Van Doesburg and the International Avante

Introduction The Tate Exhibit, by assembling international works and works in many media, demonstrates, to the less enthusiastic, the exhibit designer’s message that the Avante-Garde was a legitimate and wide ranging movement, and one which reverberates in its effects even today. Styles such as Neo-Plasticism, are Elementarism are examined, but the most colorful is Dada.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Van Doesburg and the International Avante-Garde: Constructing a New World specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Dadaism elicits different responses from different viewers, from the trivial, irritating, or enraging, to the profoundly liberating, and has done so since it was launched on the world. Given its anti-establishment history, and the continuing debate over whether it is really art, its glorification at the Tate is ironic. The Tate show can help demonstrate Dada’s impact on today’s design and our definitions of art. Some examples from real life include: the teaching of art to kids, stained glass in contemporary sacred spaces, home furnishings, music teaching and making. A sampling of the styles the show features includes De Stijl, Dadaism, Elementarism, and Neo-Plasticism. The multi-national selection of artists range from the biggies such as Arp and Mondrian, and obscure ones as well, with a strong Dutch presence and funding support. The media displayed are wide ranging, and reflect the intention of the Avant-Garde’s proponents to overturn old art norms and make art and design accessible to the masses. Works are arranged such that the orthogonals and diagonals are sited at either end, and artists, crafts, and disciplines affected by the Avante-Garde are on display in between. Van Doesburg’s drawings of exploded architectural detail are missing from the exhibit. Photos of the artists enrich our understanding of the human background to the art. Merchandise i n the stores is well-displayed and offers customers a chance to wear their intellectual bona fides on their blouse. The Tate has offered a selection of lectures and other fora for viewer education. The arrangement of the exhibit helps to make the point that the Avant-Garde was more than artistic crankiness or mental disorder. Conclusion: The ongoing debate over whether the works of the Avante-Garde are really art is not by any means resolved. However, the ideas of the Avante-Garde certainly liberated the making of art to our benefit today.Advertising Looking for essay on architecture? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The design ideas we see around us are deeply affected by their work. The exhibit reveals the international scope of the Avante-Garde, and highlights the connections between the Avante-Garde and what we see around us on a regular basis. Van Doesburg’s legacy is worth remembering. This Section is not Part of t he Assigned Project The following is the list of questions originally posed by the instructor for consideration, not an essay. This is set up as a checklist to allow the customer to reassure themselves that all the questions have been addressed, and to facilitate communication across the language barrier with the customer. Since the topic is an art exhibit, and secondary sources are not exhaustive, many of these answers are inferences rather than based on direct personal observation, which would have been the ideal way of responding to the questions Who organized the exhibition? Vicente Toldi, Tate Director Who curated it? Gladys Fabre, independent curator Who sponsored it? Tate Patrons, Tate International Council, The Van Doesburg Exhibition Supporters Group, The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Dedalus Foundation, Inc, Mondriaan Foundation, Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation (Straver Foundation), SNS Reaal Fond Who designed it? Vicente Toldi, presumably, since no other person is mentioned. Who is it intended audience? Possibly anyone who may not have thought very much about the impact of the Avante-Garde, or who is not an avid art fan is the target. What are the aims of the exhibition? Based on the artists and works chosen; the aim is to display works not often seen, to display works by lesser known artists, and to show a wide range of media that were affected by the ideas of the Avante-Garde. What is its central argument? You can see evidence of how these artists succeeded in overturning much of what went before when you look around you at design, art, and art instruction today, and see their influence. What current debates or topical issues does the exhibition engage with? Is this stuff truly ART? What underlying assumptions are communicated by the choice of exhibits and form of display? The form of display seems to assume mostly non-disabled viewers assumes that people walking on their own two feet and looking with good vision are viewing the works. It also assumes that the viewer has not seen previously ephemera and crafts from the same period, objects which reflect similar design ideas. Is it successful in terms of fulfilling the aims of the organizers? It has been well reviewed for the most part in terms of demonstrating why lesser known names in the Avante-Garde should be studied and remembered, and documenting the enduring influence of these ideas. What if anything is excluded from its central narrative? Not sure – maybe politics, but not sure, but one reviewer mentioned the absence of certain Van Doesburg architectural drawings. How is the exhibition organized (by theme, designer, chronologically, other)? Orthogonals are sited at one end and diagonals at the other, with other materials in between that were influenced by the artistic dialogue going on at the time. How are the artifacts contextualized (i.e., through info panels, labels, graphics, catalogue, etc.)? Not sure, but there seem to be labels with sub stantial information. There are lectures and talks as well, and a workshop for a hand-on project. Is the design of the exhibition appropriate for its subject matter? It sounds like it, but not sure. Does the Tate exhibit provide an educational experience, and how does it achieve this? Lectures, talks, hands-on projects, contribute to background education. Is there a shop specifically devoted to merchandise supporting the exhibition, and how much space does it occupy in relation to the exhibits? Yes, but not sure how much space is allocated – the interactive map did not seem to specify the shop footage. What kinds of products does the shop sell, and how are they merchandised? Typical, not terribly innovative; items meet the need for items to signal the consumer’s intellectual identity, or â€Å"brand†. End of explanatory notes to customer Outline Van Doesburg and the International Avante-Garde: Constructing a New World 1. Introduction: The Tate Exhibit, by assem bling international works and works in many media, demonstrates, to the less enthusiastic, the exhibit designer’s message that the Avante-Garde was wide ranging and reverberates in its effects even today. 2. Background of Dadaism as a confusing off-shoot of the Avante-Garde a. The meaning of the word b. The reaction of the contemporary gallery visitors c. How Dada was viewed at the time d. Irony of an anti-establishment movement being displayed in Tate 3. The Tate show can help demonstrate Dada’s impact on today’s design and definition of art: examples a. Teaching of art to kids b. Stained glass c. Home furnishings d. Music making 4. Sampling of styles the show includes a. De Stijl b. Dadaism c. Elementarism d. Neo-Plasticism 5. Artists included a. Many works from off-shore b. Strong Dutch representation and sponsorship support 6. Media included a. Wide range of artistic disciplines b. Reflect the intention to make art accessible even to the oppressed 7. Arrange ment of works a. Orthogonals and diagonals at either end b. Artists affected by these in display in between c. Crafts and disciplines affected on display in between d. Drawings of exploded architectural detail missing from exhibit e. Photos enrich understanding of the human background to the art Conclusion The ongoing debate over whether the works of the Avante-Garde are really art is not by any means resolved. However, the ideas of the Avante-Garde certainly liberated the making of art to our benefit today. The design ideas we see around us are deeply affected by their work. The exhibit reveals the international scope of the Avante-Garde, and highlights the connections between the Avante-Garde and what we see around us on a regular basis.