Using clothing as resistance is another branch of this. In contemporary Ireland, the REPEAL jumpers are iconic, but an example I'm particularly fond of is people wearing balaclavas to marches for housing rights at a time when homelessness is an exploding problem in Dublin. I've never seen it discussed in the news the way REPEAL jumpers were, and i don't think it would make much sense to someone who wasn't familiar with Ireland. There is a resurgence in Irish left wing nationalism, and romanticizing the IRA. Balaclavas are emblematic of resistance and the fight for independence, and they're a really powerful image. When the police wore balaclavas to an eviction last year, it sparked marches and sit-ins. I've seen graduate art shows featuring them, and they pop up in memes and online, but I still haven't seen a decent discussion about them and most people I know are too nervous to discuss it for fear of starting a fight. I was given an organic, ethically made balaclava for my birthday, and it's probably the best physical representation of what it means to be a 20-something lefty in Ireland. I would never wear it out, but it's hanging on my wall. I can't wait to read a academic discussion of them in the future
Resistance in fashion is super interesting to consider widely, and thanks for bringing this up here. Can think of loads of other examples worldwide, and would love to hear how and where others see resistance in fashion.
So many layers to this. Thanks for bringing this example to the forground. I also think about the way people use clothing to make themselves invisible (aka unnoticed) and "non-threatening" when needed. It's been more passive and semi-cowardly strategy for years!
@@theartassignment My first thought is Jae Jarrell's fashion designs in accordance with the Black Power movement in the US, but I'm sure there are so many others, as you said!
@@hopegold883 i'm talking about fashion in general ! and the two things are far from incompatible. as the saying goes "white girls copying white gays copying black girls"... the fashion complex rarely directly "rip" from people of color, rather they just reap what few select things have been selected and copied by white gay men, or rich QPOC... (to be clear they also copy purely white gay trends and stuff, it's just rare to find these days)
A long time ago, on a business trip to New York, I saw a group of kids spray painting graffiti on a wall. A cop shouts, "You kids stop right there." All of them but one takes off. This kid was still spraying. The cop says, "Hey kid put down the paint can, what, are ya stupid or something?" The kid says , "Hold on, just let me finish this nose."
@@bebop54 I don't know who they were. It was a long time ago (late 90's). They had dust masks and either hoodies or knit skull cap a.k.a. watch caps on.
@@equesdeventusoccasus OK ..more modern 'arteeests' ..lol 'samo'(diaz, basquiat ) would have been much earlier .... very cute story ...thanks for sharin' ...
Ruins as the art of resistance is genius. I also think graffiti, the kind that gets you arrested, not the kinds they sell at Sothebys... and pu$$y hats, yellow vests, umbrellas...
That part about Goya made me very emotional, it's so sad how the powers that be can make hell on earth and hide it from most people. Feels like their cries can't reach anywhere.
I saw a significant chunk of this series in person and it was absolutely sickening and horrifying to look at. I was almost bawling in the gallery. The ones shown in the video are the most tame and least violent in the series...
Sierra Tillman Contemporary Art is part of the on-going Holocaust of Beauty. The art assignment are made up of Marxist Communists who want to replace Free Market with Socialism
I work in student politics (my role is VP Advocacy, so VP Resistance wouldn't be far off), and often experience this tension between being loud or subdued. I'm certainly still learning, but from my view prefigurative activism is the most effective--showing folks what a better future would look like, which may be more explicit like a direct action (like a march) or more subdued like letter-writing or boycotting. All are impactful, but the most powerful are those that make folks think and reconsider and imagine. That's where art comes in. Agh, loved this episode!
Love that you mentioned the Ingapirka ruins, not many people know it's history and tend to clutter everything together. And guess what? I'm writing about resistance in photography so wonderful timing. Never had the change to thank you for featuring my art work twice in the Art Assignment videos from a couple years ago. Hope you read this and greetings from Quito, Ecuador.
The other day I was talking to a friend (who is also a TAA fan) about how one of the reasons we love this channel so much is that you don't shy away from having an open point of view. Too often, especially online and especially for women, there's this expectation to be neutral, which is obviously unnatainable, since being a woman and interacting with the world is political by itself. Of course it's good to be polite and considerate of others' pov, but with the way the world is currently, it's naive to expect a fake, "both sides are right" neutrality (we call this "isentão" around here) from anyone, let alone people who work in education, arts, and stuff like that. So anyway, TL;DR: this channel is great and I'm glad you don't shy away from expressing important stuff when we need it.
@@theartassignment neutral as in balanced, sure, just not neutral as in not having a specific POV (which is kinda impossible, I guess). But not just this video, I mean all the gender/political content :)
@@lorenabpv I am in love with your comment, but also saddened by its reality. You're right. Being a woman interacting with this world is in itself political. No way around it.
She seemed neutral to me. By definition, resistance will be the voice of the oppressed. But it didn’t really sound like she was taking on the voices of the artists. When people are neutral, it’s easy for the viewer to see their own viewpoint being expressed.
I remember learning about a Yuan Dynasty painting of the artist’s friend’s hometown. This friend, like many literati, wasn’t able to leave wherever he was now living to return to his hometown and family. So the artist, who was allowed to travel for the government (I forget why), stopped at his friend’s hometown and painted a landscape painting with the hills and trees and houses his friend longed to see again. The painting was an act of kindness, but also one of resistance. Resistance to the Mongols who had conquered China, who were preventing people who had been important to the previous dynasty from traveling. But who were also using Chinese painters to establish their legitimacy. Sometimes resistance is an act of kindness.
Resistance a poem by a random person on the internet. My resistance, is against my self, in striving for improvement. To walk for today, into tomorrow, without boredom. But to sharpen, one's self, against life's path. Let's all fail brilliantly, so we may light up our next path. To resist, the temptation, of simple pleasures.
So many great things to talk about, but architecture as resistance has really caught my attention! Especially because it is unusual and so very difficult to do: if you’re not in ‘power’ its tough to get the money, the means, and especially the time (construction is rather conspicuous) to build something. Re-inhabiting a ruined or otherwise forbidden building is probably the most common, but there’s also hidden re-purposing (such as the third floor church) or dualistic building. The latter especially fascinates me, using careful architectural forms and spatial language that can be understood and meaningful to those resisting and be otherwise invisible to others. It’s not something that I’ve investigated much, but after watching this I want and plan to. :) Another great and thought provoking episode, thank you!
