Art Guiding Questions:
Theatre of the Oppressed
With relevancy to TOK, theater of the oppressed is a form of art that aims to create social/ political awareness and offer a solution through numerous ways of knowing to connect to the audience. For instance, a form of theater oppressed called forum theater asks for the audiences perspective, and requires the audience to imagine a resolution for the conflict, however the audience must use their reason to offer a realistic solution that can be applied
-Minhal
Shocking images of drowned Syrian boy show tragic plight of refugees (Article)
This article from the New York Times talks about a new art exhibition in Paris that decided not to display the names of the artists along with their work, so that viewers of the exhibition analyzed and perceived the work without any prior knowledge and preconceptions of the artists. As the exhibitors believed, it is important for people to analyze art solely based on what they see. The personal knowledge of an individual, such as the knowledge of a viewer of an art exhibition, regarding the background of the artist might affect the knower’s perspective on the artwork due to certain emotions, of which one prime example is confirmation bias. If an individual is aware that a certain artists usually depicts scenes of love in his or her artwork, the individual will assume that the artwork also depicts a scene of love, ignoring any information which hints otherwise. Thus, this article can be used to talk about the role of emotion in the arts. This article can also be used as a real life situation in TOK essay prompt #3 by discussing how the knower's perspective influences personal knowledge. The article can also be used in TOK essay prompt #5, by talking about the concepts a viewer of art might be using that shape the conclusions he or she reaches.
-Minhal
Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke (Song)
Blurred Lines is a music video by Robin Thicke which depicts the singer surrounded by scantily dressed women grinding on him, while he sings, “I know you want it, I know you want it.” This music video received great backlash, due to the fact that it promotes date rape and heavily objectifies and sexualizes women. This video can be used for TOK by discussing the effect on language, such as the aggressive lyrics in the song, on emotions, such as the aggressive and violent emotions that may result as a result of men listening to these sexual lyrics. Furthermore, the area of knowledge art can be discussed in terms of the dangers of art as a platform for shared knowledge: the power which art has over an individual’s emotional state might become dangerous if the art is used to promote destructive ideas, such as the dehumanization of women.
-Minhal
This piece of art is from the Vietnam war, and shows a man holding a gun to the head ofa younger looking boy. Without context, this piece of art provokes emotion and sympathy for the boy who has a gun aimed at hsi head, however in context, the boy has actually been committing several harsh crimes, and so he is being punished. This demonstrates how without context, art can often be misleading and evoke emotions that should not be evoked.
-Bibo Tabbara
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/09/08/437606987/in-saudi-arabia-a-flourishing-art-scene-behind-closed-doors
This news article/real life situation discusses artwork in Saudi Arabia, and how it is influenced by culture. More specifically, it discusses the artwork of Arwa Alneami, and how she has created art through photographs an videos of an amusement park in her hometown of Abha, Saudi Arabia. By creating these artworks, Arwa is expressing herself and demonstrating her feelings towards a conservative country such as Saudi Arbia, where women are advised not to scream loudly at an amusement park. By creating this art, Arwa is reflecting upon her society and asking other to question to strict rules directed at women. In terms of TOK, art can be greatly influenced by culture and society, and it can be a form of expression/rebellion against society and its rules. Additionally, art can be a means of communicating a message as stated in this article.