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Van Doesburg and the International Avante-Garde: Constructing a New World specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The current exhibit at the Tate Mode rn brings a host of objects together from a variety of artists, countries, and media, and styles that fall under the general category of the Avante-Garde (Dadaism, Neo-Plasticism, Elementarism, Constructivism, and Art Concret). This impressive assemblage demonstrates the multi-national nature of the Avante-Garde in its time of inception. The exhibit also provides ample basis for considering (even by those who do not live and die by art ) the wide ranging and long lasting impact on the lives of people today of the ideas fermenting in the first decades of the 20th century, even the chaotic and self-negating ideas of Dadaism. Dada is a word that can be understood differently, depending on one’s role, and where one is standing. To a proud papa, it is, he hopes, the first word spoken by a beloved toddler. To a current music aficionado, it is the name of a band (dada home page). As pointed out by Tristan Tzara, a poet and essayist of the early 1900’, the word also describes the tail of a holy cow, among the  « Kru Negroes  » (an archaic and now offensive term for an indigenous tribe in what is today called Liberia ), mother and a cube in Italian dialect, and a nurse and hobby horse in Russian, as well as in his native tongue, Romanian. However, Tzara declares in his Dada Manifesto 1918,  « The magic of a word – Dada – which has brought journalists to the gates of a world unforeseen, is of no importance to us.  »(Tzara, Dada Manifesto 1918). This paradoxical statement, and so many others, is typical of the deliberately confusing, transgressive, and challenging utterances of Tzara, ne Samuel Rosenstock, a key articulator of Dadaism. To current enthusiastic visitors to museums of modern art, the name Dada is shorthand for a sidebar to the Avante-Garde, art as goofball antic, art as thumb to nose, but also, art as something that might be easily mistaken for a bin to accommodate one’s litter, or an attractively mounted fire ext inguisher. On the other hand, to those visitors who have been dragged along by their special art fan, Dada may very well be a reason they say they think that avant-garde art is a crock. Advertising Looking for essay on architecture? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Why, they ask plaintively, don’t we just bring our rubbish to the museum and leave it here in a neat pile – who would know the difference? What sort, they ask angrily, of prat would pay good money for such stuff? Doesn’t our kid draw something just as good? Where is the cafà ©, they ask in desperation, and, more importantly, how soon may we leave? These public reactions are not novel, nor, if we are to believe their own writings, would they necessarily have been unwelcome to the first promoters of the Dada movement. The Dadaists were in reaction against just about everything . In return, they were regarded with less than approval by their contemporaries, and they knew it, and made fun of this phenomenon. In light of how disparaged they were by the art world in the first decades of the 1900’s, and especially in light of how deeply they criticized the art establishment, they might be turning in their graves at the thought of the large current exhibit at th e Tate Modern (running through May). Or, perhaps, the thought might tickle them, especially the application of Theo Van Doesburg’s colorful geometries to towels, totes and magnets in the gift shop . If a Dadaist were resurrected today, he might gleefully pluck a tea towel from the gift shop and display it as art, not because of the pattern, but as an object chosen by him, placed out of its usual context as an article of clothing, titled with whatever whimsical thought occurred, put on display, and therefore constituting ART. There would certainly be ample precedent! The submission, without comment, of a fountain, to an art show, an act of artistic anarchy attributed to Marcel Duchamp, is practically legendary. But back to the weary, less than excited visitor, wondering why on earth they should be learning about this stuff. (The museum is indeed offering a lecture series, even for the deaf, curators’ talks, and an opportunity to create a hands-on project to help both the confused and the rapt). Why should he/ she be interested at all? Art historians, on one end of the interest spectrum, are the converted, the choir, to whom it is unnecessary to preach. In answer to this question, they can point to direct lines of influence from the Dadaism of the 1910s and 1920s to the Neo-Dadaism of the post-World War II period, and well known and important names like Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns (Craft), and, it could be asserted, Andy Warhol. In another direction, connections can be drawn to Surrealism (Craft 4), a movement with its own flock of current artistic offspring, particularly in film, and animation. However, at the other end of the spectrum of interest and expertise, even the uninitiated among us can identify Dada’s impact in our lives. A swift peek into the chaos and happily self-defined art creations being crafted from re-cycled materials at the nearest grammar school would offer an answer to that question . Also of interest would be a tour of a suburban modern church building . Or take a walk-through of the wall and floor coverings department of a home store . Finally, check out GarageBand, a piece of software that allows kids to assemble music from a file of pre-recorded sound samples (Garageband). All these cultural phenomena seem to be influenced by the ideas of Dadaism. The show at the Tate may, in light of this, assist those who would preferentially spend at least some of their Sunday afternoons watching Manchester United rather than getting sore feet at galleries, to draw meaningful connections between Dadaism and current trends and manifestations of the arts, and design. The current Tate Modern show, taking up half of the fourth level of the museum, does not merely cover Dadaism. It also encompasses the movement that was one of Van Doesburg’s numerous other artistic life pursuits: among them, the ultimate in geometric abstraction, wherein any reference to the human body or realism of any sor t was anathema. Van Doesburg’s ideas on this and other isms of the day were expressed in his editorship of De Stijl, a magazine as well as the name of a style, and through peripatetic lectures and conferences (Mawer). He and Piet Mondrian espoused simplifying art to a series of geometric elements. Even this was subject to disagreement: the two colleagues split off into Elementarism (diagonals allowed) and the horizontal and vertical axes of Dutch Neo-Plasticism, a rarified movement (orthogonal horizontals and verticals only) of which Mondrian eventually found himself the only votary; (Darwent). The show includes many works on loan from elsewhere. This means that many pieces have never been seen in the UK, especially those by Theodore Van Doesburg. There is a largely Dutch roster of sponsors , which may have helped in the acquisition of so many Van Doesburg pieces. Alternatively, perhaps the inclusion of these rarely-seen works was a cunning appeal to Dutch chauvinism for r ecruiting support from Dutch funders. This strong representation from other collections may be the reason so many of the 350 items are not imaged digitally for later, more leisurely examination. In any case, the range of countries represented certainly highlights the message forcefully that the Avante -Garde was an international movement, with plenty of cross pollination among artistic communities. The Tate’s director, Vicente Todolà ­, has made a point of mounting several previous exhibits focusing on other features of Modernism (The Tate Modern Museum), perhaps as a means of ensuring the development of a future visitor base. If an audience is not raised up in the knowledge and appreciate of the arts, they will not support the arts. Gladys Fabre, an independent curator, has brought together works in a variety of media and genres. She has assembled the big names in Dada, De Stijl, and the Avante- Garde: Piet Mondrian, Constantin Brancusi, Jean Arp; names that even the uninf ormed might recognize. She has included, as well, less well known artists whose work was influenced, or had an influence on, De Stijl, such as Francis Picabia, Là ¡szlà ³ Moholy-Nagy, Gerrit Rietveld, Sophie Taeuber, and Kurt Schwitters. A full range of media are represented. They include traditional painting and drawings, and sculpture. This latter is defined, as in the case of the aluminum and wood robot-like Mechanical Dancing Figure, by the less familiar Vilmos Huszà ¡, or the chunky blue vaguely android figure Construction within a Sphere, by the equally under-exposed Georges