Deck 23: The Contemporary World: Globalization, terrorism, and Postmodernism, 1970-2001

Question 1

Whose investigations examine the concept of the "paradigm shift"?

A)Thomas Kuhn
B)Roland Barthes
C)Jacques Derrida
D)Milan Kundera

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Philip Pearlstein is famous for his paintings of

A)athletic nudes copied from classical sculpture.
B)cartoon nudes in the style of comic strips.
C)middle-aged nudes with decaying bodies.
D)suburban nudes with sleek,erotic bodies.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following art styles are identified with postmodernism?

A)neoimpressionism,neoabstractionism,and neonaturalism
B)neorealism,neoexpressionism,and neoclassicism
C)neocubism,neoromanticism,and neogothicism
D)neorenaissance,neobaroque,and neorococo

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following nations signed peace treaties with Israel during the late 1970s?

A)Iran
B)Kuwait
C)Egypt
D)Iraq

Question 5

What is the homeland of Pope John Paul II?

A)Hungary
B)Bulgaria
C)Poland
D)Italy

Question 6

Which of the following nations is NOT directly involved in NAFTA (North Atlantic Free Trade Association)?

A)Venezuela
B)Mexico
C)Canada
D)United States

Question 7

Which of the following nations was invaded by Iraq in 1980?

A)Iran
B)Kuwait
C)Egypt
D)Iraq

Question 8

The founder of video art is

A)Cindy Sherman.
B)Rachel Whiteread.
C)Nam June Paik.
D)Laurie Anderson.

Question 9

The postmodern novels of Milan Kundera stress the

A)connection of sexual freedom to political freedom.
B)themes of fantasy and linguistic experimentation.
C)principles of Christian fundamentalism and Slavophilism.
D)ideals of revolutionary politics and social justice.

Question 10

Toni Morrison's fiction sometimes deals with

A)the supernatural.
B)cold war politics.
C)Anglo-Saxon myth.
D)science fiction themes.

Question 11

The writings of Maxine Hong Kingston

A)are concerned exclusively with her matriarchal heritage.
B)argue that Western culture is superior to Eastern culture.
C)point out the evils of racism and exploitation in America.
D)romanticize life both in China and the United States.

Question 12

The Young British Artists (the YBA)tend to make art that is

A)deeply serious and modest in execution.
B)attention-grabbing and associated with scandal.
C)low-key and conventionally beautiful.
D)familiar and attuned to popular culture.

Question 13

Which of the following nations was the site of extensive public demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in June 1989,resulting in the government's harsh response to protestors?

A)Russia
B)China
C)Yugoslavia
D)Iran

Question 14

The reforms of Gorbachev in the Soviet Union contributed to

A)a higher standard of living.
B)the breakup of the Soviet Union.
C)tighter control over the member states of the Soviet Union.
D)an era of prosperity in Eastern Europe.

Question 15

Who wrote the opera Marco Polo (1995),which fuses elements of Tibetan,Chinese,and Japanese cultures?

A)John Adams
B)Zhang Yimou
C)Ang Lee
D)Tan Dun

Question 16

The shift in Soviet-American relations that eased international tensions starting around 1970 is known as

A)laissez-faire.
B)bilateral agreements.
C)détente.
D)glasnost.

Question 17

The postmodernist composers Philip Glass and John Adams are famous for their

A)serial music.
B)operas.
C)use of sonata form.
D)atonality.

Question 18

The Latin American authors of the late 1960s that achieved international acclaim tended to write in what style?

A)social realism
B)magic realism
C)absurd naturalism
D)Marxist naturalism

Question 19

Which of the following nations instituted a theocratic government after the seizing of an American embassy in 1979?

A)Iran
B)Kuwait
C)Egypt
D)Iraq

Question 20

Installation art is typically

A)an architectural tableau.
B)a wall hanging.
C)an idea for an art piece that is rarely completed.
D)made with a video monitor.

Question 21

Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty is an example of

A)video art.
B)environmental art.
C)installation art.
D)conceptual art.

Question 22

White Teeth is the debut novel of which of the following authors?

A)Orhan Pamuk
B)Derek Walcott
C)Toni Morrison
D)Zadie Smith

Question 23

What organization was founded in 1994 to promote free trade?

A)WTO
B)NAFTA
C)IMF
D)EU

Question 24

Which devotee of late modern abstraction is considered to be one of the leading post-WWII African American painters?

A)Frank Stella
B)Samuel Gilliam
C)Dan Flavin
D)Susan Rothenberg

Question 25

Which of the following architects was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize?

A)Hadid
B)Koolhaas
C)Pei
D)Gropius

Question 26

Which of the following authors was the first Latin American novelist to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature?

