grad505-brunoking

[grad505-brunoking]

Essay Production

Through starting to write my essay I've identified a few gaps in my sources of which I have furthered my research. The above website has really strong information regarding Rogério Duarte and his design work. Prior to this source, I only really had two sources that talked about Duarte's work of which were written by the same authors. I thought it important to diversify my citations in order to ensure that I had reliable information and to prove that I had searched more widely for the information I was consuming and referring to in my assignment.

I also found some really good information in this book called "Brutality garden: Tropicália and the emergence of a Brazilian counterculture." by Christopher Dunn. It goes into a lot of detail about the song Roda Vida which I found from the interview with my Grandfather - and discusses the festival he alluded to as well where Buarque performed the song live in order to make a political statement.

As far as essay planning goes - I have cemented a structure for my essay; I want my first body paragraph to be an introduction into the military dictatorship as well as the birth of Tropicália and specifically how the dictatorship came to bring about the art movement. I want to explore some of the key moments during the dictatorship, and also bring up some of Tropicália's influences and key figures. My second paragraph will go into more detail about Tropicália and examine some of the main figures. I want to discuss Rogério Duarte who is the most famous Tropicalist graphic designer and examine his work, especially his album covers and posters which often related to Tropicalist musicians or had key messages of anti-nationalism. This will lead onto my third paragraph which will discuss ways in which Tropicalist artists spoke out against the dictatorship through their songs, art, and designs. I find this to be one of the most interesting parts of the movement as I believe that the Tropicalist artists directly inspired the public to speak out against the military and take action. During the era, art was used in protest and to unite the population which I think cements the movement as a very important part of Brazilian history - showing the effect of art on society.

From our last lesson in class I also focused on the final key details to remember to include in my essay. I had to come up with a title, 5 keywords, and also ensure that I was referencing at least one image and more than 3 references. Luckily, I already was citing more than one image and a lot more than three references total, however, I hadn't come up with a title or any key words yet. Some possible keywords I came up with through brainstorming were: Military, Art, Design, Music, Tropicália, Brazil, Movement, 1960s, Dictatorship, Coup, Activism, Change, Aesthetics, Veloso, Silkscreen, Photomontage, Illustration. However, I ended up settling for the following: Art, Brazil, Dictatorship, Design, Tropicália For my title, I was initially going to go with

Tropicália: How the 1964 Dictatorship Inspired an Artistic Movement which gave Brazilians their voice back.

but I have instead chosen to use the following as my final title

Tropicália: Expression of Ideas and Voices Through the Brazilian Art Movement during the 1960s

[grad505-brunoking]

Referencing 

I realised that the week 11 lesson I missed was all about referencing so I focused on collating some helpful resources as I have no experience with academic citations. I feel as though the learning curve for me will be quite steep when I'm implementing both in-text citations as well as my reference list - especially since I have a lot of different forms of media, all of which are cited slightly differently. I found the Massey interactive citations link really helpful with my understanding and feel as though the templates work really well and are not confusing to understand.

Also I've been looking at the AUT Library's resources for referencing which I find a little bit harder to understand but combined with the Massey resource has been quite helpful, especially when learning about the differences between quoting and paraphrasing!

[grad505-brunoking]

COVID-19

Unfortunately from week 10-11 I was sick with COVID-19. I continued to work where possible, however, through experiencing quite bad reactions during this period I did have to take a step back from all of my assignments in order to get better

[grad505-brunoking]

Week 9 Lesson Overview

Today's class lecture was about the Russian Art Revolution which went from 1910 to 1930. The two main movements that we went over were the Ballets Russes and Constructivism. The Coronation Disaster of 1896 is a key moment in Russian history that we discussed in order to gain context for the movements which occurred a little later on. During the Coronation Disaster, 3600 common people who came to celebrate the coronation were crushed or trampled to death and a further ten years after this first revolution 'Bloody Sunday' happened in 1905. The civilians had been marching on the winter palace with a petition for the Tsar, calling for reforms and relaxation (relaxations from taxes and rules that were created) The unarmed civilians were shot by starting soldiers causing the death of many people. Russo-Japanese War & the Financial Crisis begun in 1904 and lasted through to 1905.

The Ballet Russes began with the leader of Russia wanting to improve relations with the French. The key phrase behind this movement being "when art danced with music," these were not standard ballets, however, they were a self sufficient phenomenon of art that would include the three important factors of ballet; music, drawing, and choreography. There were many key artists of the era that produced outstanding work - of which I really enjoyed and appreciated seeing as I was unfamiliar with the Ballet Russes movement before our class today. Particularly, the work of Leon Bakst became quite intriguing to me - I found his fashion illustrations to be quite intricate and I really love the colours used throughout the works.

Mikhail Larionov used a Russian primitive style of art and was another notable figure from the period. Other famous artists such as Picasso and Matisse also created work for ballets during the period - Picasso in particular mixed his style and had his work translated into costumes and sets for the Ballet titled Parade in 1917.

In 1917 there were also a few revolutions in Russia which proved to make the time a turbulent and sad part of the nation's history. Notably Rasputin was perceived as the devil or the antichrist by the people of Russia and was closely associated with the leaders of the nation. Everyone believed that Rasputin was manipulating the Tsar family. The revolutions started from the women right revolution which turned into mass protests - bring the abdication of Nicholas II. Another revolution came about in October of that same year called the Socialist Revolution which brought Russia into a civil war. With this war brought the emergence of Constructivism.

