GLOCAL, HOLISTIC AND PERFORMATIVE EDUCATION
Co-authors Ph.D Emina Berbic Kolar and Ph.D Vesna Srnic have published scientific paper Glocal, Holistic and Performative Education which Dr Srnic virtually presented at the Oxford conference New Approaches in Education on 27 March 2020.
Click to access oxford_publication_berbic_kolar_srnic.pdf
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The portal Media-Via editor and NGO Culture, Media and Education president Ph.D Vesna Srnic published the scientific paper Glocal Multimedia Art as an Unbreakable Narrative at the American Journal of Arts&Humanities. https://www.theartsjournal.org/index.php/site/index
Vol 7, No 4 (2018)
Text in pdf:
Srnic: Journal of Arts and Humanities
The usual theory of health and illness unfortunately with its dominant linguistic power incorporated by discursive constructivism, is based equally on the national imagination and issues of „broken narrative“, which causes a broader ignorance of other integrative narratives, especially performative situational multimedia art.
There are no glocal multimedially orchestrated art narratives with ego-centrism and nationalism in their basis. Situational performativity of mixed glocal (global and local) reality in multimedia art, seems to the superficial observer like a mirror or „schizoid“ reality, but in actuality is the astonished multitasked „result“ of the primal, transpersonal, affective process of individuation and blossoming awareness, both of individuals and re-conceptualised society as a whole. Glocal Multimedia Art is our syntagm for a new holistic approach to experience. Thus, we orchestrate our own as well as a wider existence from the heart of nature, via affective primordial and cosmic connection. Therefore, we can talk about the phenomenon of authenticity of the World Sound/Image in a renewing creation of existence through glocal multimedia art and pure experience. A new philosophy for new media by Mark B. N. Hansen is very important in this area of research as a post-visual affectivity of digital art expressed in a transitional body technique of “framing function” in digital mode.
This work is a contribution to the process of anthropologization of technology through the inclusion of artistic multimedia narratives in healthy, innovative education at institutions and operationally in the wider social re-evaluated reality.
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Croatian prestigious publishing house “Jesenski and Turk” released the copyright collection of scientific papers “Glocal Multimedia Art“, written by Ph.D Vesna Srnic, Media-Via president. It is in the format of e–book, in English, since the majority of works were published in the American/Australian magazines.
The book was presented in Rovinj on 27th November, 2014 at the conference “Glocal” (Archives, libraries, museums akm), in collaboration with Ph. D. Mirna Willer.
A link to a free download e–book is:
http://www.jesenski-turk.hr/?active=knjiga&book=107634&lang=en
The reviewers of the book are Ph. D. Lino Veljak, a Professor at the Department of ontology at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, and Ph. D. Biserka Cvjeticanin, a senior scientist at the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), Zagreb, as well as a head of global networks for research and cooperation in cultural development Culturelink and member of the Scientific Council of UNESCO for Europe (2012th-2016th).
From the review:
Establishing a new virtual reality mediated by the multimedia technology undoubtedly deserves the highest level of attention to critical scholarship, and as part of the disclosure of this new reality of eternal question about the meaning and significance of artistic creation, takes on a new dimension, which imperatively requires a systematic critical approach. The author’s intention is aimed at contributing such an approach. (Ph. D. Lino Veljak)
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PhD. Vesna Srnic, “MULTITASKING ACTUALISATION IN MULTIMEDIA ART”, scientific work, published at The Interdisciplinary Journal of Multidisciplinary Thought, Volume 3, Number 3, December, 2013)
“In the long run, multitasking can, when used superficially, cause damage to memory and studying, and can even lead to weakened wisdom. The aim of this paper was to show all ways in which we can deepen our experience and find existential foothold in multitasking multimedia art, both technological and human. The key process in artistic multitasking is, as Sartre explained, a proactive existence of the body, and we add: by intensified experience through emotional cognition, disciplined calming of the mind and intensified attention.Although most researchers mention great stress and adrenaline release in intense situations of multitasking operations, we think the opposite: in multimedia artistic performances multitasking helps achieve a state of deep contemplation through which perceived existence can be adapted and recreated.” We are first to bring the papers in public:
“Multitasking is a notion taken from the computer technology area and refers to simultaneous execution of multiple tasks or processes, so we can differentiate between computer and human multitasking. Although in computer multitasking tasks are being executed one by one, its complex arrangement helps build the world of illusionary parallelism known as symmetric multiprocessing.
