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VCE Art Creative Practice (Year 12) · The Interpretive Lenses · 12m read

Interpretive Lenses — The Cultural Lens and the Contemporary Lens

The Cultural and Contemporary Lenses connect artworks to the world — the time and place they came from, and the questions they raise for us now.

Learning objective: Use the Cultural Lens to interpret artworks in their time and place, and the Contemporary Lens to discuss how artworks connect to current ideas, issues and ways of viewing.

By the end of this lesson you can:

  • I can explain how historical, social, political and cultural contexts shape an artwork.
  • I can discuss contemporary ideas and issues raised by artworks.
  • I can consider different audiences and viewpoints.

Context is the frame around the frame. The same painting reads differently depending on when and where it was made — and where and when it is seen.

The Cultural Lens

Considers the CONTEXT in which an artwork was made:
• historical events and social conditions;
• political, religious and economic forces;
• cultural values, traditions and identity;
• art movements and influences of the time.

Example: Picasso’s Guernica (1937) responds to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War; its fragmented forms and monochrome palette communicate the horror of modern warfare.

The Contemporary Lens

Considers how artworks relate to CURRENT ideas, issues and debates, and how audiences today view them:
• issues such as identity, the environment, technology, globalisation, human rights;
• new ways of making and displaying art (digital, installation, social media);
• how an older work is re-read today (e.g. colonial-era paintings viewed through present-day perspectives);
• ethical questions: appropriation, censorship, cultural ownership, representation.

Respect cultural protocols: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art carries cultural knowledge and ownership; refer to artists by their nation or community where appropriate.

Worked example (Medium)

How might a contemporary audience re-read a 19th-century colonial landscape painting that shows "empty" Australian land?

  1. Original context. Romanticised settler view of land as untouched and available.
  2. Contemporary reading. Today it can be seen as erasing the presence of Aboriginal peoples and their ongoing connection to Country.

Answer: Through a Contemporary Lens, the "empty" landscape reflects colonial ideas such as terra nullius, raising questions about whose stories art has told and omitted.

Common mistakes

  • Writing general history unconnected to the artwork Context must explain features of the work. Fix: Link every contextual fact to a visual feature.
  • Treating "contemporary" as "made recently" The Contemporary Lens can be applied to any artwork viewed today. Fix: Discuss current ideas and audiences, whatever the artwork’s age.

Practice questions

  1. Explaining how a war influenced an artwork uses the:

    1. Structural Lens
    2. Cultural Lens
    3. Personal Lens only
    4. No lens

    (1 marks)

  2. Discuss one ethical issue raised by appropriation in contemporary art.

    (3 marks)

Summary

  • Cultural Lens: historical, social, political and cultural context.
  • Contemporary Lens: current ideas, issues, audiences and ethics.
  • Link context to visual evidence.
  • Respect cultural protocols.

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