- understanding around sin?
- artistic directions around sin, what have others done, how did they do it?
- publications and print and design about sex
Palladian Dream: the corrupt, sin-worshipping chapel of the 21st century
The Western world is fascinated by sin. Whether it’s gluttony, envy or lust; healthy food fads, FOMO or sex scandals, narratives of sin provide a framework for how society prescribes cultural norms and defines what it means to be human. And no other institution encapsulates this obsession with immorality quite like the Catholic Church.
It is the contradiction between Christian ideals of purity and the Church’s focus on sin and punishment that inspired artist Noemi Polo
transformed Club Pro Los Angeles into a corrupt chapel that worshipped vice, decadence and hedonism. “I often find myself channeling ancient and long-established ideas in order to produce contemporary pop luxury,” Noemi says. In Palladian Dream, Noemi harks back to the story of creation, of “original sin”, for the construction of this uncanny religious space.
By artistically refashioning and reimagining everyday articles, Noemi prompts us to consider the status of modern – in particular technological – objects as a new religion and the changing moral norms of our everyday life in the digital world.
“Religion is what precessed technology in helping the human species find meaning. In the contemporary moment it feels like we are running a full circle when you read about little girls kneeling down to pray to their Alexa device,” Noemi explains. Palladian Dream is a critique of digital society’s insatiable fascination, even sanctification, of profit-driven technological devices. It seems that screens, platforms and networks are replacing old religious rituals and spiritual meaning.
= Italian football fans crowned not by thorns but by ceiling fixtures,
= a flatscreen on top of an altar showing archival footage of Berlusconi, and wilted roses in rusting silverware.
= The chapel’s holy water has been replaced by Roberto Cavalli vodka.
> Adaptation of religion and sin with the notion of technology and what has replaced religion rather than a focus on religion and sin itself
> This is an interesting subversion of the topic
> How can I subvert religion and symbols towards a specific theme? The theme of sex is a strong focus possibility but how can it be subverted in an interesting way
> Using rules in the bible to determine the rules and layout of the publication?
7 deadly sins = pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth
= 7 forms of redaction on each page?
= 7 symbols that subvert the religious focus?
= only 7 sections of the publication?
10 Key Bible Verses on Sin | Crossway Articles
1. When people reject God, they turn in on themselves, and so relationships between human beings are destroyed as well.
2. Envy comes about when people are not content with what God has given them
3. Drunkenness and orgies are examples of how people misuse God’s good gifts in destructive and sinful ways
4. Greed, sexual sin, and other vices can intrude into one’s relationship with God, taking his place as a focus of devotion.
5. Sin is lawlessness
6. Adam had a leadership role with respect to the human race that Eve did not have, it was it was “one man’s trespass"
Another interpretation is that all sinned personally because they were born into the world spiritually dead
7. “Walk in the light” means to reflect God’s perfection
NOTES
- fear based religion
- all about judgement
- using fear to control masses
James 1:14–15
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
-----------------------------------------------------------
AIGA DESIGN AS RELIGION
Analogue strikes me as a sacred space; calm flagstones and pebbles surround low minimalist tables, lecterns bear beautiful, illuminated books, CDs, DVDs and magazines
design’s pretentious spiritual tendencies:
“As far as I can tell, for many graphic-design people, ‘good design’ is a crusade. They get worked-up about ‘good design’; for them, the ‘good’ in ‘good design’ is a moral ‘good’ and not just a cool or snazzy ‘good.’ Graphic design can save the world! I find this attitude so bewildering that I wonder whether graphic designers are initiates in a cult I know nothing about.”
“Once books were carriers of light and knowledge,” Magma solemnly informs surfers. “They were worshipped and they were feared. They were recognised as a rich and reactive substance, a highly nourishing and volatile matter... A powerful source.
> Interesting comparison between graphic design itself and a religious, spiritual moral scope
> Books forms of power, something to revere and value: reinforces that this publication should be an art piece in itself, a prominent special output
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Youtube Channels of cute girls promoting sinister Christian beliefs
Clark and Beal advise young girls "struggling" with "same-sex attraction" to repent their sins and turn to God. They insist trans people need to reject their gender "choices". In the Girl Defined universe, wives must submit to their husbands and women must dress modestly to avoid leading men to sin (Beal, notably, didn’t kiss her husband until they were married). digital religion helps to live out that Evangelical activism.
