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This thesis describes the concepts of space, time and interactivity in Relational Art. Relational Art is an interdisciplinary art practice described by the art critic and curator Nicolas Bourriaud in his book Relational Aesthetics (1998/2002). For Bourriaud, Relational Art consists of a location (space) in which viewers endure a physical encounter with the artist and artworks exhibited (time). Bourriaud describes this encounter as `interactivity; ' a term borrowed from digital aesthetics and 20'h Century performance art to describe `viewer-participation' with artworks. This thesis tests the capacity of Bourriaud's Relational Aesthetics to provide a theory of `interactivity. ' The thesis is divided into three parts. Part One includes a critical reading of Bourriaud's Relational Aesthetics and the concept of space in Relational Art practices. In Part One, Bourriaud's `space of encounter' is compared to the `Literalist' artwork described in Michael Fried's "Art and Objecthood" (1968) as well as James Meyer's concept of the 'Mobile Site' (2000). Both Fried and Meyer depict the use of `location' in contemporary artworks. Part Two of this thesis is a demonstration of Bourriaud's concept of time in Relational Aesthetics. Bourriaud describes `time' as that which is `lived through' by the artist, artwork and viewer. The thesis demonstrates this concept of time through the design and performance of an artwork produced specifically for this thesis. Entitled: PartnerWork, this performance artwork consists of two persons continuously exercising in a hotel gymnasium for an `endured' period of nine hours. In Part Three, the thesis proposes a set of criteria for recognizing 'interactivity' in Relational Art practices, including the example of PartnerWork. Interactivity is determined to be 'structured' through successive stages of participation, and is described as having the capacity to alter the formal structure of an artwork.

This study aims at an understanding of the function and representation of light and dark in painting and to make a systematic and comparative analysis of selected paintings within the tradition of chiaroscuro and tenebrism theory. How it is used and translated are core to the enquiry, which needs to be taken into consideration before and during the production of a painting. This research starts by looking at the broad history of chiaroscuro and tenebrism. This study will identify and analyze a small number of historical paintings to identify a clear basis for comparison. Based on this historical understanding, the study will focus into the effects of light and dark in three-dimensional illusionism technique and representational figure paintings. The comparative study will be based on three 17th century's artists namely Caravaggio, Georges de La Tour and Rembrandt. Based on the analysis and comparison through a methodology that I term 'deconstruction' (a technique which uses drawing as a medium), several new findings related to chiaroscuro and tenebrism have been identified. Through the analysis of few selected paintings, a comparative study is done in order to identify particular elements and approaches in the selected works with regards the academic canon view especially concerning their composition, space, mood and other technical aspects. Employing a trans-historical approach, I will reflect upon the practical and theoretical aspects of the actions, settings and narratives of selected artworks. Through critical enquiry and through a process of painterly reconstruction the various approaches to light and dark will be related to personal figurative painting practice. This practical study will covers the production of personal paintings which apply the understanding and techniques that been found from this research. To conclude, the research findings will be discussed through written argument and visual exposition of the contemporary relevance in traditions of tenebrism and chiaroscuro theory.

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The term contemplative place, a new concept that forms the core of this research is defined as "space where a meaningful sense of calm can be experienced." Contemplative place situates itself as a category of place. M. Auge defines place as that which is "relational, historical and/or concerned with identity" (1995). For the artwork to be meaningful, it needs to be expressive and significant through its response to its physical, cultural, historical and/or social identity. With reference to Isamu Noguchi's sited works, three projects are seen as representatively defining his career. They are The UNESCO Garden in France - Noguchi's early attempt at using the landscape as an art form; the California Scenario in the USA -a corporate park where Noguchi successfully creates a meaningful sense of place; and the Domon Ken Museum of Photography in Japan -a simple reductive approach that addresses its context on several levels. Through the analysis and contextual isation of Noguchi's works, I begin to explore the strategic processes and principles that he used to make his works contemplative places. In my practice, I review and test evolving processes that incorporate the notions of place as well as my practice of meditation. Three case studies of past and current works are presented, each with a summary of analysis and a completed (or anticipated) experience. Then, through post-reflective thoughts, I begin to consolidate my own strategic processes and principles, and study how they have evolved and in some instances been influenced by Noguchi. As a final chapter, an evaluation addresses the similarities and differences between Noguchi's works and mine in achieving contemplative place. The intention of this research is that the term contemplative place can be understood and evolve over time with future research. The strategic processes and principles used by Noguchi and those newly developed through my own practice could prove as useful examples to inspire new frontiers for creating contemplative places as art forms.

