Since human begin to create art, religion is a matter which uphold the evolution of art thoroughly. Art and religion have gone cooperate for thousands years. The standing of art to religion is art creates the ideal which belongs at the beginning of religion. Art honors, opposes or idealizes the stories of religion. Religion and art are sharing common features. They have uncertain origins and it is hard to define exactly of it, or even the participants just as the worshippers, collectors, patrons and objects. However, religion provided many significant art works since long time ago until this time, even the relationship between religion and art is always fluctuating. Sometimes they are alliances and sometimes they are adversaries. Although art and religion have the same point that it supports each other but sometimes art becomes a victim of the religion’s hate. Clashes become so violent that results to a tragic end. Look at the Iconoclasm which always destroys the sculptures, the Hebrew Bible forbids the worship of graven images, Christians destroyed many icons in the Orthodox East or the least punishment on ‘forbidding art work’ was banned from the public.
Art and religion have represented into two forms in the same incident from prehistory up to this day, the attitude of man towards the absolute and the meaning of existence. Art has expressed that attitude of abstract meaning through symbols, portrait or illustration while religion relies on the attitude of experienced, educated and ritualized on the facts.
It has been disputatious issues since art become a scapegoat from the conflict of religion. Sometime it served the termination like the doctrine of destroying sacred sculpture or Iconoclasm or even banned from the public.
It was clear that religion still involved in every walk of life. It is difficult for the artist to produce works outside the scope, especially in the middle age of Europe since Christendom was very powerful. From the times of Carolingian to Gothic, there was almost no artist who daring to crate work out of the box, except some artist who was called ‘eccentric’.
In Renaissance, the artist started to believe in humanism and rationalism which departed from the Christendom. They turned to admire the aesthetics of Greek and Roman which are more focused on tangible, rather than intangible concept of faith.
From that time, both religion and art in the western world started to become incoherent opposites: that is one commonly out of consent without the other. The primary artists who face with the Christendom in art were settling in Italian peninsula. One of those artists is Michael Angelo Buonarroti, who creates the famous ‘David’ sculpture and the renown fresco on the ceiling of Sistine Chapel in Vatican which is so huge that it looks unbelievable to be created by one man. In addition, ‘The Creation of Adam’ picture presented Adam’s nude body which created conflicts with the upper-class saint. However, it was arguably that it was one of the most famous and most appreciated images in the world. Now ‘The creation of Adam’ picture is not the same as those in the last five hundreds years since clothes are include in the picture rather than pure nude. However, Michael Angelo still not gave up owing to his paint because all the saints and Jesus were nude in ‘The Last Judgment’ at the wall behind Sistine Chapel.
Such an incident also happened with other artists, Masaccio in 1401-1428 A.D. as his painting ‘Expulsion of Adam and Eve’ in Santa Maria del Carmine Church. At first, it was also a nude picture but later was edited by painting leaves to cover those ‘private places’ of Adam and Eve. It took three hundred years to renovate in order to reach the perfect condition which is able to show the originated of the picture to the world.
Caravaggio (1571-1610 A.D.) is another Italian artist who faced the struggle with Christendom. Even he had been hired by many clients but all of his paintings had dissatisfied the audiences just like the ‘Judith Beheading Holofernes’ picture, which was too violent for the viewers even it was based on the story from the bible. This was the reason that Caravaggio’s works were keep in the collector’s hands rather than in any church.

Although the art evolution of Europe started to affect by Humanism with the deterioration of influential from religion to art, some paintings still got banned. One of those painting is the famous ‘The Nude Maja’ and ‘The Clothed Maja’ pictures by the Spanish artist, Francisco goya (1746-1828). These pictures were painted between the period of the old arts and modern arts, so King Ferdinand Vl, who was still strict in Catholic like those people in middle age, had ordered the Christian court to investigate on those two pictures with the charge of obscenity.

After World War ll, religion seems to have less influence on arts. Even there are many of those forbidding art works which were condemned, most artists still ignored and assailed the Christendom. As the consequence, those art works became normal.

That was only such a few period that the world lost the power of art’s creation, if the religion dispirited on struggle with the artists in the era of Secular State but it did not turn out like what they had predicted.