-Bibo Tabbara
Presidential Candidates Normalizing Racism
This article suggests that Donald Trump has an emotional prejudice against immigrants. His prejudice leads to biased perception, fallacious reasoning, and emotive language. First of all, Trump makes an assumption that a specific race of people are lazy. whcih creates a biased perception because he only notices lazy immigrants that he has met in his life and ignores all the hard working ones. This leads to fallacious reasoning where he makes hasty generalizations from his own limited experiences. Finally, in order to convince others of his conviction and self-confirming beief system, he uses emotive language to his supporters implying that immigrants are all lazy. This can create prejudice amongst the American people and is an example of how emotions can negatively impact society. (Emaan)
Waqas Khan: The Pakistani Artist who makes you want to say yes
This article shows how art can be a source of knowledge or art as communication. Khan uses art to promote his religion, emphasizing on morals and peace. He combines contemporary art with Islamic art so that not only is it aesthetic, but also communicating a message. There is a debate on whether art should be judged purely on its aesthetic rather than its ethical merits and this at combines both aesthetics and moralities in his art, challenging the question that art should be judged on either or. (Emaan)
This image is an illustration of war, it is ironic that the man is holding a gun while drawing a peace sign at the same time which shows how people might think they are trying to find peace when in reality they are the ones who are preventing it. The picture shows the peace sign has not been completed, it is cut and the soldier is holing the paint brush as if this is sort of symbolizing that is within the soldiers hands to actually make peace or prevent it. This relates to TOK as the image is used as a tool of communication in terms of educating the public because of how hypocritical they are. The image illustrates an issue the world is facing now, and sharing it to the public in a more effective way in which they can understand the message that is being addressed.
- Talah
I found this picture interesting because there are many ways of viewing it depending on the persons perception. It is an illusion which shows two different images in one, both symbolizing a certain meaning. - Abdulaziz
This picture intrigued me because it is a form of art that conveys a message in to our reality, the artist shows two sides that explains the world we live in now, in the left of the persons brain it shows the technological side that is dull, repetitive, and addictive. The other contrasts with what the world should be like and how people are meant to act. It shows bright colors, the people are happier, they aren't addicted to one thing, they are actually living by using what the natural earth has to offer. This can be related to reason because depending on what the person believes to be right they would choose a specific side that they find to be the better one. There could also be another aspect that influences a persons understanding of the picture and their decision in picking a side.
- Talah M
This picture shows how the artist is expressing her emotion through protest art - Abdulaziz
Noor Aldelamy:
The photograph above shows the scratches present on the walls of a gas chamber in Auschwitz active during WW2. The scratches are believed to have been made by the fingernails of victims as they awaited death by Zyklon B Pellets, and thus prove it was a lengthier death (about 20 minutes) than expected. Images such as this, which have detailed the horrors of Holocaust prisoners, still create shock and remain controversial to this day. Thus, it is evidence that application in the real-world does impact the supposed relevance of knowledge. This then relates to the 4th prescribed title for the TOK essay, which asks students to evaluate the statement "Without application in the world, the value of knowledge is greatly diminished." The use of the arts, in the case of this photograph, to bring about social and political awareness regarding a variety of topics thus can be used to support/refute the above claim.
This illustration by Vladimir Kazanevsky reveals the current problem between the protection of the environment and industrialization. This serves as an indication of the opportunity cost of either progressing through industrialization or protecting the environment. It suggests that humanity cannot do both effectively as only one would win in a metaphorical arm wrestle. This can be used as an example of arts, in TOK, as it describes how art can be used to spur societal, cultural, or global awareness of a certain issue. This example can be used to explore the ways in which art allows us to make sense of the world and how art can be seen as a truth.
- Haya AlAggad
Guerilla Girls, Do Women Have to be Naked to get into the Met. Museum? (1990), New York
Guerilla Girls are a group of female artists disguised with a Gorilla mask. Their artwork focuses on feminism, where they design posters that mentions all the sexist assumptions and reality people have in the early 1990s. “Do Women Have to be Naked to get into the Met. Museum?” talks about how it’s harder for women to excel in a field, because women have been stereotyped to be inferior to men. In ToK terms, we can talk about how the Guerilla Girls hide their identity, and how does that make their movement more powerful. Since, people don’t have any prior knowledge on who the people are, and that eliminates the bias factor. As well as, the use of art to communicate the idea that women are treated differently, and how that influenced the audience to follow the feminist movement. This picture could be related to history and how art influenced a change in past events. In addition, it could be related to the use of language, how does phrases strengthen art, and is it needed to communicate an idea. -AlAnoud
This image was captured during the attacks on 9/11. The controversy is that this day is known and remembered each year as a traumatic event with roughly 3000 people dead. In this picture we see people smiling and chatting as if nothing is occuring which almost gives the spectator the impression that this image these people are oblivious to their surroundings. There has been much controversy on whether or not these people were aware of the event and to that the people in the photo responded that they were simply in shock. What I take from this image however, is that we humand only tend to respond to events that may influence us personally, or influence someone we may hold dear. in their case, they seem as if as long as this does not influence them first hand they do not react. This also shows the purpose of arts in the society and how we humans need arts to evoke different emotions and to raise awareness.