Cette thèse, qui s'appuie sur ma pratique artistique personnelle, analyse l'identité, l'origine, la valeur et la place de la main dans l'art en sillonnant l'ancienne Route de la soie. J'étudie mon parcours de création artistique, ma culture, mes identités multiples et mes influences au regard de l'héritage légué par La Roule de la soie et la route de La création. La traversée de la Route de la soie s'articule autour de quatre thèmes: la rencontre, le contact, le croisement et la frontière. Les recherches m'ont mené sur un voyage messianique dans le but de répondre aux questions qui me hantaient: l'influence étendue de la Route de la soie sur la création artistique est-elle source de créativité? Comment peut-elle se révéler dans les œuvres d'artistes contemporains? La route de ma création artistique se croise-t-elle avec la Route de la soie? Pour répondre à ces questions, j'ai présenté ma main comme une figure qui me lie à mes origines invisibles. Dans le premier chapitre, j'explore la notion d’identité à travers les portraits de la main, puis j'étudie la notion de frontière visible et invisible. Dans le troisième chapitre, j'analyse le toucher, le goûter et le croisement avec la Route de la soie. Enfin, j'examine le contexte des paysages intérieurs et je tente de mettre en lumière l'héritage caché ainsi que les secrets de l'art local imprégné par la culture de notre région et ce à travers les croisements et les métissages culturels. / Relying on my personal artistic practice, this thesis analyzes the identity, origin, the value and the place of the "band" in the art in weaving through the old Silk Road. The analysis of my artistic creation, my culture, my multiple identities and my influences in the light of the legacy of the Silk Road and the road of the creation. The crossing of the Silk Road is structured around four themes : the meeting, contact. The crossing and the border. The research led me on a messianic trip, in the aim of finding answers to the questions that concern me : how the Silk Road influences artistic creation, is it a source of creativity? How can it be in the works of contemporary artists? How it emerges on my artistic creation? To answer these questions, I presented my band as a figure, which binds me to my multiple origins. In the first chapter I will analyze the concept of identity through the portraits of the band, then I will look into the notion of border visible and invisible. In the third chapter, I will analyze the touch, the taste and the crossing with the Silk Road. Finally, I will examine the context of interior landscapes and I will try to demonstrate the hidden legacy as well as the secrets of the local art impregnated in the culture of our region through crosses and cultural mixes.

Le blanc dans le cinéma de science-fiction vibre et scintille, comme une invitation à l’interpréter. À travers le blanc se tisse un lien entre des images sans rapports apparents, et ce type de connexion hétérogène sollicite notre regard d’une manière qui se rapproche d’un montage. Ce regard facilite de plus le détachement des figures blanches de leurs objets référentiels, du contexte du film, et même du contexte du cinéma. Dans cette vision en forme de constellation, révélant des forces liées à la construction, à la destruction et à l’incertitude, le blanc au sein du cinéma de science-fiction, de par sa nature hybride et changeante, transgresse fréquemment les lois établies de l’espace-temps. Véhiculant des sensations et des pensées variées, le blanc reflète d’une manière indirecte et fragmentaire son époque et révèle avec subtilité son passé virtuel, lequel se caractérise par une grande richesse. À la fois couleur du degré zéro et couleur intégrale, porteur de mémoire tout autant que de nouveauté, le blanc, en raison de son caractère minimal et illimité, démontre une capacité à se déplacer librement dans le monde de la science-fiction, voire d’errer dans l’univers des images... / The colour white in the cinema of science fiction vibrates and sparkles, inviting our interpretations. Unrelated images are linked through whiteness in a form of heterogeneous connection that solicits our gaze as a montage. This look also facilitates the detachment of white figures from their reference objects, the context of the film and even the context of cinema. In this vision of a constellation, which reveals the energies of construction, destruction and uncertainty, whiteness in the cinema of science fiction by its hybrid and changing nature easily transgresses the established laws of space-time. Carrying diverse sensations and thoughts, the colour white reflects its era in a manner at once both indirect and fragmentary, discreetly revealing its virtual but rich past. At once the colour of nothingness and integrating all other colours, saturated with memory but new like a newborn, white with its minimal and unlimited character demonstrates an ability to move freely in the world of science-fiction, and even to wander in the universe of images.