Human multitasking has been frequently criticized as a simultaneous execution of several commonplace activities such as making phone calls and driving a car, which most frequently leads to distraction and damage to short-term memory. However, this problem can be solved by repetition and practice, especially if the tasks are interesting and amusing. Scientists believe that such continuous attention is only partial and specific to multitasking and that such cognition is not deep enough. An example of the most popular and most commercial multitasking is media multitasking – simultaneous usage of the Internet and web, e-mail or electronic mail, television, telephone, radio, video games, CD player etc. Research has shown that not only younger generations are especially skilful at these activities, but older generations as well. Still, it has to be emphasized that distraction and the need to be informed have prevailed over the importance of studying.
However, this paper aims to introduce the notion of ‘multimedia art’ into the sphere of multitasking and to prove that multimedia art is a fertile ground for its application due to its exceptional capacity of orchestrated affective experience of artistic action, and that it is also very convenient for rooting the basic energy of existential support in authenticity and organic memory.”
SRNIC_MULTITASKING ACTUALISATION IN MULTIMEDIA ART (full text)
http://www.universitypublications.net/ijmt/index.html
http://www.universitypublications.net/index.html
https://media-via.net/2014/01/10/multitasking-actualisation-in-multimedia-art-at-ijmt/
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Ph.D Vesna Srnic, “ELECTRONIC MEDIA AND AESTHETICS IN POSTFEMINIST THEORY”, doctoral dissertation (defended in September, 2011)
Doctoral dissert
ation “Electronic Media and Aesthetics in Postfeminist theory” deals with contemporary themes and dynamic artistic use, aesthetic valuation and phenomenological impact of extended electronic media on human life in the period of postfeminism.
Thesis of dissertation is the result of analytical study of artistic mass electronic media (photography, film, TV, video, computers, Internet and multimedia): modern electronic media are not the subject to more classical aesthetic criteria, but to the concept of “value” and consequently how successfully the sexually undifferentiated affective grounds existence is brought i
nto these new media. This, according to us, is a quite new aesthetic, while following the aspect of affective encouragement of individualization and strengthening the integrity by the electronic media, where the special importance is seen in experimental film, video art and multimedia performances orchestrated in the period of the “third wave of feminism” or Postfeminism.
Researches have been based on the phenomenology and philosophy of existentialism, which we considered suitable for integral insights into the individual without gender differentiation, what we see contemporary Postfeminist theory.
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“Glocal Multimedia Art” at the Symposium Philosophy of Media (Cres, Croatia, 2011)
Glocal Multimedia Art/PhD Srnic.pdf
GLOCAL MULTIMEDIA ART
PhD Vesna Srnić
Sažetak:
Sinkronizacija „glokalizacije“ i „multimedijske umjetnosti“ isključuje negativne efekte globalizacije na jednoj strani i lokalnog nacionalizma na drugoj, kao i predominaciju tehnologije masovnih medija na ljudsku vrstu.
Izvorni „glokalni“ pristup egzistencijalno smjera udruživanju umjetničkih i znanstvenih iskustava. Masovni mediji (fotografija, film, strip, plakat, video umjetnost, televizija i internet) omogućavaju umjetničku maturaciju i individualizaciju, kao i socijalizaciju kroz digitalizirane, dakle oštre i prodorne povratne informacije.
Ukratko: Multimedijska umjetnost nije samo logički skup dokumenata ili multimedija s tehnološkog stajališta, nego sinergijska intenzifikacija ili orkestracija umjetničkog djela. Multimedijska umjetnost također intenzivira egzistencijalna uporišta kroz “Einfühlung” (uosjećanje, empatiju) i novo otkrivačko viđenje, tako da postajemo svjesniji osobne slobode i individualnosti.
Ključne riječi: glokalno, multimedija, umjetnost, performance
Key words: glocal, multimedia, art, performance
Introduction
Glocal Multimedia Art is our syntagm for a new holistic approach to experience. Although initially developed by the means of politics, transnationalism and business practices in 1990’s, the concept of „glocalisation“ later has also appeared in academic dialogue, education and media.
Thinking either globally or locally (glocally) at the same time, means not only to „think globally and act locally“, but vice versa as well. Global consciousness arose from sincere local (self) awareness for humanity and freedom. We have to be free for awareness as well. So, we need information, education and proactivity to create our own events and chances. To be at least semantically free, we need semantic network or social network for an online platform to act glocally.