-Pauline
This piece of art is has become the symbol for peace in Paris following the Paris attacks last week. It combines the Eiffel tower with the peace sign in order to create a symbol for peace in Paris. It was designed by a graphic designer who lives in London. As an artist, as soon as he heard of the Paris attacks, he was inspired by the horrific attacks to sketch something and share it, and so it went viral. In terms of TOK, this piece of art creates unity, as it went viral following the Paris attacks. People shared this artwork online because they were influenced by their emotions which allowed them to sympathize with the Parisians. This demonstrates how art can create unity on a global level.
-Bibo Tabbara
The painting “Hope” was created in 1886 by George Fredric Watts who painted allegorical works. In terms of ToK, we can analyze the aesthetics of the artist and the reason why he painted the work and its effects on its spectators. Watts said, “Hope need not expectancy,” which is the basis of the painting. To one observer, the painting could illustrate the idea of hope from the character in the painting who seems to be listening closely to the broken instrument, hoping for a sound. To another observer, this painting could be titled “Despair” based off the appearance of the character. In either case, a claim could be that art is used as communication of an idea, however that idea can be left to the aesthetic of the observer or the artist.
--Chris Morcom
In this case of art, the context and purpose of this work is either art as communication, or art as education because the art was created and used for the purpose of representing one of the signs of the apocalypse. This piece of art was both educational and communicative. This work depicts aspects of religion, educating people about the Jewish apocalypse. In any case, this type of art does not depend on the aesthetic of the observer or the artist as it has a defined meaning and purpose.
--Chris Morcom
Crayon art is one of the most common types of arts in the modern days. It is considered to be visually appealing to most people, and evokes emotion including happiness to some due to the attractive colors utilized. However, since this form of art is really common, according to TOK, specifically the intention criteria, this is not a form of art as the artist who has done this 'artwork' did not intend to evoke any emotions within the viewer. It is considered to be a "result of random activity" rather than an intentional one.
-Leen kayali
Little Dancer of Fourteen Years by Edgar Degas is a sculpture that illustrates a different perspective towards the public perception of the "ideal ballerina". While ballerina's are thought of as having an angelic pose, with perfect posture, a smiling face, and features that are healthy, this bronze statue by Degas on the contrary displays the ballerina with taut arms, twisted and fragile legs, tense posture, and a displeasing facial expression. The face of the statue seems to be rather sickly and contorted, however it can be interpreted as an expression of a fourteen year old girl who shows little interest in being a ballerina and opposes something she seems to be forced to do. This art piece by Degas acts as a form of communication, whereby the artists show's an opposition towards the ideals of society placed on small girls. By placing visually pleasing accessories on the girl and by displaying it as a form of art, Degas urges a shift in perspective within society. A shift in perspective where the society understands and see's any deformities and differences as something that is beautiful.
- Beyza Tasoglu
Sean Yoro, a New York based artists has gathered attention recently due to his artworks aimed towards climate change. This picture shows the image of a women's face that looks rather peaceful, painted on an iceberg in Iceland. The motive behind the cleverly placed picture was to direct peoples attention towards the effects of Icebergs and the resulting rise in sea levels. With sea levels rising, the picture of the woman's face would disappear as if she drowned. This form of art, acts as a symbol for the society as a whole. People are "sleeping" through the problem without realizing it's effects. Such forms of art are used especially to communicate a message to the viewers while urging action towards the situation. The viewers perspective is also critical in this case, as there is no clear indication of the picture given therefore, different individuals would have different interpretations of the image.