Constructivism: The Art & Dance of Propaganda Cubo Futurism influenced the movement greatly, and those who were involved were in defence of Free Art and created small Russian zines. Suprematism and abstract art also influenced the movement greatly. Suprematism is the supremacy of pure artistic feeling and include works like 'Black Square' by Kazimir Malevich - a work that holds great question over art historians in terms of its true meanings and purpose. Constructivism was really prominent within architecture and structures in Russia. Constructivism was big in the theatre as well, as seen through Meyerhold's biomechanics (mechanics applied to the human body.) This way of acting was called the art of representation and was aimed at the normal civilians of Russia as a way of simplifying key movements in acting. Meyerhold was arrested and tortured, than executed in 1940. Constructivism utilised a lot of geometric shapes, strong lines, and had a construction nature. Rodchenko was one of the most recognisable graphic designers from the constructivist period. The era sometimes was referred to as the Avant Garde era as well, which used lots of diagonal lines illustrations (looks cut out.)

Finally the Socialist Realism (The great Purge) had lots of people who supported soviet principles and ideas tortured and killed. Stalin sent his secret police to 'clear the nation' of people who might be plotting against him behind his back. Many of these people included artists and the cleverest people of the nation.

[grad505-brunoking]

WEEK 8 SDL: PLANNING MY ESSAY

Essay's Main Idea

My essay will discuss how artists (musicians, painters, designers) spoke out against the 1964 Military Dictatorship in Brazil through their work within the Tropicàlia movement. I want to discuss how the movement was born, the key figures who created and popularised the movement - as well as how they were punished for speaking out. I also want to examine some tropicalist work and explain how the images use symbols and meanings to share the opinion on the oppressive regime.

Topic 1: How the Military Dictatorship birthed Tropicàlia

TOPIC

Emerging in 1964, the Brazilian military dictatorship launched the nation into one of its darkest periods in history. The period saw hundreds of politically-motivated deaths and disappearances, with many thousands subject to unjust imprisonment and torture.

Overall, the regime would claim the lives of close to 500 innocent Brazilians under a guise of anti-communist propaganda. With the United States’ backing, the regime would go on to last two decades.

Tropicalia emerged during the late 1960s as a countercultural movement with intense artistic attributes. The movement was born as a reaction against the political climate and artists would use their art to speak out against the oppressive regime.

EVIDENCE

“The systematic, widespread, and professional use of torture in Brazilian prisons, the thousands of political detentions, the hurdles placed in the paths of undesirable government employees, the reactionary propaganda, and the weight of censorship, clearly designate the military regime as fundamentally distinct from a democracy and the rule of law.” Chirio, M. (2018). Politics in Uniform : Military Officers and Dictatorship in Brazil, 1960-1980. Page 7. University of Pittsburgh Press.

"The movement also held a critical component towards the political moment that Brazil was living in at the time with works often times speaking out against the oppressive military dictatorship. Brazil was under an authoritarian regime after the military coup of 1964. While other nations like the US and Britain were fighting for equal rights and to end wars - Brazil was moving in the opposite direction as the country faced numerous persecutions, torture, death, exile, and censorship. Tropicalia emerged from this oppressive context in order to operate change.The movement was very political, despite its artistic aura." Duque, J., & Inhan, L. (2018). The graphic design of Tropicália as a confluence territory: Between the northeast of Brazil and Psychedelia of the 1960s. In Designa 2018. Territory Proceedings. International Conference On Design Research (pp. 245–253). Covilhã: Universidade Beira do Interior.

"In the midst of this period, music became politicised by artists and audiences. The Tropicalistas offered a dynamic and new type of resistance which combined sounds, music, dress, and performance style." Robinson, L. (2020). Tropicália: Sonic Resistance, Relationships, and Reframing. Journal of Sonic Studies.Chicago

Topic 2: Tropicalia: Visual/Graphic language and notable figures

TOPIC

The Tropicalia movement aimed to establish a new Brazlian identity aesthetically, all the while blending international styles and elements namely that of Psychedelia and pop/rock from the United States and Britain.

Rogério Duarte was the leading graphic designer of the Tropicalists and worked closely with two prominent Tropicalia musicians including Caetano Veloso and Gilberto.

Hélio Oiticica was a famous painter for the era

Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil were the two leading and most iconic Tropicalists - mainly musicians.

Talk about the Tropicalist Style

The term 'tropicalia' emerged from an art installation by Helio Oiticica. Oiticica’s innovative and radical work was able to develop the Brazilian contemporary art scene. The installation consisted of a maze environment on the gardens of the museum. The outcome referenced a “favela,” a slum.

Duque, J. F., & Inhan, L. (2020). Discussing the pillars of the Brazilian Tropicália Movement: The graphic design of Rogério Duarte. Arte, Individuo y Sociedad, 32(4), 951.

"Duarte's most iconic work was his poster called Deus e o Diabo Na Terra do Sol (1964) which established a new graphic language through a different use of colour, mixing both illustration with photomontage in unique compositions."

Duque, J., & Inhan, L. (2018). The graphic design of Tropicália as a confluence territory: Between the northeast of Brazil and Psychedelia of the 1960s. In Designa 2018. Territory Proceedings. International Conference On Design Research (pp. 245–253). Covilhã: Universidade Beira do Interior.

"Tropicalia's graphic language changed the way graphic design was being made in the period and broke the tradition with the widespread Swiss style, at the time popular in the music industry particularly in Bossa Nova record covers.Key elements include Photography as a main element, as well as illustration. The style plays with psychedelic colours, typography, and pop illustration - all of which are infused with symbolic Brazilian elements."