Vantongerloo, by the whimsy of Dadaism. Ms. Fabre has also included less expected examples of designs that came out of the movement such as typeface, architectural interiors (for example, the explosion of color blocks on the ceiling of the University Hall, in Amsterdam, or the rocking Aubette dance space from Strasbourg), and furniture designs (such as the sculpturally limpid but uncomfortable-appearing Gerrit Reitvald chair, and the modern-looking leather and metal chairs). There are also publications, posters (one mysterious one features the letters HELI), stained glass (such as the emblematic and endlessly copied windows for the De Lange house), music, and film (The Tate Modern Museum). This assemblage of objects from all along the spectrum from utilitarian objects to fine, arts, is reminiscent of the vertical integration of some consumer products and manufacturers (the Apple company is one example, Mattel’s Barbie range could be another) wherein products for all uses and levels of complexity are produced under one corporate umbrella and with a solitary design vision. The wealth and diversity of material demonstrates that the Avante-Garde was a thoroughgoing attempt – utilizing art and design – to overturn everything that went before. Considering that in 1918 the world had just endured the soul-searing destruction of a global war, there was revolution abr oad, influenza stalked the world, and women were still wearing corsets, there was plenty to complain about. The devotees of De Stijl felt that the earlier century’s efforts to portray reality in an increasingly abstracted fashion (Impressionism, Cubism, and Expressionism, for example) never quite broke free of the reality that persisted as the subject. Somehow, even the gradual uncoupling of painting and sculpture from strict realism came in for withering scorn from the Van Doesburg cabal (Tzara, Lecture on Dada, 1922, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry). The proponents of De Stijl wanted to bring the healing and uplifting benefits of liberated and accessible art and design to the oppressed and the deracinated (Darwent) . In our own era, entrepreneurs such as Terence Conran, and corporations such as IKEA have adopted the notion of good-design-for-all to great and profitable effect. The exhibit is arranged such that Mondrian’s orthogonal stateme nts are at one end. These are largely color blocks, very familiar, unthreatening, in various sizes and proportions. They are so accustomed an idiom that one feels one has seen them before, even if the particular piece is clearly an import. Van Doesburg’s paintings in his Counter Proposal series are at the other end of the exhibit. These works, such as Simultaneous Counter-Composition, 1930, resemble Mondrians, but rotated by some 45 degrees, and sometimes disordered a bit. These paintings submit diagonals as an alternative to the grid (the â€Å"counter† proposal). They can remind the viewer of a close-up of the bathroom floor tiles, seen a bit too close for comfort during an episode of stomach upset. However, anyone who has ever installed floor coverings on the diagonal to stretch the visual space in a tiny room truly owes Van Doesburg a debt of gratitude for opening up a new direction and making the off-kilter seem like an inevitable option. These are serene painti ngs which add color and form without insisting on the viewer’s involvement, but they reward closer attention as well. The rooms in between bear testimony to the vast array of apparently unrelated design and craft specialties that De Stijl affected, and, by extension, the design ideas we see applied these days. As an example of lasting effect, the rationalized typography design that Van Doesburg innovated (letters fitting in a square, with no lower case letters), can be seen as enabling the development of machine readable typefaces today. The software called Wordle, which makes a graphic out of any block of text, highlighting words and phrases that repeat often, seems to be a direct descendant of Van Doesburg’s experiments with poster art (Feinberg). As an example of how De Stijl helped to break down boundaries between artistic disciplines, and the constraints of any one medium, the exhibit includes film clips animating Plasticist and Elementarist painting (Darwent). S imon Mawer of The Guardian faults the exhibit for not including drawings of collaborative architectural projects created with Cornelis van Eesteren. These sound fascinating: the drawings are exploded into three dimensions. Contemporary architects prize such drawings as the best and highest journeyman examples of their craft – it would indeed have been interesting to see how Van Doesburg handled this technique. The exhibit has been reviewed with differing responses. The impersonality of De Stijl leaves some viewers unmoved (Sooke). However, there is agreement that this is a welcome chance to see works that are not often brought together. There is also agreement that the inclusion of art and design that was influenced by ideas promulgated by Van Doesburg opens up that period to our view, and the wealth of photographs put a human face on this often austere art. The photos document the relationships that underpinned the life of these artists, especially their lovers and wives. I t is interesting to learn, for example, that Nellie Van Doesburg participated in the performance art pieces that Kurt Schwitters and Van Doesburg mounted around Europe, and that Sophie Taueber was married to Jean Arp, and that they all collaborated on the design of Strasbourg’s Aubette building (Mawer). There has been an ongoing debate regarding the seriousness and validity of the Avante-Garde since it was born. The apparent simplicity and the lack of craft of some of its most famous products leave the impression that there is nothing going on artistically. This debate is not over. Viewers, especially hoi polloi are still asking whether this is really art. It is not clear that this exhibit will answer that question finally for everyone. However, the clever choices that have been made, and the co-location of works that are different in media but related in idea, help to make the point that the concepts of the Avante-Garde had an impact across Europe, and in many different fiel ds. The specifics of the style of De Stijl (austerity, abstraction, the straight lines of the Bauhaus, on which Van Doesburg aimed to have an impact) may still not be to everyone’s taste. The merchandising of the exhibit, on the other hand, is readily accessible. An exit shop, that relatively new marketing method of extracting funds from visitor wallets, imprints the cheerful Van Doesburg diagonals on any flat, or near flat, surface (tea towels, totes, key tags, mugs, magnets, notebooks, bags), and offers books documenting the exhibit, displayed tastefully against a sober, receding, industrial gray background. This venue is supplemented by offerings in the main museum shop. In a decade when the identity of self is defined by the brands one carries or wears, perhaps toting one’s trainers and exercise kit in a Van Doesburg-emblazoned bag, or drinking one’s cocoa from a similarly decorated beaker seems a legitimate means of proclaiming one’s intellectual be nt. â€Å"You should want to marry me (or hire me, or be friends with me) because I have slogged through this intellectually challenging exhibit â€Å", trumpets the merchandise. A much coveted related sales item is a set of Dadaist poetry generators: a pre-selected collection of individual words mounted on magnet backing whose arrangement ad libitum allows people to create their own Dada-style poem on their refrigerator door (Tzara, To Make A Dadist Poem, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry). Happily, the overturning of the 19th century insistence on an imitation of nature (which effectively excluded from the practice of art anyone who was not a good draftsperson), has spawned a whole new style of art teachers, whose young students joyously create something, anything; confident in their belief (directly attributable to Van Doesburg and his companions) that if they call it art, IT IS, by gosh, ART. Reflecting this same joyous anarchy, Catherine Craft notes that Robert Motherwell, the essential biographer of the Avante-Garde, observed that Dada had given health and new life to painting in Europe (Craft 3-4). There is also a practical inheritance, e.g., typefaces which even a computer can read. The geographic distribution and inter-connectedness of the Avante-Garde are presented forcefully in the exhibit, and it is accessible both to the fan and the less than rapt. Van Doesburg well deserves this resurrection from oblivion. I. The catalogue of ideas, institutions, religions, and behaviors, to name a