“Draw a line that represents progress.” That was the first prompt for students when Cameron Gibelyou’s Applied Liberal Arts class Predicting the Future met with UMMA this fall. Curator for University Learning and Programs David Choberka introduced this simple art-making prompt as a way to start students thinking about how progress and the future can be visually represented.
1989/1.53
Title
Malloy's Cut, Sherman Station, Laramie Range
Artist(s)
Andrew Russell
Artist Nationality
American (North American)
Object Creation Date
1868
Medium & Support
albumen print on paper
Dimensions
8 in x 9 13/16 in (20.32 cm x 24.92 cm);14 5/16 in x 19 5/16 in (36.35 cm x 49.05 cm);8 in x 9 13/16 in (20.32 cm x 24.92 cm);5 15/16 in x 8 in (15.08 cm x 20.32 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. W. Howard Bond
Subject matter
This photograph depicts a ground-level view of a train track running through a freshly excavated passage. Running diagonally away from the camera, the track enters the frame in lower left corner, the roughly hewn railroad ties and iron tracks stretching into the distance. On either side of the track, the walls of the manmade passage rise steeply upwards. Cleaved out of the rock and soil in the train’s way, Malloy’s Cut allows the railroad to continue onwards unfettered by the natural topography before it. A lone man stands to the right of the tracks in the center of the frame, one leg raised on the banks, slightly turned away from the viewer and gazing into the distance. The man’s stance evokes the industrious and determined spirit of the time. This pose, paired with the railroad running out of sight, speaks to the enthusiastic momentum of American westward expansion of the time.
Physical Description
This photograph depicts railroad tracks cutting through a man-made passage. To the right of the tracks stands a lone man looking into the distance.
Primary Object Classification
Photograph
Collection Area
Photography
Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Malloy's Cut, Sherman Station, Laramie Range
albumen print on paper
8 in x 9 13/16 in (20.32 cm x 24.92 cm);14 5/16 in x 19 5/16 in (36.35 cm x 49.05 cm);8 in x 9 13/16 in (20.32 cm x 24.92 cm);5 15/16 in x 8 in (15.08 cm x 20.32 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. W. Howard Bond
2002/2.298
Title
The Rouge Study #60, Dearborn, MI
Artist(s)
Michael Kenna
Object Creation Date
1994; printed 1995
Medium & Support
sepia-toned gelatin silver print on paper
Dimensions
7 15/16 in x 7 1/2 in (20.2 cm x 19 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Shirley Kollins in memory of Lee Kollins
Primary Object Classification
Photograph
Primary Object Type
black and white print
Collection Area
Photography
Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
The Rouge Study #60, Dearborn, MI
sepia-toned gelatin silver print on paper
7 15/16 in x 7 1/2 in (20.2 cm x 19 cm)
Gift of Shirley Kollins in memory of Lee Kollins
Gibelyou’s class is a fascinating exploration of the ways in which different disciplines forecast the future, from utopian and dystopian fiction to predictive mathematical modeling of complex systems like climate. UMMA designed its engagement with the class to help students think beyond literal artistic representations of the future and look at formal visual elements that often plot narratives of progress and visions of the future in images.
There’s surprising uniformity in the lines that students draw in response to the initial prompt. Most people draw some variation of a diagonal line that goes up from left to right. The reasons for this are multiple: left-to-right reading orientation; the predominance of x-y graphical representations in modern thinking; and, Choberka speculates, the increasing visibility over the last couple centuries of railroads and roads which provide linear sight lines into and beyond increasingly built and developed space.
The class considers how this “line of progress” functions to employ a narrative about the future in a variety of artworks in UMMA’s collection, including works like Jakob Kolding’s When was the Future? where we find the line employed to ironic effect.
2010/2.21
Title
When was the future?
Artist(s)
Jakob Kolding
Object Creation Date
2008
Medium & Support
collage on paper
Dimensions
16 9/16 in. x 11 11/16 in. ( 42 cm x 29.7 cm )
Credit Line
Museum Purchase
Label copy
Exhibition made possible in part by UMMA's New Visions Venture Fund, including the Dr. Robert and Janet Miller Fund.
Physical Description
A collage drawing with "When was the future?" in the middle of the object. The words are cut out of pictures of trees and a city's skyline. The background of the collage is the view of of a tall building and a cutout of a youth doing a handstand is placed on the balcony. A picture of a tree is included by the person.
Primary Object Classification
Mixed Media
Primary Object Type
collage
Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
When was the future?
collage on paper
16 9/16 in. x 11 11/16 in. ( 42 cm x 29.7 cm )
Museum Purchase
2000/2.14.50
Title
Watch out for miracles... new hope for better babies
Artist(s)
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi
Artist Nationality
British (modern)
Object Creation Date
1965 - 1970
Medium & Support
screenprint on paper
Dimensions
14 15/16 in x 10 in (37.94 cm x 25.4 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Professor Diane M. Kirkpatrick
Subject matter
Like many of his contemporaries, Paolozzi used screenprinting as a way to engage with modern mass media's new visual culture. At the same time, the photomechanical process made the work look mechanically manufactured rather than hand made, in the traditional artistic sense. Therefore, when he modified, transformed, assemped the source image(s), the medium would allow for a more uniform final image.
This print is one of a large series of 50 prints included in the 1970 portfolio, which was a second edition of the an earlier group of slightly larger prints titled "Moonstrips Empire News." While the first series was strictly produced as screenprints, this second series "General Dynamic F.U.N." includes works of photolithography. The themes seen in this portfolio are different in style and other Pop works of the period, but still engage with the images of a modern mass media, looking beyond just advertising and publicity images. Likewise, the title of the portfolio alludes to the General Dynamics Corporation, who was the manufacturer of the F-111 fighter used during the Vietnam War—the same one referenced in James Rosenquist monumental painting "F-111."
In this image, Paolozzi shows his broader interest in technology, machinery and computers. The artist is showing us an image of what is presumably an engineer working on humanoid robots of the future. Articlulated in the title as well, this image is meant to be a satirical view, combining the hope of technology with the ominous possibilities of such technology with the robots looming large behind the unsuspecting engineer.
Physical Description
A portrait image in two tones of blue printed slightly off match, showing a man at the center dressed in a white shirt, tie and slacks, with dark-rimmed glasses. The man is leaning over a automoton/robot, which is seated to the left of him. On the right and to the back, are two more standing robots. Each robot has humanoid features like a face, torso, arms, hands, legs, and feet with boots on. Two of the robots, one seated and one to the back at the center, have their internal workings revealed with their central torso panel removed, showing wires and indeterminate parts.
Primary Object Classification
Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary
Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Watch out for miracles... new hope for better babies
screenprint on paper
14 15/16 in x 10 in (37.94 cm x 25.4 cm)
Gift of Professor Diane M. Kirkpatrick
Not to be neglected for an art museum visit by a class considering dystopian visions of the future are the many ways that artists have explored the negative effects of many of the technological progress narratives that have predominated in modern culture. After considering the “line of progress,” the class had a lively discussion of the critiques of technology, mass media, and commercialism in this set of art.
Subscribe to UMMA's Faculty Newsletter to learn more about the Museum's work with university learning and research and how you can get in touch anytime to kick around ideas or make plans for collaboration -- Even virtually!
Subscribe to UMMA's Faculty Newsletter
We'll send periodic updates to keep you in the loop about how you can use UMMA as an essential tool in learning and research.