Critique of an Existing Trend in Visual Culture – Silence vs. Noise

Critique of an Existing Trend in Visual Culture – Silence vs. Noise
Your Name
Subject and section
Professor’s Name
December 18, 2019
Art and society have always been in a close and intricate relationship with one another. On the one hand, trends in art have always been affected by the external circumstances that the artist’s experiences as well as the internal status of how he perceives it. On the other hand, art also affects society since it serves as a subtle, unique, and effective memorialization of history. Accordingly, this dualist relationship between these two is the reason for the different changes in artistic trends. In visual culture, specifically fine art, one of the popular trend is Silence vs. Noise, which is an artistic movement that uses minimalist geometries, coupled with simplistic and complex color patterns that “pivots on the distillation of complex ideas into refined simplicity and calmness” CITATION Degnd \l 1033 (Chan, n.d.). In the succeeding sections of this paper, a deeper discussion of the rationale for this movement and its benefits would be done. In order to understand its implications, this would include an analysis of the genre in relation to the difficulties and challenges of Feminist Art and Urban Geography. All in all, the author believes that through its theme and technique (simple figures that are easily comprehensible and strategic color patterns), the viewers could become aware of the reality of life from what seems to be an abstract undertaking.
Noise vs. Silence
As stated earlier, the very idea of the artistic movement entitled Noise vs. Silence is to emphasize that even the most complex of ideas could be trimmed down, refined, and polished into simpler ones. Aesthetically, this aim is achieved by the combination of basic geometrical figures that are patched together and somber colors and textures that appeals to the minimalist tradition of the late 1950s and 1960s art era. According to Chan (n.d.), the main inspiration for this movement is the society’s inherent tendency to be crowded and overwhelmed in all kinds of noises in the urban market. It is not a surprise that the increasing demand for newly made products that fit everyone’s needs has also taken a huge toll on the physical, psychological, and emotional well-being of its own citizens. Subsequently, proponents of this movement believed that despite the seeming inevitability of these repercussions, the use of simple methods to solve complex tasks could lead to better solutions.
Interestingly, the idea of going back to simplicity can be related to Debord’s Critique of Urban Geography. In his book, Debord (2008) discussed the geographical, political, and psychological reasons for the continuous shortage of public infrastructures and the persisting discrimination of such usages between the rich and poor. For example, he noted that despite traffic affecting every person, the main cause of traffic (number of cars) is a privilege that only the rich can afford. In other words, this shows the injustice that is happening between the rich and the poor, where the latter suffers regardless of whether it is his fault or not. By the end, he realized that change can only be achieved w...