Dissipating through growth; Solving within illusion; Resilience in vulnerability. Through enveloping strands of tenuous connections, translucent flesh-like layers, and subtle movement through touch, my thesis installation entitled "Shiver" makes reference to the Sublime as it asks the infinite question; What is my primordial self?

My research uses my painting practice as an experimental and investigative tool to test the capacity of practical aesthetics to generate similar or analogous experiences to the non-dualist reception aesthetics of certain key examples of post-Tridentine (1563) Catholic Counter-Reformation devotional imagery, particularly, The Ecstasy of St. Theresa (1647-1652) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the Incarnation (1596-1600) by El Greco. I apply an interpretative method to the development of Christian imagery within painting in the post-Reformation period and its relationship to the economic system of modern capitalism and the Enlightenment aesthetic of the sublime. My research aims to see what, if any, meanings and experiences, which, I believe, were present in the affective aesthetics of certain Counter-Reformation imagery can, through the contemporary aesthetics of my painting practice, be reconstructed or re-generated again as similar experience to those original pre-Enlightenment non-dualist meanings and experiences. The experience I aim to generate in my paintings is an affective and experiential narrative of presence, - Eliot's 'unity of thought, feeling and action', which I argue is found in the meaning and experience of those key Christian devotional images.

This study is concerned with the obscurity surrounding the boundaries of a socio-political context and a metaphysical context, especially as it correlates to Contemporary Performance Art. This dichotomy seemingly results in symbolic conflation and therefore necessitates the inclusion of social science as part of Performance Studies discourse. The intersection of these disciplines aligns with respect to the significance of context: the role of communication when considering the phenomenon of interpreting the perspective of other individuals. In this study, the various layers appropriated to the contextualisation of Performance art are explored: how it pertains to the theatrical framework, audience, art, social order, and the sublime. To this end, the influence of the socio-political construct of reality on the theatrical framework of a performance is examined. The premise is that a socio-political context both precedes and follows a performance and likely affects 5 how a performance is experienced. This investigation relies upon the methodological approach of Grounded Theory that allows the freedom of exploring this phenomenon in conjunction to the development of a communicative model. To delimit the scope of this study, I primarily focus on the symbolic, insofar as it affects the context of a performance. The analysis of this study supports the development of a theorisation that introduces an approach to the theatrical framework, defined as Neo-Surrealism. Drawing upon Immanuel Kant's philosophical work on judgement, a precept is introduced for a theatrical framework: Neo- Surrealism is a platform that constitutes the demarcation of sacred space, where the signification of the aesthetic has symbolic authority over the signification of the socio-political construct. In the present study, the term transgression as situated in a metaphysical context of sacred space, changes its symbolic signification from a complicit act against the socio-political construct to a complicit act against the limitations of perception, positioning this semiotic sign to constitute an aesthetic infinitude. This theorisation serves to support a philosophical dialectic that incorporates performative methods from Ritual Studies. This aspect of the dissertation acts as a counterpart to the documented artwork aimed at reinforcing the specific purposes as outlined through the research. The practical portion of this study consists of three performances that rely upon the platform of Neo-Surrealism. Each performance strategically responds to the influence of the socio-political construct in separate ways. Neo-Surrealism: What is Performance art? (2015) contains a fictitious narrative that is integrated in an academic context. I portray several different archetypes; this theoretically makes my identity impalpable to an audience comprised mostly of students that are unfamiliar with my work. Neo-Surrealism: The Audition (2016) is centred on the site specificity of the performance, challenging the application of the communicative model in an unfamiliar socio-political context, Anchorage, Alaska. Neo-Surrealism: The Rehearsal (2017) is aimed at asserting the relevance of the platform of Neo-Surrealism by expanding the symbolic boundaries of Performance Art.