Duque, J., & Inhan, L. (2018). The graphic design of Tropicália as a confluence territory: Between the northeast of Brazil and Psychedelia of the 1960s. In Designa 2018. Territory Proceedings. International Conference On Design Research (pp. 245–253). Covilhã: Universidade Beira do Interior.

"Duarte showed tropicalist perspective throughout artworks for several album covers, posters, and other printed media.One of his earliest works that convey themes of Tropicalia, was his layout of the magazine Movimento - editorial project started in March 1962. The project was free from excess  and derived by a grid divided into three columns. Contents were also split into three main subjects: image, body text, and title."

Duque, J. F., & Inhan, L. (2020). Discussing the pillars of the Brazilian Tropicália Movement: The graphic design of Rogério Duarte. Arte, Individuo y Sociedad, 32(4), 951.

"Duarte accompanied and affiliated with many popular figures, notably Caetano Veloso, who confirmed that he talked a lot with Duarte abut Brazilian popular music along with other topics such as philosophy, mass media, and pop art - as well as Helio Oiticica, a prominent Tropicalist artist."

Duque, J. F., & Inhan, L. (2020). Discussing the pillars of the Brazilian Tropicália Movement: The graphic design of Rogério Duarte. Arte, Individuo y Sociedad, 32(4), 951.

Topic 3: How the Tropicalists spoke out against the military

TOPIC:

Tropicalists would place hidden messages and meanings through their work to speak up against the dictatorship - in a way that wasn't direct or obvious but the public would be able to decipher.

Some artists were more direct and created art to be used in street rallies, protests, and demonstrations

Many vocal tropicalists were imprisoned and exiled from Brazil when the government cracked down on them.

EVIDENCE:

"Lyrics of Tropicalist songs were being composed through verbal and linguistic metaphors - they contained word fragmentation techniques that created jokes and puns. This was also used to contain images of anti-nationalism and show their support against the military’s control. This kind of appropriation also emerged through graphic design in the work of Rogerio Duarte."

Duque, J. F., & Inhan, L. (2020). Discussing the pillars of the Brazilian Tropicália Movement: The graphic design of Rogério Duarte. Arte, Individuo y Sociedad, 32(4), 951.

The movement was very political, despite its artistic aura. Several artists were exiled including Gil and Veloso, while others were tortured.

Duque, J., & Inhan, L. (2018). The graphic design of Tropicália as a confluence territory: Between the northeast of Brazil and Psychedelia of the 1960s. In Designa 2018. Territory Proceedings. International Conference On Design Research (pp. 245–253). Covilhã: Universidade Beira do Interior.

[grad505-brunoking]

Tropicalia: Sonic Resistance, and Reframing by Laura Robinson

Notes on the reading:

In response to a perceived 'leftist' tendency within the democratically elected government - in 1964 the administration would be overthrown through a coup led by military and later joined by civilian leaders. As the 1960s progressed, the dictatorship grew more restrictive and further limited Brazilians' freedom of expression, and their safety. The Institutional Act #1 allowed thousands of Brazilians to lose their civil liberties and resulted in mass imprisonments, many tortured, murdered, and forced into exile.

By 1967, the Institutional Act #2 suspended political parties and strengthened the presidents power over the regime. In response to this, Brazilians protested through the streets in coordinated strikes and public demonstrations - including such as the March of the 100,000 in Rio.

In response, the right-wing dictatorship pushed back even harder and accelerated its authoritarianism with Institutional Act #5 - which gave the government enormous powers, including suspending the constitution as well as enforcing rigorous censorship.

In the midst of this period, music became politicised by artists and audiences. The Tropicalistas offered a dynamic and new type of resistance which combined sounds, music, dress, and performance style.

Tropicalia gave brithed an innovative form of resistance to the military's regime, which prohibited public assembly, prevented freedom of speech, and state sponsored kidnapping and torture of those citizens brave enough to speak out.

Swiftly after Act #5 was established, Tropicalists including Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso amongst many others were denounced, imprisoned, held without charge, and put under house arrest.

Tropicalia was more than just a critique on the right-wing regime. In addition to protesting the military government, the movement posed a much more radical form of protest that questioned aesthetics, political expression, and the segments of society implicitly supporting the status quo and the military coup

[grad505-brunoking]

The Graphic Design of Tropicalia as a Confluence Territory: Between the Northeast of Brazil and Psychedelia of the 1960s by Juliana F Duque and Luciana Inhan

Notes on the reading:

Tropicalia was a counter-cultural movement, meaning that it was different and opposed the social norms of the time

The movement had elements of northeastern Brazilian culture alongside elements of psychedelia from both the United Kingdom and the United States. Psychedelia had been absorbed and then remade by Tropicalists to create their own independent style featuring in all forms of art including music, paintings, design, theatre, poems, and more.

Rogério Duarte was the leading graphic designer relating to the Tropicalia movement, and was also seen as one of the leading mentors of Tropicalia. He was known for developing a new identity within design which explored the Brazilian territory, culture.

The Psychedelia and Pop Art movements influenced Tropicalists usage of colour, compositions, as well as typography.

The movement also held a critical component towards the political moment that Brazil was living in at the time with works often times speaking out against the oppressive military dictatorship. Brazil was under an authoritarian regime after the military coup of 1964. While other nations like the US and Britain were fighting for equal rights and to end wars - Brazil was moving in the opposite direction as the country faced numerous persecutions, torture, death, exile, and censorship. Tropicalia emerged from this oppressive context in order to operate change.