After the issues of religious radicalists had been arised, include with the United States of America announced the war with those terrorism, the conflict of art and religion have led to an escalation of violence, particularly in Prissilla Brad’s sculpture of Virgin Mary wearing Bougar, which is a piece of cloth worn by Muslim women to cover their faces, created great controversy among Christians whether it should be banned from exhibitions or not. Moreover, the famous artist John Lenham was furious when the English’s art museum took his work ‘God is Great’ out of the exhibition because the museum was afraid that his work would generate conflicts concerning religions as he compressed parts of the Talmus, the bible, and the Koran into a piece of art that represent the unity of the three.

Not only the conflict between religion and art happened in Western countries, but surprisingly, it is also found in Asian countries such as India, where it has thousands of sacred objects. The most famous case is the conflict between a Hindu fundamentalists and M.F. Hussain, who is a famous Muslim artist alias ‘Picasso of India’. The conflict arised because in the painting “Bharatmata”, he depicted Bharatmata, who is a goddess of the land or mother of India, in nudity. Thus, M.F. Hussain needed to apologize to all Hindu and withdraw the painting from the exhibition in Delhi.

On the other hand, conflicts between region and art were less likely to be found in Thailand because we are in a harmonized society as the Buddhism doctrine. However, in the period of radicalism, some artists became victim from the attack. One famous example is the case of ‘Monks with Traits of a Crow’ or ‘Bhikku Sandan Ka’. It reflects the precipitous decline of Buddhism by portrays of Buddhist monks with crow-like features, while “Mha-Nut” or human depicts a dog draped in the saffron robe. The protest against the paintings required the removal of the paintings from public display because the paintings were offensive and damaging to faith. Another example is the painting from Vasan Sitthiket in the collection named ‘Inferno’. His art was sued with life acquisition.

In conclusion, converting religion into art does not always lead to conflicts or offences. On the other hand, these works are the reflection of that particular society where critics are only from detractors. Luckily, Artists of our time are generally free to create and comment on whatever they think and they can express into their art. The judgment of those works should be considered in an artistic or educational view without biased emotions which depends on personal experiences. It is important to understand what the artists want to express in their paintings and it is not their fault if they have the right intention. Audiences’ perceptions come from their opinions towards those art works which can be arguabled. So where do art and religion stand in relation to one another? Are they friends or foes? Can art and religion ever truly be separate? Can one exist without another? Can we truly produce a piece that depicts anything of this world without showing our belief or disbelief in the process? This maybe a question with no permanent answers and to attempt to give it one might undermine the evolution of art and religion all together. According to the history, religion and art always lie together for both dominating and arguing. It is hard to imagine art ever functioning without religion, isn’t it? With what happen in today’s world, Art and religion will remain involving with each other through the passage of time.

Source : http://www.artgazine.com/

Own Project
Terminal Building of Suvarnabhumi Airport

The waves rippling like dancing mountain ranges surprises passengers on the airplane to spot on the gorgeous modern design of the new international airport serving Bangkok, Suvarnabhumi Airport. Suvarnabhumi Airport comprises with the second largest terminal building in the world, following the Hong Kong International Airport (Chek Lap Kok Airport). The old airport, Don Muang which had only 3 terminals was unable to handles all the passengers during the bust period. On the other hand, Suvarnabhumi has come up with only one single large which but it is able to handle all international and domestic flights. Over the area of 500,000 square meters, this airport of the century stands with the final bill over $3US billion through its structure and architectural which bring fame and prestige to Thailand. The significant spot of the airport which remarked everyone is the distinguished, dignified and strong construction of the terminal building. This essay will describe about the general information, aesthetic, functional and sound of Suvarnabhumi Airport’s terminal building and will be explained in the follow paragraphs.

Suvarnabhumi airport was built by many institutes. One of the most assured and conscious aspect to emerge as a result of the interplay of the architectural and engineer-inspired buildings in Suvarnabhumi airport is the dramatic terminal building which is the only large main terminal in this airport. It was designed by Helmut Jahn of Murphy/Jahn Architects. Suvarnabhumi airport had built with the aim of positioning Thailand for both favorite vacation destination as well as the center of business opportunity. This new airport also strived to become an aviation hub for the Southeast Asian region. Furthermore it was regarded as a signifying the country’s cultural and national identity.

