Objekt

English translation: object / material object / artefact

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:Objekt
English translation:object / material object / artefact
Entered by: Kordula Coleman

17:57 Jun 28, 2009
German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting / art history
German term or phrase: Objekt
This is the original sentence:

"Eigentlich sind die Bilder der Himmelsrichtungen mit dem Bild in der Mitte asl "Altarbild" zu verstehen oder als Objekt, wie man es heute nennt."

I think the artist , who is describing his own work here, wants to say that his five paintings are not just a group of paintings, but also an art object in the sense of an assemblage, or "Objektkunst". He uses only the word "Objekt", which doesn't sufficiently explain what he means in my opinion. I've found "object art" as one way to translate it. Does this sound like a correct term ? I have googled it and haven't found it in use anywhere.
Kordula Coleman
United States
Local time: 09:26
object / material object / artefact
Explanation:
This probably is a reference to material culture. The author is saying that aside from the altarpiece being an image/series of images, it is also an artefact/object in its own right. ie including frame, possible stand, subsidiary images below all brought together as a group.

"This essay explores ways to use material objects in the study of history. “Material objects” include items with physical substance. They are primarily shaped or produced by human action, though objects created by nature can also play an important role in the history of human societies. For example, a coin is the product of human action. An animal horn is not, but it takes on meaning for humans if used as a drinking cup or a decorative or ritual object. Historical sources analyzed as text or images—for example, a legal charter on a piece of parchment or a religious painting—are also material objects, perhaps significant symbolically. The physical existence of a religious image in a dark cave as a “work of art” provides evidence of the piety of an artist or a sponsor. In some societies, before widespread literacy, the content of a legal document may have been less important than its existence as visible “proof” of a claim."

http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/unpacking/objectsmai...

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-28 19:14:33 GMT)
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What Is Material Culture? A A A E-Mail Print Share
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Posted: 3.3.2008










Historian Jules Prown defines material culture as "the study through artifactsAn object made by a human being, typically an item of historical or cultural interest. of the beliefs — values, ideas, attitudes, and assumptions — of a particular community or society at a given time." Using material culture can be a powerful way to bring history to life, to awaken students' interest in exploring the past, and to discover connections between the past and the present. Material culture can illuminate nuances of social, political, and cultural history, tell untold stories, and offer insights into the experience of ordinary people whose lives are not otherwise documented, while encouraging students to think critically. In the classroom, objects can be used to spark discussion and research, to augment understanding of a topic, to illustrate concepts that are abstract, and to flesh out and enrich the curriculum.

Teachers can complement their use of primary-source documents with an analysis of material culture. The UCLA Institute on Primary Sources (online at http://ipr.ues.gseis.ucla.edu) notes that primary sources "provide firsthand evidence of historical events. They are generally unpublished materials such as manuscripts, photographs, maps, audio and video recordings, oral histories, postcards, and posters. In some instances, published materials can also be viewed as primary materials for the period in which they were written. In contrast, secondary materials, such as textbooks, synthesize and interpret primary materials." Using material culture, with or without primary-source documents, offers students an exciting window into the past and ways to view the present and consider the future
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/teachers_materialculture.ht...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colonialism-Object-Material-Culture-...

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-28 19:16:51 GMT)
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I think - though without seeing much context - that I would stick with 'object' or 'object in its own right', since the material culture approach/methodology is now so trendy and well-known in art circles, that it should be understood, or the artist would like it to be understood that he/she knows about this approach, at the very least.

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-28 19:18:59 GMT)
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The World Wide Web abounds with online exhibits created by museums, historical societies, scholars, antiques dealers, and collectors. Clearly, the study and display of material culture has moved into a new medium, presenting new challenges and raising new questions about the methodology of interpreting artifacts (1). Within these online exhibits, we experience three-dimensional objects in a two-dimensional environment. What implications does this present for a historical method that is based upon on the three-dimensional artifact? With this question in mind, I ventured into teaching with technology for the first time with an undergraduate course in American material culture at Villanova University. In my course, I hoped that in addition to learning about artifacts as historical sources, my students would become critical consumers of material culture on the web as well as creators of their own material culture web pages. I hoped that they would recognize both the advantages and the limitations of material culture studies on the web.
http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/family/mires.html

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-28 19:20:21 GMT)
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As the last link makes clear, an image such as an altarpiece is generally understood as being two-dimensional but can obviously also be seen as a three-dimensional object.

