kabatta on 2/8/2010 at 16:13
(
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2010/aug/02/art-ill-stendhal-syndrome)
I'll let you read the article and take your own oppinion.
Quote:
"There's only one problem with an attempt by Italian scientists to test the reality of Stendhal syndrome, the condition of being so overcome by beautiful works of art that you actually swoon, or at least go weak at the knees.
It was first recorded by the 19th-century novelist and art critic Stendhal in Florence, and so scientists are to monitor the vital signs of tourists in Florence after they see works of art. Their mistake, I fear, lies in their choice of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi as the test site. In the 15th century, when it was built as the town house of the Medici family, this was truly a place to make you pass out. It held an overwhelming ensemble of great works, now scattered around the world, with notable treasures in London.
Later the palace belonged to another family as the Medici made themselves Grand Dukes of Tuscany and inhabited more grandiose Florentine buildings. Today, much of it is occupied by government offices and only vestiges of its beauty endure – admittedly including Gozzoli's fresco of the journey of the Magi. This is a delightful work but not, I think, in the Stendhal syndrome category.
It would be much more effective to put the heart monitors at nearby San Lorenzo, where anyone with a soul emerges stupefied from the sublimely dark and disorientating architecture of Michelangelo's Laurentian library. That really can discombobulate you.
But seriously – can great art have a physical effect? My recent holiday was in Venice, rather than Florence. It has its own, different beauty – more colouristic, molten, and dreamy. I think the answer is yes. The beauty of Italian art has a concentrated perfection and transcendent sensuality that is incredibly addictive. I still feel a bit strange almost a week after coming back from Venice – like a stranger on the traffic-perfumed streets of central London, pining for the Bellinis (meaning the paintings of Giovanni Bellini – we didn't get to Harry's Bar).
Even though I suspect the scientists may have set up their gear in the wrong place, they are surely on to something. There is something dangerous about great art. That is what makes it great."
From what I gather, this is the newest sweep in terms of general paranoia. A great occasional to throw money in useless studies and so forth. Just...brilliant. I'll take the piece of art that makes you talk to god.
Sulphur on 2/8/2010 at 17:08
I hardly think anyone with half a brain would take this as something to worry about. General paranoia? Only if you're some tinfoil hat-wearing junkie crouching in the nether darkness of the nearest corner, biting your nails as you wait for the inevitable neutron bomb strike to arrive.
On the other hand, it's an interesting study as it might be able to relate the feeling of being overcome by art to the feeling of being swept up in a religious epiphany, or the feeling you get when overcome by a powerful piece of music, religious or otherwise. Breaking down that shit and understanding it would be a pretty worthwhile endeavour.
rachel on 2/8/2010 at 17:44
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PeeperStorm on 3/8/2010 at 06:15
Well yeah, if art can make people cry I'd expect that it'd make some people faint.
Also, art has been known to maim, so I bet it can kill too. Just ask Mark Pauline (icky/nsfw pictures):
(
http://www.srl.org/yard/misc/injury.html)
Vasquez on 3/8/2010 at 07:38
Quote:
But seriously – can great art have a physical effect?
What a stupid question. It's been known a long time that emotions happen not only on the mind, but also in the body. So yes, anything that triggers emotions also has physical effects.
But people are more and more emotion-oriented nowadays, so I wouldn't worry about people getting too paranoid to go to museums, if that's what you meant.
PeeperStorm on 3/8/2010 at 21:15
Why would they need to do research on that when they could just come here? We've got more enraged monkeys than you can shake a stick at.
CCCToad on 3/8/2010 at 21:37
If women used to pass out at Elvis concerts, somebody swooning over art isn't much of a stretch. However, I'd think that anyone who collapses dead because of Art was lucky to make it that far in life.
Koki on 4/8/2010 at 12:50
Guys.
Michelangelo statues... on tanks.
Tocky on 5/8/2010 at 03:38
Quote Posted by demagogue
This is interesting, but an even more interesting field of research is monkey-annoyance.
Woah. Why wasn't I told you could get a degree in monkey annoyance? Truely I have wasted my life.