Submitted by Nathalya Silva (nathyjf033@gmail.com) on 2017-07-07T19:43:28Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_BeloSublimeKant.pdf: 1252648 bytes, checksum: 1977b1ddc1517aa33cbb5122d6d2f8a8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Irvana Coutinho (irvana@ufpa.br) on 2017-07-12T14:36:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_BeloSublimeKant.pdf: 1252648 bytes, checksum: 1977b1ddc1517aa33cbb5122d6d2f8a8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-12T14:36:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_BeloSublimeKant.pdf: 1252648 bytes, checksum: 1977b1ddc1517aa33cbb5122d6d2f8a8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-17 / O objetivo deste estudo é investigar os conceitos do belo e do sublime em Kant por meio do confronto entre duas obras da sua filosofia estética: uma do período pré-crítico, as Observações sobre o sentimento do belo e do sublime de 1764, e a outra do período crítico, a Crítica da Faculdade de Julgar de 1790. A questão central que se pretende investigar nesta pesquisa é a seguinte: há ruptura ou continuidade conceitual na reflexão de Kant sobre o belo e o sublime nestas duas obras pertencentes a períodos distintos da sua filosofia? O caminho seguido para esclarecer este problema foi dividido em três etapas: 1) analisar e discutir como os conceitos do belo e do sublime se constituem na obra da fase pré-crítica; 2) examinar e dissertar como os conceitos do belo e do sublime se constituem na obra da fase crítica; 3) Identificar e apresentar, as semelhanças e as dessemelhanças, no tratamento da matéria nas duas obras em particular. Ao final deste estudo, defender-se-á aqui a tese de que, apesar da subjetividade aparecer no primeiro escrito e ser parte essencial no segundo escrito, por caracterizar o fundamento de determinação no sujeito por meio do sentimento de prazer e desprazer, o cotejo entre os dois escritos considera haver uma ruptura, muito mais que uma continuidade, no modo de Kant pensar os conceitos do belo e do sublime nas referidas obras. / The objective of this study is to investigate the concepts of the Beautiful and the Sublime in Kant by means of the confrontation between two works of his aesthetic philosophy: one of the pre-Critical period, the Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime of 1764, and the other of the Critical period, the Critique of the Faculty of Judge of 1790. The central question to be investigated in this research is the following: there is rupture or conceptual continuity in Kant's reflection on the beautiful and the sublime in these two works belonging to distinct periods of his philosophy? The path followed to clarify this problem was divided into three stages: 1) to analyze and discuss how the concepts of the beautiful and the sublime constitute the work of the pre-critical phase; 2) to examine and to discuss how the concepts of the beautiful and the sublime constitute the work of the critical phase; 3) Identify and present, the similarities and dissimilarities, in the treatment of matter in the two works in particular. At the end of this study, the thesis will be defended that, despite subjectivity appearing in the first writing and being an essential part of the second writing, because it characterizes the ground of determination in the subject through the feeling of pleasure and displeasure, the comparison Between the two writings he considers that there is a rupture, much more than a continuity, in Kant's way of thinking the concepts of the beautiful and the sublime in the said works.

本論文旨在透過康德的「孤立法」，尋找審美判斷中美和崇高所包含的先天原理。此一過程，凸顯了以下兩種意涵：1.孤立法是康德「批判」理論中的一個相當重要的方法，所有的先天原理皆因此方法而得以呈顯。本論文第一章分別以康德知識論中的感性與知性，以及實踐哲學中的善的意志為例，先用孤立法證明感性的空間與時間是先天直觀，範疇則是知性的純粹概念。再用同樣的方法，證明善的意志是純粹實踐理性重要的先天知識。2.在康德之前，理性主義和經驗主義哲學家在處理美學問題上所遇到的難題，就前者而言，為了維持美感的普遍性，而將其地位置於知識之下，成為其附庸；後者則為了維護美學獨立之領域而使其喪失了普遍性。本論文第二、三章，藉由對鑑賞判斷及崇高判斷先天原理的探尋，可看出康德對於這些美學問題的處理方式，主要是根據四種樣式的範疇來區分，略述如下，首先就鑑賞而言：(1)由質的範疇引伸出美的「無志趣」問題。(2)由量的範疇引伸出美的普遍性問題。(3)由關係的範疇引伸出美的合的性問題。(4)由「樣式」的範疇引伸出美的必然性問題。至於崇高，則是一種不同於美的情感，康德亦是依據四類範疇來分析其先天原理。基本上，那是一種因構想力無法掌握理性理念，所表現出的「內心激動」。凡此種種，在本論文中皆詳加論述。

Au coeur de la culture et de l'histoire européennes depuis plus de deux mille ans, le Rhin faitl'objet d'une abondante littérature. La fascination qu'il exerce s'accompagne généralementd'une focalisation sur certains secteurs de son cours dont la Suisse semble exclue, alors que lefleuve prend sa source dans ce pays et qu'il le traverse ou le longe sur environ 250 kilomètres.La Suisse étant, surtout depuis le milieu du XVIIIe siècle, une destination de voyage trèsprisée, l'objectif de notre recherche a été de savoir si l'intérêt apparemment limité pour leRhin helvétique valait également dans le domaine de la littérature de voyage. Basé surl'analyse de guides, d'ouvrages descriptifs et iconographiques et de récits de voyage, leprésent travail a pour objet de mettre en lumière les représentations du fleuve depuis sessources jusqu'à Bâle telles qu'elles ont été véhiculées par la littérature viatique européenne duXVe au XIXe siècle. Notre corpus ne se limitant pas à la sphère germanophone, nous abordonsl'image du Rhin suisse sous un angle comparatiste et proposons un panorama européen desreprésentations en question. Par ailleurs, notre enquête s'inscrit dans l'évolution de laperception du paysage, tant dans ses manifestations naturelles que culturelles, et s'efforce defaire ressortir l'influence de notions comme le sublime et le pittoresque sur les écrits que nosauteurs ont consacrés au tronçon helvétique du fleuve.

