Guideline for the midterm exam

This exam contains two sections and you have to answer 10 multiple-choice questions (M.C.Q)/ fill in the
gaps questions as well as 2 short questions from those sections. Each M.C.Q question and short question
carries 1 and 5 marks respectively. In case of M.C.Q questions 2, 3 or 4 alternative answers will be
provided. Here a question outline has been given below, (It is noteworthy that this outline is only an
example of the actual exam)

Multiple choice questions

1. According to Marcus Cicero the word ‘cultura’ denotes the process of ____agriculture_____
2. Who relates the concept ‘culture’ to ‘enlightenment’?
Ans.johan Gottfried herder
3. How do you define signified?
4. What is the eventual relationship between signified and signifier?
Ans “arbitrary” given by sausser (sausser called this unmotivated)
5. Which one is not iconic/symbolic/indexical sign?
Iconic signs – icons are signs where meaning is based on similarity of appearance. ... Indexical signs
– Indexical signs have a cause-and-effect relationship between the sign and the meaning of the
sign. ... Symbolic signs – these signs have an arbitrary or conventional link.
6. Which one is iconic/indexical/symbolic sign?
7. Who included referent in his sign model?
Peirce's model of the sign includes an object or referent
Reference is a relationship in which a symbol or sign (a word, for example) signifies something; the
referent is the thing signified. The referent may be an actual person or object, or may be something
more abstract, such as a set of actions.
8. Syntagmatic relationship indicates the aspect of functional contrasts and paradigmatic
relationship is possibilities of combinations. Is it a true statement or false? Ans.flase. while
syntagmatic relations are possibilities of combination, paradigmatic relation are functional contrasts.
9. Which one is not related to the Tartu School model.

10. Visual narratives may contain sequential as well as __Spatial______ aspect.

11. Narrative can be transposed from one medium to another. Please give two example of this
transposition_________novel to flim, novel to music__________________.
12. Which one is not a readymade work of Marcel Duchamp?
1. L.H.O.O.Q , 2. Bicycle Wheel, 3. Duchamp's Urinal, 4. Fountain , 5. Bottle Rack , 6. In Advance of
the Broken Arm , 7. Pulled at 4 Pins, 8. Trap , 9. Hat Rack, 10. 50 cc of Paris Air, 11. Fresh Widow,
12. The Brawl of Austeriltz, 13. Comb, 14. Traveller's Folding Item.
13. Syntagm also represents spatial relationship. Please provide of examples of it.
spatial syntagmatic relation include: above/below, in front/behind, close/distant, left/right,
inside/outside and so on.
14. What do you understand by the relationship between meimesis vs. techne?
For the ancient Greek philosopher Plato (428–347 BC), in Book 10 of The
Republic, art is mimesis (roughly translated as ‘imitation’). Plato’s term techne refers to the technique
or skill of the person who
makes the useful, actual thing – but he distinguished that from art.
15. Aristotle discussed four types of causes. Which one was not provided by Aristotle?
Aristotle discussed that everything has four cause: a)material cause, b)efficient cause c)formal cause
and d) final cause.
16. According to Immanuel Kant Art has moral as well as _____aesthetic________ level of meaning.
17. Kant distinguished what become known in the eighteenth century as ‘fine art’ from merely
__pleasing art________.
18. How did Friedrich Hegel understand the main purpose of art?
According to Friedrich Hegel the main purpose of art was to expand self-knowledge ad understanding
of the world.

19. Which sculpture of woman appears to have had symbolic meaning associated with fertility?
Venus of Willendorf (25000)BC
20. Which one is the monumental stone architecture that has a close relationship to agriculture?
By the new stone age/ Neolithic period, learning to grow food,
people led to a new art form: monumental stone
architecture. In addition to monumental stone architecture,
the ancient near east cultures produce a great
deal of royal art.

These types of arts were designed to project the

power and piety of their king.

The imagery of Gudea confirms that he is a

source of life and the prosperity of Lagash.
21. Post-n-lintel system indicates the ___vertical____________ and ____horizontal ________
arrangement of structures.
22. The final stage of Stonehenge is known as ______megalithic___________________.
23. Which civilization is called the ‘cradle of civilization’?
Ancient near east is broadly known as
 Mesopotamia: the cradle of civilization.
24. Which one is the first known symbolic writing system of the world?
25. The cuneiform script, created in Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq, ca. 3200 BC
26. Gudea was known as__ source of life and the prosperity of Lagash. ___
27. The Royal audience hall at Persepolis is known as ______apadana__________.
28. The column of Apadana is consisted of three main sections: a vertical shaft, ___a circular
base________ and __capital of the top____________.

29. Many of the capitals of the Apadana were carved in the shapes of animals’ heads. Which one is
correct?

Many of the capitals were carved in the shape of monumental bull

30. Which one is a unique expression of royal power in Assyria that can be seen in the colossal statue
guarding the palace gateway____________
31. The monumental stepped tower ziggurat symbolized…
32. The post and lintel systems were revised with the capital showing the shape of _______________
in Egyptian architectures.
33. Which idea is reflected in Greek art?
34. Which one is not an example of classical Greek Sculpture?
35. Greek architects elaborated the post-and-lintel system of the elevation using a particular order
which is called______________
36. In which civilization statutes were built to project the political image as a strong yet benevolent
rulers first?
37. Which one is an example of early Byzantine art?
38. In contrast to early roman naturalism, early Christian and Byzantine artists emphasized on
_________________.
39. The Muslim architects used a unique system of ________________supported by short columns to
enliven the interior.
40. The vertical emphasis of the towers of amines convey a sense of____________.
41. As part of the classical revival renaissance humanist artists began portraying________________.
42. St. Longinus shows the inner turmoil at the moment of____________________.
43. The early twentieth-century Romanian artist Constantian Brancusi believed his sculpture Mlle
Pogany represents-
44. By the twelfth century, Romanesque style of architectural design began to evolve into________
45. Enlightenment refers to a new interest in ____________ and ___________________.
46. Which one is not the basic attribute of classicalism?
47. Chiaroscuro is an art technique that creates…
 48. In Botticelli’s Renaissance Birth of Venus, a technique for showing three dimensional spaces was
introduced that was known as…
49. Which work of Pablo Picasso shows the features of woman have been disrupted so that their faces
are not symmetrical?
50. Who does not belong to the post-impressionist painters?
51. Which one is not an attribute of romanticism?