They remind young or vulnerable people that they’re not alone – that the world is full of so-called sinners – and all they have to do is reject modernity for Jesus, suppress the parts of themselves most that the Bible deems most inconvenient, and they’ll be redeemed.
YouTuber husband and wife duo Paul and Morgan Olliges, who have a catchy theme song, a dog, and strong views on how exactly wives should serve their husbands
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------BEATBOXING MONK
“I always had a love for music and wanted to continue my passion even after becoming a monk. Which is why I had decided to take on beatboxing again.”
“I have had fans tell me that they were able to sleep well and relax due to my beatboxing videos, which is absolutely amazing,” he said.
“I am honoured to be able to combine my passion with my religious beliefs, and that this has impacted people around the world."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The wine of the ancient Greeks wasn’t really ‘wine’, was it?
Ancient Greek wine was nothing like the wine of today. For a period of well over a thousand years from Homer to the fall of the Roman Empire, wine is consistently referred to as a pharmakon (drug). It was routinely spiked with plants, herbs and toxins, making it unusually intoxicating, seriously mind-altering, occasionally hallucinogenic and potentially lethal.
why would Christians have wanted to follow a Greek or Greek-tinged lineage? What’s the connection?The world into which Jesus and the earliest Christians were born was swimming with Greek influence. Especially around Dionysus: the quintessential Greek god of wine and ecstasy.
The archaeologist Marina Ciaraldi found over 50 species of plants, herbs and trees in the sample. Alongside remnants of willow, beech, peach and walnut, she found a distinctive medley of opium, cannabis, and two members of the nightshade family: white henbane and black nightshade. The nightshade plants contain many tropane alkaloids known for their hallucinogenic effects, including scopolamine, which is known rather ominously as ‘The Devil’s Breath”.
it raises the prospect of what I call the "religion with no name"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Polish photographer Pawel Jaszczuk
Catholic art has historically been used to command devotion and respect.
But sacred imagery is no longer restricted to the church. In many places around the world, Christian iconography has become a full-blown industry, churning out a never-ending supply of semi-disposable garbage. Holy symbols now adorn everything from anklets to dildos, pushing the boundaries between reverent and blasphemous.
blurring lines between high art and pictorial mass production
Jesus has become nothing more than a product or sale. Actually, how it all started was I wanted to expose the Catholic church as a business institution. They are very good are marketing – they’ve had 2000 years of experience – and they’ve created a product and they sell it and it’s all about money. I wanted to show the hypocrisy of the Catholic church, but also the Catholics in it.
photobook ¥€$U$
Catholic church is no different from McDonalds, Nike, or Apple.the book there’s no text at all, because I wanted to provoke
In Poland, there are huge churches and there are actually shops inside the church, which is obviously against the bible
What was shocking for me was the deeper I dug, I started finding stuff I couldn’t believe. You can find everything with Jesus on it. Absolutely everything.
Poland, there are a few places with huge churches, massive, and next to them, markets with lots of religious kitsch: There was a fight between a seller and a customer, and the seller said, “you cannot touch it, you watch too long you buy it or fuck off.” He actually said that, you buy it off or you fuck off, right next to church
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES
"imagine living through trump, Boris, climate change, and this terrible weather and still worrying about burning in hell"
"at least it would be warm in hell and there would be heating"
key symbols and visual imagery
all religions have visual languages
> what if we made our own religion?
> what visual symbols would we have?
------------------------------------------------------------
dolce & gabanna
> 2015 made catholic kitsch back in fashion, big black and gold cross earrings
> designers have catholic backgrounds and upbringings and this permeates in their outputs
> not many people think about these things and the way some big brands can reintroduce religious imagery into the mainstream, whether through a 'stealing images' way or to reconnect the masses with religious visuals
funny as I was researching dolce and gabanna a website had this pop-up ad
> Catholicism now more like capitalism
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catholic Sex Toys
> Liberate yourself from your sins and missionary
Does God take offence to you using a vibrator with your husband or wife? That’s for you and your priest to decide.
