Concretism (art & literature)
Concretism (derived from 'concrete', from Latin concretus , past participle from concrescere : “ grow together”, “condense”) is a term used in the history of art and literature.
In logic, 'concrete' stands for an object as it appears in all of its properties. Applied to literature and art, this implies a consideration of the artistic forms and signs in their material properties independent of any representational, i.e. H. semiotic functions.
Since the 1950s there has been a tendency in all areas of artistic design, from concrete poetry to architecture to modern industrial design, which can be described as concretism based on terms such as concrete poetry or concrete painting. In poetry as in painting, in addition to the representative function of signs, it is above all the constructive aspect that expands the possibilities of artistic expression. This development is shaped by the old idea that there are laws of art that are reflected in the correct rules of artistic design. But this old idea is now being recast under the new conditions of emerging information technology and semiotics . At the same time, methods of exploring the semantic possibilities of the signs are being developed in parallel. The focus is no longer on the certainty that a sign would mean in a predictable way, but rather the opening up of possibilities of diverse meanings for the recipient of the work of art. The result is a concrete style in the arts and the creative subjects, which appears to be characteristic of all areas regardless of the individual currents in concreteism.
No art movement, no -ism
Concretism is not an art movement, rather it is an attitude in artistic production that has been increasingly and systematically, but developed in diversity since the Second World War . The material of the signs as well as their media is assigned a prominent role, while the sign is no longer understood as transparent in relation to a meaning or with regard to a representative function.
Semantic determinations are therefore abandoned in favor of semantic openness, thereby respecting the polysemy of signs that results from their social fabrication. The reduction in semantic sharpness thus corresponds to a gain in semantic breadth, whereby the recipient is given the decision about the meaningful facets of the artifact that are valid for him.
The emphasis on semantic breadth is supported by a diversification of the morphological properties of the sign and its medium. It is used in its diversity and in its potential but still unused forms and, if necessary, led to unknown forms of existence beyond its conventional formal range of variation.
The concretization and exploration of the material does not follow any artistic dogma, but is a process that can follow a wide variety of initial considerations.
Forms of Concretism
There is practically no area of artistic articulation in which no concreteist currents can be felt. Apart from concrete painting and concrete poetry, architecture after the New Bauhaus , particularly with Eiermann's work , is characterized by this type of material reflection. Something similar can be seen in the theater, for example, with Samuel Beckett . Here we encounter a radical reduction in the components of the dramatic event to the point that repetitive, combinatorial and permutative methods of generating dramatic syntax dominate. In Quad , Beckett reduces the dramatic plot to the walking of four characters who remain in communication with one another because they respect each other on the path marked out on the square floor plan of the stage, anticipate the path of the other and accordingly behave evasively. Beckett shows communication as an event built up from movements, which has no other function than to present itself and thus to refer to elementary anthropological facts. This attitude of semiotic exploration of what is genuinely humane communication in the field of their own art is characteristic of the majority of concretist artists.
people
Eugen Gomringer
In 1953, Eugen Gomringer published the volume of poems constellations constelaciones constellations, the first work of Concrete Poetry. In addition, he published numerous theoretical and programmatic treatises on concrete poetry .
Öyvind Fahlström
Öyvind Fahlström was a Swedish musician and multimediaist born and raised in Brazil, who wrote his manifesto of concrete poetry (in the original: Hätila ragulpr på fåtskliaben: manifest för concrete poesi ) in 1953 , which he published in 1954. He had developed the concept of concrete poetry completely independently of developments in Brazil, Germany and Switzerland, based on the concept of musique concrète by Pierre Schaeffer.
places
Stuttgart
One of the world's leading epicentres of this revolution in artistic expression was Stuttgart in the 1950s and 1960s . In an atmosphere of experimental and synergetic interaction between humanities and technical disciplines, the essential foundations of concretism and the concretistic style were developed and implemented in the form of products and publications.
Ulm
The Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm has been one of the world's leading centers for the revision of the process of design according to the principle of concretism since the beginning of its existence.
São Paulo
The Noigandres group , founded in 1953 by the brothers Augusto and Haroldo de Campos and Décio Pignatari , was inspired by exhibitions of concrete painting, the process of which was also transferred to poetry. When the Noigandres and Eugen Gomringer came into contact at the Ulm School of Design, the term concrete poetry was coined to denote the new in poetry.
Transformations
In the 1960s, Concrete Poetry took up more and more elements of visual poetry and tested the border crossings to other arts. Elements of film, plastic arts, etc. are taken up and the direction of transmedia art is taken. There are currently experiments with the medium and the modes of representation of the Internet.
Concretism in the present
Concretism continues to develop under the influence of electronic media and extends, for example, to interactive art. One example of these developments is Concise Concrete .