map of art history
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THIS ESSAY IS ABOUT ART HISTORY BEING CONSTITUTED THROUGH ORDER ,
HISTORY , SPACE AND TIME , AND IN RETURN CONSTITUTING VARIOUS
OBJECTS , NARRATIVES AND PEOPLES. IT CAN BE UNDERSTOOD THROUGH
VARIOUS CLASSIFICATIONS ...... THE THREE WHICH ARE MENTIONED IN THIS
ESSAY ARE :-
A GRID OF FIELDS OF ART HISTORY
A LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION OF ART HISTORY
THE PLOTTING OF TIME AND SPACE IN ART HISTORY SURVEY BOOKS
LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION HAS ORDER BOTH INDIVIDUALLY ( IN A SINGLE ITS
THE WRITTEN DISCOURSE WHICH MATTERS) AND COLLECTIVELY ( ITS THE
BIBLIOGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION OF A GROUP OF BOOKS WHICH MATTERS MORE
THAN THE ENTIRE TEXT) - THUS MEETING THE HUMAN NEEDS AND BEING
CONVENIENT FOR THEM TO USE . OPEN STACK POLICIES , LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
CLASSIFICATION, COMPUTERIZATION AND RAPIDLY EVOLVING INFORMATION
RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS ARE ALL METHODS WHICH INCULCATES THE BASIC STRUCTURE
OF KNOWLEDGE AND HELPS TO RETRIEVE INFORMATION MORE EFFICIENTLY.
CLASSIFICATION CAN ALSO BE DERIVED FROM VALUES OF DIFFERENT SOCIETIES
AND THEREFORE IT IS DIFFERENT FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES.
HOWEVER FOR SOME , CLASSIFICATION IS ALL ABOUT THE FORMATION OF GROUPS
AND ARRANGEMENT OF THESE HIERARCHICALLY. IT NEED NOT HAVE A
FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN LOGIC BEHIND IT BUT IT SHOULD HAVE CONCEPTS OF THE
PRESENT LIKE SOCIAL , CULTURAL , POLITICAL , RELIGIOUS INORDER TO
CHOOSE TO CLASSIFY.
CLASSIFICATION IS ALSO BASED ON GEOGRAPHICAL ORDERING , DONE BY SUB-
DIVISONS AND INDIVIDUAL STATES THEN ARRANGING THEMSELVES
ALPHABETICALLY .
CLASSIFICATION CAN ALSO BE CONNECTION OF ART BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH
NATIONALISM AND THE CONSTITUTION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY THOUGH CULTURAL
PATRIMONY. EG. ENGLISH GOTHIC, ENGLISH RENAISSANCE, ETC. THUS
CLASSIFICATION CRAETES A LINEAR HISTORY FOR THE STATE .
WITH THE COMING UP OF THE ELECTRONIC LIBRARAY NEW CATEGORIES AND
VARIOUS INTERRELATIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE BUT THIS WILL ONLY HAPPEN IF
WE DO NOT MERELY DIGITISE OUR PRESENT INTO OUR FUTURE.
HOWEVER IN CASE OF SURVEY BOOKS , THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE
"CHRONOLOGICAL ANOMALIES" ARE NOT DONE ARIBITARILY NOR IS IT
UNPRECEDENTED BUT IT FOLLOWS A DISCIPLINARY TRADITION. BASICALLY WHAT
HAPPENS IN THE CASE OF THESE ARRANGEMENTS THERE IS A NARRATION THAT
LEADS TO AND CULMINATES IN THE PRESENT AND HELPS IN UNDERSTANDING IT.
HOWEVER AT TIMES THERE IS AN ADJUSTMENT MADE TO TIME AND SPACE OF THAT
STRUCTURE WHICH LEADS TO APPEARANCE OR DISAPPEARNCE OR MOVEMENT OF
CERTAIN CIVILIZATIONS . THIS IS CALLED A LINEAR NARRATIVE , WHERE
MARGINALISATION IS ACCOMPLISHED BY SHIFTING A CIVILISATION OUT OF THE
DIRECT CHRONOLOGICAL SEQUENCE.
SPACE IS ALSO ANOTHER DEVICE IN NARRATION . THERE IS A SPACE OF THE
AUTHOR, THE SUBJECT DICUSSES THE POINT OF VIEW AND A SPATIAL
ARRANGEMENT WHICH THE AUTHOR GIVES TO WHAT HE IS NARRATING. HOWEVER IN
THIS CASE THE AUTHOR MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT GIVE OUT A DIRECT RELATION OF
HIMSELF WITH HIS TEXTS , THERE MIGHT JUST BE CLUES , OR HE MIGHT AT
TIMES WANT TO BRIEF THE READER ABOUT HIS NARRATION.
THUS HISTORY BECOMES A PLATFORM FOR THE OBSERVER TO IMPART TO THE
ACTIONS HE HAS OBSERVED AND RELATE HIMSELF WITH THAT VERY OBJECT.
THEREFORE WE KNOW THAT HISTORY ITSELF STAGES EVENTS AND FORMS PLOTS
AND THE HISTORIAN IS JUST A SPECTATOR LIKE ANYBODY ELSE .
CLASSIFICATION AND MAPPING DEVICES ARE USED FOR DESCRIBING HIERARCHY
AND DIFFERENCES AND THEY EXIST THROUGH ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT TIME AND ITS
NARRATIVE, HISTORY. THEY CLASSIFY EVERYTHING FROM OBJECTS, TEXTS, TO
SCHOLARS OR VIEWERS AND ALL THESE ARE ACCORDING TO THEIR PRINCIPLES.
IN THIS ESSAY THE AUTHOR HAS QUESTIONED WHETHER ANY DIFFERENCE OCCURS
IN ART HISTORY WHEN WE ABANDON A LINEAR HISTORICAL TIME FROM IT OR
WHICH AND WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE TIME THAT SHOULD BE FOLLOWED.
SIMILARLY IF WE ARE REFERING TO THE PAST THEN WHO IS THE ONE WE HAVE
TO REFER TO ? IS IMITATION OF ANOTHER CULTURE A RESPONSE TO
CONTEMPORARY CONTEXTULIZATION . THUS HE CONCLUDES BY SAYING THAT SPACE
TENDS TO BE MORE RIGID, DEAD AND UNDIALECTICAL THAN TIME WHICH HAS
ITS OWN RICHNESS, LIFE AND DIALECTIC.
THUS WE CAN SAY ART HISTORY ENGAGES MANY SPACES SUCH AS AESHTETIC ,
ARCHITECTURAL , URBAN , SOCIAL , RELIGIOUS , POLITICAL EACH HAVING A
DIFFERENT SPATIAL NARRATION. IT IS BASED ON FORM , FUNCTION ,
MEANING , SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONTEXT AS WELL AS TIME AND SPACE.
THUS MAP OF ART HISTORY IS DRAWN BY THE MODERN, THE NATIONAL AND THE
EURO-AMERICAN AND BY THEIR CULTURALLY DERIVED SENSES OF ORDER ,
CLASSIFICATION, AND SYSTEM . BUT THE QUESTION LIES WHICH WILL
OVERPOWER - "WORLD WIDE WEB" OR THE "WORLD WIDE MAP" OR WILL THE
"WWM" JUST REMAKE THE "WWW" IN ITS OWN IMAGE ?
TIME, SPACE , SOCIETY , ECONOMY AND ORDER AS WELL AS ART HISTORY -
ANSWER