Short questions

1. How can culture and art be understood through the discussion of cultural theories?
2. Providing Tartu school Model please discuss how does a sign achieve and loss the features of
textuality in a particular cultural context? Please provide necessary example(s).
Cultural codes are also known as referential codes- these use elements of a media text that have
cultural reference and therefore appeal to people of a certain culture. Example- age, gender, race etc.
When we mainly overview the tartu school conception, we the see almost the same interpretation.
Consider that members in a implicit model where it will be taken for granted that in normal case,
member of any culture will think of themselves as insiders, while person from other cultures are
outsiders. On the inside, life is ordered and meaningful; outside of it it might seems like chaotic,
disorderly and impossible to understand. But at the same time the inside is normally more highly
valued. Under these condition “text” cannot exist outside culture. But when it comes to non-text then
there is least potentiality. More precisely non-text are excluded by the peculiar mechanism of
exclusion which already inside a culture or they been received but in a deformed way, by the
mechanism fo inclusion. In due time however, the accumulation of many deformed texts may give
rise to a new mechanism of interpretation which makes it possible to understand.
3. Please describe the ideas of art of Plato and Aristotle briefly.
Plato said art is an imitation of an imitation. According to him our life on earth is an imperfect
imitation of what is ideal world and since he would say that life is an imitation of what is ideal and art
is an imitation of life. Therefore art is an imitation of an imitation. Morely he said that poets and artist
are producing arts things which are rather removing 3times from the truth. In the this basis he
addressed poets and artists in general as liars and asked to banned them from society. As an example
in a horror flim we see ghost that we get scared even though those features are not actually there. We
are giving so much effort to form this lie that was basically Plato’s statement in modern concept

According to Aristotle poets and artists are important because for a person to function in the best way
possibly can endow experienced not enough all sorts of emotions feelings and experiences but as
human being it is impossible for us to experience everything like not everybody will be a teacher or a
doctor. according to him that a job of art to experience something we actually never experienced.
While watching a film we would cry our heart out but afterwards we realise that it was us basilly it
was the character in a film or particular art form though we are able to experience it thus making us a
person who could function the best way that we can.

4. Please discuss structure, mode and relationship of signs with relevant examples. (e.g.
signified, signifier, iconic sign, indexical sign, symbolic sign, syntagmatic relationship,
paradigmatic relationship and commutation test)
whatever we speak, wirte and listen are all about signifier more precisely a sign's physical form (such as a
sound, printed word, or image) as distinct from its meaning. And when the meaning or idea expressed by
a sign, as distinct from the physical form in which it is expressed is known as signified. Each signifier has
a signified.
signs where the signifier resembles the signified, for example a picture, statues, portraits, drawings,
cartoons, sound effects, etc. All these signs bear a strong resemblance to the things they represent.
Indexical Signs: signs where the signifier is caused by the signified, for an example smoke signifies fire.
An index is a mode in which the signifier might not resemble its signified object. It is not arbitrarily
assigned and is directly connected in some way to the object. Nevertheless, the relationship between what
the sign stands for — its referent and the sense behind it, the interpretant — may have to be learned.
A symbolic sign, also known as symbols, have an arbitrary relationship between the signifier and the
signified. This is the opposite of iconic signs. The signifier and the signified bear no resemblance; the
connection between them is culturally learned since it stems from the conventions of language.
A syntagmatic relationship involves a horizontal addition or deletion of sequence of signs that together
create meaning. A paradigmatic relationship involves signs that can replace each other which are parallel,
usually changing the meaning with the substitution. For say cat sit on mat where I can also say dog sit on
mat. So, here cat and dog has a paradigmatic relationship. commutation test is the technique, especially in
phonological analysis, of substituting one linguistic item for another while keeping the surrounding
elements constant, used as a means of determining the constituent units in a sequence and their contrasts
with other units.

5. Please elaborate the basic differences between Roman and medieval art.
Medieval art consisted of mediums like sculpture, stained glass, metalwork and mosaics.
Early medieval art shared some defining characteristics including iconography, Christian subject
matter, elaborate patterns and decoration, bright colors, the use of precious metals, gems, and other
luxurious materials, stylized figures, and social status. Medieval art illustrates the passionate interest
and idealistic expression of the Christian and Catholic faith. Architectural designs and their interior
décor showed avid expressions of the deep religious faith of the people of the Middle Ages.

Roman art mediums often included forms like architecture, sculpture, mosaics and paintings.
Sculpture and figure painting were regarded as the highest forms of Roman Art. In the modern world,
luxury objects in the form of metal works, gem engravings, ivory carvings, and glass are considered
minor forms of Roman Art. Roman Art is important, primarily because it was used to depict the
values with the purpose of publicity by the Romans
6 Please analyze the following painting by using semiotic tools.