Contextual Information ?

Attila

Hi folks,

The other day I was reading an essay about art appreciation and a passage grabbed my attention. It was about how important information is when we look at a particular work of art.

The question was, is information important? Do we need to know anyting about the time, circumstances of creation, the artist, the medium, the simbolism involved, the society in which it was created, etc.

One school of thought is that it shouldn't be because it will distract us from interactive viewing, from looking at the work for what it is. It makes art appreciation too intellectual instead of being a sensory experience.

The other school says that contextual information has the potential to deeply influence our senses "before making its graceful exit and letting us enjoy the experience".

Here is an example: if somebody told us that the bonsai we are looking at is worth half a million dollars, that information would probably make us believe that the tree is a masterpiece, no matter how much we dislike it.
However, if we found out that the tree is a thousand years old, this information would deeply increase our respect and appreciation of the tree, thus greatly enhancing our pleasure of looking at the tree.

I believe that communicating contextual or relevant information to the greater public would help a great deal our cause of making bonsai a commonplace in the western culture.

Here are a few simple examples of the kind of information the are very useful to the public when they are looking at a bonsai:
- this tree is an ordinary crabapple tree
- if planted in the ground, it would grow to 30 feet
- it took the artist 8 years to create this bonsai, and now it looks like an old tree viewed from distance
- this tree was collected from the mountains, growing in the harshest conditions for a century

I don't mean to overwhelm the viewer with too much info, but at some of the exhibits I've attended, I had a hard time figuring out the species used. And I know much more than the average visitor.

Any information that can make the viewer personally relate to bonsai would make the communication between him/her and the artist a deeply personal experience.

Using local tree species is an important step in this regard. One of the reasons of the increasing popularity of bonsai in Europe is this trend, of using native material. When looking at an unknown species and a virtually unknown arform, the layman will have a hard time developing a personal connection with the tree. Looking at a tree that may grow in his backyard, it's a different story.

I wonder what this forum thinks about the importance of information the public needs in order to promote bonsai in the west.

Remember that article written by Herb Gustafsson about the funny questions asked by visitors at a bonsai exhibit (I can add to that list a question that my father asked me the other day: "why are you making those poor little trees older? would you like if somebody made you look older?).

It's funny but sad in the same time. It shows how much the masses know about our art.
Maybe it's time for us to start answering those questions before they are asked.

So here is the question:
Are we supposed to create high quality bonsai and then sit back and let the masses figure out what is this about?

Or maybe we should find better ways to communicate relevant information to the public in order to make and exhibit really succesful.

Regards,
Attila

Advertisement

K.A. Rutledge

Attila,

Love it. I'd like to point out the following to add to this discussion:

1. The general public is very ignorant about bonsai. We cannot expect them to bring much understanding to our exhibits yet. More information is good - now. In the future, it will be less so.

2. A great deal of the information that you're talking about delivering verbally or textually can be conveyed simply by excellent display technique/composition. That is one of the main reasons for the 3-point or 2-point display in bonsai - to convey information to help paint part of the picture for the viewer (to be filled in with each viewer's unique experience/imagination/perspective).

Hope this helps and I look forward to reading further perspectives.

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
www.andyrutledge.com/palaver/main.htm
zone 8, Texas

Treebeard

Hi Attila , the general gist of what you suggest sounds very reasonable. I too have viewed exhibitions and wondered (or guessed) at the species. I am sure a little information sheet with each tree would go a long way towards increasing interest. I am not so sure however that 'this information would deeply increase our respect and appreciation of the tree, thus greatly enhancing our pleasure of looking at the tree', at least with the general public. You and I perhaps yes, and other bonsaiists too, but the general public being "ignorant" , they might not be able to connect in the same way. Not meaning to disparage the general public of course, its just that bonsai enthusiasts obviously have a little more knowledge from which to extrapolate.

Hi Andy, perhaps a 2 or 3 point display would need to come into the equation a bit further on down the line. It would obviously be of some benefit to the public to see a 3 point display, but again, for the same reasons outline above to Attila I would imagine some members of the public might not have the background knowledge to interpret such displays (or am I too hard on the public?).

Regards,

Chris /TB

__________________
"Do not be hasty, that is my motto"
-JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers.
-----------------------------------
christopherguise.co.uk

erubeck

Interesting ideas! I think the points made will work for that group of folks who stop to seriously consider a bonsai specimen and who are interested enough to want more information.

There is another group, however, who happen across a bonsai display and delight in the moment of that particular specimen and then move on. I am that way with a lot of things. If I go to an orchid show, for example, and see a particularly beautiful bloom I will appreciate it and delight in its beauty for the moment but I have no further interest beyond that to want more information on the background of the plant. I just enjoy it at that moment and move on.

To my way of thinking it is a wonderful thing to be able to grow and train a bonsai and cause that moment of delight for a person. I don't need to "change the world" but just helping to produce that special moment is very satisfying indeed.

__________________
Regards,

Ed