2. Questions researched and set by
Biswajit Sarma, Nalbari, Assam.
This presentation consists of my set of questions from
the P.H.A.G (Politics, History, Arts, Geography) Quiz, a
written quiz as part of the Guwahati Quiz Festival, 2015.
The other half was conducted by
Sudarshan Goswami, Guwahati.
4. The following still has been taken from a famous 1980s war epic.
This particular scene/shot is directly lifted from/paid homage to
one of the most famous paintings of a painter, whom the director
of the film is a devout fan and an avid collector of his works. The
painting is also featured in a scene later in the film.
No need to name the film or the director. Just write down the name
of the painting and the painter, for 1 marks each.
Picture in the next slide…
5.
6. "Freedom from Fear" by Norman Rockwell.
The film is Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun".
7. This 2012 film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language
Film Oscar Award and to date, it is the only film of the country
to have been nominated for the same.
Fictionalized account of an actual event, in the film, actor Gael
García Bernal plays René, an ad executive working in the late
1980s who comes up with a campaign that was very much
important to an event which was very vital in the history of the
country's politics.
Several people from the actual campaign were hired to play roles
in the film.
What was the campaign all about? Or What is the inspiration for
the film?
8.
9. The 1988 Chilean national plebiscite to determine whether de
facto Chilean President, Gen. Augusto Pinochet would continue
as the country’s leader for another eight-year term. The "No"
campaign won with nearly 56% of the vote, thus ending the
military's 16½ years in power.
10. Pictured in the next slide is The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher’s
Stone, a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby originally completed in
1771 then reworked in 1795. Since its exhibition in 1771, it has
provoked many contradictory interpretations. The mystery
obviously disturbed 18th century viewers, and the painting was not
sold at exhibition.
The full title of the painting is "The Alchemist in Search of the
Philosopher's Stone _______ _______ and Prays for the Successful
Conclusion of his Operation, as was the Custom of the Ancient Chemical
Astrologers." The two blanks gives us the actual incident that the
painting depicts, which dates backs to 1669 and has something to
do with the Greek word for ‘light-bearer’. What was it?
11.
12. The accidental discovery of phosphorous
(meaning light-bearer) by the alchemist Hennig
Brandt in 1669.
Like other alchemists of the time, Brand searched
for the philosopher's stone, which could turn
ordinary metal into gold, but instead, to his
amazement, he discovers phosphorus.
13. According to some, this art form was brought form heaven to
earth by Arjuna. Arjuna taught this ‘Gandharva Vidya’ to Uttara or
Brihannalla in disguise.
Another popular saying opines that this was first received by
Parijat, in her dream, where she got all the essential dresses and
instruments such as nupur,jama, capkan and paguri. This story
might well be the explanation for the involvement of women in
this art.
According to another popular opinion, one Vyasa-kalai, a devotee
of Sankardeva as stated in the Kathaguru Charit, well versed in
music and recitation was the originator of this art.
The various origin theories of which art form are talked about
here?
15. This ad by the UK supermarket chain Sainsbury was the
most viewed ad on YouTube in UK last year. It
recreated a certain event (a series of events, in fact),
often celebrated as a symbolic moment of peace, on its
centenary year. At first, it proved controversial, drawing
criticism that the company was exploiting the memory
of fallen soldiers to sell groceries and products.
What extraordinary event does this ad commemorates,
which was also recreated in the video of famous Paul
McCartney song ‘Pipes of Peace’?
16. The famous Christmas truce that was observed on and around
Christmas day, 1914 during World War I, by British and German
soldiers who laid down their arms, met up in No Man’s Land to
exchange gifts and play football.
17. Sleeping Lady with Black Vase is a painting by the
Hungarian avant-garde painter Robert Bereny. This
masterpiece was thought to have been lost for 90
years until it was re-discovered by Gergely Barki, a
researcher at Hungary's National Gallery in 2009.
However, many of us, especially the kids might
have seen this painting but maybe didn’t notice.
Where?
Or
Under what interesting circumstance did Barki re-
discover this painting?
18.
19. The painting was used as a prop in various scenes in the
film Stuart Little.
Barki was watching Stuart Little with his daughter, when
he spotted the painting.
20. On a state visit to Italy in 2009, Libyan
leader Muammar Gaddafi had a large
photograph of this man pinned to his chest. He
(the man in the photograph) led the rebellion
against Italian occupation of Libya for 20 years,
until he was hanged by the Italians in 1931 in a
public place.
His final years were depicted in a 1981 movie.
Identify him.
23. Criticized during his life and misinterpreted throughout the 20th
century, this painter A’s works has only recently been truly
appreciated by the public and criticizers. Still, at the turn of the
century his influence could be seen in the paintings of Symbolist
and Surrealist artists, such as Max Ernst and Edward Munch. Most
notably, there has been discussions about the similarities of The
Scream and B, A’s one of most finest pieces. Only the major
difference between the two paintings is that A’s figure,
Rückenfigur, keeps his back turned on the viewer while Munch's
figure confronts the viewer directly.
Another one of A’s paintings, Man And Woman Contemplating The
Moon (also inspired Munch’s The Lonely Ones), as claimed by C, a
Nobel Laureate, in part inspired his masterpiece D.
Solve for all variables. 1+1+1+1
24.
25. A - Caspar David Friedrich,
B - Wanderer Above the Sea
of Fog,
C - Samuel Beckett,
D - Waiting For Godot.
