Deck 39: Without Boundaries: Multiple Meanings in a Postmodern World

Question 1

Why did Benoit Mandelbrot reject traditional Euclid geometry for his work with fractals?

A)Didn't account for variations in starting points
B)Couldn't describe irregularly shaped forms
C)Didn't use color as a component of order
D)Focused too much on finite patterns

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following was not a response to the Brooklyn Museum's displaying of Ofili's The Holy Virgin Mary?

A)Demonstrations by the New York Catholic League
B)Fresh elephant dung left at the museum's entrance
C)Threats by the city to cut off the museum's funding
D)Painting smeared with white paint by angry viewer

Answer 2

B

Question 3

In Thomas Pynchon's novel V.why can protagonist Herbert Stencil never fulfill his quest for the mysterious V?

A)V.died in Italy during World War II
B)Not a person,V.is an unreachable vanishing point
C)V.moved to Africa and changed her name
D)V.was a figment of his father's imagination

Answer 3

B

Question 4

How does David Antin leave meaning in his poem "If We Get It" open to interpretation?

A)Using indeterminate words
B)Making contradictory statements
C)Omitting all punctuation
D)Using irregular meter and rhyme

Question 5

Why did the Chinese government demand Zhang Hongtu's painting Bird's Nest,in the Style of Cubism be removed from China?

A)Inclusion of words in English,not Chinese
B)Imitation of French Cubism style
C)Inappropriate muted palette for celebration
D)Use of number 8 to mock Chinese superstition

Question 6

What is a key question for grasping meaning in Gerhard Richter's photographic paintings?

A)Why he selected a particular photograph
B)Why he deviated from the photograph's reality
C)Why he omitted certain details from the photograph
D)Why he blurred some details and not others

Question 7

In literature,how does the postmodern hero differ from his or her predecessors?

A)Has been rejected by society for not conforming
B)Embraces his or her ordinariness and lack of purpose
C)Has no definable goal and merely wanders through life
D)Accepts that the search for meaning is never-ending

Question 8

What is a hallmark of postmodern architecture?

A)Utilization of all available space
B)Incorporation of elements of technology
C)Harmony with its site's natural elements
D)Use of many different elements of design

Question 9

Why did Zhang Huan invite 40 Chinese peasants to be photographed standing in a pond to raise the water level?

A)Make it into the Guinness Book of World Records
B)Show how Western culture was drowning the Chinese
C)Raise Beijing officials' consciousness about the poor
D)Show how the Chinese class system caused loss of self

Question 10

What has Santiago Calatrava designed the Port Authority Trans Hudson station at the World Trade Center site to resemble?

A)Stepped-terrace memorial garden
B)Rainbow bridge spanning Ground Zero
C)Series of monoliths of graduating heights
D)Bird being released by a child's hands

Question 11

On what painting did Yasumasa Morimura model his photograph Portrait (Twins)?

A)Picasso's Girl Before a Mirror
B)Manet's Olympia
C)Morisot's Summer Day
D)Matisse's Blue Nude

Question 12

Why did Frank Gehry use industrial materials such as corrugated metal to surround his Santa Monica,CA,house?

A)Keep his working-class neighbors away
B)Use materials found in the neighborhood
C)Contrast with his house's frame construction
D)Expand inexpensively the house's living space

Question 13

What primarily defines Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao,Spain,as postmodern?

A)Outer elements covered in metal
B)Enormous and expansive size
C)Discontinuity with the town and countryside
D)Playful resemblance to a ship in full sail

Question 14

How does Renzo Piano's Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center in New Caledonia qualify as "green architecture"?

A)Ten pavilions function as wind scoops and cool the inside
B)Open,unfinished pavilions are used to collect rainwater
C)Open center is used for cultivating bamboo for construction
D)Southern orientation provides passive solar heating

Question 15

Why did African painter Chris Ofili support The Holy Virgin Mary on two balls of elephant dung?

A)The dried and varnished dung made sturdy mounts
B)Dried elephant dung is considered good luck in Africa
C)He wanted to make himself more known through controversy
D)The Zimbabwe viewed elephant dung as a fertility symbol

Question 16

How is deconstruction,the act of analyzing a text to see what has been omitted or overlooked,integral to postmodernism?

