O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar a relação que a peça Musik für Renaissance-Instrumente (1966), de Mauricio Kagel (1931-2008), estabelece com o material musical da tradição e das vanguardas, na segunda metade do século 20. A partir da definição de material musical em Adorno investigaremos historicamente a crítica que se delineia em sua peça com relação às posturas estéticas em questão. Este trabalho pretende refletir criticamente sobre o sentido do movimento de interpretação historicamente informada e dos movimentos de vanguarda, identificando suas convergências e afinidades estéticas. Por fim, nosso objetivo é traçar o sentido estético e filosófico da obra de Kagel no contexto musical de sua emergência, buscando refletir sobre a importância de sua obra para o contexto atual de produção musical. / The aim of this research is to analyze the relation established by Mauricio Kagel\'s Musik für Renaissance-Instrumente with traditional musical material and also with material built by the musical avant-garde from the second half of the 20th century. Based on the definition of musical material in Theodor Adorno\'s philosophy we also intend to investigate through historical perspective how Kagel\'s criticism in composition applies to both of the aforementioned tendencies. Furthermore a critical assessment of the historical interpretation movement as well as of the avant-garde has been carried out, with the main purpose of establishing their mutual aesthetical affinities. Lastly, our foremost objective was to outline the meaning of Kagel\'s composition in the context of its appearance, in order to ponder about its importance for contemporary context of musical production.

I denna uppsats har kontaktytorna mellan det sublima och det absurda undersökts utifrån hur Lyotard och Camus definierar respektive begrepp. Uppsatsen har utgått från en forskningssituation där få jämförelser mellan dessa begrepp – som i sig kan te sig undflyende och vaga – verkar finnas. Syftet med undersökningen har således varit att låta nya perspektiv på de båda begreppen träda fram genom deras relation till varandra. Utifrån jämförelsen mellan det sublima och det absurda kan det konstateras att det tycks finnas klara kontaktytor mellan begreppen. Dessa kontaktytor har yttrat sig genom att begreppen delar likheter i följande avseenden: (1) de är båda negativa begrepp, (2) de innefattar liknande kritik mot rationalism, (3) båda begreppen innefattar moment av en för subjektet inledande känsla av hämmande som övergår i en stärkande känsla, (4) de påvisar distansen mellan subjektet och världen, (5) båda innefattar liknande anspråk på konsten som ett slags materialiserad form av deras egen innebörd. Utöver dessa direkta kopplingar uppmärksammades att det Camus kort beskriver som ”känslan av det absurda” kan ses som analogt med det sublima, vilket skulle kunna innebära att den absurda insikten, såsom Camus beskriver den är direkt kopplad till en sublim känsla. Alla dessa aspekter hänger förvisso samman, men det intressanta är att Lyotard och Camus skriver om dem på liknande vis i sina respektive texter. Relationen mellan begreppen kan således uttydas inte endast i generella, utan i specifika likheter.

Pendant soixante-dix ans, de 1945 à 2015, les artistes italiens ont, à travers leurs œuvres, mené un travail de mémoire. Entre une génération née avant le Fascisme, une alors qu'il est à l'apogée de sa puissance impérialiste, une autre après la guerre et enfin une génération de jeunes artistes nés trente ans après la fin du conflit, les mémoires singulières et collectives se bousculent. L'objectif de cette recherche est de reconstruire l'histoire de ces témoignages sur un passé vécu ou pas, et de donner les outils pour comprendre les conditions de leur genèse. Parler de la mémoire à travers des œuvres d'art est une expression intime, singulière, mais également un acte éminemment politique. Les manipulations de la mémoire du Fascisme influencent-elles tout au long de la période la création sur le sujet ? Quelles postures les artistes adoptent-ils face aux problématiques soulevées par une redéfinition du danger fasciste alors que la dictature est officiellement terminée ? Quelles formes plastiques sont données à ces remémorations et réactualisations ? / Over a period spanning 70 years, 1945 through 2015, ltalian artists carried out a "memory" endeavour for those generations that were bom before the fascist era, during the period of its highest imperialistic aims, during the aftermath of the war, and even for the generation of those artists bom 30 years after the end of the war. As a result, a multitude of individual and collective memories had emerged. This work aims to reconstruct and track the history of these memories (whether or not actually experienced by the artist), and to provide the tools to understand the genesis ofthese memories. Analysing "memory" through art pieces is an intimate, singular, and political act. To what extent fascist memory manipulations affect artistic creations? How do the artists react and position themselves, once confronted with the problems of re-defining "Fascism", after the dictatorship fell? Which new "plastic forms" emerge from these new adaptations of individual and collective memories? / Durante settant'anni, dal 1945 al 2015, gli artisti italiani, attraverso le loro opere, hanno svolto un lavoro di memoria. Fra una generazione nata prima del Fascismo, una nata quando questo è al culmine della sua potenza imperialista, un'altra nata dopo la guerra e infine una generazione di giovani artisti nati trent'anni dopo la fine del conflitto, le memorie individuali e collettive si affollano. L'obiettivo di questa ricerca è di ricostruire la storia di queste testimonianze su un passato, vissuto o no, e di fomire gli strumenti per capire le condizioni della loro genesi. Parlare della memoria attraverso le opere d'arte è un'espressione intima, singolare, ma allo stesso tempo un atto eminentemente politico. Nel periodo preso in esame, le manipolazioni della memoria del Fascismo influenzano la creazione su questo tema? Quai è la posizione degli artisti di fronte alle problematiche nate da una ridefinizione del pericolo fascista, sebbene la dittatura sia ufficialmente caduta? Quali forme plastiche son date a queste rimemorazioni e riattualizzazioni?