few, that Dada revolts against, is expressed here by Tristan Tzara: â€Å"The beginnings of Dada were not the beginnings of an art, but of a disgust. Disgust with the magnificence of philosophers who for 3ooo years have been explaining everything to us (what for? ), disgust with the pretensions of these artists-God’s-representatives-on-earth, disgust with passion and with real pathological wickedness where it was not worth the both er; disgust with a false form of domination and restriction *en masse*, that accentuates rather than appeases man’s instinct of domination, disgust with all the catalogued categories, with the false prophets who are nothing but a front for the interests of money, pride, disease, disgust with the lieutenants of a mercantile art made to order according to a few infantile laws, disgust with the divorce of good and evil, the beautiful and the ugly (for why is it more estimable to be red rather than green, to the left rather than the right, to be large or small?). Disgust finally with the Jesuitical dialectic which can explain everything and fill people’s minds with oblique and obtuse ideas without any physiological basis or ethnic roots, all this by means of blinding artifice and ignoble charlatans promises. â€Å"(Tzara, Lecture on Dada, 1922, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry) (sic) II. This impatience with art as it used to be was verbalized by Tristan Tzara in the following almost lucid quote: â€Å"We don’t accept any theories. We’ve had enough of the cubist and futurist academies: laboratories of formal ideas†¦ Cubism was born out of a simple manner of looking at objects: Cezanne painted a cup twenty centimetres lower than his eyes, the cubists look at it from above, others complicate its appearance by cutting a vertical section through it and soberly placing it to one side. (I’m not forgetting the creators, nor the seminal reasons of unformed matter that they rendered definitive.) The futurist sees the same cup in movement, a succession of objects side by side, mischievously embellished by a few guide-lines. This doesn’t stop the canvas being either a good or a bad painting destined to form an investment for intellectual capital. The new painter creates a world whose elements are also its means, a sober, definitive, irrefutable work. The new artist protests: he no longer paints (symbo lic and illusionistic reproduction) but creates directly in stone, wood, iron, tin, rocks, or locomotive structures capable of being spun in all directions by the limpid wind of the momentary sensation. Every pictorial or plastic work is unnecessary†¦A painting is the art of making two lines, which have been geometrically observed to be parallel, meet on a canvas, before our eyes, in the reality of a world that has been transposed according to new conditions and possibilities. This world is neither specified nor defined in the work, it belongs, in its innumerable variations, to the spectator. For its creator it has neither cause nor theory. Order = disorder; ego = non?ego; affirmation = negation: the supreme radiations of an absolute art. Absolute in the purity of its cosmic and regulated chaos, eternal in that globule that is a second which has no duration, no breath, no light and no control. I appreciate an old work for its novelty. It is only contrast that links us to the pa st.(Tzara, Dada Does Not Mean Anything, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry) (sic) III. Tristan Tzara offered the following straightforward instruction, in poetic format. He could also have mentioned that choosing several different articles with different typefaces would add a certain decorative fillip to the randomly generated poem: To Make a Dadist Poem Take a newspaper. Take some scissors. Choose from this paper an article the length you want to make your poem. Cut out the article. Next carefully cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them all in a bag. Shake gently. Next take out each cutting one after the other. Copy conscientiously in the order in which they left the bag. The poem will resemble you. And there you are an infinitely original author of charming sensibility, even though unappreciated by the vulgar herd.† (Tzara, To Make A Dadist Poem, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry) (sic) Resources (Mod ern Dime Sized Coins of the World: Liberia) â€Å"I don’t have to tell you that for the general public and for you, the refined public, a Dadaist is the equivalent of a leper. But that is only a manner of speaking. When these same people get close to us, they treat us with that remnant of elegance that comes from their old habit of belief in progress. At ten yards distance, hatred begins again. If you ask me why, I won’t be able to tell you.† (Tzara, Lecture on Dada, 1922, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry) The size of gift shops has begun to rival exhibits in many museums; The Metropolitan has several and at least one off-site. This indicates just how tenuous are the traditional sources of support for museums’ operations, now seldom covered by admission sales. In an article assumed to be by Marcel Duchamp, the author defends the appropriateness for inclusion of a fountain in an art show, as follows: â€Å"He CHOSE it. He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view – created a new thought for that object.†(Duchamp) This could be considered a summary statement of the criteria for Dadaist art. Observe how the teacher encourages the kids to call whatever they put together, whatever they create, whatever they assemble, ART. Look at the geometric stained glass which graces so many contemporary church windows; even decades after Van Doesburg and Mondrian are gone from the scene. Equally; the geometric Mondrianization of patterns is evident everywhere in home furnishings. Art is what you choose to call art; a Dada principle! It is hard not to imagine that a high fiber diet and some yoghurt, or an anti-depressant, might have soothed these anal-compulsive-seeming obsessions just as effectively. Tate Patrons, Tate International Council, The Van Doesburg Exhibition Supporters Group, The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherla nds, Dedalus Foundation, Inc, Mondriaan Foundation, Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation (Straver Foundation), SNS Reaal Fond (The Tate Modern Museum). It should be noted that there was a distinct political (or sometimes anti-political) thread in the passions of the Avante-Garde, which did not always endear the movement to establishment institutions (Craft 3). Van Doesburg’s use of â€Å"solomite†, a building material made of straw, is a striking foreshadowing of the whole sustainability movement in home design today (Mawer). Bibliography Craft, Catherine. New York Dada? Looking Back After a Second World War, lecture given September 9, 2006. 2010. 10 March 2010 http://media.moma.org/audio/2006/pub_prog/spec_exhib/Dada/MOMA_RepresentingDadatalk.pdf. dada home page. 2010. 11 March 2010 http://dadatheband.com/. Darwent, Charles. Well-chosen works show how De Stijl – ‘The Style’ – movement led to a revolution in European art that still resonates today: Van Doesburg the International Avant-Garde, Tate Modern, London. 2010. 11 March 2010 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/van-doesburg–the-international-avantgarde-tate-modern-london-1891448.html. Duchamp, Marcel. â€Å"‘Dissent and Disorder’-Selected Essays on Dadaism.† Harrison, C. and Wood,P. Art in Theory. Trans. Ralph Mannheim. London: Blackwell Publishing, 2002. 250-275. Feinberg, Jonathan. Wordle: Beautiful Word Clouds. 2010. 12 March 2010 http://www.wordle.net/. Garageband. 2010. 10 March 2010 http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/. Mawer, Simon. Theo van Doesburg: Forgotten artist of the avant garde. 23 January 2010. 11 March 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jan/23/theo-van-doesburg-avant-garde-tate. Modern Dime Sized Coins of the World: Liberia. 2010. 10 March 2010 http://dewardt.net/dimebook/Liberia.pdf. Sooke, Alastair. Tate Modern’s new exhibition about the Dutch art movement De Stijl leave s Alastair Sooke feeling a little cold: Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde at Tate Modern, review. 11 March 2010. 11 March 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturecritics/alastairsooke/7130547/Van-Doesburg-and-the-International-Avant-Garde-at-Tate-Modern-review.html. Tzara, Tristan. Dada Does Not Mean Anything, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry. 2010. 11 March 2010 http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/dada/Tristan-Tzara.html. Tzara, Tristan. â€Å"Dada Manifesto 1918.† Motherwell, Robert, and Arp, Jean. The Dada Painters and Poets. Trans. Ralph Mannheim. New York: Wittenborn, Schultz, 1970. 76-82. —. Lecture on Dada, 1922, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry. 2010. 10 March 2010 http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/dada/Tristan-Tzara.html. —. To Make A Dadist Poem, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry. 2010. 11 March 2010 http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthis tory/dada/Tristan-Tzara.html. Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde: About the Exhibition. 2010. 10 March 2010 http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/vandoesburg/default.shtm. This essay on Van Doesburg and the International Avante-Garde: Constructing a New World was written and submitted by user Rogelio T. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Advice to Will Executor Essay Essays