- Beyza Tasoglu
This is art work demonstrates the 'clenched fist' which is a famous symbol for strength and unity. It's meaning correlates with the message it is delivering. The background of this art work is made of of the colors of the Syrian flag (after the war) and the fist includes all nations in the middle east. the message portrayed by this artwork is that all rab nations must unit in order to built strength and create peace in syria and in their own country. this message is extremely significant today since the world is experiencing major violence and threats which could be avoided if unity was present. In relation to TOK, this work of art provokes emotion in which it engages with certain parts of society who have experienced any violence towards their homeland. the artist chose a common symbol to deliver the same meaning to different audiences.
- Katia Halawi
this art work is known as The Face of Paris in which it represents the Eiffel tower and the beauty of the city however in relevance to the tragic incident that took place. this image provokes emotion through the dullness and loneliness of the mood created. but also it is an illusion since there is a face created in the center which isn't clearly displayed. this relates to sense perception of the viewer and how it plays a role on the way information is perceived. Different people notice different parts of the artwork first and this based on their personal experiences and way of thinking.
- Katia Halawi
Emotions are influenced by experience and sense perception. Experience because we personally engage with the event which provokes an emotion that is caused based on our way of thinking and knowledge. sense perception because our emotions are built based on the way we perceive information or events occurring. Emotions cannot be assured based on a large group of people because although the majority might experience the same emotion there will be a minority that has different feeling towards the same event. The mind is impacted by the emotions in which they can either be positive or negative which impact the mood as well. Emotions also play a role in decision making where reasoning is affected and slightly less followed. Emotions are influenced by different factors in someone's life such as stress or positive/ negative events which impacts someone's behavior and actions.
- Katia Halawi
This work of art by Lebanese Raouf Rifai titled "Darwiche" portrays the bloodshed in Lebanon. Darwiche refers to a typical man and by choosing to cover the embodiment of a typical man in blood, Rifai is successful at portraying the effect of the excessive bombings in Lebanon on the typical man. In relation to TOK, this piece of art serves to portray the social function of the arts as the aim of this painting is to raise awareness regarding the struggling Lebanese population by evoking emotion (sadness and pity) in the viewer. -Ali B.
This comic shows two terrorists in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks. The terrorists while holding a paintbrush reflect on the power of art and the damage that a single painting can do. The painting that led to these attacks was a vulgar paintings of a Muslim Prophet, which evoked numerous reactions in the public and made a group of radical extremists so emotional that they decided to kill all contributors. In relation to TOK, this comic shows the power of the arts and the global effect it can have as well as its efficiency in evoking emotions in a viewer. It also shows how emotions can impair a person's sense of reasoning and lead to such horrific acts. - Ali B.
Giosué Orefice: [watching his father's uncle being sent to another barracks, which is the last time he will see him] Where is Uncle going?
Guido: Uh... oh, he's playing on a different team. Goodbye, Uncle!
Giosué Orefice: Goodbye, Uncle.
This is a quote from the movie "Life Is Beautiful". This movie is about a Jewish librarian and his son becoming victims of the holocaust, and Guido (the father) attempts to protect his son from all the troubles around the camp in a very humorous and imaginative way. I found this quote to be very moving even though I did not experience the holocaust. This is because of the History that I learned about the holocaust. On the other hand, a person who experienced it first hand may have a more emotional reaction to this quote, because of the subjective viewpoint they had since they experienced the dangers of the Holocaust themselves, with the aid of the memory of this experience, it contributes to the knowledge of the arts in their perspective.