A)Tony Morrison
B)Alice Walker
C)Orhan Pamuk
D)Gabriel Garc'a Márquez

Question 27

Which film director's work led to a new genre,blaxploitation film?

A)Spike Lee
B)Peter Weir
C)Melvin van Peebles
D)None of these answers is correct.

Question 28

Which country did the United States first invade following September 11,2001?

A)Iran
B)Iraq
C)Saudi Arabia
D)Afghanistan

Question 29

Which of the following means the exchange of one worldview for another?

A)deconstruction
B)nihilism
C)paradigm shift
D)liberation theology

Question 30

Which of the following architects designed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland,Ohio?

A)Frank Gehry
B)I.M.Pei
C)Rem Koolhaas
D)Robert Venturi

Question 31

Australia's film boom produced art films that were often

A)based on real life events with elements of magic realism.
B)centered around race relations and hung on a strong social message.
C)action stories depicted with highly original visuals.
D)love stories that used the natural setting of the outback.

Question 32

Which of the following artists began as a neoexpressionist,moved to minimalism in the 1970s,then ultimately mixed the two styles in her work,Maggie's Ponytail?

A)Frank Stella
B)Sue Coe
C)Dan Flavin
D)Susan Rothenberg

Question 33

Who founded the Sundance Film Festival in 1980?

A)John Madden
B)Clint Eastwood
C)Robert Redford
D)Woody Allen

Question 34

Which of the following authors received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for her work that tells the story of a black woman abused by black men and victimized by white society?

A)Tony Morrison
B)Alice Walker
C)Orhan Pamuk
D)Gabriel Garc'a Márquez

Question 35

Which of the following authors created a book-length poem that revisited Homer's epics and transposed their setting to the Caribbean in the 1900s?

A)Orhan Pamuk
B)Zadie Smith
C)Derek Walcott
D)Naguib Mahfouz

Question 36

Which of the following architects depended on a "metallic flower" in his design of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao,Spain?

A)Frank Gehry
B)I.M.Pei
C)Rem Koolhaas
D)Robert Venturi

Question 37

Atmospheres is the work of which of the following composers?

A)John Corigliano
B)Tan Dun
C)John Cage
D)Gyorgy Ligeti

Question 38

Which of the following artists has made light the principal medium in his art,often depending on fluorescent tubes?

A)Dan Flavin
B)John De Andrea
C)Robert Smithson
D)Gerhard Richter

Question 39

Which of the following artists created a work intended to erase the boundary between art and life,using such native materials as rock,mud,and water?

A)Rachel Whiteread
B)Ann Hamilton
C)Maya Ying Lin
D)Robert Smithson

Question 40

Whose conceptual art projects tend to overawe the viewer,relate to the landscape,bring out crowds and the media,and stir up controversy?

A)Maya Ying Lin
B)Rachel Whiteread
C)Christo and Jeanne-Claude
D)Dan Flavin

Question 41

John Corigliano belongs to what wing of postmodern music?

A)realist
B)neorealist
C)neoromantic
D)expressionist

Question 42

Why did the cold war end? How did the internal policies of the United States and the Soviet Union influence the course of events?

Question 43

What musical movement helped to play a role in the Arab Spring?

A)hip-hop
B)folk rock
C)heavy metal
D)classical Persian
Essay Questions

Question 44

Define video art,and discuss the contributions of Nam June Paik to this type of art.

Question 45

What are the most significant developments in film in the past forty years? Include popular,independent,and foreign films in your discussion.

Question 46

Discuss the major medical and scientific breakthroughs of the past forty years.What ethical quandaries have they raised?

Question 47

Use the works of Philip Glass and John Adams to describe postmodern music.

Question 48

Who are the major figures of postmodern literature? Use the works of three of those figures to identify the themes and issues addressed by postmodern literature,and the stylistic techniques adopted by postmodern authors.Is there a discernible postmodern literary movement in literature,or are the works that are often described as postmodern too disparate to be lumped together?

Question 49

What are the general characteristics of neorealism,neoexpressionism,and neoclassicism? Are there significant similarities among these movements,or do they reveal a fundamental fragmentation of contemporary arts?

Question 50

Define poststructuralism and deconstruction.Identify the major figures associated with each school of thought and explain their individual contributions.

Question 51

American Cindy Sherman created a body of performance art characterized in part by

A)feminist themes and opposition to the visual sexualization of women.
B)removing herself from the work or its attribution.
C)the use of science fiction themes.
D)a lack of music.

Question 52

Use Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty to define environmental art.

Question 53

Discuss the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial as an exemplar of a minimalist aesthetic.In general,does minimalist art suggest that aesthetic standards are based on simple fundamental shapes and combinations that everyone shares,or does it suggest that,in the postmodern era,agreement over aesthetic standards can no longer be reached?