Tropicalia was born from meetings between northeastern artists including Rogério Duarte, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Tom Zè, Maria Bethânia, and Gal Costa. Some further key figures of the era were Hélio Oiticica, Jose Celso Martinez, Torquato Neto, Nara Leāo, and Os Mutantes.

There was an evident fusion within tropicalia of the northeastern Brega culture alongside American and British Psychedelic rock. They mixed electric guitars, or violins with Berimbaus (a musical instrument mostly used in Capoeira.) They also had a hippie style with long hair, handmade clothes in acid colours or Indian patterns, paired with bell-bottomed jeans. They also wore Brazilian symbols on their garments highlighting the new nationalist discussion.

The movement was very political, despite its artistic aura. Several artists were exiled including Gil and Veloso, while others were tortured.

The movement's leading designer was Rogério Duarte who was a key part of the formation of Tropicalia, he organised several events, including debates and exhibitions. His posters were also all over Rio de Janeiro. Duarte's most iconic work was his poster called Deus e o Diabo Na Terra do Sol (1964) which established a new graphic language through a different use of colour, mixing both illustration with photomontage in unique compositions.

Duarte's vinyl record cover for Caetano Veloso in 1968 combined different influences once again - melting Psychedelia, Pop Illustration, and Art Nouveau.

With experimental use of typography, photography, and illustration, the movement avoided the rationalist Swiss style explored at the time by other designers such as Cesar Villa.

Tropicalia, as an artistic territory is deeply related to graphic design, similarly as how it is to music. Duartes references allow the movement to be melted into a new countercultural identity. The resulting graphic language that absorbed, mixed, and recreated both foreign and Brazilian influences.

Key elements include Photography as a main element, as well as illustration. The style plays with psychedelic colours, typography, and pop illustration - all of which are infused with symbolic Brazilian elements.

Tropicalia's graphic language changed the way graphic design was being made in the period and broke the tradition with the widespread Swiss style, at the time popular in the music industry particularly in Bossa Nova record covers.

[grad505-brunoking]

W8 Lesson Reflection

It was really exciting to be going on campus this week for the first time and meeting our lecturers, student teachers, and peers. I did find the lecture a little confusing this week which may have been due to feeling a little overwhelmed with being back for the first time. The lecture talked about the Maori culture and their ways of creating beautiful art and design. I really enjoyed getting that insight about art and design from a national perspective seeing as a lot of the content we've been going through in our lecture series has focused on an international perspective. I found the principles of Oceanian design really interesting - and had never heard of Kawa or Tikanga previously. Kawa are the unchanging principles from what Tikanga (practices) are derived, an example being that Te Reo Maori is the Kawa, while how Te Reo Maori is spoken is Tikanga. We also discussed the first Maori god to carve which was Tangaroa, god of the sea - who created the first carving of wood, which surprises many as one might assume that Tane Mahuta (god of the forest) would be the one to create the first wooden carving. I also really enjoyed learning about AUT's marai. I hadn't properly understood the intense labour and processes that went into creating such a masterpiece.

Furthermore, after our lecture we disbanded into groups and were tasked with annotating and dissecting a previous essay created for the paper. We went through the essay individually before returning back to a group discussion in order to discuss the author's key points, conclusions, and the overall quality of the piece. My group read an essay on Postmodernism of which we really liked the writing style but felt as though the author hadn't inputted a key perspective, and cast their net too wide in a sense. We felt as though the author had too much to say and found it quite difficult to follow at times. Overall we decided to give the essay a B+. Below are photos from our annotations of the essay.

[grad505-brunoking]

HOLIDAY SDL

TASK TWO: COLLECTING PRIMARY RESEARCH

I conducted interviews with both my aunty, Silvia Fernandes de Carvalho and my grandfather, Jorge Fernandes de Carvalho. 

I asked my aunty Silvia about her understanding of the Tropicalia movement.

"O movimento da tropicalia foi um momento de criatividade único e especial como meio de contraste social e político à ditatura militar da época. Alguns dos artistas que contestaram o regime foram exiliados, outros com menos sorte torturados. Mas o que deve ficar é a representação da voz do povo por meio da arte em todas as suas formas. A ditadura sem dúvida teve uma enorme influência pq este momento de criatividade foi como um berro de contraste. Foi o 68 tropical - Havia rebeliões em muitos países por motivos diferentes. Nos anos 60 a marca registrada musical era a bossa nova. A tropicalia entrou contrastando.

"The tropicalia movement was a unique and special moment, in contrast to the social and political moment of the dictatorship at that time. Some artists that contested the military regime were sent to exile, others unfortunately were tortured. But what is really important is that there was representation of the popular voices through the arts - in all of its forms. The dictatorship without a doubt has an enormous influence because this period of creativity was like shouting against the situation. It was the tropical 68 - because there were rebel movements across various countries for many different reasons. In the 60s the most common music was bossa nova and tropicalia emerged as a contrast.

The translated transcription of the interview with my Vovo Jorge is below:

Vovo Jorge

Q: Do you remember any famous artists from 1960s?

A: Painters yes, Fernando Lemos, Danilo di Pretti, and Alfredo Volpi

Q: What about in music, do you remember any famous musicians?

A: Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Elis Regina, Gilberto Gil all of these were somewhat involved in the Tropicalia movement

Q: Do you remember what was the importance of the tropicalia movement?

A: It was an important time that left a lot of dark memories into society and gave way to new trends. [The tropicalia movement] Was very impactful on society in fashion, paintings, in the way people behaved in society.

Q: At the time, there was a cultural movement all around the world. was this something that just happening in brazil or was it influenced by everyone around the world?