Furthermore, in order to make an Art of something Glocally imagined, several skills are needed. First of all you need knowledge of IT and creative imagination on how to practice performing Arts, especially in multimedia synergy. You also need communication skills of a person basically humanistic or cosmopolite oriented, yet locally and globally are not mutually exclusive, rather they imply that you have self-awareness and self-confidence to be centered on „the big picture“.
To paraphrase a famous humanist PhD Ivan Supek, globalisation as a „global machine“ is preparing its own failure with greed and destruction of nature, thus encourages solitaries and dreamers on messiah campaign, but maybe it is only the United Europe which can confront the uncontrollable global capitalism.
On Multimedia Art
If we want to be glocally proactive, as we have stressed, we have to invent our skills of synthesising concepts and have a will to change by agile entrepreneurial learning of media and art, as well as socialising.
The Critics of Technological Multimedia
The lack of high artistic education in the world of compute science, does not excuse either intensified usage of computer in design (CAD) and film animation, or in virtual cyberspace. The artistic aspect in multimedia art is cognitively and sensitively created as a synchronicity (or synesthetics) of several media (image, music, text, speech and movement interpreted in space via media), and not only as logical document or work as it was meant in technological sense.
Multimedia Art as more than the Sum of Media (Gesamtkunstwerk)
The 19th century idea of “Gesamtkunstwerk” (Wagner) was the basis of “a total art work”, encompassing Art, Philosophy and Religion. Although it had been proclaimed as decadent, the idea was a certain movement in usual seeing, as it became “re-valued seeing” in the sense of a “new inventing perception” which develops our cognitive power and leads us to the “new perception of reality”. Speaking of perception, it is also known that Viktor Šklovski emphasized the importance of the “astonishment” (ostranenie veščej) and prolonged perception, also Laslo Moholy Nagy insisted on Empathy while he was working in the famous Bauhaus school, so he has used a phenomenological term “Einfühlung” to encourage new perceptional values.
Multimedia Performance
Multimedia Performance, as a special type of Multimedia Art is also known as Happening or artistic action in which a single person or a group, in a certain place and at a certain time, takes an action. In contrast to a theatre, a performer is an Artist, not just a character as an actor is, and the content of performance is rarely a traditional story or a plot. RoseLee Goldberg stresses in her book Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present , that performance can be a series of intimate gestures or much bigger visual theater, at duration from several minutes to several hours; also, it can be performed just once or repeated a few times with or without a previously written scenario, spontaneously improvised, or, on the contrary, it can be exercised several months.
Performance art as a term usually refers to a kind of avant-garde or conceptual art , or better to say of the visual arts. The fact, which is very interesting for our topic, is that performance uses a number of different (audio) visual media in combination, for example: kinesthetic installations, video walls, online art etc.
Cerebrum ” (1960`s) was such an example of Multimedia Art Performance: labyrinth or “sensory-stimulation” laboratory as a night club connected with an art gallery. Performance is also a variety of art specific for integrated individuals, and thus it becomes
helpful in the post feminist period as the human individuation process and an opponent to sexual discrimination (sexism). Croatian/British performers and video artists Breda Beban and Hrvoje Horvatic (RIP), were famous for their quite and meditative
awaitings in performances fulfilled with personality and mutual sensitiveness between a man and a woman. While he was using a sharp digital technology, Horvatic implemented that strenght in their video art works, thus in galleries the participants/audience’ affections had multiplied their affection, mutually.
The special importance of the performance aesthetics can be seen as the process of coming to consciousness while using multimedia, and we can call that phenomenon “existential supportings”. Thus technology is not just the medium or a “humanly extended arm” but it becomes also a medium for our spiritual transformations.
“Existential Supportings” as the Starting Point of the Multimedia Art
The text is directed at those mass media which are electronically and (audio) visually defined, such as: film, video art, television, computer graphics and the Internet, and that means that comics, journalism or radio are excluded. We claim the electronic media could not be the subject of classical aesthetic approach and its classical idea of beauty, because of relativising the idea in the art through the opposite idea of “aesthetic of ugliness”. In valorizing the modern and contemporary art, it seems more important to look for the idea of the “value”. Especially valuable is every effort to contribute the society, not only as the constructive work of art, but also as the avangard negation of useless forms and thoughts, which doesn’t mean in anarchistic way, but in a sense of bringing the deconstruction of the existing to a possible, new world. Immediacy and intuitivity of the “existential supportings” substance in the mass media art are, actually, artistic and scientific quality in the technical meanings of cybernetics or autocontrolled media available for the intensifying human integrity, the same both for men and women.