Advice to Will Executor Essay Essays Advice to Will Executor Essay Essay Advice to Will Executor Essay Essay Johns Will Execution Johns Will cannot be executed without making several legal references. Since its drafting in 2012, various changes have happened to Johns estate that may prompt the seeking of legal aid by its executor. Several clauses do not apply due to their ambiguity or lack of clarity. To start with, there is no residuary clause to guide its executor on the method of disposing of the remaining estate after all the wishes of the deceased are fulfilled. This absence means that Joe will have to refer to the Succession Act, 1965 before making any move. As it is, the will is marred with unachievable wishes that John made before his death. The will raises various questions about its validity, given that John did not seek any legal assistance when drafting the will. The inconsistencies that Joe finds out between the will and the reality also make him question the mental capacity of the testator at the time this will was drafted. The fact that John makes references to non-existing persons invokes the cl ause in the Succession Act of 1965 on Gifts that Fail. When making deliberations on the execution of the will, Joe must follow up the irregularities that are apparent in the will to avoid denying any beneficiary their share while also ensuring that the wishes of the deceased are fulfilled. One of the strategies that Joe must employ in making his decisions is intuition. He has a history with John, and he is better placed to deduce what John might have implied by making some wishes. The suggestions in this paper act as advice to Joe based on the Irish Family Law and the Succession Act of 1965. The case of Paula In his Will, John stated: I leave my farm to my niece, Paula, who currently resides in Co. Kerry. On further inquiry, Joe finds out that John did not have a niece named Paula. Instead, his nieces name was Jill, whose mother was Paula. Additionally, neither Jill nor Paula lived in Kerry. These inconsistencies raise two questions. Joe is wondering whether John referred to Jills mother or Jill in his wish. By giving Johns farm to Jill, Joe would have probably denied Jill mother her inheritance as stated by John. Also, by giving the farm to Paula, Joe would likely have denied Jill her inheritance as left by her uncle. Paula was Johns sister, and he could not have confused her for his niece. However, it is likely that John could not remember the name of Paulas daughter although he knew that she had one. Therefore, the most likely scenario is that John wished to leave his farm to Jill, but she could not remember her name out of old age. In his statement, John was clear that he wanted his f arm to go to his niece who he accidentally referred to with her mothers name. I would, therefore, advise Joe to allocate the farm to Jill since she is the most likely designated heiress for this estate. There isnt any possibility of a legal tussle that will ensue if Joe allocates the farm to Jill. Paula, Johns sister, is not likely to contest this offer in a probate court. Joe does not need to consult a lawyer due to the few risks of litigation that may result from his decision. Donation to the Cancer Center A gift may fail where its subject matter is unclear for the court or executor to satisfy the wish. However, the court can deduce what the testator may have wanted by making such an offer and thereby execute the will based on intuition (Ward, 2010). This incident has happened before in the case of Makeown vs. Ardagh. John in his 2012 Will stated the following: I leave the sum of 50,000 to the Cancer Charity in Dublin. The wills executor found out later that there are two Cancer Charity Organizations in Dublin. However, there was a record that John had been giving donations to one of the Cancer Charities. Joe is thus tempted to reason out that John referred to this particular Charity in his will. But it is also possible that John wanted to give the donation to the other Cancer Charity after he was gone since both Charities were doing philanthropic work. The second assumption is not very likely since John had never given his money to another Cancer Charity in Dublin apart from the Irish Cancer Cociety. In this matter, I would advise Joe to offer 50,000 to the Irish Cancer Society The Case of Mary Smith Another challenge that Joe is facing in the execution of Johns will is the problem of non-existent property. In his second statement, John ordered the executor to give the deceaseds car and some money to a person by the name of Mary Smith as a token of appreciation for the care that she offered John during his last days. Joe is informed that John knew of two people who were named Mary Smith. One of the people who went by this name was a woman who cooked for John in her ailing years. The other person is the first womans daughter, although John does not have any information that she took care of him in any way. Therefore, it is prudent for Joe to fulfill Johns wish by giving the said gifts to Mary Smith senior. This statement has another problem. John drafted his will in 2012 while he still owned a car. By the time of his death, this car was no longer in Johns possession. According to Ward (2010), this car falls under the Gifts that Fail section of the Succession Act of 1965. Article 3 75 (a) (c) of the Act states that ademption by extinction may occur if the gift in question does not exist at the time of the death of the testator (Keatin, 2016). In this case, I would advise Joe to give 10,000 to Mary Smith senior as Johns appreciation for her care. Joe should also tell Smith that John had offered his car to her, although the gift could not take effect since it was not present at the time of Johns death. Residuary Clause Since there is no residuary clause attached to the will, John will consult the Succession Act, 1965 to determine how the remaining estate will be subdivided. For this matter, John is assumed to be intestate. At this point, Joe believes that John was not succeeded by any spouse or children. According to the law, Johns estate should be inherited by his parents, although he is not survived by any. Also, John does not have any living brothers or sisters. The people that are next in the succession line are Johns nieces and nephews. According to the law, Johns remaining estate will be subdivided equally among Steve and Nancy. His first cousin Fred and Nancys daughter are not entitled to any inheritance. Fred could only be a candidate to inheritance if he were the only relative alive. Mary, Nancys daughter, cannot receive any inheritance since her mother has already received a gift from John. Before making this judgment, Joe should first investigate whether John has a legally recognized spo use. The Case of Mary Murphy On further probing, Joe realized that John had a legally binding affair with a man named Mary Murphy. This fact is ascertained by the discovery of a marriage certificate in Johns house. Joe believes that Mary Murphy did not spend any time with John, and the couple did not have any children. John did not mention of Mary Murphy in his Will, and there is no document to show that Mary is exempt from Johns inheritance. Therefore, there is a possibility that Mary will appear later to claim his legal right share as a married spouse. The Succession Act of 1965 Article 376 states that a spouse is entitled to half of the testators estate if the couple had no children. However, Article 380 of the same Act precludes a spouse from inheriting any estate if they had deserted the testator for two or more years before the latters death (Keatin, 2016). I advise Joe to ignore Mary Murphy since she has no right under the law to claim any share of Johns estate. References Keatin A. Succession Law in Ireland: Principles, Cases and Commentary. Clarus Press Ward, P. (2010). Family Law in Ireland. Kluwer Law International.