A: It was a bit of both, following international trends but also as a reaction against the 1964 dictatorship. Perhaps the dictatorship actually almost took the movement further because people were very repressed during the time and Tropicalia came as a reaction against the oppression of people.

Q: So do you think the dictatorship contributed to the beginning of Tropicalia?

A: There was people who were trying to rebel against what was being imposed. There was a song from Chico Buorque called Roda Vida which is a critique to the dictatorship. But it is an indirect critique. This song had a critique that was obscure but very direct against the ruling of the government. In 1967 there was a music festival called Record Festival. Buarque sung the song at the festival was broadcasted on TV and sang along with Caetano. The song says

“There are days where we feel as though we have left or died, that we are stuck”

“we want to have our active voice”

The song is talking about how there is something that isn’t allowing us to talk and the Roda Viva expression is normally used when your life is going in circles or stuck.

Q: How did the Dictatorship impact your life?

A: It didn’t really impact our lives so much because we weren’t really involved with politics but was a struggle for everyone. There was a lot of fear at the time in relation to speaking publicly about your opinions on what was happening in society but you could speak only between your friends. Some of my friends were involved in politics and were more active such as Fernando Lemos. They were not necessarily active in terms of taking guns or fighting properly but were very active in voicing their opinions within their group of friends. I know that there were people who suffered (tortured) and disappeared but nobody that was close to me.

----

From my interviews I learned of specific examples of songs and artists who had used their music during the Tropicalia era to speak out against the military dictatorship, continued to gather more artists to research, as well as some further context on how the movement was reactionary against the dictatorship. These interviews relate directly to my topic as they involve discussions with two individuals who had lived during the time of the movement and were aware of the impact the arts had on culture. The information provided within these interviews helps give me context in what it was like for the average person to live through the regime, and the restrictions that came about under the military. I found it fascinating how you really couldn’t speak out against them publicly and how many, including my grandfather, could only communicate their views quietly to their friends or else risk persecution.

[grad505-brunoking]

Holidays SDL

TASK TWO: COLLECTING PRIMARY SOURCES

I found some old records that mostly fall around the late 60s to early 70s, and while some of them do fall outside of my chosen period I feel as though it is interesting to see some design from the Tropicalist movement.

BRAZILIAN OBJECTS FROM MY PERIOD

These vinyl covers have been quite insightful as they continue to build my collection of visual references and resources that I can use when discussing the design style of Tropicalia. I was quite surprised to see how many records our family already had possession of that directly related to the era I had chosen in school and can see the research I’ve been collating evident when analysing the covers of these records. I learned some interesting design conventions common through the era specifically when investigating the album covers - particularly through the use of decorative typefaces and the use of bright colours such as orange and yellow which I have come to associate with the Tropicalist style. These records relate to my topic as they are directly from the period and were made during the Tropicalia movement from artists who had pioneered the era. I have  both expanded my knowledge of notable Tropicalist musicians and have expanded my visual resources I can draw from in my essay through this primary research which proves to be quite useful.

I also found this old article from a Brazilian publication that my grandfather, Jorge Fernandes de Carvalho, had written an article for. His column comprised of his opinions on art and I found this entry from 1962 which fell perfectly into my period. I haven't been able to fully translate the work yet but find it a fascinating piece of family history.

[grad505-brunoking]

Holiday SDL

TASK ONE: PREPARING FOR ESSAY WRITING

Potential essay structure:

Background

Military Coup

Anti communist ideals

Persecution and kidnappings - increased time of violence, mass disappearances

Art and design in Tropicalia

Emergence of Tropicalia

How the dictatorship affected artists

Prominent artists/designers musician

Beyond art: Tropicalia and influences on politics and culture

How did artists use mediums to speak out against the dictatorship?

What was the cultural impact of Tropicalia?

What have been Tropicalia’s impact on today

Resources:

Discussing the pillars of the Brazilian Tropicália Movement: The graphic design of Rogério Duarte

Artists were experimenting during the 1960s and 1970s, developing new musical, visual, and social narratives

Many of the social, cultural, and artistic manifestations (civil rights movement, psychedelia) were counter cultural (a way of life opposed to the social norm) meaning they were against the establishment 

Tropicalia emerged during the late 1960s as a countercultural movement with intense artistic attributes

Tends to be related to its well known musical artists and leaders; Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil

Movement was boosted and spread by music

Central figure to Tropicalismo was also Rogerio Duarte (1939 - 2016) who was part of the circle of Tropicalist Musicians 

Duarte showed tropicalist perspective throughout artworks for several album covers, posters, and other printed media.

One of his earliest works that convey themes of Tropicalia, was his layout of the magazine Movimento - editorial project started in March 1962.

The project was free from excess  and derived by a grid divided into three columns. Contents were also split into three main subjects: image, body text, and title.

The cover design of the first issue showed elements of Warhol’s pop art experiments can be seen through the contrasting shades of blue and white.

Visual planning from a regular/geometric structure can be seen throughout a lot of Duarte’s Tropicalist work. 

Duarte started to be involved with political issues during the 1960s. His career and political views became important in the creation of the Tripicalist movement and would become a problem for the Brazilian dictatorship. He affiliated with the Communist Party allowed for him to fade the boundaries between graphic design and the political sphere. His connections to the left wing cost him his freedom as he was one of the first Tropicalist figures to be arrested by the dictatorship. Duarte was tortured - leading to a mental breakdown leaving him in a psychiatric wing for two years. 