This reminds me of a favourite painting, which I revisited online just a few days ago. ‘The Battle’ by Australian artist John Brack depicts the Battle of Waterloo, but all the soldiers are pencils. I remember reading when I saw the painting that Brack was interested in the way that describing a war became more real to non-soldiers when it was illustrated to them using everyday objects; until people had a scene played out physically with a level of abstraction (salt shakers, pens, pencils, cards, etc.), the reality remained abstract. I think it’s more powerful to me than other artworks about war because of the use of familiar, personal items, and seeing the painting in real life stopped me in my tracks. This quote talking about the painting touches on it: “Occupying Brack for over three years, the theme of the 'battle' was inspired primarily by the artist's own experiences as an artillery officer during the war, from which he had concluded that it was impossible to render a battle convincingly in art. 'One could either paint a single event very close up, like an exploding shell blowing people into horrible mutilated fragments, or alternatively paint a very general view where the reality of the battle would be totally lost. When he was in Europe and saw at first hand some of the famous battle paintings, he felt these observations were confirmed... Besides the challenge which this theme presented in terms of its formal language, it was also a culmination of many of Brack's conceptual concerns in his pencil series. It implied an ironic perception of history and a comment on the futility of military campaigns.” www.deutscherandhackett.com/auction/16-important-australian-international-fine-art/lot/battle-1981
I, as a black human, perceive my resistance to be the persistence of doing what i feel brings me, and those who share my identity and universal goals, the most joy and love despite what the structures of white, capitalist, patriarchal, hegemony dictates as ought to be best for me.
Fantastic video! Love your commentary. It’s wonderful that art can often put us into the contemporary feelings of different people at the time. Edit: also, Francisco Goya’s famous “The Third of May 1808” is such a visual message on the senseless of violence.
This made me think of the art in protest signs. I often go to protests and my artist friends make signs that are often photographed and registered and become, in a way, part of the narrative about the protest. Also thought of the way people often paint their faces and bodies in protests. Obviously graffiti comes to mind as well... Art and resistance are so intertwined...
Much of my people's history, Filipinos, much like many other overlooked conqured cultures and nationalities, are often misinterpreted or is wrongly told. It has a lot to with the polarising debate of whether what imperialists did before were justifiable or not. Because of this, there have been many forms and expressions of resistance among Filipino people throughoght centuries. You can even categorise them based on the three plus one disctinct occupations during our history: the Spanish colonisation, the American turnover, the Japanese takeover, and the neo-liberal Chinese imperialism. The pushback against the Spanish before was obvious. Magellan was both despised and loved by different chieftains in the Cebu tribes back in the 1500s. Skip to centuries later, the Spanish priests ironically committed some of the most henous crimes against humanity during the Spanish occupation. Some of the most famous examples of resistance against the Spanish rule are the works of Jose Rizal, author of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, co-editor of La Solidaridad --- a newspaper designed to expose the horrors of the Spanish oppressors to the Spanish citizens, Juan Luna, creator of award-winning painting Spoliarium, and Andres Bonifacio and his rebellion group that created various flags that explicitly expressed the Filipino people's exhaustion from the oppressive Spanish rule. Even in during such a period of social disaray, the Filipino people were still split between political ideas: one camp pushed for full colonisation, which should allow Filipinos be colonies of the Spanish kingdom, becoming virtually equal citizens to those who are real citizens of Spain and the other camp fought for complete autonomy from the Spanish and granting us to be our own country. It is shown in the works of Jose Rizal that even though he hated the Spanish friars to the bone, he still had a soft spot for letting the Philippines become a colony of Spain. It was clear in Rizal's comfortable lifestyle that he was okay with the colonisers claiming his country. However Bonifacio's camp fought hard against Spanish occupation. Andres Bonifacio, however, was later killed upon the orders of his political rival Emilio Aguinaldo. Fast forward after the Treaty of Paris in 1898, which is the sole reason for the fake declaration of the independence of the Philippines. This was is the first depiciton of faux indepence of Filipinos from tyranical rule. Unfortunately, the Treaty wasn't so much a handing of Philippine indipendene more of handing over Philippinine indepence to the Americans. Many things happened during the Philippine-American war. Emilio Aguinaldo, now the first president of the Philippnes, later orders the muder of General Antonio Luna, a rising star of the Philippine army that could have been the new figurehead of the rebellion against foreign occupation over the Philippines. This muddled the efforts of true rebels against colonialists even further. Mixed in with the American's Benevolent Assimilation, you've got yourself half a century's worth of pro-American revolutionists. This is what fuels neo-libral ideologists in today's Philippines. After the Philippine-American War in 1902, we just sort of accepted American living as a the standard of living. Resistance ceased to exist. When we get to World War II, the Americans abandoned the Filipinos in their fight against the Japanese takeover. Filipinos were left to defend themselves against the Japanese's colonnial Spain-like rule, which was in stark contrast from the American's Benevolent Assimilation. This difference in imperialism approach of the Japanese was clear indication that Filipinos didn't want them here at all. Guerillia armies were formed in retalliation. These guerrilla groups mostly took to the mountains and resisted all forms of foreign rule in the Philippines. The Filipinos made a significant dent in their fight against the Japanese. Soon after the messiah-like return of General Douglas McArthur, the Americans "won" their fight "for" the Filipinos even though much of the Japanese involvement in the Philippines was their fault. Anyway, World War II ended and the Allies forces won. Truth be told, the Americans never left the Philippines. Their presence is very much so felt to this day. Their phlosophies, ideals, culture, language, mannerism, and beliefs were all passed down to us. Even in global politics, the Americans were greatly influenced by our government. One notable instance is during People Power Revolution, sparked a fear of a socialist takeover in Ronald Regan. Regan allowed Ferdinand Marcos to escape fiasco and take refuge Hawaii. The Philippine government's tendency of relying on foreign and international governments and agencies seems to be a habit that most administrations cannot shake off. Currently, the Philippine government is at it again with looking for aide from the World Bank (just like what Marcos did), Japan, and most importantly siding with China. Various political groups and organisations have been active due to different governments' incompetence in protecting and helping the Filipino people. No time is more apparent than now that shows the explicit pushback against the current administration. Resstance now is needed now more than ever.