Canute the Great

What role did religion play in Canute’s leadership? 5 What were Canute’s strengths and weaknesses? 6 Conclusion8 References9 Canute the Great Introduction Canute was a Viking king. He was son of Sweyn Forkbeard, the king of Denmark. Canute ascended the Danish throne upon the death of his father in 1018. But in 1016, as the prince of Denmark Canute successfully conquered England. Thus by the time Canute became the king of Denmark he was the king of a vast empire that included England, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, parts of Sweden and Germany from 1018 to 1035. He came into power during a time of turmoil but Canute established an era of peace and prosperity to a once divided kingdom. His rule was known as a peaceful and orderly time throughout his entire kingdom. By the time of his death in 1035, Canute was not only known as a successful king but also a monarch and religious figure. This report will discuss the achievements of Canute, his strengths and weaknesses and how religion played a role in victorious leadership. What achievements did Canute the Great make? One of Canute’s greatest achievements was he was successfully able to use his skill as a leader and military commander and become the ruler of an empire that included England, Denmark, Norway, western Sweden, and northern Germany. Although Canute was a Dane ruling English land one of his other great achievements was bringing peace and prosperity to England. Over the twenty years of his reign Canute ensured that the ties of England and Denmark were strong and good. Canute also developed and maintained a strong legal and fiscal system to ensure his empire was orderly and calm. Even though Canute was a Viking and during the early part of his reign he was very ruthless, and his actions were barbaric he became a wise ruler who made many great decisions that benefited his empire. For example, he secured recognition from three Scottish kings after 1027. He also made English trade more profitable by controlling the Baltic trade root. In addition, Canute was able to obtain a reduction in tolls and charges for people wanting to travel to Rome for pilgrimage. This highlights Canute’s achievements in foreign affairs. Canute was also known as a religious king and he his achievements in promoting Christianity was seen for example when he encouraged the church to undertake missionary work in Scandinavia. Canute also ensured that those who were not Christians we not punished and was able to work with them for the benefit of his country. For example, he led an army that was largely mostly pagans and thus created a rule that was peaceful and orderly. Canute made many great achievements but perhaps one Canute’s greatest achievements was winning the English crown. England was a land in ruin in 1013 and only a strong and powerful king could unite this divided nation. The people of England recognised that only Canute had the will and power to unite their land and in 1016 Canute was declared king of England in Lincolnshire. What role did religion play in Canute’s leadership? Canute was an extremely religious king who was known for his close relationship with the church. He associated himself with key religious figures such as Wulfstan, the Archbishop of York. He was also known for his generosity toward the church, giving impressive gifts and relics to the English Church. One of the highlights of Canute’s leadership and association to the church was his pilgrimage to Rome to visit Pope John XIX, in 1026. During Canute’s reign, the Church was an extremely powerful and influential organisation. Canute recognised that he needed to ally himself with the Church, not only be accepted by the people as their Christian King but also to ensure that he was able to retain his power as a ruler. He knew that in order to avoid a conflict with the church and its followers he had be a friend of this very powerful religious organisation. Canute was a clever and effective ruler and led many successful military campaigns. Although Canute was a religious King, he did not punish those who were not of the Christian faith. For example, Canute’s army were mostly pagans and yet Canute was an effective military leader and was accepted by his men as a Christian monarch. This shows how clever Canute was in using religion to guide his leadership. Many however questioned Caute’s motives on showing himself to be a devoted Christian and a close friend of the Church. They thought that Canute allied himself with the church in order to be able to consolidate and retain the power he held as the ruler of his vast Empire. Despite controversy over Canute’s reasons for being Christian, history books say his treatment of the church was very sincere. For example, Canute repaired churches and monasteries that had been looted by his army and also built new ones. Although it is hard to know whether Canute was sincerely religious or he used the Church to his own benefit, what is clear is that Canute used religion and the power of the church to consolidate his leadership. What were Canute’s strengths and weaknesses? Canute was a ruler who showed both strengths and weaknesses. His weaknesses lead him to commit acts that tarnished his character as a great king. His strengths as a ruler allowed him to rule his empire, which included England, Denmark, Norway, and parts of Sweden, effectively and history has recorded him as one of the greatest kings. One of Canute’s main strengths was his strong management skill. For example, history books all recognize Canute’s ability to skilfully manage the wealth and resources of his empire very cleverly. He also managed his finances very well. For example, the coinage system was carefully controlled by his administration. In addition, Canute although a Danish ruler, understood the English political system very well. This was one of his greatest strengths as it helped him to keep control of his large diverse empire that included not only England, Norway, and Denmark but also parts of Sweden. Canute was also recognized as a strong military leader. Although he had very little knowledge of how to lead, control, and guide an army. In addition, unlike many other young kings, Canute had no second in command that could advice and support him. Despite this, Canute was very skilful at managing men and was able to lead a successful army. Canute was also seen as an opportunist, who took every chance he could get to accumulate power and expand his empire. He always took advantage of political and military opportunities. He was cunning and accumulated power strategically. For example, he married his daughter to the Roman Emperor. This action shows that Canute was also a very clever politician and diplomat. Canute’s greatest weakness was his ruthless character; he didn’t stop at anything. For example, at the very beginning of his rule over England, he gave estates belonging to English nobles’ to reward his Danish followers. This made the English unhappy. He also engineered the death of Edmunds brother Eadwig and had some prominent Englishmen killed and outlawed. Although Canute’s ruthlessness may be seen as a bad character trait it was important to have a leader that has that much drive in order to have a secure empire. Some people viewed Canute as a very short-sighted leader. For example, when he gave three of his earls; Godwin, Leofric, and Siward high power in order to gain their favour and support. This caused a lot of internal fighting between the three families and threatened to weaken Canute’s control of his Empire. In spite of these weaknesses Canute was a great leader who established and maintained prosperity and peace in his kingdom. Conclusion In conclusion, although Canute could have been remembered as a ruthless Viking Danish king who ruled by brutal force, he is remembered instead as a Great King because of the peace and prosperity he brought to his people. Through his many strengths Canute united a divided England and ruled over an Empire that included the people of Denmark, Norway parts of Sweden, Germany and England successfully. This required a ruler that was strong and powerful and wise and Canute was all of these. Canute’s diplomatic skills and military talent allowed him to be one of the greatest kings of his times. He is remembered as a Great ruler who brought peace and prosperity to his people.