Alissar Abdin
This is an image that was created for global warming. In my opinion, if an artwork evokes a certain emotion out of anyone, the merit of that artwork can be judged. It does not necessarily need to evoke a happiness it can sometimes evoke sadness and an annoyed feeling. Like for example, this image. This image is worthy because it enables people to be more aware of what is going on in the world, and the harsh truth that animals are going extinct very frequently. This image may be the reason for people wanting to make a change since it allows people to feel emotional when seeing this image.
Alissar Abdin
http://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/130085731641/my-husband-and-i-sold-everything-we-had-to-afford
THis photograph shows a refugee woman crying in grief and distress over her missing husband. The woman's husband risked his own life to save another woman by giving her his life jacket. This arises the question in the area of knowledge of ethics of whether we are morally obligated to help others even though it puts our lives at risk. It also relates to the way of knowing of emotion because it shows the man's emotions of sympathy for the other woman led him to risk his own life. It could be said that his emotions overpowered his reason because his altruistic act caused him to become missing and leave a widowed wife. The rational decision would have been putting his own needs above the woman's. (Emaan)
Man Killed Parents for Leaving Him Out of Fast Food Run
In this article, man's anger overcame his rationality which led him to kill his parents. This is an example of how emotion can become an obstacle to nowledge. Since emotions are an integal part of our lives, they are likely to influence our perception of the world. Combined with the use of emotive language and emotional colouring, this man's emotions blinded him from reason and led him to commit the immoral and heinous act of killing his parents. Reason can be negatively affected by emotions because this man held his anger too passionately which prevented him from thinking clearly. (Emaan)
This photo shwos how art is an abstract way of imitating reality. The artist attempts to show how giant corporations like McDonalds are unethical for making the poor suffer. Ronald McDonald as portrayed here is show to have an angry expression, different from his usual happy and smiling face in McDonalds ads. This sows how people can be two faced. Art can influence our perception of the world and provokes us to think how everything seemingly good is not as good as it seems. Ronald is sneering as there is a meager man polishing his shoes expessing how capitalism is leading us to become slaves to big corporations. This shows art as a creative interpretation of reality. Art helps us see the world with new eyes by drawing attention to previosuly unnoticed features of reality. (Emaan)
This image is an example of art as communication. It provokes the audience to think about the realities about the world in adifferent way and how language can influence our perceptions. When we hear the names of famous philosophers, we immediately assicate them with feelings of respect and regard them as deeply intelligent beings. The artist is attempting to make the audience to rethink the way our brain associates these feelings with certain words and question everything we see. (Emaan)
"Ladri di biciclette" - Noor Aldelamy
The Bicycle Thief, a 1948 gem of Italian cinema directed by Vittorio De Sica, follows a rueful melodrama based on a father-son storyline after the former's bicycle (which he had recently bought to begin a job that was destined to be the deliverance to his poor family and method of sustenance) is stolen on the 1st day of his new job. Throughout the film, scenes of joy and compassion are opposed by distraught and failure in a neorealistic classic. The realism of the work, meant to be portrayed almost like a documentary would, and thus filmed as such, portrays the grim reality of unemployment and futility in post-war Italy, and the disparity of poverty. This film is clearly influenced by the society in which it has been pursued, and has resulted from the background of the country it has been produced by (Italy). This concept relates to TOK as it can be used as an example for the 3rd prescribed title "The knower's perspective is essential in the pursuit of knowledge", through discussing how the director's perspective on the state of Italy after WW2, which he has communicated through scenes specifically developed to evoke negative, and often tearful emotions from the viewer.
This video is on a trailer of one of Charlie Chaplin’s films called “Modern Times” (1936). This movie is especially significant, as it was a way through which Charlie Chaplin gave the people in the west a break from the great depression. The great depression (1929-1939) was a time when most of the economies crashed and people were living in very poor living standards. That being said, the use of a comedic film was Chaplin’s was to bring some sort of light into this grief. This can be used in a TOK essay when talking about the use of emotion or imagination in art. Chaplin’s creative film was directed at society, even though Chaplin had no part in solving the great depression, he did have a role in making his audience temporarily happy. Therefore, this example can be used to support the claim that art is valuable in terms of not only reflecting emotion, but also influencing it.