Thank you!!! I have been writing curriculum for highschool art history that focuses on resistance and the lies about colonization told through art. We really need more art history which focuses on this topic. If anyone has any art history reads which don't focus on white washed BS please let me know!
Resistance to me in this century is keep going, keep fighting for dreams, not caring and going against the status quo. For me personally, to follow my passion for art, as a conservation student born and grow up in Venezuela but living in Germany due to the crisis. I m just waiting for the moment to finish my degree and come back to Latin America to try to keep culture and good values alive. Your Chanel is so inspiring, keep going!
The thing about artful resistance, unlike some other topics that art tackles, is that it can be subliminal, and hidden in plain sight among the normal, everyday world, and even among "normal" art. Counterculture and street art come into focus, here; Banksy planting a blow-up Guantanamo prisoner doll in Disneyland, the hundreds of artist tags that find their way scrawled in neon on train cars, planting playing cards scribbled with messages in invisible ink throughout a college campus. Whether one is famous, infamous, or unknown to the public, they can create and distribute art at their own behest to try and get a message across, or support a cause. Sometimes this results in puzzles, and multinational treasure hunts. Other times it means art installations, and overnight projects that are met with a knowing smirk and a nod when seen in the light of day. Art is made of mysteries, when it wants to be, and that's beautiful.
I saw the Guerrilha Girls one on the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) this weekend! I thought it was made only for our museum. Nice that it was something global!
Great episode. I love how you brought this up. Resistance being a very subjective thing to approach. I would personally approach it in a really mute way. At least not in a way that people could understand easily...
I don't know her name but I love the presenter ! She is so smart and well spoken yet really easy to understand. Her voice is also very soothing. It's very pleasant to listen to her and really makes this channel even more interesting.
I'm more of a writer myself and Shelley's Mask of Anarchy is the quintessential poem about resistance. As for overarching themes, I am drawn to depictions of death and loss. Of fighting oppression, not because you win, but because it's the right thing to do. So Goya's 3rd of May 1808 or even photographs like Tank Man are images I gravitate towards. As for resistance within the art, I like the quiet, hidden kind. The faces of "undesireds" in the crowd, the hidden daggers, ...
Resistance in folk music comes to mind - it's easily distributable and memorable, and provides a way for concepts like solidarity and important events to be memorable One of my favorite songs about resistance is "Nina Cried Power " by Hozier
Check out the "Soplarium" by Juan Luna of the Philippines. The monumental painting of slain Roman gladiators being dragged to the holding pits of the dead, which garnered several awards for Luna in the 1880s to the 1890s. This painting is not just believed as a reflection of the brutality of the Spanish colonialists in the Philippines, but as proof that an indio (Philippine native) is equal or better than a Spaniard.
Resistance to me is when i wear beaded earings , ribbon skirts and dodo scarf out in public .Ive notice that most native youth are mimicking the fashiond of our grand parents . My analyses of this is because our parents and parent couldnt do this , even when I was kid i couldnt tell anybody I went to ceremonies. So being proud and outfront about being indigenous is act of rebellion against colonisme .💜💜🌲💜💜
This video made me think about resistance in a broader way. On a day to day basis I resist exclusion, stereotyping, and discrimination as a disabled person, yet I’m actively engaging in the structures that can do these things in the hopes of improving things for myself and others. What would art about this kind of everyday resistance look like, when there is no singular bad guy, but a system? Definitely got me wondering.
musically, a piece im in the process of learning and preparing is the Mauthausen song cycle, composed by Mikis Theodorakis with the poetry of his friend Iakovos Kambanellis. Kambanellis was a greek jew -- nazi occupation of greece was among the most brutal and thessalonki's once large greek speaking jewish population was almost entirely eradicated -- put in the Mauthausen concentration camp. he was also a famous playwright, novelist, lyricist, etc and considered the father of modern greek theater. the cycle is a set of four songs, written with the stylistic tropes of greek folk music for a modified orchestra and mezzosoprano. it was also translated into hebrew and performed as such. the poems were written on his time in the concentration camp and are absolutely harrowing.
You know that was on my list and I wanted to talk about them, but the more I thought about it the more Mexican muralism seemed like nation building, solidifying power rather than questioning it. Very important work, but didn’t feel like the right fit. Would love to hear a counter argument.
@@theartassignment ye I suppose you're right. I guess you could say the same thing about a lot of social realism aswell :) thanks for the answer. I'm really intrested in the politics behind art so I hope to see more videos like this one!
"Everyone who has a body experiences Resistance.” ― The War of Art, Steven Pressfield, “Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.” ― The Art of War, Sun Tzu
Pressfield has a very precise definition of Resistance tho. Resistance is the force keeping an artist from doing what they love, often time expressed in procrastination. Nice quote but it's off topic.
One of the most important moments in history is the resistance of Vietnam war by artists. So much so was their resistance that it played a significant role in ending the war but not much credit is given to this fact.
In Portugal, carnations are a symbol of resistence; mostly because of the 25th of April revolution. Music and art (mostly zeca afonso, a singer, comes to mind) were the most active forms of resistence during the nearly 50 years of fascist regime. The symbols used by the military to signal the beginning of the uprising were two songs, played on the radio at specific times. Writing and poetry was also a way many people showed their disdain and rejection of Salazar’s regime; poets such as Sophia de Mello Breyner are a good example of this. We are taught in school that most of our media were censored(?), so clandestine journalism comes to mind, with hidden messages printed out in seemingly innocuous newspaper articles (i mostly heard of this, and can only find actual examples in the metaphors in sings and poems).
que interessante! no Brasil, durante a ditadura, um jeito de mostrar a censura em jornais era imprimindo receitas nos espaços onde as notícias estariam
I'm a musician, and great example of resistance to me is represented by jazz throughout the 20th century. Blues is inextricably tied to slavery and racial oppression that African Americans were subject to for centuries, which is where the New Orleans jazz, along with heavy African and moderate European influence, got its roots from. Charles Mingus with his heavily politicized songs (most notably Fables of Faubus), the common divide in popularity between hot/sweet big bands, bebop/cool jazz (see www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-genres/cool-jazz-explained/), and many others.