Duarte accompanied and affiliated with many popular figures, notably Caetano Veloso, who confirmed that he talked a lot with Duarte abut Brazilian popular music along with other topics such as philosophy, mass media, and pop art - as well as Helio Oiticica, a prominent Tropicalist artist.

ORIGINS OF TROPICALIA

The term tropicalia emerged from an art installation by Helio Oiticica. Oiticica’s innovative and radical work was able to develop the Brazilian contemporary art scene. The installation consisted of a maze environment on the gardens of the museum. The outcome referenced a “favela,” a slum.

The name of the installation, Tropicalia, would be used as the title of one of Veloso’s new songs - and since then journalists started to refer to Veloso and his fellow musicians as Tropicalists.

Tropicalists aimed to break away from the Brazilian music of the period, however, were highly influenced by Bossa Nova, Roberto Carlos, and Luis Gonzaga.

Tropicalists aimed to fuse many influences, including international (such as psychedelic rock, popular, and classical music) as well as Brazilian.

Duarte wanted to find the symbolic representation of the country in the imagery of tropical paradise.

Influences were complimented with a view that was similar to hippie culture: style included long and wavy hair and bright colored clothing

Artists were carrying Brazilian symbols embroidered on garments or used as props. Those symbols could include banana prints, necklaces made of seashells and beads, or leather hats

The colorful symbols were highlighting nationalist discussions of the movement. According to Veloso, Tropicalists “took in the hippie movement, pop music, the British invasion, student movements in the U.S and France.” They “had all this material to discuss and reflect upon.”

Tropicalia aimed to create a Brazilian cultural reinvention

Lyrics of Tropicalist songs were being composed through verbal and linguistic metaphors - they contained word fragmentation techniques that created jokes and puns. This was also used to contain images of anti-nationalism and show their support against the military’s control. This kind of appropriation also emerged through graphic design in the work of Rogerio Duarte. He used the modernist aesthetic which was previously popular during the Bauhaus and the School of Ulm — and was inspired by the symmetry of geometric forms. Swiss typography, which was already popular and widespread within Brazil, applied the tropical aesthetic through use of vivid and contrasting colours. This can be seen in Duarte’s graphic style, example in the record cover of Jorge Mautner below

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PSYCHEDELIC INPUT

Psychedelia was one of the main international influences of Tropicalia, and held a fascination for sensoria perception.

The authoritarian regime in Brazil was the main boosting event behind Tropicalia. 

While Duarte’s work gathers hints from visuals of foreign Psychedelia aesthetics, Duarte is able to create his own style. He drifted away from the widespread Swiss style, and was in search of a new notion for a specific Brazilian perspective. He both appropriated and reconfigured many visual characteristics of the psychedelic scenario. Including use of illustration as the main element. 

DISCUSSION

Overall, Duarte was concerned with the creation of a new aesthetic that could better reflect the Brazilian culture.

In the Tropicalist context, art got together with music, graphic design, fashion and poetry - allowing the movement to be swayed by multiple artistic disciplines.

Duarte considered that the movement evolved from his own work, of which Caetano Veloso agrees and stated that if not for his discussions with Duarte, Tropicalia may have never existed.

Duarte was one of the leading figures regarding his personal, intellectual, and aesthetical formation - one of the deepest, despite less known, figures of the Brazilian period.

Duarte continued to develop his Tropicalist aesthetic even after the end of its then famous musical sphere.

Rogerio Duarte was the graphic designer who made the poster for Terra em Transe.

Holds Elements of Constructivist influence (black and white photomontage) but is contrasted by bright shades of red and green. Duarte surprises with an “explosive” layout style and typographic composition - avoiding the rational geometry of form. The composition also creates a spiral reading movement.

2. The Tropicalia-Movement and the Challenges to Brazilian Art in the Age of Culture Industry

Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, two revolutionary Tropicalists, aimed their songs at an increasingly internationalised modern life.

The Tropicalists were interested in how technical means were ways that mankind could invent itself

"The Tropicalia movement was doing in Brazilian popular music the same operation that Andy Warhol was carrying out at the same time in visual arts in the United States." - this included symbols of urban life and consumption

"The corrupted and trivial setting of cities with their consumption goods was invading the arts, which were still looking for a way of commenting on them."

Tropicalia was both experimental and commercial, the medium utilised popular sounds and elements and infused them with elements which created a new sound that went against the traditional sounds Brazilians were used to hearing. The Tropicalia movement allowed classical musicians or learned musicians to work with commercial labels.

Tropicalia was both a modern and postmodern movement

Caetano Veloso's album, Tropicalia Ou Panis et Circenses or Tropicalia or Bread and Circuses, already captured the essence of both criticising and adhering to what is popular through the album title alone. The title itself is quite clever, with Tropicalia being a synonym for 'bread and circuses,' making the album title seem interchangeable. However, on the album cover the two phrases are separated distinctly visually through being placed on opposite ends of the record cover. This creates contrast and a sense of ambiguity, which continues to explain the relationship between art and the culture industry. Pedro Duarte describes the album as "lyric and epic, affectionate and parodic, playful and critical, humorous and serious, religious and secular, popular and erudite; it sings “iê-iê-iê” (‘yeah, yeah, yeah’) and protests"

Overall I found this second source a little confusing and limited so will continue to further develop my research through a new reading this week and expanding my knowledge through my primary sources. Some other designers I can explore with my research could include: Luciano Figueiredo, Oscar Ramos, Aldo Luiz, and Kelli Rodrigues.