We insist upon “green space”, but the term’s vague cast brings little into focus. In this thesis I search out what it is that we look for in green space. I consider some ways, within our North American context, that we interact with it, represent it, speak about it and write about it. Drawing together evidence from a diverse range of sources in myth and mapping, poetry, classical philosophy, feminist theory, language, and personal experience, I find enigmatic but persistent geometries of desire binding us to the notion of green space. These desires for green space manifest themselves in relationships of practical dependence, imaginative dependence, violence, and love. But most of all green space is at work, wherever it emerges, at the core of our becoming-other.

This thesis explores the problematic relationship between ethics and aesthetics as reflected in the works of six highly controversial French and American authors of the Twentieth century. The study sets out to investigate the possible reasons why we keep on reading, cherishing and rejoicing in the works of writers who present us with an extremely unsettling ethical situation. Using the notion of Sublime Evil as it plays out in the works of Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, Jean Genet, Vladimir Nabokov, William Burroughs and Michel Houellebecq, I explore the mechanism through which works of literature, thoroughly reprehensible from the point of view of conventional morality, prove to be compelling and irresistible. By analyzing at length the escape vaults of love, religion, art, ideology, drugs anti-social behavior such as Nazism, anti-Semitism, pedophilia, prostitution, homicide and theft, in the seven novels, I demonstrate that ultimate dejection ends up paradoxically and inextricably bound with supreme aesthetic beauty.

If I relate beauty to nothingness, what happens? Is nothingness sort of an absence of beauty? Or it is portrayed by our culture and society, and, in such case, can I define this absence of beauty? Is it beauty that you cannot even catch? Is its appearance neutral, almost hidden? When we are born, we all have the same degree of beauty and purity, which is progressively lost as long as we start growing up. In a life span, we accumulate wrinkles, and defects and dirt which needs to be concealed in order to fit in certain social categories. But our bodies register all the marks, absorb all the signs and impurities, likewise filters. We don’t necessarly perceive our own dirt or impurities as disgusting, whereas, in the clash with the other, we automatically are ahsamed of it. Same way, we tend to regard the other’s dirt as disgusting, not our own, very private dirt. Dirt is matter out of place, so is ugliness. The stain must be cleansed, purified as it represents a threaten for beauty. It is subtracting clean space to beauty. We are part of a society that intimates us to clean up, shape up, hide your -very human- dirt under the carpet. But beauty, nor humanity, would not exist without that dirt. We do absorb impurities all life long. And that is what makes us what we ultimately are: humans. Dirt paradoxically works as a protection: the dirtier we are, the less afraid of getting dirty we will be. In the society we live in exist many difficulties when it comes to find an identity as humans and a position in it. We are often put in a situation of having to follow: a certain career, a living style, an ideology, somebody’s else opinion, what to consume, school systems. Etcetera. In such a society, and because of this “follower-like”, passive position, where we mostly have to repeat the same living patterns, it got harder and harder to retrieve the meaning of things and to understand where we come from. Who we really are. We tend to put on uniforms or masks to fit in different standardazied situations. Everything and everybody has to fit in its or his standard place. This way our intrinsic human beauty is concealed and somehow controlled. With my essai, I try to look under the carpet, undress, unmask and reach a new definition of beauty: a naked beauty, not concealed nor camouflaged. The beauty we all deeply share, unpretentious and honest. A beauty of nothingness: something I see or feel, but about which I keep wondering whether it is or it is not beauty. To develop such new definition of beauty, I recollect ideas and concepts of beauty from the past, with a main reference to western society: from beauty models in the ancient Greece, Apollonian VS Dionysian, to the Sublime, untill the present time. I try to define what purpose and non-purpose beauty is. What is ugliness and dirt and how they both are a prerequisites of beauty. I finally take a more personal look upon contemporary society and how its mechanisms define a beauty which is standard. It is starting from a reflexion about standard society and beauty, that I then define a more intrinsic human beauty. Such unevokable sensation of beauty is extremely subtle, hard to acknowledge: one needs to train ones eyes and go beyond the layers, to discover the beauty of nothingness.

Due to their inclusion of characters or objects that are the result of scientific investigation or subject to scientific scrutiny, Frankenstein, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and “The Colour Out of Space” are works that may be classified as science fiction. However, despite these narratives’ engagement with scientific practice, at crucial moments when scientific description would be expected, it is prominently absent. This report investigates the effects of these absences within the narratives and suggests that such absences do not appear due to the author’s unfamiliarity with the science of her or his era, but rather serve the positive purpose of creating the effect of the sublime through horror, which is most effective when the reader is forced to confront the unknown or unreadable. To corroborate this hypothesis, this report also examines the treatment of certain hybrids within the three stories and the way that the terror they inspire seems to rely on the ways in which they mingle the known with the unknown and resist coherent description. Overall, this report seeks to illuminate the complex interaction of the known and the not yet known that has enabled a fruitful interaction between science fiction and horror as genres since the inception of science fiction as a definable genre. / text