Would have been nice to see Depression, Factory, Slum, Glamour, Rich and Famous, Fashion, Gallery, etc Class Art...it's all around us! Who gets to do art? Who consumes it? Who ends up on the assembly line...or even battlefield!
this is probably going to be lost in the comments but it would improve the quality of this and a few other Art Assignment videos if you applied a simple De-Esser audio filter which is included in most major editing softwares. The S's in this video are super harsh on the ear.
When you wish to change the world, want to scream for justice, see the fingers of oppression closing around you, yet only know how whisper... Create. When they burn; Mix the ashes into paint. When they cut; Make ink of your blood. When they kill; Paint with your tears. We artist live to carry the narrative forward, remembering always the past.
In the manga Ikigami mangarock.com/manga/mrs-serie-114471 there is an episode where a young graffiti writer protests the gov't rules with a powerful image on a wall (Vol.5 Episode 9: A Tagged Soul, you can read it on the link I've pasted). Also, in the same story, another writer has started working for the state, his art becomes quite muted, anyway his point of view isn't belittled. Finally, I'd like to add that this is one of the few mangas that doesn't rely on fanservice to portray a story.
My art is an expressed resistanced against the hijacking by racists/fascist and the overall biker aestheticization of ancient Scandinavian cultural artefacts. I strive towards making ancient modern reimagenings of how the ancient people of scandinavia would have made their art had they lived today. Mixing the ancient mytho-aesthetics with contemporary form. All a statement for what could have been.
My favorite bit is that when nazis occupied France, they installed rationing on fabrics for cloths. But hats weren't listed as clothes - so French women started a fashion of absurdly elaborate hats as an act of both defiance and of sabotage.
This is a great presentation. The only issue that I have with it is that there is no reference to the Palestinian suffering and resistance for the past 74 years at the hand of the Jewish State, Israel, which came to existence as the result of the persecution of Jews in the Western World. There is enough art about the resistance of the Palestinian people against discrimination and oppression. It is disappointing that there was no mention of the longest occupation in the recent history and the work that landed their performers in prisons even graves.
I’d like to see a series on comparing an art movement to the movement that came along to contrast is. Impressionism vs post Impressionism. To be fair I like what your already doing.... Thanks.
"Let's go children of Fatherland The glory has arrived Against us, from tyranny The bloody flag is risen The bloody flag is risen Can your hear in our countryside Yelling those fierces soldiers They come into your arms Slay your sons and your daughters Take the weapons citizens! Form your battalions! Let's march, let's march May an impure blood Water our fields! " (and that one is among the less violent parts of the anthem)
It's a revolutionary song after all x) I can advise you to listen to the Chant des partisans, a song of the french Résistance during the occupation ua-cam.com/video/sUZWlf_vuKg/v-deo.html
It is interesting to see an artist who has created the first ever Anti-Slavery monument in U.S. history. The project as stated on its website reads " N.Y> Times article - "There are no anti-slavery monuments, specifically addressing and being against slavery anywhere in the U.S." Why? Denial, to painful to actually consider. Als the Guardian wrote about the project "A monument to inclusion, based on the unacknowledged need of human rights in the U.S. and globally. So it is what is not acknowledged or see, yet created to fill the frightening denial and void of human rights within the U.S. and world. the website for the project is - antislaverymonument.org
Using clothing as resistance is another branch of this. In contemporary Ireland, the REPEAL jumpers are iconic, but an example I'm particularly fond of is people wearing balaclavas to marches for housing rights at a time when homelessness is an exploding problem in Dublin. I've never seen it discussed in the news the way REPEAL jumpers were, and i don't think it would make much sense to someone who wasn't familiar with Ireland. There is a resurgence in Irish left wing nationalism, and romanticizing the IRA. Balaclavas are emblematic of resistance and the fight for independence, and they're a really powerful image. When the police wore balaclavas to an eviction last year, it sparked marches and sit-ins. I've seen graduate art shows featuring them, and they pop up in memes and online, but I still haven't seen a decent discussion about them and most people I know are too nervous to discuss it for fear of starting a fight. I was given an organic, ethically made balaclava for my birthday, and it's probably the best physical representation of what it means to be a 20-something lefty in Ireland. I would never wear it out, but it's hanging on my wall. I can't wait to read a academic discussion of them in the future
Resistance in fashion is super interesting to consider widely, and thanks for bringing this up here. Can think of loads of other examples worldwide, and would love to hear how and where others see resistance in fashion.
So many layers to this. Thanks for bringing this example to the forground. I also think about the way people use clothing to make themselves invisible (aka unnoticed) and "non-threatening" when needed. It's been more passive and semi-cowardly strategy for years!
@@theartassignment My first thought is Jae Jarrell's fashion designs in accordance with the Black Power movement in the US, but I'm sure there are so many others, as you said!
flblbl thankyou! =]
@@hopegold883 i'm talking about fashion in general ! and the two things are far from incompatible. as the saying goes "white girls copying white gays copying black girls"... the fashion complex rarely directly "rip" from people of color, rather they just reap what few select things have been selected and copied by white gay men, or rich QPOC... (to be clear they also copy purely white gay trends and stuff, it's just rare to find these days)
I'm a politics major and love the Art Assignment so, like, this video is MY FAVOURITE
Kenya Thompson This channel and its host are CULTURAL MARXISTS
SAME HERE KENYA. I am Indian and I did my Bachelors in Political Science
@@kikeheebchinkjigaboo6631 that term does not mean anything. literally. it is another alt right american term - hollow, all attack and no substance.
This channel is the art history class I've always wanted to attend. 💃🏽😄
mood
A long time ago, on a business trip to New York, I saw a group of kids spray painting graffiti on a wall. A cop shouts, "You kids stop right there."
All of them but one takes off. This kid was still spraying.
The cop says, "Hey kid put down the paint can, what, are ya stupid or something?"
The kid says , "Hold on, just let me finish this nose."
great story ....was it 'samo' ???...(basquiat, diaz)
@@bebop54 I don't know who they were. It was a long time ago (late 90's). They had dust masks and either hoodies or knit skull cap a.k.a. watch caps on.
@@equesdeventusoccasus OK ..more modern 'arteeests' ..lol
'samo'(diaz, basquiat ) would have been much earlier ....
very cute story ...thanks for sharin' ...