Thus alluding to the postfeminism, we have to say that although it’s not socially or politically organized as a movement (the way the feminism has been), it goes beyond the national characteristics of the left and right orientation, accomplishing a certain transnational, global or glocal attitude specific for the integrated individuals, regardless of sex differences.
The starting points of “existential supportings” in art can be religious, theological, philosophically-existentialist, aesthetic or even materialistic, but the method should be highly moral, even if with the process of destructing the old values, which impeded the development, we intend to realize any positive or new values. So, the ethical establishment is a foundation, even if a formative energy is intended to be renewed by the destruction of old values. Sincerity and transparency reflect through the artist’s intention and his/her realization of the work: thus intuitively incorporating the cognition in the work of art.
Social Space of Performance – Participating, Inspiring and Criticizing of the Audience
Performance as the art of performing an action weather of single person or a group has got a very important role in the society, because the element of interaction between artists and audience/participants is of great value for the art. That means we sometimes just can’t separate them from each other.
Performance Art: Laurie Anderson
The rich online information about famous performer artist Laurie Anderson can be found at her own web site and at Wikipedia: “Laurie Anderson is an American experimental performance artist and musician who plays the violin and keyboards and sings in a variety of experimental music and art rock styles.
Socializing within the American and the international music elites ( Peter Gabriel, Jean Michel Jarre, Brian Eno, Lou Reed ), her performances explore the huge impact the technology has on human relations and communication. In Anderson’s performance there is a synesthetic merge of music for the violin and electronic devices, talking duet (produced by talking-stick controller) and her specific sound. Talk-songs are particularly Laurie’s music vocation.
While using the language of dreams, Laurie emphasizes, she wants to explore visions and dreams. Almost disappearing among numerous technical devices, she becomes anonymous participant and medium of electronic instruments, thus amplification of sounds and personal appeasing are indicators of a contemporary technocratic age and a significant “anonymous collectivity”. We can find certain subversiveness in her early works, but later she has become politically stricter as a left oriented feminist artist, in order to achieve a better understanding of American reality.
During 1980’s her popularity as the pop music and performance artist was growing: a single “O Superman” as a part of the great project United States, was included in a later avangard album Big Science. “O Superman” was Laurie’s revolt against mass culture domination, and she did that including the art performance and technology (multimedia) into the commercial world. (http://www.laurieanderson.com/microsites/Big-Science )
Experiences from practice
„Glocal Multimedia Art: Urban Performance“ was initiated as my pilot project under UNESCO protection in 2010 as a year for Re-approchements of cultures, and aims at cultural integration of several cultural backgrounds in Europe and the world. My team achieved very important results: students were encouraged in independent research and creative response to (re)interpretation of Reality while practicing new approach to seeing, and the creative course served as an introduction into the process of Life Long (Entrepreneurial) Learning (LLEL).
The new 2011/2012 project „Glocal Multimedia Culture“ aims to establish an intensive intercultural communication and networking among students and their mentors in analysis of social and cultural context of everyday life. All activities will be designed in an original and inovative ways which re-actualise audio/visual modes of creative expression and communication as Glocal approach. The main aim of this project is to build and/or increase capacities of all participants in creative intercultural communication and to encourage the concept of life-long learning as a mode of adaptation to the constantly transforming cultural and social environment via online Community network at the specially designed web site: http://glocal-art.ning.com which will be created for that occasion as a part of culture, media and education portal Media-via (http://media-via.net ).
Thus „Glocal Multimedia Art: Urban Performance“ as a part of „Glocal Multimedia Culture“ is an action of re-inventing the Self and creating artistic individuation in postfeminist period, without gender discriminations, as well as encouraging the process of individuation and individualization in culture and ordinary life through Media Art or, better to say, it’s an action for the human right to be positively different, even to be subversive if necessary to change the surrounding to make it better place for living. The action will take place in Dubrovnik, Slavonski Brod, Osijek and Belgrade.
„Glocal Multimedia Art: Urban Performance“ is prepared for the university students to explore scientifically the topic on Transpersonal Individuation as universal, artistic re-inventing the Self, without gender discrimination, as well as to create and perform multimedia action/performance as improvisation grounded on (men and women) archetypes of maturation, mentored by M.A. Vesna Srnic, Multi/Media culture external associate, PhD. Divna Vuksanovic, philosophy and mediology professor and M.A. Vladimir Frelih, Academy of Arts professor. Finally we will make a film/video on the work process and the action of Urban performance under mentoring of a film director Zoran Sudar.
