Welcome on the course Martial Arts Studies for Art and Design Students: Somaesthetics, Performativity, and Embodiment. This blog contains the schedule of the course and all the materials needed.
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But why martial arts?
Martial arts is a hidden powerhouse in the artistic field, which we are yet to become aware of. It is worth mentioning a few historical and contemporary examples to illustrate this.
Martial arts have incorporated arts into their practice in various ways and in modern times they have become increasingly aestheticized. Chinese army routines included war dances already two millennia ago, but the 17th century, besides introducing health/existential tenets (e.g. Tai Chi), turned some into performance practices, which started to add weight on visually pleasing techniques (like high and jumping kicks). This way temples acquired funding, as people paid to see the events. During the long peace of the Edo period (1603-1868), the samurai started increasingly to paint, write poems, and do calligraphy - and to consider this as central to their practice, at the same time as the martial practice itself became increasingly ritualized and aestheticized. In West Africa martial dances were the heart of cultural heritage, performed in cross-cultural communication, showing one's inheritance. These practices (e.g. n'golo) were mashed-up in the trans-Atlantic slave trade to result in e.g. capoeira, candela (Caribbian stick arts), and kicking and stomping (Souther States of the US). Capoeira continued the aestheticization by getting rid of the dominance of head butts and razors, adding up e.g. music and rules for playful mock fights - becoming an 'art' of dance schools.
In contemporary dance, for example Indian choreographer Chandralekha, Sidi Larbi (together with sculptor Anthony Gormley) and the Hong Kong Dance Company have produced stunning dance performances utilizing martial arts. Choreographic thinking (a concept borrowed from the dance scene) itself is of course a key to understanding kungfu movies from the 1960s Shaw classics to the Matrix and Kill Bill (sharing the choreographer with the 1970s Jackie Chan, i.e. Yen Woo-ping). Kungfu and kungfu cinema both affected for example the development of rap music (the reason for calling Grandmaster Flash 'Grandmaster') and became cut-and-pasted in it - and there is a strong hypothesis that post-African martial arts affected the development of breakdance. Yves Klein used judo in painting/performances/body-art already in the 1960s.
Martial arts have been in the very center of computer games since the 1980s (The Way of the Exploding Fist, Tekken, Jade Empire). And we have been dancing to tunes about martial arts for long.
Theory-wise, philosophy has always been deeply tied with martial arts, especially in the far east, and often this has included in a way or another a connection to the arts - like in the sword-manuals where poets seem to be close colleagues in the existentialist reflections. Thinking about art education, John Dewey visited in the late 1920s Jigoro Kano's Kodokan, where Kano developed judo in Tokyo, and they had a dialogue on education. Kano also designed martial arts, by coming up with the idea of tatami mats for training, the same kind of outfits for everyone (this did not exist nearly anywhere before that), and belts - besides a sort of a curriculum, which could fit the modern need to train martial arts as a pastime. Martial arts also serve as a window and path to especially asian philosophical thinking, with deep ties to Zen and Confucianism. Like yoga schools martial arts schools offer teaching in philosophy.
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Commodore 64: The Way of the Exploding Fist (1985)
This and a lot more, including an aesthetic/artistic history of martial arts (with a global outreach), will be discussed on the course. We will gain visits by notable practitioners with arts and philosophy connections. The course will be an art and design driven ride into a whole world, which is practically never discussed in academia.
Note: no earlier knowledge of the topic is needed:
the
course focuses on studying the topic as an artistic reserve, a powerhouse in
the field of art, and a philosophical territory (Western/Eastern philosophy)!
The preliminary schedule is the following:
Monday 1.12, R107
During day one we will dive into the aesthetic/artistic history of martial arts, and get an overview of the field. We will look at audiovisual material, go through illuminative classics/examples, and catch up with the music, visual culture, and artistic production related to the topic.
The format is lecturing (and screening). No performance of activity is needed: you can just inhale! (Comments are still welcome!)
Session scheduling: 10-11:45, 13-14:45.
Tuesday 2.12, M202
Day two will be conducted by kungfu / tai chi teacher, stage fighting expert, and actor Gabriele Goria. More information soon!
Session scheduling: 10-11:45, 13-14:45.
Wednesday 3.12, Q202
Day three will begin with text workshop 1, and continue with the visit of Timo Klemola, karate / tai chi teacher, martial arts author, and the founder of Asahi Health.
Session scheduling: 10-11:45, 13-14:45 (Klemola).
Thursday 4.12, M202
Day four will include first a visit by Perttu Hämäläinen, who will talk about martial arts games (which he has experience of both as a player, scholar, and as a creator). We will then dive into text workshop 2.
Session scheduling: 10-11:45 (Hämäläinen), 13-14:45.
Day five will start with text workshop 3, and then continue with Henrika Ylirisku's visit. Ylirisku, who is world champion in Taido, artist, and art educator, will talk with the title Pedagogies in Martial Arts.
Session scheduling: 10-11:45, 13-14:45 (Ylirisku).
How to get the credits?
Produce an artwork, essay, or learning diary and communicate it to Max (max.ryynanen*aalto.fi) no later than 12.12. If you need material or guidance, do not hesitate to ask for it!
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