Week 1

Week 1- Mercantilism and Fiona Hall's work

'Tender' (2003-05) Fiona Hall

Fiona Hall's contemporary work reflects ideas that come from the Renaissance concept of Mercantilism.

Research the two examples; 'Tender'(2003-05) and 'Leaf Litter'(1999-2003) to explain how they relate to this concept.

1. First define mercantilism, using material from your ALVC handbook, and explain how it has developed since the Renaissance.

Mercantilism: an economic term which was used commonly between 16th century and 18th century. It was used to increase the wealth of a nation by imposing the government regulation. It's also considered as methods or spirits of merchants. According to the mercantilist policy, a nation had to sell more than when it bought, in fact, the more exporting is, the less importing is, so they could save bullion for themselves. Not only bullion, but also duties which were obtained by selling all the raw materials for domestic manufactures. Overall, the treaties were created to take the exclusive trading privileges, and the commerce of colonies were used to be exploited for the benefits of their own country.

However, this policy has created a conflict between the European colonial powers and their colonies. An American revolution happened. Mercantilism was known as they need a huge amount of laborers, purchasers of goods and soldiers. Capitalism was being created because of the emphasizing of two things which were thrift and saving. As we can see, mercantilism was giving a favorable climate so the Capitalism could develop early, but then, they got critics, especially from the advocates of laissez-faire, who said that all trade had benefits themselves.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/mercantilism#ixzz1o8Cfj6mS

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilism#Infinite_growth

                The Columbia Encyclopedia Sixth Edition (2005) Mercantilism. Retrieved Feb 11, 2006, from: http://www.bartleby.com/65/me/mercanti. p.34. ALVC 1 Resource Book. 

2. Identify the ideas or concepts in Hall's work that relate to Mercantilism? 

The ideas of both of Hall's art work that relate to Mercantilism are all about money, money and money. It gives us a vision that how important money was, is and will be to our human. People need it to support a reasonable living for themselves. Moreover, "Tender" can also refer itself to two different aspects which are describing human emotion and currency. Mostly, Hall wants to emphasize the importance of nature through the use of an almost transparent leaf and she's still able to show how society has changed by modernizing through the use of bank notes. Furthermore, Hall gives us the vision of what we did to our environment for economic purpose in the past and in the present.  

3. For each work describe the shape, form and materials used, and also explain the ideas behind each example.

First of all, both of these work were exhibited from 2003 to 2005. They were created to deal with conflicted role which shows that money plays in a contemporary and multicultural society. Moreover, they give the difference of socialize concept between money and natural, organic items, investigate the relationships between the natural and commercial world. 

"Leaf Litter" has a branch of leaves laying on the top of those papers of money in the picture which gives us the vision of how people think of natural resources like raw material for generating the income, however, in the reality, they are more than just being a raw material which are exploited by people days by days. "Leaf Litter" has these bank notes from different countries gathering and forming a panel under these leaves. This actually proves to us that how economy has used these plants for its own need and now, they are mostly in danger of dying. 

"Tender" almost has the same meaning, except it has the bird nests which are made from the US dollar notes. "Tender" also gives us a saying that "Money does not grow on trees", which is actually true for this real world. People can not just sit there and wait for money to come to them. Moreover, there are still many things which can't be bought by money, in fact, live, love, peace, etc... 

4. In your opinion do the materials communicate the ideas of the work? Please explain your answer. 

Through the research of Hall's famous work which are "Leaf Litter" and "Tender", the materials which she used to create them are really affected and successful at bringing and communicating the ideas about Mercantilism with the work. 

First of all, discussing about "Leaf Litter", Hall used a branch with leaves putting on a lot of bank notes which come from different countries to send a message that people are exploiting natural resources more and more these days without concerning about the causes. This is very true because as the world is developing, human needs more things to survive themselves and of course, natural resources are one of them. However, people do not realize that they are exploiting and sending the danger of dying to the nature. 

"Tender" not only gives the same message as "Leaf Litter", but it also proves to us that money does not grow on trees naturally, it is made from them. 

5. Fiona Hall's recent project The Kermadecs focuses on issues around the Pacific ocean. Research this project to summarize the importance of the area and upload an image to your blog for discussion. 

The ocean itself is 620,000 square kilometers and it's located between New Zealand North Island and Tonga. It's a home for whales, turtles, sharks, seabirds, fish and deep-sea marine life. It also contains volcanoes which places underwater and a deep-sea trench, which makes the ocean become a hot spot for the most geologically active and biologically unusual features on the planet. It also provides breeding sites for endemic and endangered sea birds, and it's a true home for all the species and interactions of which scientists have only just become aware. 

 ' Leaf Litter' (1999-2003) Fiona Hall

These works were part of an art show titled 'Force Field' which can be viewed in one of the exhibition spaces on Youtube - Part Three: Fiona Hall: Force Field.

www.abc.net.au/rn/legacy/programs/sunmorn/stories/s1451093.htm
australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/fiona-hall
www.qag.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/.../Fiona_Hall_EdKit.pdf 
www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/fionahall/