3.2 How does art both challenge and reflect cultural perspectives?

Inwiefern reflektiert und hinterfragt Kunst kulturelle Perspektiven? 

Kunst beeinflusst die Gesellschaft, indem sie Meinungen ändert, Werte vermittelt und Erfahrungen über Raum und Zeit hinweg übersetzt. Untersuchungen haben gezeigt, dass Kunst das grundlegende Selbstgefühl beeinflusst.

Art as a challenge to society 🖼️ 😕 ⁉️

Europe appeared to be losing its hold on reality during the years leading up to World War I. Freud’s theories were making people question everything they knew, Einstein’s version of the world seemed more like science fiction than reality, and Karl Marx’s Communism aimed to flip the script on society. Even more radical ideas were afoot. Anarchists and nihilists inhabited the political fringe, and a new breed of artists was starting to attack the very concept of art itself; the arts were also coming apart at the seams.

Dadaism: 

An avant-garde intellectual movement that started around 1914. Although not at first an art movement, it certainly influenced art as a whole.

Dadaism was centered around dismissing traditional styles and perspectives and creating art that could be characterized as "absurd" or "irrational". The Dada artists wanted to bring attention to the chaos and destruction that war brings.

Switzerland was highly influenced by the first world war. During this time, the Swiss remained neutral but armed (just in case), and were not invaded by their warring neighbors throughout Europe. 

Dadaism was formed in Zurich, Switzerland. Its artists rejected modern capitalist society. The artists of Dadaism used nonsense and protest throughout their works. Dadaist artists expressed their discontent with violence, war, and nationalism, and were close to the radical far-left. The entire point of Dadaism was to prove that anything could be art if the artist declared it to be. As a result, artists argued that if everything could be art, then nothing could be art. This ticked off a lot of artists who put tons of time into their work.

1916

Hugo Ball, a German writer taking refuge in Switzerland during WWI, writes:

"The image of the human form is gradually disappearing from the painting of these times and all objects appear only in fragments. The next step is for poetry to decide to do away with language."

One night at Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich, Ball recited a poem that did away with language completely. The poem begins “gadji beri bimba / glandridi lauli lonni cadori.” It was utter nonsense aimed at a public that seemed all too complacent about a senseless war. Politicians everywhere proclaimed the war to be a noble cause. In Germany, politicians said the war was to defend Germany’s high culture, the French were defending their Enlightenment, and the English were fighting for their empire. Ball wanted to shock anyone, he wrote, who regarded “all this civilized carnage as a triumph of European intelligence.” 

🎥 WAS IST DADA? / DVD-Trailer

Art as a reflection of cultural perspectives

Conchita Wurst

• Born Thomas Neuwirth, this Austrian singer, recording artist, and drag queen is known for his stage persona Conchita Wurst (or simply Conchita).
  • Der als Thomas Neuwirth geborene österreichische Sänger, Aufnahmekünstler und Drag Queen ist bekannt für seine Bühnenpersönlichkeit Conchita Wurst (oder einfach Conchita).
• Conchita came to international attention after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014. Eurovision is an annual international song competition. It features participants from all across Europe. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio and the competing countries then cast votes for the other countries' songs to determine the winner. It is a HUGE deal!
  • Conchita wurde nach dem Gewinn des Eurovision Song Contest im Jahr 2014 international bekannt. Eurovision ist ein jährlicher internationaler Songwettbewerb. Es werden Teilnehmer aus ganz Europa vorgestellt. Jedes teilnehmende Land reicht ein originales Lied ein, das im Live-Fernsehen und -Radio aufgeführt werden soll, und die konkurrierenden Länder geben dann Stimmen für die Lieder der anderen Länder ab, um den Gewinner zu ermitteln.

🎥 Conchita Wurst - Rise Like a Phoenix (Austria) 2014 LIVE Eurovision Second Semi-Final

With Conchita's win in the 2014 Eurovision contest, she was invited to the European Parliament in Brussels where she used her platform to spread a message of tolerance. 

The Greens vice president of the European Parliament, Ulrike Lunacek, along with three other parties, invited her to perform. "We have many crises in the world and, of course, Parliament also takes care of refugees and other important things, but I think that Conchita Wurst's message is also important," said Lunacek, who also comes from Austria and has lived openly as a lesbian for 20 years. Lunacek added that in the EU there are still too many prejudices against sexual minorities 🏳️‍🌈

"I will give everything I have to support those who want that [tolerance and respect]" Wurst said in a formal press conference in Parliament before the event. "Sex, color, and background should no longer play a role."

Conchita's win was the first victory for Austria in the competition in almost 50 years, but it was also a victory for all of Europe Her performance was a direct act of freedom of sexual orientation and against homophobia 🏳️‍🌈. Being different and looking different—these are traditional ingredients for success in Eurovision. But this time it was about more. Conchita Wurst's song asked the question: How open is European society? The vote gave everyone watching at home and around the world the answer: more open than many think.