Ruins as the art of resistance is genius. I also think graffiti, the kind that gets you arrested, not the kinds they sell at Sothebys... and pu$$y hats, yellow vests, umbrellas...
Graffiti is such an important form of art
Say it again!
That part about Goya made me very emotional, it's so sad how the powers that be can make hell on earth and hide it from most people. Feels like their cries can't reach anywhere.
I hear you. The entire series is gut-wrenching. I didn't include the most disturbing images, even.
I saw a significant chunk of this series in person and it was absolutely sickening and horrifying to look at. I was almost bawling in the gallery. The ones shown in the video are the most tame and least violent in the series...
Sierra Tillman Contemporary Art is part of the on-going Holocaust of Beauty.
The art assignment are made up of Marxist Communists who want to replace Free Market with Socialism
Joe Rodriguez 🤣😂🤣
I like to observe music as it changes. It's interesting to see a resurgence of funk as political culture is beginning to mirror the 70s again.
Tayderp This channel and its host are CULTURAL MARXISTS
@@kikeheebchinkjigaboo6631 crawl back to your lobster daddy with your nonsensical terms and warped ideology.
4/10, made me reply
I agree! Funk is coming back!
I work in student politics (my role is VP Advocacy, so VP Resistance wouldn't be far off), and often experience this tension between being loud or subdued. I'm certainly still learning, but from my view prefigurative activism is the most effective--showing folks what a better future would look like, which may be more explicit like a direct action (like a march) or more subdued like letter-writing or boycotting. All are impactful, but the most powerful are those that make folks think and reconsider and imagine. That's where art comes in. Agh, loved this episode!
Love that you mentioned the Ingapirka ruins, not many people know it's history and tend to clutter everything together. And guess what? I'm writing about resistance in photography so wonderful timing. Never had the change to thank you for featuring my art work twice in the Art Assignment videos from a couple years ago. Hope you read this and greetings from Quito, Ecuador.
Hello, Joshua! Great to "see" you here in the comments. Resistance in photography is a rich topic--plenty to write about there! Best of luck.
The other day I was talking to a friend (who is also a TAA fan) about how one of the reasons we love this channel so much is that you don't shy away from having an open point of view. Too often, especially online and especially for women, there's this expectation to be neutral, which is obviously unnatainable, since being a woman and interacting with the world is political by itself. Of course it's good to be polite and considerate of others' pov, but with the way the world is currently, it's naive to expect a fake, "both sides are right" neutrality (we call this "isentão" around here) from anyone, let alone people who work in education, arts, and stuff like that. So anyway, TL;DR: this channel is great and I'm glad you don't shy away from expressing important stuff when we need it.
Lol. I thought I was being neutral! ;)
@@theartassignment neutral as in balanced, sure, just not neutral as in not having a specific POV (which is kinda impossible, I guess). But not just this video, I mean all the gender/political content :)
As a general rule art is about being open, empathy is the most important tool an artist has.
@@lorenabpv I am in love with your comment, but also saddened by its reality. You're right. Being a woman interacting with this world is in itself political. No way around it.
She seemed neutral to me. By definition, resistance will be the voice of the oppressed. But it didn’t really sound like she was taking on the voices of the artists.
When people are neutral, it’s easy for the viewer to see their own viewpoint being expressed.
I just got inspired big time to make a painting! I’ve been in an art slump since classes have ended.
get back to work & pick up that brush !.....lol ....
I remember learning about a Yuan Dynasty painting of the artist’s friend’s hometown. This friend, like many literati, wasn’t able to leave wherever he was now living to return to his hometown and family. So the artist, who was allowed to travel for the government (I forget why), stopped at his friend’s hometown and painted a landscape painting with the hills and trees and houses his friend longed to see again. The painting was an act of kindness, but also one of resistance. Resistance to the Mongols who had conquered China, who were preventing people who had been important to the previous dynasty from traveling. But who were also using Chinese painters to establish their legitimacy. Sometimes resistance is an act of kindness.
Never been an "art person" but continue to appreciate these videos. Thank you.
i tend to think we all are art people to a certain extent, just cos art has such a board definition and is so rooted in human culture
Resistance a poem by a random person on the internet.
My resistance, is against my self, in striving for improvement.
To walk for today, into tomorrow, without boredom.
But to sharpen, one's self, against life's path.
Let's all fail brilliantly, so we may light up our next path.
To resist, the temptation, of simple pleasures.
Big Fan of Smarthistory!! Big Fan of The Art Assignment!! Also the work Custer's War reminds of the Bayeux Tapestry.
This was my exact thought! Just finished my first Art History course and all I could think about was how similar those two works are!
So many great things to talk about, but architecture as resistance has really caught my attention! Especially because it is unusual and so very difficult to do: if you’re not in ‘power’ its tough to get the money, the means, and especially the time (construction is rather conspicuous) to build something. Re-inhabiting a ruined or otherwise forbidden building is probably the most common, but there’s also hidden re-purposing (such as the third floor church) or dualistic building. The latter especially fascinates me, using careful architectural forms and spatial language that can be understood and meaningful to those resisting and be otherwise invisible to others. It’s not something that I’ve investigated much, but after watching this I want and plan to. :) Another great and thought provoking episode, thank you!
This reminds me of a favourite painting, which I revisited online just a few days ago. ‘The Battle’ by Australian artist John Brack depicts the Battle of Waterloo, but all the soldiers are pencils. I remember reading when I saw the painting that Brack was interested in the way that describing a war became more real to non-soldiers when it was illustrated to them using everyday objects; until people had a scene played out physically with a level of abstraction (salt shakers, pens, pencils, cards, etc.), the reality remained abstract. I think it’s more powerful to me than other artworks about war because of the use of familiar, personal items, and seeing the painting in real life stopped me in my tracks. This quote talking about the painting touches on it:
“Occupying Brack for over three years, the theme of the 'battle' was inspired primarily by the artist's own experiences as an artillery officer during the war, from which he had concluded that it was impossible to render a battle convincingly in art. 'One could either paint a single event very close up, like an exploding shell blowing people into horrible mutilated fragments, or alternatively paint a very general view where the reality of the battle would be totally lost. When he was in Europe and saw at first hand some of the famous battle paintings, he felt these observations were confirmed... Besides the challenge which this theme presented in terms of its formal language, it was also a culmination of many of Brack's conceptual concerns in his pencil series. It implied an ironic perception of history and a comment on the futility of military campaigns.” www.deutscherandhackett.com/auction/16-important-australian-international-fine-art/lot/battle-1981
I, as a black human, perceive my resistance to be the persistence of doing what i feel brings me, and those who share my identity and universal goals, the most joy and love despite what the structures of white, capitalist, patriarchal, hegemony dictates as ought to be best for me.