Discreet sex toys like Liberator Chairs can be used as furniture or as marital aids, depending on how you use them. Is it less sinful if your sex aid also functions as a piece of bedroom furniture?
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is seemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.”
Rom. 1:26-27
this verse basically ties adult products in with homophobia, suggesting that anything outside of male-female sex is “unnatural” and therefore sinful
adult products are not sinful if they’re being used to strengthen the bond of marriage
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INDONESIAN universities censoring female students on social media
> Our publication should have a tone of female empowerment
> If we are creating a message about criticising religion then there is no place for men in the outcome
> Men created and have led religion throughout history, and all religions are inherently sexist
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DITTO
> All these publications are not about religion or making comments on any subject related to religion
> However their covers and the very bold direction is certainly something to think about in terms of how they feel religiously related
> Bold graphic, decorative type
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DMT—nicknamed “the spirit molecule” for its ability to create deeply spiritual experiences—58 percent of respondents said tripping on DMT had triggered a belief in divine beings and powerful supernatural entities.
Respondents to the study, who had taken DMT on average 14 times, described bumping into an array of what they could best describe as aliens, spirits, angels, demons, gnomes and fairies. Most of these creatures, said respondents, were sentient and benevolent, with many described as “sacred.” Less than 15 percent reported “judgmental or malicious” creatures
It often resembles a near-death experience, and similar to being pronounced dead on a hospital bed and zapping back to life, many folks walk away from a DMT trip with a newfound spiritual outlook.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Churches adapting to new coronavirus, funny image of priest spraying churchgoers with holy water from a plastic water gun:
Images of religion and sacred traditions being turned on their heads in the new climate finally presents it as satirical and humorous, why would you need to be splashed with holy water normally?
REFLECTION
> Critique of religion
> Female Empowering + Liberating women from religion
> Satirical
> Physical Art Piece
> Political
> All religions are inherently misogynistic, what if we focus on this topic and use the publication to point out the hypocrisy in each religion?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- research has anyone written about all religions being sexist?
If we reject gender discrimination in every other arena, why do we accept it in religion? | Religion | The Guardian
Sexism and misogyny are explicitly woven into the dogma and traditions of all mainstream religions. God is personified as male, and his representatives are male. Men are believed to be of higher spiritual authority to women, and many religions do not allow the full ordination of women into the clergy. Some religions disallow women from sitting at the front in their places of worship, and some places of worship refuse entry to women. Religious texts espouse notions of the mental, moral, and spiritual inferiority of women, and religion is used to justify gross forms of gender inequality all around the world.
Religion’s endorsement of male supremacy is inconsistent with 21st century values of social justice and gender equality. Teaching girls that they are equal and deserve full participation in public life is inherently at odds with many religions.
religious organisations have special exemptions from anti-discrimination law, as well as special tax exemptions
religion is seen as sacred, and we find ourselves walking on eggshells around the topic
> The translations of religious texts are what make them inherently sexist, or so many who follow religions say so themselves
> There are gender neutral feminist readings for religious texts that promote equality, however there are still verses in religious texts that are blatantly misogynistic
gender bias continues in faith, some participants claimed, because people are unwilling to discuss sexism. This is partly because it's an uncomfortable discussion to have and partly because many people simply aren't interested in exploring the topic more. In either case, the normal process of a faith being reshaped is falling a bit flat in relation to gender equality
many women make a distinction between their religions and the particular church or mosque they worship at. This quote from a Christian typifies this attitude: ‘I have something on my mirror, which my friend bought me. It says “Jesus is not the church, and the church is not Jesus. Thank God”
> The establishment of religion is the sexist entity, not the religion itself?
> The notion of God and the spiritual connection people feel around that is a feeling and therefore can be harnessed how the individual themselves feel about the world, whereas religion as an establishment with leaders, hierarchy and interpretations of text become misogynistic as they force their ideas upon others who are individual and different to those preaching
> Could we look at creating a publication which looks at how there are different interpretations of the same idea? Semiotics?
Comments
Post a Comment