A)Determine a reader's response to a work
B)Draw attention to the individual words
C)Become aware of culture's influence on a text
D)Expose the possibilities of meaning

Question 17

According to Robert Venturi,why is Las Vegas the model for postmodern urban form?

A)Structures not homogenous
B)Structures of grand scale
C)Structures are arranged chaotically
D)Structures reflect multiple cultures

Question 18

In his graffiti-inspired Charles the First and other works,why does Jean-Michel Basquiat include a crown?

A)Symbolize his African ancestors
B)Parody the U.S.government
C)Honor African-American heroes
D)Evoke the evils of Caribbean colonialism

Question 19

What is Prague's Dancing House with its teetering sense of collapse designed to evoke?

A)Couple performing an intricate dance
B)Post-World War II bombed building
C)Distorted mirror image of its neighbor
D)Updated Leaning Tower of Pisa

Question 20

How does Beijing's Olympic Stadium-the Bird's Nest-qualify as "green architecture"?

A)Outer frame is built of renewable bamboo
B)Translucent roof provides passive ventilation
C)Roof's solar panels light the stadium
D)Natural grass floor helps to purify the air

Question 21

Why did playwright Luis Valdez produce Zoot Suit?

A)Call attention to police brutality against Latinos
B)Raise awareness about Hispanic farmworkers' low pay
C)Help César Chávez unionize Hispanic farmworkers
D)Celebrate the Hispanics' success in American culture

Question 22

As briefly yet clearly as possible,explain how chaos theory and the butterfly effect fits with the ideas of postmodernism.

Question 23

Identify and describe three ways Yasumasa Morimura's Portrait (Twins)is designed to disturb the viewer.

Question 24

What does David P.Bradley expose in his painting Indian Country Today?

A)Defacement of Native American lands
B)Assimilation of Native American and white
C)Commercialization of Native American tradition
D)Revitalization of Native American lands

Question 25

Referencing one poem and one novel discussed in the chapter,explain the "open interpretation" that characterizes postmodern literature.

Question 26

Why did the makers of the film Flooded McDonald's build a replica of the fast-food restaurant at the bottom of a pool and then flood it?

A)Evoke the horror of a global deluge
B)Warn about the danger of fast food
C)Raise awareness about global warming
D)Show Western culture's self-destructiveness

Question 27

Identify and explain how works by two painters discussed in the chapter exemplify cultural misunderstandings.

Question 28

Matching

Question 29

Respond to the chapter's "Continuity and Change" ending question: "what is it about your world that you have come [by studying the humanities] to understand and appreciate more fully?" Be sure to reference specifics-both from the text and from your experience.

Question 30

Define "green architecture," and explain how it fits with the concept of postmodern architecture.Then describe two examples-one from the book and one from your community.

Question 31

Identify and explain how two video presentations discussed in the chapter fit with the characteristics of postmodernism.

Question 32

Why do the Islamic women portrayed in Shirin Neshat's series of photographs Women of Allah wear the black chador?

A)Conform to Islamic fundamentalist law
B)Prevent them from becoming sexual objects
C)Avoid being arrested by Iranian officials
D)Display their submissiveness to Islamic men

Question 33

In Janine Antoni's Touch,what does the horizon line on which she appears to be walking represent?

A)What is always in front of us
B)The endless cycle of birth and death
C)What divides reality and imagination
D)The balance between art and the mundane

Question 34

As described in the chapter's "Continuity and Change" section,why was Olafu Eliason's The Weather Project initially criticized as being "mere" entertainment?

A)Using rather ordinary materials
B)Attracting so many visitors to view it
C)Disturbing visitors with its melancholy
D)Showing visitors the construction elements

Question 35

Identify and explain two ways computers have changed the understanding and creation of architecture and visual art,supporting your response with descriptions of specific works covered in the chapter.

Question 36

Explain at least two ways Santiago Calatrava's plans for the Port Authority Trans Hudson station is a fitting memorial to those who lost their lives on its proposed World Trade Center site.

Question 37

Define Robert Venturi's point that postmodern architecture should represent a "difficult whole," and identify and describe two examples from the book of how this "difficult whole" is presented.

Question 38

In Eleanor Antin's video art Minetta Lane-A Ghost Story,what does the ghost represent?

A)Fears of growing older and dying
B)Tragedy of unfulfilled possibilities
C)Repressed sexuality and lost love
D)Destructive force present in everyone