+
Fantastic video! Love your commentary.
It’s wonderful that art can often put us into the contemporary feelings of different people at the time.
Edit: also, Francisco Goya’s famous “The Third of May 1808” is such a visual message on the senseless of violence.
This made me think of the art in protest signs. I often go to protests and my artist friends make signs that are often photographed and registered and become, in a way, part of the narrative about the protest. Also thought of the way people often paint their faces and bodies in protests. Obviously graffiti comes to mind as well... Art and resistance are so intertwined...
Much of my people's history, Filipinos, much like many other overlooked conqured cultures and nationalities, are often misinterpreted or is wrongly told. It has a lot to with the polarising debate of whether what imperialists did before were justifiable or not. Because of this, there have been many forms and expressions of resistance among Filipino people throughoght centuries. You can even categorise them based on the three plus one disctinct occupations during our history: the Spanish colonisation, the American turnover, the Japanese takeover, and the neo-liberal Chinese imperialism.
The pushback against the Spanish before was obvious. Magellan was both despised and loved by different chieftains in the Cebu tribes back in the 1500s. Skip to centuries later, the Spanish priests ironically committed some of the most henous crimes against humanity during the Spanish occupation. Some of the most famous examples of resistance against the Spanish rule are the works of Jose Rizal, author of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, co-editor of La Solidaridad --- a newspaper designed to expose the horrors of the Spanish oppressors to the Spanish citizens, Juan Luna, creator of award-winning painting Spoliarium, and Andres Bonifacio and his rebellion group that created various flags that explicitly expressed the Filipino people's exhaustion from the oppressive Spanish rule. Even in during such a period of social disaray, the Filipino people were still split between political ideas: one camp pushed for full colonisation, which should allow Filipinos be colonies of the Spanish kingdom, becoming virtually equal citizens to those who are real citizens of Spain and the other camp fought for complete autonomy from the Spanish and granting us to be our own country. It is shown in the works of Jose Rizal that even though he hated the Spanish friars to the bone, he still had a soft spot for letting the Philippines become a colony of Spain. It was clear in Rizal's comfortable lifestyle that he was okay with the colonisers claiming his country. However Bonifacio's camp fought hard against Spanish occupation. Andres Bonifacio, however, was later killed upon the orders of his political rival Emilio Aguinaldo.
Fast forward after the Treaty of Paris in 1898, which is the sole reason for the fake declaration of the independence of the Philippines. This was is the first depiciton of faux indepence of Filipinos from tyranical rule. Unfortunately, the Treaty wasn't so much a handing of Philippine indipendene more of handing over Philippinine indepence to the Americans. Many things happened during the Philippine-American war. Emilio Aguinaldo, now the first president of the Philippnes, later orders the muder of General Antonio Luna, a rising star of the Philippine army that could have been the new figurehead of the rebellion against foreign occupation over the Philippines. This muddled the efforts of true rebels against colonialists even further. Mixed in with the American's Benevolent Assimilation, you've got yourself half a century's worth of pro-American revolutionists. This is what fuels neo-libral ideologists in today's Philippines. After the Philippine-American War in 1902, we just sort of accepted American living as a the standard of living. Resistance ceased to exist.
When we get to World War II, the Americans abandoned the Filipinos in their fight against the Japanese takeover. Filipinos were left to defend themselves against the Japanese's colonnial Spain-like rule, which was in stark contrast from the American's Benevolent Assimilation. This difference in imperialism approach of the Japanese was clear indication that Filipinos didn't want them here at all. Guerillia armies were formed in retalliation. These guerrilla groups mostly took to the mountains and resisted all forms of foreign rule in the Philippines. The Filipinos made a significant dent in their fight against the Japanese. Soon after the messiah-like return of General Douglas McArthur, the Americans "won" their fight "for" the Filipinos even though much of the Japanese involvement in the Philippines was their fault. Anyway, World War II ended and the Allies forces won.
Truth be told, the Americans never left the Philippines. Their presence is very much so felt to this day. Their phlosophies, ideals, culture, language, mannerism, and beliefs were all passed down to us. Even in global politics, the Americans were greatly influenced by our government. One notable instance is during People Power Revolution, sparked a fear of a socialist takeover in Ronald Regan. Regan allowed Ferdinand Marcos to escape fiasco and take refuge Hawaii. The Philippine government's tendency of relying on foreign and international governments and agencies seems to be a habit that most administrations cannot shake off. Currently, the Philippine government is at it again with looking for aide from the World Bank (just like what Marcos did), Japan, and most importantly siding with China. Various political groups and organisations have been active due to different governments' incompetence in protecting and helping the Filipino people. No time is more apparent than now that shows the explicit pushback against the current administration. Resstance now is needed now more than ever.
Thank you!!! I have been writing curriculum for highschool art history that focuses on resistance and the lies about colonization told through art. We really need more art history which focuses on this topic. If anyone has any art history reads which don't focus on white washed BS please let me know!
Leo Clark what would you suggest?
Thanks for talking about The Lady Liberty painting, that’s literally my entire Test for Art.
Resistance to me in this century is keep going, keep fighting for dreams, not caring and going against the status quo. For me personally, to follow my passion for art, as a conservation student born and grow up in Venezuela but living in Germany due to the crisis. I m just waiting for the moment to finish my degree and come back to Latin America to try to keep culture and good values alive. Your Chanel is so inspiring, keep going!
The thing about artful resistance, unlike some other topics that art tackles, is that it can be subliminal, and hidden in plain sight among the normal, everyday world, and even among "normal" art. Counterculture and street art come into focus, here; Banksy planting a blow-up Guantanamo prisoner doll in Disneyland, the hundreds of artist tags that find their way scrawled in neon on train cars, planting playing cards scribbled with messages in invisible ink throughout a college campus. Whether one is famous, infamous, or unknown to the public, they can create and distribute art at their own behest to try and get a message across, or support a cause. Sometimes this results in puzzles, and multinational treasure hunts. Other times it means art installations, and overnight projects that are met with a knowing smirk and a nod when seen in the light of day. Art is made of mysteries, when it wants to be, and that's beautiful.