The Skeletal System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Skeletal System - Essay Example Finally, bones contain bone marrow from the red blood cells develop and are also storing housed for important minerals like calcium and phosphorus. In terms of anatomy, the skeleton is divided into two parts: the axial skeleton which contains all the bones in our body and the appendicular skeleton which is associated with our limbs and performs the function of movement. Bones are not the only important part of the skeletal system; the other important feature is the joints. Joints connect two bones and allow the body to rotate or flex around those joints. There are three different types of joints: synarthosis joints, amphiarthrosis joints, and diarthrosis joints. These classifications have been made according to the freedom of movement these joints allow. Synarthosis joints are immovable, amphiarthosis joints are slightly moveable whereas diarthosis thosis joints are freely movable and can allow bending, straightening and various other functions. Many of the deficiencies as well as the other causes leading to physical problems lie at the heart of these joints where the movement around these joints is either stopped or enhanced. Therefore in order to make medical advances regarding such condition, it is very important to study different types of

Self and Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Self and Leadership - Essay Example First, I will present the results of a feedback survey I conducted with my family, friends, and business colleagues. I expect this to provide me with insight from those closest to me as I ask them to identify my strengths, weaknesses, and areas where I could improve. Then, I will assess the results of several standardized tests I took that will offer insight into my personality, intelligence, career strengths, etc. These more objective forms of self-analysis are instructive from a comparative perspective. My scores will include a comparison to classification levels that are recognized as having a significant impact on the workplace. Following that, I will include a section on personal information from my family and past that has bearing upon my skills and functionality within the workplace. This, most personal, area of assessment will include my own biographical information as well as those events in my family's history that impacted my personal development. Finally, I will perform a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat (SWOT) analysis on myself using a synthesis of all of the information I have gathered. I expect this methodology to be useful for providing a condensed presentation of all the data in the assessment and lead to specific goals for improving my leadership skills. My goal, during the course of this exercise, will be to explore my individual leadership capability and determine ways of making myself a better, more effective leader. During the course of the assessment, I expect to be able to communicate my personal and career goals, particularly as it relates to leadership within a business culture. I perceive myself as the type of individual who looks forward to continuously advancing and improving my skills and knowledge. I try to identify the strengths and weaknesses I may have to help me grow and become a better leader. This assessment exercise will help me achieve my ultimate goal of establishing my own successful business so that I can obtain security and independence. Section I: Feedback My initial foray into increasing my intrapersonal intelligence involves a series of interviews with a group of my family, friends, and business colleagues; asking them to comment on me. I must admit that doing this made me a little nervous. It is one thing to take a personality test or fill out an online questionnaire and have a computer rate your score. It is quite another thing entirely to conduct a face-to-face interview with people who are important to you while giving them the opportunity to speak candidly about you. We were advised to listen to the responses carefully, and try to say nothing at all; even if we did not hear what we expected or wanted to hear. As revealed in the assessment portion of this paper, I am a direct and focused person, which makes it hard for me to listen to something I don't want to hear. Ironically, one of the comments from an interviewee was that I needed to "listen to peoples' ideas even if they don't agree with [me]."1 The methodology for this part of the assessment was straightforward. I personally met with each interviewee and asked them three simple questions about

Meat Industry Essay Example for Free

Meat Industry Essay People all over the world eat meat for its nutritional value and taste. The United States Department of Agriculture reports that in the year 2011 people in the U.S consumed 25.6 billion pounds of beef. Most of this meat was produced in America. A Holistic approach to food production is important in order to improve the quality of beef. What we feed our cattle, the housing conditions and the slaughter procedure directly impacts our food. What the farmers feed cattle directly affects the quality of beef for the consumer. The cow has many more benefits from eating grass than being fed corn. It is a lot healthier for cows to consume grass because that is what their stomachs are made for. The stomachs have three sections that are made specifically for digesting grass (Healthy Theory -Corn-Fed Vs. Grass-Fed Beef). Today, most cows are put on a diet that is based on corn. The cows used to be fed grass and roam free but since than there have been changes. The idea about feeding cattle grain began during World War II. It all started when farmers were producing more grain than the American population could handle, so the rest of it was fed to cows. It was discovered that feeding a cow different types of grains fattened them up a lot faster than when cows were consuming grass. With a grass fed diet, it takes cows about five years to reach 1,200 pounds. However, with the grain-based diet it takes a cow about 390 days to get to a reachable weight for slaughter (Healthy Theory -Corn-Fed Vs. Grass-Fed Beef). Also, the producer benefits more from feeding his cows corn because it is cheaper than grass. Therefore, a diet based on corn is more cost effective but the quality of meat has less nutritional value (Why Grass Fed- Health Benefits of Grass Fed Beef). The consumer benefits more from meat that comes from cows that consume grass rather than in-taking different types of grains. The cow is a lot healthier and happier when it is eating grass, which results in higher quality meat. Since cows’ stomachs are meant to break down grass, a corn based diet causes changes in the digestion of a cow leading to serious health problems, such as diarrhea, ulcers, and a weakened immune system. As a result of these issues, the cows are given antibiotics to help prevent this from occurring, which makes the meat unhealthier (Healthy Theory -Corn-F ed Vs. Grass-Fed Beef). Another huge topic of concern is the disregard of animal welfare. These animals aren’t being cared for and they are treated as units of production (Learn About The Issues). In order to fatten up cows in time for slaughter, many farmers put them in feedlots. The conditions these cows go through are unbearable. As many cows as possible are crammed into each pen. The result of this is massive amounts of waste covering the animals living space (The Issues Animal Welfare). This causes the air to be unhealthy and creates many gases and diseases that aren’t wanted. During the whole time the cows are in the feedlot they are breathing in methane gas. Large amounts of methane are bad for animals because it takes away oxygen from the air, which can affect the central nervous system (2- Health Effects of Methane). The alternative is a more