WORD PICTURES
Those who claim that we live today in a visually oriented culture are probably word-blind. Today's visual art and visual media, with the possible exception of painting, still bear a master-slave relationship to elite literature and popular journalism - in the beginning was the Word. The word is power. People who can express themselves well and forcefully in speech and writing, more or less automatically achieve positions of power... while people who express themselves well in pictures, must often support themselves through stipends and other grants.
The producers of words dominate the cultural columns of newspapers, control official cultural policy and the most important visual media. And generally exert a damnably important influence on society. The arts in Sweden are infested by the speech chorus and the clatter of typewriters. Authors write screenplays and become film directors. Journalists become television producers (or programme directors) and make TV-films. Our entire culture is beset by word-producers. Authors, journalists, investigators, letter-writers, polemicists and critics. Who, in fact, knows anything about pictures? And why do we understand so little about visual semantics? Photography and motion pictures have existed for 100 years, television for 50. Despite this, pictures have not attained more than a purely illustrative function. Why? Probably, because most of our pictures are created by Word-people. In fact, roughly half the items on TV today could just as well be broadcast on radio instead.
Ture Sjölander 1973
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Towards a Cultural Agenda
21 | |
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This is the final report from the KLYS
World Conference on Culture 1998. The report presents the conference
final document and other statements together with the main conference
papers. Here you find summarized reports from the discussions and also
some background documents as for example the Action Plan
presented by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies
for Development, held in Stockholm at the same time.
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| Table of Contents | |
| Preface
7
Acknowledgements 11 The conference 13 Conference Programme 63 Conference Papers 67 Statements Australia/Sweden - Conflict,
Technology 84 Bulgaria - Economy 90 Canada - Economy 97 China - Economy 99 Cuba - Economy, conflict
109 Cyprus - Conflict 114 Cyprus - Conflict 118 FR Jugoslavia - Conflict 124 Georgia 128 Greenland - Economy 131 Iceland - Economy 133 Israel - Conflict 139 Israel - Conflict 144 Lithuania - Economy 147 Mexico - Conflict 152 |
Norway - Economy 158 Bente Christensen The Economic Status of the Writers - The Norwegian Situation Pakistan - Conflict 166 Palestine - Conflict 171 Poland - General 176 Portugal - Technology, economy
179 Romania - Economy
182 Russia - Economy 184 Russia - Conflict 189 The Same Area - Conflict 194 Sweden - Technology 196 Sweden - General 202 Turkey - Conflict 206 Turkey - Conflict 210 Conference Participants 217 Appendixes 261 Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4 |
| ISBN: 91-630-6719-6 |
Publisher: KLYS | ||
| Publishing year: 1998 |
Size: 130 x 210 mm |
Pages: 298 pages |
Price: 250 SEK |