The aesthetic of Suvarnabhumi terminal building had represented the combination of western architectural with Thai culture. The space inside the terminal provides the atmosphere of a model of mini-city. The city with experiences leads through squares, streets and rooms for transportation as well as commerce and private uses. The terminal building has a complex characteristic combine with in an ultra modern design as a symbolic demonstration of “Thainess”. With such advanced technical concept and construct, it is important to establish a connection to local cultural tradition and art. The roof creates an overarching theme, and the rectangular structure over the ticketing area provides dramatic feelings. Moreover, there are also jungle gardens between the terminal and concourse, traditional artistic patterns and colors on the floors, and Thai artifacts at the airside centers and concourses.

Suvarnabhumi Airport terminal building was functional build spacious, worthiness and delicately. The design concept at the Suvarnabhumi airport Terminal building is to put passenger circulation before aircraft circulation, to unify the site through the use of a large roof trellis giving it a dominant architectural image, and to use louvers as shading devices while reducing mechanical loads. The outdoor spaces between the buildings are also shaded by the roof trellis and provide landscaped courtyards. It is useful for walkers which can be a visual attractiveness for the passengers in the terminal. Furthermore, the roof trellis protects from the sun and maximizes daylight; yet minimize the use of energy. The three-layer translucent membrane was developed to harmonize between the exterior and interior conditions, dealing with heat and noise transmission, while still allowing for natural daylight within the building. Besides, its structure placed over the complex of functionally separate buildings unifies the site and provides the predominant architectural image as approached from the landside. The ideas of building this design is to allow for expansion in the future. Suvarnabhumi Terminal Building has seven floors where the basement is comprise of the art, security and baggage handling systems. There are three hundred sixty check-in counters with fifty one contact and sixty nine remote gates. Moreover, there is also an underground train station linking the airport to the downtown Bangkok.

The terminal building of Suvarnabhumi has been burdened by numerous defects since its opening. During the first month of its operation, Suvarnabhumi airport is already running in crises which are leaking roof and baggage mishandling causing several flight delays a day. In addition, numerous passengers have complained about insufficient toilets, absence of signs to direct passengers, confusing traffic paths throughout the terminal, shortage of meeting space notably at the arrivals lounge, as well as lack of mass transit lines to downtown Bangkok and beyond. There is also no passenger’s railing at walkway connecting the garage to the terminal, frequently jammed revolving doors, sharp-edged air-conditioners fixed on the floor, and the slippery marble floor at the departure area for out-bound passengers.

In conclusion, the design of the terminal building at Suvarnabhumi airport is a modern way of expressing Thai identity and modernity. Similarly, it represents Bangkok for cultural development, the passenger terminal’s design yields a glimpse into what is going on for the city in terms of being a cultural city. Things of qualitative or abstract values such as its cultural heritage, traditions, customs, beliefs, ways of living, practice, knowledge, and natural beauty are assigned quantitative values, have obvious monetary prices and calculable numbers. It is acceptable that the design of the terminal building at Suvarnabhumi airport is successful, although there is still some slightly glitches which are required renovation and improvement in the future.

Citation
1.) Noobanjong, K.,& Barrow D. (2007). Gate way to a World-class City and Its Global Mediocrity. The New Bangkok International Airport (Suvarnabhumi), 1-23.
2.) Manchainimirt, S. (2006). Wave and wing of Suvarnabhumi. Positioning, 5-12.

Greenaway announces the death of cinema - and blames the remote-control zapper

By Clifford Coonan in Pusan, South Korea

He has been among the most exciting arthouse film-makers of his generation. But the British film director Peter Greenaway caused a stir at Korea’s Pusan film festival yesterday by launching an attack on modern cinema and claiming the medium’s days are numbered.

“If you shoot a dinosaur in the brain on Monday, it’s tail is still waggling on Friday. Cinema is brain dead,” said Greenaway, who has shocked and delighted audiences, often simultaneously, with movies such as The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover and Prospero’s Books.

“Cinema’s death date was 31 September 1983, when the remote-control zapper was introduced to the living room, because now cinema has to be interactive, multi-media art,” he told a director’s masterclass.

It should be noted that September has 30 days.

Known for his uncompromising views of art, the universe and everything in between, Greenaway said that new film-makers should look instead at new, interactive forms. He was in Pusan to promote his film Nightwatching, which is based on a period in Rembrandt’s life.