FYI the Paris one has "Mummy Brown" in it. Literally painted with the dead. Just thought I'd share that for thought. Excellent video.
I saw the Guerrilha Girls one on the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) this weekend! I thought it was made only for our museum. Nice that it was something global!
Oi Dora :)
Great episode. I love how you brought this up. Resistance being a very subjective thing to approach. I would personally approach it in a really mute way. At least not in a way that people could understand easily...
I don't know her name but I love the presenter ! She is so smart and well spoken yet really easy to understand. Her voice is also very soothing. It's very pleasant to listen to her and really makes this channel even more interesting.
Her name is Sarah Green.
I'm more of a writer myself and Shelley's Mask of Anarchy is the quintessential poem about resistance.
As for overarching themes, I am drawn to depictions of death and loss. Of fighting oppression, not because you win, but because it's the right thing to do. So Goya's 3rd of May 1808 or even photographs like Tank Man are images I gravitate towards.
As for resistance within the art, I like the quiet, hidden kind. The faces of "undesireds" in the crowd, the hidden daggers, ...
People who say "history is written by the victors" never heard of Hatshepsut
This is amazing. Sara+Smarthistory= great content!
Resistance in folk music comes to mind - it's easily distributable and memorable, and provides a way for concepts like solidarity and important events to be memorable
One of my favorite songs about resistance is "Nina Cried Power " by Hozier
Check out the "Soplarium" by Juan Luna of the Philippines. The monumental painting of slain Roman gladiators being dragged to the holding pits of the dead, which garnered several awards for Luna in the 1880s to the 1890s. This painting is not just believed as a reflection of the brutality of the Spanish colonialists in the Philippines, but as proof that an indio (Philippine native) is equal or better than a Spaniard.
a good way to study and meditate upon history's unfolding drama ... fiction often illuminates truth more accurately than the revelation of facts
Preach! Cannot believe your poignant comment had no likes.
U the best art history teacher ever
This deserves all the views!
Resistance to me is when i wear beaded earings , ribbon skirts and dodo scarf out in public .Ive notice that most native youth are mimicking the fashiond of our grand parents . My analyses of this is because our parents and parent couldnt do this , even when I was kid i couldnt tell anybody I went to ceremonies. So being proud and outfront about being indigenous is act of rebellion against colonisme .💜💜🌲💜💜
This video made me think about resistance in a broader way. On a day to day basis I resist exclusion, stereotyping, and discrimination as a disabled person, yet I’m actively engaging in the structures that can do these things in the hopes of improving things for myself and others. What would art about this kind of everyday resistance look like, when there is no singular bad guy, but a system? Definitely got me wondering.
musically, a piece im in the process of learning and preparing is the Mauthausen song cycle, composed by Mikis Theodorakis with the poetry of his friend Iakovos Kambanellis. Kambanellis was a greek jew -- nazi occupation of greece was among the most brutal and thessalonki's once large greek speaking jewish population was almost entirely eradicated -- put in the Mauthausen concentration camp. he was also a famous playwright, novelist, lyricist, etc and considered the father of modern greek theater. the cycle is a set of four songs, written with the stylistic tropes of greek folk music for a modified orchestra and mezzosoprano. it was also translated into hebrew and performed as such. the poems were written on his time in the concentration camp and are absolutely harrowing.
You are such a good communicator. Your videos always keep my attention to the end.
Thank you for this informative video.
♪ Do you hear the people sing
Singing a song of angry men
It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again ♪
*the ultimate resistance*
I had that song in my head THE WHOLE TIME I WAS WORKING ON THIS ONE
My dyslexic ass read “What does renaissance look like?”
I love it it makes my mind thinking deeper things 😍
Your choice of pieces is phenomenal, I love this video!
I can never watch a video from The Art Assignment and NOT click the like button
Can you do an episode on sticker Art.
Who/what are your favorites? Always glad when names, articles, info are shared.
Yes, please!
I've started noticing more and more sticker art in my city.
Great video! I would've loved to see social realism mentioned, or Mexican murals.
maybe another video on that?
You know that was on my list and I wanted to talk about them, but the more I thought about it the more Mexican muralism seemed like nation building, solidifying power rather than questioning it. Very important work, but didn’t feel like the right fit. Would love to hear a counter argument.
@@theartassignment ye I suppose you're right. I guess you could say the same thing about a lot of social realism aswell :) thanks for the answer. I'm really intrested in the politics behind art so I hope to see more videos like this one!
@@pollie1342 thank you for watching and contributing so thoughtfully!
I'm in love with the host of these videos....
Outstanding video, loved your perspective on resistance art!
"Everyone who has a body experiences Resistance.”
― The War of Art, Steven Pressfield,
“Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.”
― The Art of War, Sun Tzu
Pressfield has a very precise definition of Resistance tho. Resistance is the force keeping an artist from doing what they love, often time expressed in procrastination. Nice quote but it's off topic.
One of the most important moments in history is the resistance of Vietnam war by artists. So much so was their resistance that it played a significant role in ending the war but not much credit is given to this fact.
What were the other videos in this series?
Thank you for this awesome video!!!
This is a great video, and a great series!!
In Portugal, carnations are a symbol of resistence; mostly because of the 25th of April revolution. Music and art (mostly zeca afonso, a singer, comes to mind) were the most active forms of resistence during the nearly 50 years of fascist regime. The symbols used by the military to signal the beginning of the uprising were two songs, played on the radio at specific times. Writing and poetry was also a way many people showed their disdain and rejection of Salazar’s regime; poets such as Sophia de Mello Breyner are a good example of this. We are taught in school that most of our media were censored(?), so clandestine journalism comes to mind, with hidden messages printed out in seemingly innocuous newspaper articles (i mostly heard of this, and can only find actual examples in the metaphors in sings and poems).
que interessante! no Brasil, durante a ditadura, um jeito de mostrar a censura em jornais era imprimindo receitas nos espaços onde as notícias estariam
Can you also discuss about art in the Philippines?... If it's possible
What is your specific interest in the Philippines? :-)
@@Snowshowslow Paintings made by Juan Luna and Félix Resurrección Hidalgo... They're pretty 🔥
@@armalvior Nice, I will look into that. I don't believe I have ever consciously seen art from the Philippines before. Thanks for the tip :-)
@@Snowshowslow Sure thing! Try to check out one of Juan Luna's popular painting... Spoliarium. 😉
Damn I love this channel ! Such a inspiration to me ❤️
Thanks for these consistently smart videos.