Thesis (M. Tech.) - Dept. of Visual Arts and Design, Faculty of Human Sciences - Vaal University of Technology / The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between visual and verbal codes of visual rhetoric in a sequential art setting. The literature investigation component of the study covered: (1) the notion of visual literacy; (2) the principles of visual rhetoric, and (3) trends in sequential art. The empirical component of the study involved the production of sequential art test material with an accompanying questionnaire in order to measure the comprehension of visual rhetoric in a sample of 197 undergraduate students at the Vaal University of Technology. The working hypotheses that guided the study were, firstly, that the comprehension of the visual code of the visual rhetoric used in a sequential art setting differs between (a) study participants that received visual training prior to the data collection and (b) study participants that received no visual training prior to the data collection, and secondly, that the comprehension of the visual code of the visual rhetoric used in a sequential art setting differs between (a) study participants that received test material in their home language and (b) study participants that did not receive the test material in their home language. Following a one-way ANOVA analysis of the questionnaire data, the first hypothesis indicated a significant statistical difference (p=O.OO) and was not rejected. The second hypothesis indicated no significant statistical difference (p=0.138) and was rejected. Based on the result obtained, possibilities for further research were motivated. / Vaal University of Technology

Alors que l'influence des théories optiques de la couleur sur le développement des techniques picturales aux XIXe et XXe siècles a fait l'objet d'études nombreuses, le champ, tout aussi déterminant, de la psychologie de la couleur demande à être exploré plus en avant. Notre recherche porte sur les liens historiques et épistémologiques entre les approches psycho-physiologiques de la couleur - empruntées aux discours de la psychologie expérimentale, de la psychiatrie et des sciences psychiques - et les cultures visuelles, au tournant du XXe siècle. Ce travail explore le pouvoir de conditionnement mental de la couleur, ou «chromomentalisme» : comment la couleur influence l'esprit et plus largement le corps de l'individu en affectant sa capacité de concentration, sa santé ou son humeur. La thèse présente trois grands axes qui correspondent à des déclinaisons différentes des psychologies de la couleur : la couleur-attention, la couleur-énergie et la couleur-émotion. La première partie analyse les dispositifs d'emprise attentionnelle utilisés à la fois en laboratoire et sur scène, la dialectique entre attention et distraction dans les expériences urbaines, et l'essor des psychotechniques de la couleur. La deuxième partie explore les pratiques d'emprise énergétique (le mythe du corps sans fatigue, la neurasthénie) et l'interprétation bio-esthétique de la couleur qui émerge à fois du débat occultiste et expérimental. La troisième partie porte sur le pouvoir de gestion des affects, en mobilisant le débat sur l'empathie et l'éducation des sens, l'esthétique populaire des couleurs, les modes de relation entre harmonies chromatiques et sociales. / Whilst the influence of color optical theories on the development of pictorial techniques in the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries has been the subject of numerous studies, the field of color psychology needs to be explored further. Our research focuses on the historical and epistemological links between psycho-physiological approaches to color - derived from the discourse of experimental psychology, psychiatry and psychic sciences - and visual cultures at the turn of the Twentieth century. This dissertation explores the power of color as mental conditioning, or «chromomentalism» : how color influences the mind and more broadly the body of the individual by affecting its ability to concentrate, health or mood. The thesis presents three major axes that correspond to multiples aspects of color psychology : color-attention, color-energy and color-emotion. The first part analyzes the attention-grabbing devices used both in the laboratory and on stage, the dialectic between attention and distraction in urban experiences, and the rise of psychotechnics of color (art, cinema, advertising:). The second part explores the oractices of energetic control (the utopian goal of the "body without fatigue", neurasthenia, psychotechnics of energy) and the bio-aesthetic interpretation of color that emerges from occultism and experimental sciences. The third part focuses on the power of color to affect emotion, by questioning the debate on empathy and the education of the senses, the popular aesthetics of colors, the link between chromatic and social harmonies.