According to the Comulbia Encyclopedia (2005); mercantilism is an economic system of the major trading nations during the 16th to 18th century. Its sort of like Merchanting, which is buying items, and selling them for profit etc. Now Mercantilism is no more, and instead Capitalism has taken its place.
2. Identify the ideas or concepts in Hall's work that relate to Mercantilism?
In Hall's work "Leaf Litter", she has gone to countries that have been affected by Mercantilism, and used there bank notes with her art. She has discovered what the main export (wether it be cocoa, coffee beans etc) was in that particular country, and drawn that export on the countries bank notes. She is trying to communicate the fact that the richest countries of the world, are now amongst the poorest due to people taking from each other and trading. Taking advantage of poor countries, so others can become wealthy of their exports.
3. For each work describe the shape, form and materials used, and also explain the ideas behind each example.
In Tender, she has shredded dollar notes, and created bird nests etc. I guess she is trying to portray the whole concept of people cutting down large amounts of forrest's for money, and bird nests will have obviously been destroyed to do so.
In Leaf Litter, (as said in q.2) Hall has used many different currencies from countries that were the main exporters in that time, and connected them to create a panel, and then drawn the main item that was exported onto the currencies/bills.
4. In your opinion do the materials communicate the ideas of the work? Please explain your answer.
In my opinion i think that the way Hall potrays the ideas she is trying to communicate with us is very interesting. Obviously for me it was very complicated but once you see the main idea you start noticing other things. I think the concept of it all is very amazing and creative; using money to create things that have been destroyed originally to make money is a very cool concept.
5. Fiona Hall's recent project The Kermadecs focuses on issues around the Pacific ocean. Research this project to summarize the importance of the area and upload an image to your blog for discussion.
"The Kermadecs" is a area between New Zealand and Tonga, its an area in the middle of the Pacific ocean, which is the holder of the largest volcanic arc in the world. the volcanic island's hold many undiscovered life forms of animals and such, the National Geographic Society has delcared it to be "one of the last pristine sites left in the ocean". The project was bases on nine artists visiting this location and helping protect it, and preserve it for further exploration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilism
http://eyesing.typepad.com/eyesing/2008/05/leaf-littering.html
http://www.thekermadecs.org/fiona-hall
http://www.thekermadecs.org/fiona-hall
Hello Jarrad,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post, it was really informative and I think you identified the question and answered it directly, very well! Your answer to question two helped me understand the relationship between Hall's work and mercantilism a whole lot better! Also, I found your picture in your question five answer to be very interesting!
Thanks, good post,
Matai