Project by Aldo Luiz for Gilberto Gil's album 2222 in 1972

Caetano Veloso's self titled album, 1968

[grad505-brunoking]

W7 Class Summary

This week we heard from guest speaker Welby Ings, a New Zealand filmmaker and professor at Auckland University of Technology, and I found his lecture really interesting and insightful. One area of design I'm increasingly interested in is that of production design in film - particularly by the work of MinaLima. This lecture gave me knowledge about the process designers go through to ensure accuracy when designing for a period, as well as some of the challenges to overcome when creating design for film. Ings really stressed the importance of design in film, and it's accuracy to ensure holding the audience's belief.

Ings walked through some examples of design in the films he's work on and his process which involves extensive research both in a primary and secondary manor. Interesting to note was where Ings pointed out the many different circumstances and influences on design during a period - which may be vastly different to what was portrayed on expensive catalogues, especially when investing a rural place or small town which almost appears out of time.

We also discussed the differences between Primary sources and Secondary sources. Primary sources are directly linked to the time of investigation and could include period films, diaries, interviews with someone who lived through the time, autobiographies etc. A secondary source is what has made up the majority of my research to date and is a source of information directly relating to information presenting elsewhere. The importance of primary sources is clear as it is the only way to ensure entire accuracy as pieces of information may have been lost through misinterpretation. We were encouraged to pursue primary sources in order to extend our research over the coming weeks.

[grad505-brunoking]

W6 SDL

[grad505-brunoking]

W6 Class summary

Semiotics and Visual Literacy

I found this lecture quite difficult to follow and felt the need to conduct further research to add to my notes in order to gain a better understanding of this weeks topic. In large part this was probably due to a lot of new terminology being introduced quite quickly which I struggled to fully grasp.

During the lecture, we were introduced to the topic and discussed ways visuals "speak." We learned how visual language shares characteristics with verbal language and how both are communicative and structural. Images are like words, of which both are encoded with meaning. For verbal language, the communications structure follows: 1. Meaning (semantics) 2. Word Order (syntax) 3. Interpretation based on context (pragmatics)

Image code The creator first encodes an image with meaning or intuition when they are designing it, and then further encodes the image when placed in a given context. This creates the question; How do we understand the structure behind a visual image? Semiotics is an investigation into how meaning is created as well as how meaning is communicated. The origins of semiotics lay in the study of how symbols create an impression on audiences. Visual semiotics is the study of symbolic processes in which a visual image is combined with a meaning or is the carrier of meanings.

Semiotic analysis is the study of signs and symbols, what they mean, and how they're used. Semiotic analysis aims to highlight the key graphic elements and understand their meaning processes. Semiotic theory says as sign is anything that stands for something else - either an object or a concept.

One of the key figures in Semiotics is Ferdinand de Saussure, who is also known as the father of semiology. He proposed that the sign in language is the signifier and the signified. He conceived that the sign is the marriage between: - a sound or an image which is called a signifier - the concept for which is stands for called the signified Signs can take the form of words, sounds, images, orders, flavours, acts, or objects but such things have no meaning and only become signs when we give them meaning - a purpose.

Roland Barthes extended the concepts of signified and signifier to include connotation and denotation. In Barthes' work connotation refers to cultural meanings, mythologies, and/or ideologies. CONNOTATION: - refers to the wide away of positive and negative associations that most words naturally carry with them DENOTATION - is the direct, specific, or literal meaning we get from a sign - a description or representation of the signified -> a word that might be found in the dictionary.

Charles Sanders Pierce further developed a model of knowledge about the way reality is represented in mind and thought. He says that there is one form of icon, index, and symbols. ICON -> something that represents its objects by similarities INDEX -> The signifier is directly connected in someway in relation to the object (i.e smoke means there's a fire) Symbol -> does not resemble the signified but is arbitrary or purely conventional (i.e the New Zealand flag does not look like New Zealand but is a symbol for the country, traffic lights too)

[grad505-brunoking]

W5 SDL

This week our SDL required us to read and annotate a text, then to note down details in meaning we find important. My chosen text was the book Politics in Uniform : Military Officers and Dictatorship in Brazil by Maud Chirio. As the book would be quite lengthy to read in full, I chose to start with the introduction as I believed it would touch base on the most important aspects of the text and would give me starting points to further my research later on. The text was 10 pages so I am unable to upload all of my annotations but have included some of the most annotated pages from various points in the text. I found this exercise really helpful and found that I was able to strengthen my note-taking process as originally I would have just read through the text and taken notes - the technique we were told to follow allowed me to keep track of important ideas, and engage actively with the text. This allowed me to stay engaged and draw out deeper meanings when it came to reflection. Chirio, Maud. Politics in Uniform : Military Officers and Dictatorship in Brazil, 1960-80, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/AUT/detail.action?docID=5450024.

[grad505-brunoking]

W5 Class summary

This week's lecture presented us with a brief history of western design - and explored The Avant-garde, Futurism, and Dadaism.

Futurism and Dadaism occurred between 1910-1930s which were quite a chaotic time globally with events such as World War I and the Spanish Flu impacting art and design extraordinarily.

A brief background on WWI and the Spanish Flu was given to us to help provide us with further context.

World War I: 20 million deaths 21 million wounded Many of those were under 19 years old Almost 100k served in NZ units overseas and there were lots of really young soldiers Youngest soldier to die in WWI was 14 years old Many towns in Europe were destroyed and areas of countryside were poisoned and flooded

Spanish Flu Pandemic: 1918-1920 Killed 17.4 - 100 million worldwide In two months NZ lost about half as many people to influenza as it had in the whole first world war

Einstein's theory of general relativity had changed the way we look at the cosmos and how gravity is a bend of space by mass and energy. The influence of Einsteins theory can be seen in art through cubism and the work was inspired by the idea of time and movement and illusion.