Critique et historien de l’art autodidacte, mais aussi éditeur, galeriste, commissaire d’exposition, expert, courtier et infatigable homme de terrain, Julius Meier-Graefe (1867-1935) joua un rôle prééminent dans le monde de l’art européen des trente premières années du XXe siècle. Basé sur l’examination d’archives et de correspondances inédites ainsi que sur une relecture attentive de son vaste corpus d’écrits publiés, ce travail entend retracer la trajectoire d’un passeur téméraire souvent réduit à un rôle de défenseur de l’impressionnisme français dans l’Allemagne de Guillaume II. Si son progressisme francophile tout comme le formalisme de son approche des arts visuels ont parfois été soulignés, l’analyse détaillée de son implication dans le marché de l’art, le monde des musées et plus généralement, dans les débats politico-culturels de son temps, révèle une personnalité plus nuancée. Bien que méfiant envers les fantasmes identitaires des élites allemandes conservatrices, Meier-Graefe lutta sans répit pour un nationalisme d’ouverture, espérant infléchir le cours d’une culture germanique disloquée et hostile aux valeurs de la modernité. En suivant la carrière de cet Allemand cosmopolite, brutalement cisaillée par la Grande Guerre et achevée en France en exil du nazisme, cette thèse entend décrypter les mécanismes d’un projet de régénération culturelle ambitieux, impliquant actes et discours. Alternant entre phases d’enthousiasme intense et de profond désenchantement, Meier-Graefe s’y dévoile comme le chantre d’une modernité idéalisée dont il condamna obstinément les embardées avant-gardistes. / Self-taught art critic and historian, but also publisher, gallery owner, curator, expert, broker and tireless field man, Julius Meier-Graefe (1867-1935) played a prominent role in the European art world of the early 20th century. Based on a close study of numerous archives and letters, as well as a careful rereading of his vast body of published work, this dissertation endeavours to retrace the life of a reckless facilitator, whose career is too often reduced to the role of “importer” of modern French art in Germany. If Meier-Graefe has been frequently identified through his progressive francophile positions and formalistic viewpoints on visual arts, a detailed analysis of his involvement in the art market and institutions—and more broadly, in the political/cultural debates of his time—reveals a richer personality. Wary of the identity concerns shared by conservative elites of the Empire, he vigorously encouraged a “positive” nationalism, hoping to adjust the course of a fragmented Germanic culture hostile to the values of modernity. Tracing the steps of a cosmopolitan German whose path was brutally affected by the outbreak of World War I, this essay examines the mechanisms of his ambitious project of cultural regeneration, involving both action and discourse. Jostled between phases of enthusiasm and deep disillusionment, Meier-Graefe emerges as the champion of an idealized modernism, whose avant-garde experiments he nevertheless severely condemned.

The advanced stage of capitalism that we now live in has brought many changes to the way that society consumes and produces. One of the biggest shifts to the modern economy was the use of visual culture to distract, pacify, and exert power over the masses; a cultural change French theorist Guy Debord named the Society of the Spectacle. As a result, Debord and the Situationist International developed a movement of resistance to reclaim the territories of everyday life being eroded by the spectacle through separation and alienation. Since the term was coined the use of visual culture has accelerated and become even more pervasive in the postmodern world which led Jean Baudrillard to claim that the real has been replaced by simulation and hyperreality. This thesis explores this cultural shift to determine whether the practices of resistance theorized by Debord and the Situationists are still relevant as the reach of postmodernism increases. Link to associated video file: https://vimeo.com/64727252

