obviously vision is a huge part of art and you need vision in order to see visual art.

What was the most interesting fact you discovered from each speaker's lecture?

* Changeux

Each temple and how they evolved over the millions of years of humans.

*Ramachandran

The 8 Laws of Art (which he said after to cross out the art, and say “Aesthetics”)

4. How do the videos and article relate to the readings in the text?

The videos and article relate to the readings in the text because they explain the principles and the facts in art history. It all ties together and relates as well.

5. What is your opinion of the films and article? How do they add depth to understanding of the topics in your reading in the text?

My opinion of the films and article was that they were extremely educational and had a lot of information in them that was extremely useful and that I did not know initially. I gained a lot of knowledge from the films and article and I think they were very beneficial to learning in this course. They add depth to understanding the topics in the reading in the text because they go into detail and give a different perspective & view to the information I am learning.