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-28 19:51:53 GMT)
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Yes, I am sure 'object' is the best option.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day1 hr (2009-06-29 19:54:16 GMT) Post-grading
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Thanks for the points, Kordula
Selected response from:

Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:26
Grading comment
This translation 'nails it', I think! Thanks to everyone for their help and for sharing their impressive knowledge with me!
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2object / material object / artefact
Helen Shiner
4art object/work object
Ingrid Moore
3 -1sculpture
mary austria
Summary of reference entries provided
further to my agreement with Helen
Annett Kottek (X)
anthropol. & artistic 'objects'
Stephen Reader

Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
art object/work object


Explanation:
A work of art, artwork, work or art object is a creation, such as an art object, design, architectural piece, musical work, literary composition, performance, film, conceptual art piece, or even computer program that is made and or valued primarily for an "artistic" rather than practical function. This article is concerned with the concept in the visual arts rather than music or literaturte, although similar issues arise in those fields.

Traditional media for visual works of art include: calligraphy, photography, carvings, gardens, ceramics, painting, prints, sculpture, drawings, photography or buildings. Since modernism, the field of fine art has expanded to include film, performance art, conceptual art, and video art.
Work of art of artistic value; object of art of artistic merit;
http://www.answers.com/topic/art-object;

Ingrid Moore
Local time: 15:26
Works in field
Native speaker of: German

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Helen Shiner: The point is that it is also something aside from an art object. Incidentally, I don't think 'work object' is a term in its own right.
1 hr
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14 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
sculpture


Explanation:
I've run into this word several times already. Sometimes I've found that it can be translated as a "sculpture."

To agree with Stephen Reader, "installation" also comes to mind as another possibility.

Grüße!

mary austria
Local time: 15:26
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8
Notes to answerer
Asker: I've really come to think that 'object' will work best. 'Sculpture' or 'installation' are a bit too strong for me and would distract too much from the meaning and role of the paintings, which, I am very sure, are the the main focus of the artist.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Helen Shiner: with installation and with sculpture in this context. It means 'object in its own right' or just 'object'.
3 hrs

neutral  Stephen Reader: Hi Mary, Cordula - after qn settled, as I said, interesting discussion! - With Asker here, 'sculpt.' & 'install.' too specific here at least as nouns - or rather, too loose! the 'object' being more precise (while having contemp. sculp. aspects)
14 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
object / material object / artefact


Explanation:
This probably is a reference to material culture. The author is saying that aside from the altarpiece being an image/series of images, it is also an artefact/object in its own right. ie including frame, possible stand, subsidiary images below all brought together as a group.

"This essay explores ways to use material objects in the study of history. “Material objects” include items with physical substance. They are primarily shaped or produced by human action, though objects created by nature can also play an important role in the history of human societies. For example, a coin is the product of human action. An animal horn is not, but it takes on meaning for humans if used as a drinking cup or a decorative or ritual object. Historical sources analyzed as text or images—for example, a legal charter on a piece of parchment or a religious painting—are also material objects, perhaps significant symbolically. The physical existence of a religious image in a dark cave as a “work of art” provides evidence of the piety of an artist or a sponsor. In some societies, before widespread literacy, the content of a legal document may have been less important than its existence as visible “proof” of a claim."

http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/unpacking/objectsmai...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-28 19:14:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

What Is Material Culture? A A A E-Mail Print Share
del.icio.usDiggFacebookredditSlashdotStumbleUponTechnorati


Posted: 3.3.2008










Historian Jules Prown defines material culture as "the study through artifactsAn object made by a human being, typically an item of historical or cultural interest. of the beliefs — values, ideas, attitudes, and assumptions — of a particular community or society at a given time." Using material culture can be a powerful way to bring history to life, to awaken students' interest in exploring the past, and to discover connections between the past and the present. Material culture can illuminate nuances of social, political, and cultural history, tell untold stories, and offer insights into the experience of ordinary people whose lives are not otherwise documented, while encouraging students to think critically. In the classroom, objects can be used to spark discussion and research, to augment understanding of a topic, to illustrate concepts that are abstract, and to flesh out and enrich the curriculum.

