For this week’s reflective blog post, I chose to investigate MoMA’s Inventing Abstraction digital exhibit. The exhibit demonstrates ways in which the newfound concept of abstract art moved between artists and regions of the world from 1910 to 1925. The network maps the connections and relationships between artists who were involved with the rise and spread of abstraction.
What (or who) are the nodes and what are the edges?
We can define network nodes as items, people, or entities in a network. We can define network edges as the links and relationships between the nodes (“Graph theory”). In MoMA’s Inventing Abstraction exhibit, the nodes of the network are the artists involved with the birth and spread of the abstract art movement, and the edges are the links connecting different artists to each other through documented relationships. Some nodes are in red, which indicates that these people were especially influential in the rise of abstraction. They are artists who have large networks of acquaintances.
How are the relationships characterized and categorized?
The relationships in the Inventing Abstraction project are categorized by a network of nodes connected to other nodes via edges. More specifically, you can click on one of the nodes (an artist), and the website will display an individual network map of that specific person, showing all of the people that they had documented contact with regarding the abstract art movement from 1910 to 1925. The website also displays a blurb about the artist’s background and connection to the spread of abstraction. Finally, it mentions how some of the other artists in the person’s network are historically associated with the given node. This gives the viewer insight into how the links between artists were determined and how the artists influenced or were involved with each other.
I was really impressed with how visually appealing this network analysis project was. It was also clean and easy to navigate. I thought it was extra cool because I have always wanted to visit the MoMA and this assignment gave me a little glimpse into what MoMA exhibits are like!