- Haya AlAggad
Trailer BICICLETA, CUCHARA, MANZANA. I watched this trailer for my IB Spanish class to gain an understanding of Alzheimer’s and its effect on both the person affected by this disease as well as their families. In reality this is a short-film to evoke emotions in the individual as well as show the effect of the memory loss on the individuals in the movie. The title comes from the fact that he forgets the words “BICICLETA, CUCHARA, MANZANA” shortly after he is told to remember them. The importance of this art piece is not necessarily only to evoke an emotion in the individual but rather to inform the individual of the effects of this disease and how to learn to deal with someone who may be affected by this disease. – Pauline
This video by Ron Strickland describes the changing nature of the social function of arts within two time periods post modern and modernity. The main differences in traits being anonymous and didactic. For anonymous, in earlier periods most artwork was published without the name of the artist in fear as most paintings which were seen as a form of self expression, whilst that expression did not conform to the cultural and religious norms. For didactic, the main difference is that before the main focus of works of art was the self expression of the artist whilst now that is unimportant as art serves the purpose of raising awareness about a specific subject. In relation to TOK, this shows the social function of the arts within two time periods and the importance of art to both as well as the importance of imagination and creativity in relation to ways in which an artist can portray a significant issue and raise awareness. - Ali B.
Blurred Lines is a music video by Robin Thicke which depicts the singer surrounded by scantily dressed women grinding on him, while he sings, “I know you want it, I know you want it.” This music video received great backlash, due to the fact that it promotes date rape and heavily objectifies and sexualizes women. This video can be used for TOK by discussing the effect on language, such as the aggressive lyrics in the song, on emotions, such as the aggressive and violent emotions that may result as a result of men listening to these sexual lyrics. Furthermore, the area of knowledge art can be discussed in terms of the dangers of art as a platform for shared knowledge: the power which art has over an individual’s emotional state might become dangerous if the art is used to promote destructive ideas, such as the dehumanization of women. - Mariyah Jahangiri
This video talks about the genre of Theater of Cruelty in theater, a horror genre first created by Antonin Artaud. As talked about and seen in the video, this genre was used to bring out heavy, frightened emotions in the audience without using language, but instead using a variety of other theater conventions such as lighting, sound, and gestures. This video can be used for TOK by discussing the ways by providing a counterargument for the idea that the way of knowing language greatly affects an individual’s emotions and reasoning – Theater of Cruelty is able to convey grotesque themes such as murder and nightmares without the use of language. Hence, the importance of language can also be discussed in regards to the area of knowledge art, as theater is a form of art: What is the role of language in the arts? Furthermore, the use of emotion and reason in art can also be discussed, because Theater of Cruelty focuses greatly on bring out certain disturbed emotions in the audience, without playing on the reasoning on the audience. Hence the following question can be discussed: What is the role of emotion and reason in the arts? - Mariyah Jahangiri
This song by Yael Naim has been one of my favorite songs for many years. Its lyrics have vague emotive language, allowing everyone to relate to it in one way or another. The song describes how we learn from our mistakes without really indicating of what the artist's mistakes are; this leads the audience to not specify on the artist's mistakes and evoke memories of our own personal mistakes and how we learnt from them. This song shows how emotions can evoke memory because the almost nostalgic but complacent tone of this song evokes emotions that lead us to think of the past. This song can be used in TOK to talk about how emotions and memories are influenced by personal knowledge. (Emaan)
In this song, Ciara utilizes intuition, a feeling that is very different from passionate emotions like anger and hate, but is still a feeling and emotion nevertheless. Ciara utilizes core intuitions, or the most fundamental intuition about regarding life, to express her love for her child. She talks about how she will always love, defend, and help him, without really giving any justification of why she would do it. This can show how reason is dependent on intuition because, just like fundamental intuition, she cannot prove o justify why she loves her son so much, it is just intuitively obvious. This shows how intuition can be a source of knowledge some of our deepest beliefs and emotions seem to be matters of the heart that cannot be justified but still exist. (Emaan)
This video shows how art has a moral and educative role. This video aims to provoke emotions of harmony and the willingness to do good in the world to influnece change. This type of art appeals to emotions and reason of how we shouldl all come together inspire peace and nonviolence. This art is used as a type of moral provocation. It can be used in TOK to support the argument that art should be judged based on its ethical merits rather than its aesthetic merits. (Emaan)
This picture is a visual representation of reality. In TOK terms, it is used to evoke emotion, and awareness to what is happening in our world today, and send a message to the viewer. It shows the division of classes and show how the less fortunate are living under the roof of the wealthy. Also, how wealthy people take many things for granted while others are suffering. Some people may be influenced by the message of this image.
