Media

Group 7: A. vd. B. V. M. , A. H., J. P. & J. V.

Blogpost week 2

                Anticipating on World Famous Icons through Media Convergence:

                                      Why is Mondrian everywhere?

Where media used to be distinctive from each other in the past, modern times have brought them to a whole new level. Convergence is an ambiguous term used by various disciplines to describe and analyze processes of change towards uniformity or union.[1] The term convergence is being used in many sectors today; an interesting field to discover is the media convergence in the communication sector, which we will focus on in this essay. The overlap of the communication sector nowadays with the digital creative industry has changed a lot in the way people receive and perceive information.[2] One can state that it has become much easier to interact with a public through digital media for institutions such as a museum or a library. Digital ways for discovering, interacting and understanding ‘traditional’ exhibitions through three dimensional tours or games by way of a tablet are easily accessible for everyone.                           

In this blog we want to explicate how convergence can work in the arts by looking at the work of the world famous Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), in particular the representation of his famous Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow (1930)[3] that is being frequently cited on various objects, and to a lesser extent his other work such as Victory Boogie Woogie (unfinished).[4] The fact that everybody seems to recognize that famous red, blue, yellow, white and black in that specific pattern (without the knowledge that they stem from a painting) could be attributed to the phenomenon of cosmopolitism. The term cosmopolitism is often used to describe the embracement of cultural differences in order to seek for more and other cultural experiences.[5] One can say that through media convergence cosmopolitism is brought to the next level and offers us a possibility to represent our own country to a world that is looking at us and adores ‘our Mondrian’. Cosmopolitism seems to inhabit a kind of narcissistic streak when it comes to ‘our own culture’.[6] We tend to make unsalable things salable which brings us to the commodification of Mondrian. As Jenkins states: media convergence is not an endpoint. Rather it is an ongoing process occurring at various intersections between media technologies, industries, content, and audiences.[7] This is especially the kind of process that we see when we look at all the distribution by industries, content of products and audiences which receive the ‘made-salable Mondrian’ in various ways.       

Examples of products engrafted on the famous Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow are the coffee cups in the local snack bars. Like the digital creative industry in the museums that makes abstract art more accessible for a broader audience by inventing games and digital tours, this confrontation with Mondrian in the snack bar could very well be the easiest way to get in touch with the highly abstract work of Mondrian. In a sense, high and low culture come together via a horizontal integration of media industries, of which Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow functions as the starting point. Different segments are being employed to apply Mondrian’s work on. The cultural synergy of different kinds of objects that feature Mondrian’s work has increased the economic value of it.[8] An interesting question is whether or not it also increases the cultural value of the work of Mondrian.

In the case of horizontal integration, media convergence marks not only a technological shift but it also establishes a relationship between different industries, markets, genres and audiences.[9] In this light, the drinking of coffee out of the color-striped cups (with terms like media industry, cosmopolitism and horizontal integration in the back of our heads) seems to gradually make more sense. Though, there are other examples of media convergence which do not seem to be centered on purely economic commodification, for instance the videogame Eternal Sonata, which centers on the composer Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849).[10] The apparent commodification of Chopin and the high culture his name stands for, in combination with unconventional role-playing-game aesthetics, both visually and gameplay-wise, seems to only further the supposed impenetrability of high culture.

Back to Mondrian. What happens when we see the famous stripes of Mondrian appear in fashion? Will it be interpreted as ‘applied art’? Has the commodification of Mondrian gone too far, commercial-wise? The famous French couturist Yves Saint Laurent applied the stripes of Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow on one of his collections in 1966. He used the ‘glory’ of the Netherlands about Mondrian to exhibit his fashion and high couture. The cultural differences that cosmopolitism deals with seem to be united here for art’s sake. Or for economy’s sake? We will let your mind unravel this.

Proposition: What do you think, does cultural value decrease when economic value increases?

                                   

Bibliography:

Hatsushiba, Hiroya (2007). Torasuchii beu: Shopan no yume. Japan.

Jenkins, Henry. (2006) ‘Pop Cosmoplitanism: Mapping Cultural Flows in an Age of Media Convergence’, in: Fans, Bloggers and Gamers :Exploring Participatory Culture. New York & London: New York University Press.

Latzer, Michael. (2013) Media Convergence: in: Ruth Towse & Christian Handke (eds.), Handbook on the Digital Creative Economy. Cheltenham & Northampton: Edward Elgar.

Vaughan, Nathan. (2011) ‘Maximizing Value: Economic and Cultural Synergies’, in: Janet Wasko, Gragham Murdock & Helena Sousa (eds.) The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications. Malden & Chichester: Whiley-Blackwell.

                                              Appendix:

1.  Piet Mondriaan (1872-1944), Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow (1921), 39,5 cm x 35 cm. Oil on canvas. Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. INV: 0334328.

2.  Piet Mondriaan (1872-1944), Victory Boogie Woogie (1942-1944 unfinished New York), 127,5 cm x 127,5 cm. Oil, tape, paper, charcoal, pencil on canvas. Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. INV: 0810747.

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[1] Latzer, Michael. (2013) Media Convergence: in: Ruth Towse & Christian Handke (eds.), Handbook on the Digital Creative Economy. Cheltenham & Northampton: Edward Elgar: 123.

[2] Latzer, Michael. (2013) Media Convergence: in: Ruth Towse & Christian Handke (eds.), Handbook on the Digital Creative Economy. Cheltenham & Northampton: Edward Elgar.

[3] Appendix 1.

[4] Appendix 2.

[5] Jenkins, Henry. (2006) ‘Pop Cosmoplitanism: Mapping Cultural Flows in an Age of Media Convergence’, in: Fans, Bloggers and Gamers :Exploring Participatory Culture. New York & London: New York University Press: 155.

[6] Jenkins. (2006): 159.

[7] Jenkins.(2006): 154.

[8] Vaughan, Nathan. (2011) ‘Maximizing Value: Economic and Cultural Synergies’, in: Janet Wasko, Gragham Murdock & Helena Sousa (eds.) The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications. Malden & Chichester: Whiley-Blackwell: 170.

[9] Jenkins (2006): 155.

[10] Hatsushiba, Hiroya (2007). Torasuchii beru: Shopan no yume. Japan.