Teachers can complement their use of primary-source documents with an analysis of material culture. The UCLA Institute on Primary Sources (online at http://ipr.ues.gseis.ucla.edu) notes that primary sources "provide firsthand evidence of historical events. They are generally unpublished materials such as manuscripts, photographs, maps, audio and video recordings, oral histories, postcards, and posters. In some instances, published materials can also be viewed as primary materials for the period in which they were written. In contrast, secondary materials, such as textbooks, synthesize and interpret primary materials." Using material culture, with or without primary-source documents, offers students an exciting window into the past and ways to view the present and consider the future
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/teachers_materialculture.ht...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colonialism-Object-Material-Culture-...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-28 19:16:51 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I think - though without seeing much context - that I would stick with 'object' or 'object in its own right', since the material culture approach/methodology is now so trendy and well-known in art circles, that it should be understood, or the artist would like it to be understood that he/she knows about this approach, at the very least.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-28 19:18:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The World Wide Web abounds with online exhibits created by museums, historical societies, scholars, antiques dealers, and collectors. Clearly, the study and display of material culture has moved into a new medium, presenting new challenges and raising new questions about the methodology of interpreting artifacts (1). Within these online exhibits, we experience three-dimensional objects in a two-dimensional environment. What implications does this present for a historical method that is based upon on the three-dimensional artifact? With this question in mind, I ventured into teaching with technology for the first time with an undergraduate course in American material culture at Villanova University. In my course, I hoped that in addition to learning about artifacts as historical sources, my students would become critical consumers of material culture on the web as well as creators of their own material culture web pages. I hoped that they would recognize both the advantages and the limitations of material culture studies on the web.
http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/family/mires.html

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-28 19:20:21 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

As the last link makes clear, an image such as an altarpiece is generally understood as being two-dimensional but can obviously also be seen as a three-dimensional object.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-28 19:51:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Yes, I am sure 'object' is the best option.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day1 hr (2009-06-29 19:54:16 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Thanks for the points, Kordula

Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:26
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 275
Grading comment
This translation 'nails it', I think! Thanks to everyone for their help and for sharing their impressive knowledge with me!
Notes to answerer
Asker: The artist definitely wants to show that he is aware of that approach. It almost seems like I really should use just 'object'. I actually really like 'object in its own right', because I think that is exactly what he wants to say, but 'object' seems to be a commonly used and readily understood term. Thanks for all the references!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Annett Kottek (X)
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Annett

agree  AC0: artefact
16 hrs
  -> Thanks, A1ex
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Reference comments


3 hrs
Reference: further to my agreement with Helen

Reference information:
Hi. My Duden defines ‘Objekt’ as a work of modern art which material is mixed media. The Duden Oxford German English Dictionary translates it simply as ‘object’ (as a technical term from art history). Although I don’t understand how the ‘Objekt’ differs from an ‘Installation’. The Duden German Dictionary suggests that an installation incorporates the features of the exhibition space, which suggests that in a different space the work would take a new form. Presumably that would not the case for the ‘Objekt’?

Objekt
1. c) (Kunstwiss.) aus verschiedenen Materialien zusammengestelltes plastisches Werk der modernen Kunst.
Duden - Das Fremdwörterbuch, 9. Aufl. Mannheim 2007 [CD-ROM]

Installation
3. (Kunstwiss.) von einem Künstler, einer Künstlerin im Raum eines Museums o.Ä. hergestelltes Arrangement mit verschiedenartigen Objekten, wie Schriften, Malereien, Plastiken, Fundstücken u.a., die so angeordnet werden, dass eine ganz spezielle Gestaltung des Raums entsteht.
© Duden - Deutsches Universalwörterbuch, 6. Aufl. Mannheim 2006 [CD-ROM].