26. At the time of its 1968 independence, it was the richest
country on earth, due to valuable deposits of
phosphates formed from centuries of bird guano. But
the economy collapsed when it ran out. Today the
unemployment rate sits at 90 percent, and so does the
obesity rate. The country’s people are the most obese in
the world: 97 percent of men and 93 percent of women
are obese. Which country ?
The national flag of the country, pictured in the next
slide, kind of gives away it’s geographical location.
How?
27.
28. Republic of Nauru.
The gold horizontal line in the flag represents
the Equator, and the white star right below it,
Nauru.
29. ছবি অঁকা মানুহজনন ককিল বনজৰ ছবিনেই নানক,
আনক জীৱন আৰু জগতৰ...
ছবি অঁকা মানুহজনন ৰাবত ৰাবত উচপ খাই উনে
তু বলকানৰ ককনভাছত িুলাই ভবৱষ্যতৰ
আৰু এবৰ অহা বিননিাৰৰ ছবি
কতওঁ দ্ৰস্টা ভবৱষ্যতৰ...
কতওঁ দ্ৰস্টা জীৱনৰ...
ছবি অঁকা মানুহজনন ককিল বনজৰ ছবিনেই নানক...
সনপান কিবখিলল..
িহক স্বপাছন্ন কবৰিলল..
আঁনক মানুহৰ িানি
সমাজ এখনৰ ছবি।
This verse is taken from the poem ‘ছবি অঁকা মানুহজন’ written by
Ranjit Patgiri, one of the finest cotemporary Assamese poets.
Who, a very underappreciated artist of Assam, is the subject of
the poem?
31. This herb has some pretty interesting history.
A prized commodity for the ancient Romans, it’s flowers were sold
to ancient Romans for 100 denarii per pound - equivalent to a full
month's wage for a farm laborer - and were used to scent the
water in Roman baths. In fact, the baths served as the root of the
plant's current name, derived from the Latin word for “to wash”.
Use of this herb was highly revered during the Great Plague of
London in the 17th century, when individuals fastened bunches of
it to each wrist to protect themselves from the Black Death.
According to legend, Cleopatra used it to seduce Julius Caesar and
Mark Antony.
Which herb?
33. “Anthropometrie”, named after the study of human
body measurements, is a series of paintings
created in just one day, on March 9, 1960.
Three questions : 1 marks each
(I) Who is the artist?
(II) In what unique way, were these painting
created?
(III) What genre, does these types of paintings
belongs to?
Pictures in the next slide…
34.
35. I) Yves Klein.
(II) He employed 3 female models as “human
paintbrushes” for the paintings. The models were naked,
clad only in the artist’s blue paint, made imprints of their
bodies on large sheets of paper in front of an audience.
(III) Performance art.
36. Villa Las Estrellas, is a Chilean town of
around only 100 residents situated in King
George Island and Esperanza, an
Argentine town.
What uniqueness does these two towns
share?
37.
38. These are the only two towns (read, civilian
settlements) on Antarctica.
A view is that they are both attempts by the
respective country's governments to make claims
of settlement of Antarctica as an insurance for the
future should the terms of the Antarctic Treaty
come up for significant renegotiation.
39. Peter Raubal was born in 1931 which makes him 83 years
old today and his brother Heiner Hochegger was born in
1945, aged 69 now. Alexander, Louis, and Brian Stuart-
Houston range in age from 48 to 64.
These five people are childless, and although it isn’t
impossible they have no intention of procreating in
future too. This is because of a ‘oral’ pact they made
among themselves where they decided that none of them
would marry and none of them would have children.
Why so?
40. These five people are the last surviving descendents of
Adolf Hitler.
They have made an agreement to never have any
children in order to intentionally kill the Hitler
bloodline.
Peter Raubal and Heiner Hochegger are sons of Hitler’s half-
sister Angela Hitler, and the Stuart-Houston brothers of
Adolf’s half-brother Alois Hitler Jr.
41. Artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper
both received MBEs in the first week of this
month. This honour is because of a fine
installation art they created last year. The
installation which stayed for almost 4 months,
starting from 17th July to 11th November. It
achieved worldwide popularity, with more than 5
million visitors.
Identify the famous installation art.
42. “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red”, a ceramic poppy
installation in the moat of the Tower of London, commemorating
the outbreak of the first world war. A staggering 888,246 poppies
appeared in the grounds of the Tower - one for every soldier from
the UK, Australia and the Commonwealth killed during the Great
War.
43. Chao-Ching was a very accomplished consort of the
Ahom king Suklenmung or Garhgayan Raja (1539-52).
She acted as informal advisor to the king. According to a
Buranji , once the queen told the king: “A cooking pot can
keep its balance only when it is placed over three stools. How do
you expect to maintain balance to the pot with two stools
only?” What was she referring to with this question?
And following his queen’s question what did the king
do?
Also, how the queen was responsible for the King
Suklemung’s Hindu name Garhgaya?
44. She was referring to the two ‘great’ ministers or Gohains
(counsellors) of the Ahom kingdom, Burhagohain and
Borgohain.
After this, the king created the position Borpatrogohain, third of
the Gohains.
On another occasion, the queen suggested to the king: ‘A
capital should be properly fortified, ours is not such. So steps should be
taken to surround it with embankments.’ The king following her
advice fortified the capital by raising embankments on all sides,
for which it was named as Garhgaon and the king also came to
be known as Garhgayan Raja.