The Avant-garde Started in the 19th Century and ended in the 1920s and 1930s. French term that refers to something visionary and ahead of its time. In reference to art the term means any artist, movement, or artwork that is regarded as innovative and boundaries-pushing.

Avant-garde designers were young people on their 20s and they wanted nothing less than to change the world

The avant-garde artists were surrounded by chaos, industrialization, technology, world war, and science

They had guts and vision and embraced mass communication, machinery, and challenged conventions.

Futurism in Italy 1909 - 1940 Italy had a large debt and very few natural resources. They also had a monarchy and was called the Kingdom of Italy in 1909. Italians were in a lot poverty and forced a lot of Italians to migrate outside of the country to US and South America.

Futurism emerged then and embraced innovation, technology, and transportation all components of the future they saw after WWI.

The futurists celebration of war as a means to remake italy and their support of Italy’s entrance into World War I.

Futurism embraced chaotic paintings that portrayed speed movement and power and were inspired by cubist art.

Filipino Marinetti was the main leader of the movement and admired speed, had a car accident that almost killed him in 1908 and he veered into a ditch to avoid two cyclists. This event inspired him to write the Futurist manifesto - he saw the old ways (bicycles) must give way to the new ways (his new car).

A Manifesto is a written statement where artists often publicly declare their intentions, opinions, and visions about the artistic movement

Typography mixed with imagery to create a kind of visual and aural cacophony

Marinetti intended to portray sounds of war as stuck between different genres of music

Marinettis “revolution is directed against the so-called typographical harmony of the page”

Reject the traditional past of book design - printed books on tin use of materials was very important to the futurists

FUTURIST LEGACY:

use of materials

breaking conventions

Influences on space and typography

Asymmetry in compositions

Visual effect of words

focus largely on technology and industrialization

Dadaism 1914 - 1918

During WWI, some artists and writers served bravely, some even died (Umberto Boccioni) and others went into exile.

Dada was composed of artists in exile, in nations that were safe.

Dadaism is an anti art movement and used it to protest against the war and critique society, cultural, and political critique.

The word dada is a play of words and sounds, just a word with no meaning behind it.

Satirical, nonsensical, irrational, anti-bourgeois, humorous, absurd, spontaneous.

Hugo Ball and Emmy Hennings opened Cabaret Voltaire where Dada was born. Promoted many events including performances and often reciting his sound poems.

Only was open for 6 months

Marcel Duchamp often include found objects and materials combined through collage and ready-makes. Calling repurposed everyday items ‘art’. “if i call it art, it becomes art”

Hanna Hoch used her collages to criticize societal institutions, explode gender norms, and strictly shows a distinctly queer, feminist perspective “I would like to show the world today as an art sees it and tomorrow as the moon sees it” (I want to explore Hoch further as I find her work really interesting)

Kurt Schwitters published 24 issues the periodical Metz, worked with many mediums including collages and typography

Dada after the war

hugely liberating movement that inspired other art movements

was divided into two parts

Legacy explained by Duchamp who said that the art is more idea than the artist and can be made of anything

typographic design and the concept of letterforms as concrete visual shapes, not just phonetic symbols - much more experimental

photomontage a technique of manipulation found photographic images to create jarring juxtapositions and chance associations - used as a critique

[grad505-brunoking]

Graphic Means

I was really fascinated to watch the documentary this week as part of our STL and honestly hadn't expected to learn as much as I did. I'm not sure why but I believed to have a much better understanding of the history in print processes than I actually had and was really surprised to learn about all the techniques, stages, and machinery responsible for producing print and graphics in the past. Specifically I found Linotype and phototypesetting to be really interesting processes and was fascinated to learn the limitations of each process when compared to each other. The move into digital processes with the emergence of the first desktop computers was also really fascinating to hear about especially the discourse between more traditional older designers who were strongly opposed to the technology and younger designers who embraced and saw its potential. One of the most interesting things described in my opinion was the process of phototypesetting which I had written in my notes:

Designer would come up with an idea

First thing generated was the copy sent to the designer

Designer would then sketch out ideas and how they saw the layout. Everything had to be specified in extreme detail.

They then sent that to the type compositor and that person would type into a photo composition machine

The output would be type valleys which would be long strips of paper that would have columns of text on it

Other parts of the layout would be developed ie photography

A production artist would then need to figure out what the size was and cropping etc. they would then shoot that on a photoscan camera to the actual size that it would be used in the layout

At this point all the elements (photography, type, illustrations, lettering) all needed to come and be pasted up onto the mechanical

Once the mechanical was done it would be sent to the printer

transferred onto a metal plate to be used for the printing process

I found the intense labor of creating extremely interesting to explore and it made me reflect on how I go about my designs. I have a new found appreciation for design from the not-so-distant past and really value how much though and precision went about into every detail of a piece of work. The transition from traditional to digital has changed how the world saw designers, going from a small niche of very specialised artists to a practice that many believe is possible to do with little to no experience on sites such as Canva and apps like PicsArt. As mentioned in the documentary with so much design more accessible than ever, there is both good and bad variables being introduced and a lot more opportunities for unique and wondrous designs to be created from all over the globe, however, there has also been an over saturation of bad design with the increase of accessibility and as of now it is still an ongoing discourse within the community whether these open source apps are good for the industry and if they devalue the perception of graphic designers to the public.