Sara
This film shows how exaggeration and imaginative presentation misinforms about the natural sciences, which may partly be caused by the aim of achieving artistic values. This film shows visual representations and artistic views of a scientific idea.
Sara
Made by Pablo Picasso, Guernica is a black and white art. Picasso depicted war and how mankind was affected by it in this painting. The colors are illustrative of the sadness and mournful atmosphere of war. Liked by many people, this painting actually shows the remorse of an artist who hated war to an extent that he restrained himself from putting colors in his masterpiece. However, in TOK terms, a person may depict this painting based on his or her experience. If they did not experience the trauma of war, they will not perceive this painting to be as meaningful, or affective than one who did.
Noor Aldelamy:
The Fountainhead is a novel by Ayn Rand, a Russian-American novelist who is the creator of the philosophy known as objectivism (which basically advocates for selfishness to rise above all other human traits, and disparages altruism as detrimental to society as a whole) and was initially published in 1943. Focused fundamentally on the prospects of architects in New York City, and in which the objectivist protagonist prevails against the altruistic majority both socially and professionally, the novel is an example of how the perspective and views of the artist (or writer) influences the actual production of an artwork, and thus is directly linked to the 3rd prescribed TOK title (asking how a knower's perspective is essential in the pursuit of knowledge, and thus how it is affected by it in the area of knowledge of art).
This novella by George Orwell represents the communist party’s rules, through the dystopian lives of animals in the farm. Orwell indicates one’s progression to brutality in the face of power, through the description of the pigs’ rule of the farm. In the novella both pigs “Napoleon” and “Snowball” act as symbols of certain communist leaders such as Stalin and Trotsky. Hence, even though the novella’s characters, being animals, represent a more playful image, in reality the entire description of the chaos and cruelty that occurs act as an extremely significant political statement. Hence, this example, explains how art can be used as a form or warning or reform against a certain idea or movement. In specific connection to TOK, this example can be used to support ideas about the use of art as means of communication or education. This novella also exemplifies art as a source of reason and truth, that reveals a reality of government during a specific time period.
- Haya AlAggad
This book discusses the various different ways in which the portrayal of women in art has changed. Additionally, it expresses the idea that in the past, art was associated with men, and that now as men and women are considered more equal, we are beginning to move away from this idea. In terms of TOK, this book demonstrates how art can provide evidence for change over time, and art can be a form of education because art challenges us to question claims made, as well and generalizations, in this case about women and their role in artwork.
-Bibo Tabbara
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7qQ6_RV4VQ
This song by Bob Dylan is very deep because it was written in an attempt to create an anthem for the change that was going on throughout the world during that time (60s.) The song relates to the political preoccupations that were taking pace at that time. In terms of TOK, art comes in various forms, and is used to create a response from an audience. This particular song, was created with the intention of becoming an anthem for change, and this allowed Dylan to express himself and the idea of change that was effecting many. -Bibo Tabbara