This thesis closely examines the utilisation of dramatic characters’ comments on matters of literary and theatrical criticism. This phenomenon shaped a trend in European theatre during the first half of the twentieth century, and Egyptian theatre in the second half of the century. My main hypotheses are, firstly, that dramatic characters’ comments on literary and theatrical matters of criticism respond to specific problems that challenge theatre practice. Thus, my reading of literary and theatrical criticism within the dramatic texts studied in my thesis focuses on this criticism’s reformative function to rectify the crisis that faces theatre practice in general, rather than playwrights’ individual motives, such as responding to their critics. Secondly, socio-political, economic, and cultural aspects shape historical circumstances, which influence the current state of the theatre industry. Therefore, although Egyptian plays are noticeably influenced by European metatheatre, Egyptian playwrights utilise these borrowed techniques to highlight specific problems of Egyptian theatre such as the corrupt administration of governmental theatre and censorship. Finally, while Egyptian plays exploit European metatheatrical techniques, Egyptian playwrights claimed their works as a revival of intrinsically anti-illusionist traditional forms of entertainment such as the shadow play and Karagöz. This claim reflected increasing calls for pure Egyptian theatre, as part of the anti-Western jingoistic discourse of the political regime of the 1950s. In order to examine these assumptions, my theoretical approach draws from the fields of metatheatrical studies; literary and performance studies of parody and intertextuality; the history of European and Egyptian theatre; sociological, political and cultural studies; theories of modern criticism, and critical reviews. My contribution to the field of metatheatrical studies is in highlighting the reformative function of literary and theatrical criticism, whether as a discourse or a metatheatrical device, within a group of European plays that belong to different movements of the avant-garde during the first half of the twentieth century. More significantly, my study investigates the same phenomenon in Egyptian plays that, since the 1980s, have gradually been marginalised as fringe theatre and neglected by academic studies.

The Two Etudes: "Harmonies," and "Coulée" and the Volumina of Ligeti were performed following a lecture on avant-garde techniques in organ works of György Ligeti. The lecture included a brief discussion of earlier twentieth century antecedents of new sound materials and concepts, a biographical sketch of Ligeti and general style features of his works. The main body of the lecture included notational methods, specific style features, and performing scores of Ligeti's three organ works. In addition to the lecture recitals three other public recitals were performed which consisted of solo compositions for the organ.

Leo Ornstein's most significant piano oeuvre, the Seventeen Waltzes, stand out as a unique example of a pianism as a foundation for the composer's musical thoughts. The purpose of this document is to provide musical and technical suggestions based on Ornstein's pianistic patterns, which will help pianists understand the composer's complex writing and form a coherent interpretation. The guide covers the main avant-garde musical devices used by Ornstein such as tone clusters, polymeter, and polyrhythm. A comparison process within the collection will help performers to address Ornstein's unmarked waltzes by underlining the composer's similar ideas and traits.

Forman, D .: Curious World. Possibilities of applicatiom of the theme in pedagogic practise. [Diploma thesis] Prague 2015 - Charles University, Faculty of Education, Department of Fine Arts, 79 p. (Attachments 7 artistic realizations - oil paintings small and medium size) The thesis is based on a comprehensive comparsion of major interpretation avant-garde art and the modernist thinking, which determined crucially interpretation of the most important events in the art history of 20th century. This work brings together three major confrontations looks at the intentions of selected representatives of avant-garde art and focuses on problematic moment of "interruption" the progression of the avant-garde by socialist realism. Three positions are views of art theorists Clement Greenberg, Theodor Adorno and Boris Groys. Didactic part of this thesis is realized by art education series, which is inspidated by this topic. It focuses on understanding the most basic principles of geometric abstraction, constructivism and abstract expressionism by students. The artwork is also inspired by this topic, it contains the collection of oil paintings. Keywords: avant-garde, kitsch, socialist realism, interpretation of art, art discourse, comparsion, Greenberg, Groys, Adorno

In the first half of the twentieth century, sporadic attempts of avant-garde composers to include sounds other than pitch in musical composition paved the way for the composers in the second half to embrace the sound of all types in their creative works. The development of technology since the mid-past century has facilitated composers' inclusive use of sound. The recent achievements in electronics and computers have led to cost-effective tools for today's composers to explore new possibilities in sound design and manipulation. Gradual for tenor saxophone and fixed electronics is primarily concerned with noise. Among the infinite possibilities of noise types, metallic sounds significantly contribute to the composition. The title of the piece refers to the compositional process in which the music progressively unfolds itself from the beginning to the end. The methods and strategies used to present the content give rise to a form I call accretion, described as an organic process by which the musical materials grow. Within the process, while established materials are interacting, combining, and forming layers, new materials may be incorporated and take part in the process. Throughout the composition, the interaction between sounds with common properties guides the music toward interactive unity, while the interplay between sounds with different characteristics forms a dialectical communication. The constant push-and-pull between the two states creates a restless tension throughout the composition. In the current version of Gradual, the audio signals from both saxophone and fixed electronics are transmitted to the same speakers, which helps coalesce acoustic and electronic sounds. The future prospect of the piece can involve real-time audio signal processing to manipulate the sound of saxophone. Adding the above feature to the current version will promote the unification of the two media into a single whole.