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Note added at 1 day1 hr (2009-06-29 19:44:51 GMT)
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Hi Kordula, I also think that installation would be inappropriate. I was just bouncing around ideas trying to define ‘Objekt’. Anyway, I found something in an encyclopedia of mine: ‘Objekt’ is a collective term for three-dimensional works of art that have not been produced from wood, stone, or plaster using classical techniques, but rather from pre-fabricated objects and articles from our everyday life. The origins of ‘Objektkunst’ are traced to the early 20thC, from montage to the ‘ready-mades’. Source: Brigitte Riese, Seemans Kleines Kunstlexikon, 2nd ed. (Leipzig: E.A. Seemann, 2000). The term seems pretty much established in Germany. I hesitated to call paintings ‘objects’, but I guess Helen is right in that here the artist probably means to incorporate the framing, plinth, etc. into the overall effect of the work. As for her remarks on material culture, I couldn’t really say, as that is completely new to me (one of the joys of KudoZ is that one learns so much).

Annett Kottek (X)
United Kingdom
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 12
Note to reference poster
Asker: ...sorry, I posted this note below Stephen's reference at first, by mistake! Like I said there, there's no indication in the text that the series integrates the environment in a way that would make one think of an installation.

Asker: All of the paintings in the series have a thick wooden framing, which I probably should have mentioned before - I think that's also what gives him the idea of the 'object'. Thanks for your help!


Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
neutral  Helen Shiner: This is, of course, correct, but the 'object' here is not the 'art object' mentioned in your Duden ref. It is the 'object' or artefact as it appears in the material culture approach which comes from anthropology, recently incorporated into art history.
9 mins
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7 hrs
Reference: anthropol. & artistic 'objects'

Reference information:
I'm sure this presumably contemp. artist is using the term in the artistic-genre sense, seeing his composite work sculpturally as well as two-dimensionally. As it IS multi-part, it's a candidate for an 'installation', but not necessarily. An object doesn't have to integrate/react with its environment so much as a primary intention.
An 'object' / "Objekt" as an artistic category can conceivably be part of an installation. A painting in which the frame matters (as part of the artistic statement) &/or where the whole takes on aspects of sculpture (i.e. support+image=1) could be, or double as, an 'object'.

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Note added at 1 day4 hrs (2009-06-29 22:51:20 GMT) Post-grading
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29th/30th June - / ...& learning, like Annett. Material Culture sounds parallel to German-spkg art-and-media-scholarship infatuation with 'Bildwissenschaft' in looking at art as 'only' part of sth. wider.
This partic. qn: Agree, of c'se, with Helen, esp. on 'object' - but still veering toward its art genre sense rather than the wider cultural implications in Helen's rich trove - just from the impression of 'your' artist talking about his own work.- My guess (stress on guess) is that he's contrasting 'Altarbild' (trad. context) with 'Objekt' (modernist-to-contemporary context, see Helen) when he says 'wie man es heute nennt', i.e. he might not be as 'heutig' as the Material-Culture usage - doesn't sound like yer typical meta-level-conscious artist-cum-scholar-curator, at least not from the quote (you'd expect a scholarly ref. or quote if it were so, at least to the coiner/s of the 'Mat.C.' term). The rest of his text might correct that impression, of c'se.

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Note added at 1 day5 hrs (2009-06-29 23:39:09 GMT) Post-grading
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Oops - sorry - for "modernist-to-contemporary context, see Helen", read ...see Annett. Grüße to both of you / S.

Stephen Reader
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 115
Note to reference poster
Asker: The artist is indeed contemporary. I don't see any indication that he sees his series of paintings as an installation. But I think this description of yours fits very well: "the whole takes on aspects of sculpture". Therefore, I think 'object' would work very well here.

Asker: There's no indication in the text that the series integrates the environment in a way that would make one think of an installation.


Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
neutral  Helen Shiner: I would not argue for the anthropological sense, nor for the artistic sense, as you term it, but I do argue for the sense current in material culture, which is employed in artistic circles albeit a concept borrowed from anthropology.
10 hrs
  -> Hi, Helen, and thanks. Back online after local but 'Großraum' IT hitch yesterday. Debate interesting enough to continue beyond close of qn, & I wasn't up on 'Mat. C.' as new Taste of Month either. - & learning...
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