The human impulse to involve in art or architecture is a universal activity. Art and architecture communicate cultural beliefs as well as ideas of the people involved.(Geoffrey, patrycya 5) The various forms of art display the stages of civilization and peoples way of life at that particular period. Artwork gives insights into the past and the current ethos, hence providing details on lives of people and what they gave preference in their lifetime. This paper tries to examine how art and architecture help us understand the experience of human being.
Throughout history, architecture remains as one of the real reflections of culture. One can consider different monumental structure across the world and can give a rough estimate of the lives of people as per the time the monument was built. For example, the Roman Coliseum, Taj Mahal, Notre Dame are some of the ancient structure in history. Considering some of the modern icons we see today like; Sidney opera house, Empire state Building or Guggenheim Museum, all of them reflects the culture of the people at that period and hope it projects to the future through use of various architectural structure like houses, bridges, layout of cities, public spaces just to mention a few. Architecture is a discipline that maintains and develops new forms of knowledge through the advancement of its ideas by various participants in the society. The architecture provides a broader dimension on the society as it symbolically represents the habitation hence serving the humankind.
Architecture is part and parcel of culture, and its usually taken as the mirror as it reflects on the major activities of the society during it gradual development.(Ismail 255) History of many communities across the world is maintained by the environments and buildings that display the level of innovativeness as per that period. Traditions, ideas, and practices as per various cultures manifest on the architectural structures as these structures represent different themes as exemplars of contemporary life in society. Architecture acts as a vehicle for transmission of cultural beliefs and ways of life of people.
Architecture normally shows different periods through which humankind went through. Times like the renaissance, medieval and baroque just to mention a few. These periods are significant on how people used to live. Qualities of today architecture especially baroque are also relevance to today. Philosophies, notions, and concepts of early ages can be utilized today through evaluation of architectural structures of different periods.
Architecture shows the political, social and economic status of the people.(Geoffrey,patrycya 81) Built environment creates different narratives concerning the situation of the life of the people. Some architectural structure still today are used to symbolize power, for example, kings palace, states house or other activities in peoples life like industries.
Architecture influences identity and emotions of people (Ismial 256). One can identify a place, people or the culture of people through various forms of architecture that exist. The sense of identity happens naturally without any external forces as people tend to build what is morally upright to the culture of that place. For example, the Empire state Building in New York City, the image that comes first at the mention of the city is the beauty, and the building is the source of pride to the people living in the city. The life of people in Bilbao changed substantially with the new architectural designs of Guggenheim Museum which acts as the icon of the city. Development of other structures like music hall, trolleys across the city made a significant influence on the culture of the people living in the city. These reflect the mother society that creates them, for example, the ancient Greeks incorporated their fundamental principles in arts. Most the arts done by the Greeks put a lot of emphasis on the need to accomplish human ambitions for a better society. Ancient Greek arts were images of gods in shape of human beings, most citizens of Athens used to worship these gods. Acropolis in Athens remains as an important a religious meeting place of most Athenians, Parthenon is own of the finest Greek architecture.
The artwork is as a way of communication and human heritage across the globe.(Ismail 255) Various forms of art exist today for example music, dance or theater. All of them are in use as communication media. Each form is utilized by the different groups of people or communities, from these forms of art one can be able to study the life or the culture of individuals involved. The culture of any society changes over time, for example, people of Slovak in London were meeting in cinema halls to watch various forms of art like movies or any form of theater a lifestyle that is growing obsolete.
People express their ideas or imaginations through art. Art symbolizes the lives of people who were using that form of art. Their morals, beliefs or religious affiliation are usually part of their artwork. Anything that made an impact on lives of any community is usually within the arts of that society. Songs, paints or writings on dairy give evidence on people lives.
Artistic expressions are usually dependent on societal reality.(Ismail 256) The taste of people who live within a given geographical location will have a different pattern of life depending on their level of civilization or their quality of life and can easily be identified in a social set up. For example, the form of cities found in the Muslim world was usually for the middle class while monuments were for the elites. Art in this manner plays an important role to show the reality of the people, as well as improving the perception of that society with time.
Artwork preserves the heritage of various communities over the ages. These traditions and ways of life pass to the next generations. Increase in need of proper maintenance of different ideologies and functions in societies, the artwork remains as the leading custodian of cultural identity. Artwork preserves different customs and beliefs of people to a significant scale as of pyramids of Egypt over the years has considerably been an identity and protects the life of Egyptians.
Art is a legacy for any society. Human life is always in transition, that the way of life is dynamic and can terminate through death. However, art keeps past and present alive for example archeologist relate any creativity like a clay pot, shaped stones or rock sculptors to Homo sapiens. Our level of understanding of iconography helps us to be able to tell with great accuracy any art to its associated group of people and their life, for example, a bat was a symbol of happiness in Chinese art, and while a jaguar in Mesoamerican art was a symbol of a supernatural being.
In conclusion, art and architecture represent the way of life of people over the ages. One can draw difference experiences of people from art and architecture using the above arguments. These experiences range from political, economic, religious, class, just to mention a few. Both art and architecture remain as the mirror that reflects on human beings experience in different environments.
Work sited.
Ismail Seragelclin, Architecture and Society, n.dGeoffrey Crossick & Patrycja Kaszynska. Understanding the value of arts & culture. The AHRC Cultural Value Project, n,d.
https://thoughteconomics.com/the-role-of-architecture-in-humanitys-story, 11:19, 2-5-2017
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