There were gasps among film students when he took aim at some of the biggest names. “Here’s a real provocation: [US video artist] Bill Viola is worth 10 Martin Scorseses. Scorsese is old-fashioned and is making the same films that [the pioneering director] DW Griffiths was making early last century,” he said.

He added that cinema should not be “a playground for Sharon Stone”. “Cinema is wasted on cinema – most cinema is bedtime stories for adults,” he said.

Warning his audience that he liked a fight, Greenaway dismissed a comment by one Westerner in the audience, who said his films were proof that cinema was very much alive, describing her remarks as “not intelligent” and “humbug”. Earlier, he said a line in Welsh, perplexing the Korean translators. “Every medium has to be redeveloped, otherwise we would still be looking at cave paintings… New electronic film-making means the potential for expanding the notions of cinema has become very rich indeed.”

The generation “who grew up with laptops in their cots” wanted greater participation and “to do away with the elitism of Hollywood”, replacing it with a cinema based on image rather than text. “We’re still illustrating Jane Austen novels – what a waste of time,” he said.

Greenaway trained as a painter, and considered cinema a “pathetic adjunct” to that medium. His visually rich, difficult movies, often based on paintings or visual images, have earned him accusations of intellectual snobbery but he said that he firmly believed the changes in how films were made would ultimately be acceptable to a wider audience. He pointed to controversy when the first Star Wars movie came out, how people felt it was too fast and too difficult to understand, but how the way it was made had entered the language of film.

“We’re obliged to look at new media… it’s exciting and stimulating, and I believe we will have an interactive cinema which will make Star Wars look like a 16th-century lantern lecture,” Greenaway said.

He said the last film-makers were probably the Germans, including Volker Schloendorff, who is also attending the festival. “Thirty-five years of silent cinema is gone, no one looks at it anymore. This will happen to the rest of cinema. Cinema is dead.”

From the Article, Write about “To what extent is Greenaway right? Is he right to be worried about any such tendencies in modern film making?”

The field of cinema nowadays is open and also there are varieties of movie. After I read Greenaway’s viewpoint, it seems that he looks at the modern film as an artist which may be agree with just a few group of people. One question should be asked to every film is what is the objective.

The purpose of each movie is dissimilar and it direct to the worth of each movie. Some movie is not worth to be a movie in the view of artist. It is right but I believed that there still have some audiences who willing to paid for watch that sort of movie. Why? The reason is the objective of that kind of movie is to make money and penetrate some class of people who maybe not an artist like Greenaway but they are ordinary man who live from hand to mouth and only want to watch movie for entertain themselves after work hard all the times. It often makes money than art film which I acquiesce its successful that reaches its goal. Furthermore, in my opinion there still have lots of good movie currently. As I state that it is up to the objective. Peter should not judge Oscar winner’s film as worthless and reproducing same old movie of the last century. Although it is the same film but I believe that they are improve. Don’t you agree that the new technology can improve the old film except produce new film? For instance, Superman has been recreating since past decade but every time it creates, everything in the movie looks more real. Superman tends to fly in the sky truly than past version because of new effects invented. Besides, the objectives of the movie are to introduce Superman to new generation people and also to remind Superman to old generation.

The field of cinema keeps developing and the audience tends to be more open to a wide variety of films. Past generation choose to watch movie from the performer in contrast, modernist watch movie which the plot interested themselves. After Star war came out, people are ready to watch new interactive film for some example, The Matrix and Jurassic Park. These movies succeed more than the movie maker think due to people around the world is interesting in the new idea and beyond imagination which the team maker informs to these movies. Followed by Transformer, it is a modern movie which is much achieved. People do not feel it is too fast and hard to understand. They are ready.

Greenaway’s attitude is the only part of all viewers. The audiences are not the same. They have different lives and different opinion. Most people watched movie to entertain them rather than to watch or analysis the movie of Greenaway’s conceptual. If the concept is full but it is not enjoyable. Would it survive in this business based on materialism?

There are some movies that unexpectedly success as well as some films can not make any trend. So that promotion is not the fixed way for achieve movie. It is flexible. Audiences have choices. Television is not destroying movie’s field. People, who loves cinema, is still would like to watch movies in the cinema. Everyone knows the different of the cinema and television. On the other hand, television promotes the film. It brings back old movie to show on.

In my opinion, Peter Greenaway is too worried about tendencies in modern film making. He is right in a part, not for all. Modern movie is developing; it is alive and keeps going.