Students will conjugate synesthetic experiences via audio-visual media and intesively communicate on Social community http://glocal-art.ning.com , thus expressing cosmopolitan thinking on the human right to be positively different as a creative person, while locally acting in joint action, addressing local media on all phases of work in progress of Glocal Multimedia Art.
The project „Glocal Multimedia Culture“ will be realised completely in the area of New Media Culture section of Croatian Ministry of Culture, particulary by apostrophing performative artistic practices which we create by the means of contemporary Multi/Media Art.
Summary
Glocalisation and Multimedia Art synchronization exclude negative effects of globalisation on the one hand and extreme local nationalism on the other hand, as well as predominance of mass media technology on human race. The real glocal approach existentially aims to artistic and scientific experiences conjoined.
The Mass media (photography, comics, poster, radio, film, video-art, television and the internet) are very helpful to the artist: such media make special presentations possible (street or online performances), thus actualizing the next step in artistic development of maturing as artistic individualisation: social individualisation or socialisation through digitalized, bare, but penetrative feedback information.
Once more in a nutshell: Multimedia Art is not just logically created multimedia from a technological point of view, but a synergic intensification and orchestration of Art work. Multimedia Art also emphasises intensification of existential supportings through “Einfühlung” (Empathy) and specifically New Inventing Perception, so we become more aware of personal freedom and individuality.
There are not too many quality Multimedia Art works in the world, especially performances, due to their high costs, but we can invent some Primary Multimedia works of Art to use in practice, which we tried to show in the paragraph Experiences from practice.
/Lector: M.A. Mirta Kos Kolobaric/
Bibliography
Goldberg R., Performans – od futurizma do danas , Test! i URK, Zagreb, 2003
Horvat-Pintarić, V. (ed.), Televizija danas (TV today), GGZ, Zgb, 1972
Supek, I. Trinitas, Profil, Zagreb, 2010
Youngblood G., Expanded Cinema, E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York, 1970.
Webliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glocalisation (on 10th June, 2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btUTFzIa9ug (on 10th June, 2011)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Anderson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_art, http://www.laurieanderson.com/ (on 10th June, 2010)
http://muse.jhu.edu/cgibin/access.cgi?uri=/journals/theatre_journal/v051/51.2pr_anderson.html (on 10th June, 2010)
http://www.laurieanderson.com/microsites/Big-Science (on 10th June, 2010)
http://media-via.net (on 10th June, 2010)
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“AESTHETICS AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN POSTFEMINISM” (Iskanja, 2009)
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/Slovenian International Journal “ISKANJA” published the papers “AESTHETICS AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN POSTFEMINISM” (2009)/
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NEW EDUCATION MODEL: MULTIMEDIA ART (2009)
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/American/Australian “THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE ARTS IN SOCIETY” published the papers “New Education Model: Multimedia Art”, virtually presented at the International Conference on the Arts in Society, in Venice, 2009; COPYRIGHT: CommonGround/
More: media-via.net/multimedia-art-3
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“New Media Genres as a Social Network” at the International Journal of Arts and Sciences at Harvard university (2001)
Vesna Srnic’s presentation at Harvard University: New Media Genres as a Social Network (PPShow)
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MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY IN 1970S AND 1980S IN CROATIA
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(Graduate work, mentor Phd. Zvonko Makovic, College of Liberal Arts, University of Philosophy in Zagreb, 1982)
/Published in Croatian language in publication “The Life of Art” by the Institute for Art history in Zagreb, No. 41-42, 1987 / https://www.ipu.hr/content/zivot-umjetnosti/ZU_41-42-1987_031-041_Srnic.pdf
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“VIDEO AT THE ORIGIN OF IMAGE” (1994)
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/POSTGRADUATE THESIS, mentor Phd Ante Peterlic, College of Liberal Arts, University of Philosophy in Zagreb,1994/
Partially published in “Zapis” by Hrvatski filmski savez, and this is an excerpt from the theoretical part of postgraduate thesis, without the practical analizes of video-art works. Translated by Ana Matkovic, a professor of english language.
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“VIDEO NA IZVORU SLIKE” (1994.)
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/Postdiplomski rad, mentor dr.sc. Ante Peterlic, Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, 1994./
Sazetak postdiplomskog rada na hrvatskom jeziku
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COMPUTER GRAPHICS VISUAL LANGUAGE (Vizualni jezik kompjuterske grafike) (1994)
(A privately published publication about computer graphics visual language with a special approach to Multimedia and Cyber Art, our World Image through antrolpological consciousness on senses and Soul as well. Text is in Croatian.)
Media-Via 