holistic way, which allows the cattle to roam around freely on huge pastures until they get fat enough to get slaughtered. In the United States, animal welfare is being ignored, because cows are being treated i n a cruel and unhealthy way. When they are living in the feedlots, they are covered with manure and aren’t being cared for. As soon as cows are fat enough to get slaughtered, they are sent to the closest slaughterhouse. On their journey they are faced with heartbreaking situations. They are often transported from 1,200 to 1,500 miles away in scorching hot weather or freezing temperatures. Dr. Lester Friedlander, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarian inspector said, â€Å"They are crammed onto trucks and go without food or water for days†. When it is cold, they are in the back of a trailer with nothing covering them. As the driver drives sixty miles per hour, cows are being exposed to a variety of extreme weather. Many cows collapse in hot weather. While they are traveling they urinate. After sometime it begins to freeze while their hooves are standing in it. Also, the fur of the cows â€Å"†¦ freezes to the sides of the trucks until workers pry them off with crowbars†(Cow Transport and Slaughter). When the cows get to the slaughterhouse, they are often in bad conditions. Most of them are sick and cannot walk because they are too weak. In order to move weak and injured cows they are dragged along with a bulldozer by a chain around their neck or leg. Even though they are in bad shape, cows are still being used for their meat because it means more money in the producer’s pocket. If some of the cows are able to walk, they are still abused. Workers beat them with a metal rod in order to move them faster (The Humane Society of the United States). Also, before they are killed the cows are lined up to wait for their turn to be stunned so that they will pass out before they get slaughtered. Sometimes the stunning procedure does not work. Ramon Moreno, a slaughterhouse worker has stated that he often has to cut the legs off of cows that are completely conscious. â€Å"They blink. They make noises, he says. The head moves, the eyes are wide and looking around. †¦ They die piece by piece. If workers try to report that the cows are still alive they risk loosing their jobs (Cow Transport and Slaughter). After cows reach a certain weight they are ready to be slaughtered for meat consumption. The process of turning cows into packe d meat can cause the meat to be infected. Before they are slaughtered, cows are cleaned. However, in some cases not well enough. The waste of the cow can get into the processed meat that is being cut by the workers. This can contaminate the meat with E-coli, which is a type of bacteria that can lead to death. â€Å"According to Centers for Disease Control estimates, up to 20,400 cases of E. coli infection and 500 deaths from E-coli disease occur annually in the United States† (Escherichia Coli 0157:H7). Another disease that is created in these fast paced industries is mad cow disease. (the issues-slaughterhouses and processing). Mad cow disease affects the cow’s nervous system and it causes the cow to act confused and loose control of the ability to walk (What is Mad Cow Disease). When people eat infected beef they may contract a human version of mad cow disease. It affects the nervous system causing depression and loss of coordination. As it becomes more severe, it causes dementia (The Basics of Mad Cow Disease). With our modern day technology, slaughterhouses are able to kill thousands and thousands of cow’s every day. There are many solutions that can change the food industry to produce their meat in a more animal friendly way. To help cut back more meat being produced in factories, consumers can support local farms by eating food that is grown locally. Holistic farming care for their animals and focus on getting delicious, healthy meat than just producing more and more for profit. The food quality of holistic farmed meat is a lot better because the cows are raised and treated well as opposed to when the animals are abused their whole life. If we really want a change, it is up to Americans to demand that. Currently, laws support the industrial farming methods and lack the attempt of helping small farms grow. An example is that American tax money goes to support research and the operating cost of large food producing companies (Learn About the Issues). In order for there to be a change, citizens need to become aware of the process. Change will happen by the consumer supporting politicians who are looking to change the food industry. Consequently, producers would need to be more focused on the care of the animals than earning as much money as possible. What American farmers feed their cattle, where they raise them and how they get slaughtered directly impacts the quality of our food. It is important for consumers to be aware of the United States food industry because there is so much more behind the food brought to you in the supermarket. If the consumer buys meat that is produced holistically, and legislation puts focus on the care of animals, the food industry will be forced to improve their methods.

Natural Born Killers :: essays papers

Natural Born Killers Violence is a constant on our screens whether it be an anvil falling on a cartoon character, a war zone on the news, a fight in an action movie or a pub brawl in a soap opera. But does this screen violence produce behavioural effects in the viewers? This is one of the most frequent and heatedly debated arguments in mass media. Is it the case that audiences are effected by what they see and that the producers of media texts are instigating or increasing violent behaviour, or do audiences have the ability to understand what they have seen without being overly influenced? It has to be ascertained as to whether audiences are passive or active. This subject has caused controversy within several of different schools of thought and ideologies over the years. They have either wide or only slight variations of opinion so it is difficult to come to one definite conclusion as each one also has valid and understandable explanations. It is difficult to deny that 'the whole point of communicating is to influence one another by conveying information' (Vine, 1997), but to what extent does this influence take control? To investigate this matter and come to a conclusion as to whether or not screen violence does instigate violent behaviour in the reader, we will be critically looking at two of the major ideological models as well as using some specific media texts to validate and/or criticise these theories. First there is the Hypodermic Needle or Hypodermic Syringe effect. This theory has it's root in 1950's America when dominant businesses and the then government wanted to discover how far the public were influenced by what they saw on television. The Hypodermic Theory came from this Media Effects model, which had a heavy emphasis in psychology. Businesses and the government alike wanted to know how much 'media is supposedly 'injected' into the consciousness of an audience' via television (Price, 1993). They wanted to know if through this relatively new medium the public could be persuaded unquestioningly to, for example, vote for a certain political party or buy a specific brand of washing powder. The Hypodermic model proposes that the media has a very direct and extremely immediate effect on the general public, who accept the injected message without question due to their passiveness. It is the idea that producers of media texts can persuade us to do what ever they want and we will unquestionably comply. When we bring the subject of violence into this field, a follower of this ideology would say that the violent behaviour witnessed on screen would be influentially accepted by the audience without question.