I like the blocky powerful resistance art of ricardo levins morales
I'm a musician, and great example of resistance to me is represented by jazz throughout the 20th century. Blues is inextricably tied to slavery and racial oppression that African Americans were subject to for centuries, which is where the New Orleans jazz, along with heavy African and moderate European influence, got its roots from. Charles Mingus with his heavily politicized songs (most notably Fables of Faubus), the common divide in popularity between hot/sweet big bands, bebop/cool jazz (see www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-genres/cool-jazz-explained/), and many others.
Would have been nice to see Depression, Factory, Slum, Glamour, Rich and Famous, Fashion, Gallery, etc Class Art...it's all around us! Who gets to do art? Who consumes it? Who ends up on the assembly line...or even battlefield!
this is probably going to be lost in the comments but it would improve the quality of this and a few other Art Assignment videos if you applied a simple De-Esser audio filter which is included in most major editing softwares. The S's in this video are super harsh on the ear.
The French painting was painted with dead bodies. Not kidding. "Mummy Brown " made literally from ground up mummies. Pretty appropriate actually.
I would love to hear your thoughts on art created by A.I., especially the work of Ai-da
I don't want my art necessarily political, but I can understand why it's necessary in art as a whole...
brilliantly put
i am among those annoying people who love going on about how everything is political, but i see where you are coming from, for sure
When you wish to change the world, want to scream for justice, see the fingers of oppression closing around you, yet only know how whisper...
Create.
When they burn;
Mix the ashes into paint.
When they cut;
Make ink of your blood.
When they kill;
Paint with your tears.
We artist live to carry the narrative forward, remembering always the past.
Excellent work!
amazing video
I Love the series! But the Sound could be better ( s-sound)
God i love this channel
In the manga Ikigami mangarock.com/manga/mrs-serie-114471 there is an episode where a young graffiti writer protests the gov't rules with a powerful image on a wall (Vol.5 Episode 9: A Tagged Soul, you can read it on the link I've pasted).
Also, in the same story, another writer has started working for the state, his art becomes quite muted, anyway his point of view isn't belittled.
Finally, I'd like to add that this is one of the few mangas that doesn't rely on fanservice to portray a story.
thanks for the awesome video mom.
Smart history is my bible! Haha
the first thing that comes to mind when i think of resistance is ai wei wei’s and liu xiaobo’s work
My art is an expressed resistanced against the hijacking by racists/fascist and the overall biker aestheticization of ancient Scandinavian cultural artefacts. I strive towards making ancient modern reimagenings of how the ancient people of scandinavia would have made their art had they lived today. Mixing the ancient mytho-aesthetics with contemporary form. All a statement for what could have been.
Another very interesting topic: resistance and print culture! From the pamphlets of the White Rose to feminist zines to political stickers.
Guenerica by Picasso
April 1 of this year marked the 80th anniversary of the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39).
Probably self-expression, but it should also be the addition of policy changes too.
Viva La Anarquia!
She should totally make "the case for digital art"
siquieros , orozco , rivera , goya , kentridge, botero, basquiat ....
My favorite bit is that when nazis occupied France, they installed rationing on fabrics for cloths. But hats weren't listed as clothes - so French women started a fashion of absurdly elaborate hats as an act of both defiance and of sabotage.
This is a great presentation. The only issue that I have with it is that there is no reference to the Palestinian suffering and resistance for the past 74 years at the hand of the Jewish State, Israel, which came to existence as the result of the persecution of Jews in the Western World. There is enough art about the resistance of the Palestinian people against discrimination and oppression. It is disappointing that there was no mention of the longest occupation in the recent history and the work that landed their performers in prisons even graves.
My resistance is simply playing like a child from time to time because I refuse to give up my freedom and joy for adulthood.
the audio EQ was kind of weird in this episode
How is it possible you did not mention even one of the Mexican muralists paintings? I resist to believe it
I keep forgetting that France had two revolutions.
Have you seen the movie The Square? What do you think about it?
Should form have a political responsibility to escape being just spectacular entertaining commodity?
I’d like to see a series on comparing an art movement to the movement that came along to contrast is. Impressionism vs post Impressionism.
To be fair I like what your already doing....
Thanks.
doubt is resistance. rejection is resistance.
Have you listened to the English translations of the French national anthem? It is very violent.
"Let's go children of Fatherland
The glory has arrived
Against us, from tyranny
The bloody flag is risen
The bloody flag is risen
Can your hear in our countryside
Yelling those fierces soldiers
They come into your arms
Slay your sons and your daughters
Take the weapons citizens!
Form your battalions!
Let's march, let's march
May an impure blood
Water our fields! " (and that one is among the less violent parts of the anthem)
It's a revolutionary song after all x)
I can advise you to listen to the Chant des partisans, a song of the french Résistance during the occupation
ua-cam.com/video/sUZWlf_vuKg/v-deo.html
why are all the works from the ap curriculum love it though
Resistance for me is courage to fight for your rights and ideals.
It looks like work. I show up and do my work to spite them and to prove them wrong.
Great video but I was hoping you were going to bring up more on resistance in nazi Germany :(
The ultranerd in me responds to this with: "resistance is futile."
It is interesting to see an artist who has created the first ever Anti-Slavery monument in U.S. history. The project as stated on its website reads " N.Y> Times article - "There are no anti-slavery monuments, specifically addressing and being against slavery anywhere in the U.S." Why? Denial, to painful to actually consider. Als the Guardian wrote about the project "A monument to inclusion, based on the unacknowledged need of human rights in the U.S. and globally. So it is what is not acknowledged or see, yet created to fill the frightening denial and void of human rights within the U.S. and world. the website for the project is - antislaverymonument.org