This thesis will present a virtual exhibition of a tourist destination in Mexico, Guanajuato City. By applying my previous experiences and the knowledge and skill acquired during this MFA program, I developed a Multimedia exhibition that encompasses a new virtual experience of the Mexican culture. This exhibition demonstrates my proficiency in the area of motion graphics.

The idea of interactivity between humans and their environment no longer represents the only way of exploring new experiences. Equally passé is the idea that information constitutes the means for this interaction. However, this paper presents that the contemporary idea for interaction has embraced new understandings of the content of experience and the structure of space. New electronic technologies and advanced digital media have separated realities from the realm of the body and transformed experiences into a ubiquitous event. The architectural discourse, that once has been largely a discourse of form and style, has finally overcome those limitations and has encountered, in spatial images, the product of a new way of thinking. Marcos Novak emerges, in this context of cybernetics and multimedia, as an innovative creator, whose liquid architectures represent a step forward in breaking up with the traditional discourse of physicality. His creations are meant for a virtual domain and information is what structures this new territory for architectural practice. The words of philosophers and scholars of new media culture are also presented as evidences of an approach to virtual spaces either through aspects of the bodily existence and modes of experience, or through the metaphoric manifestation of codes and symbols, posited by Novaks structures. This paper confronts those phenomenological and poststructural approaches and states that they also have become outdated. New senses have been attained through the crossbreeding between the reality of the individual and the virtuality of the structure. A strong concept of space then comes forward, where the manifestation of mind in the realm of the body calls for what is to be perceived as real. Architecture is now characterized by the fusion of information, art, and technology.

Inter- An Evolving Installation is an interactive site specific installation designed and constructed in the School of Art Gallery at Louisiana State University. This installation explores the interplay between the ideas of order and change by presenting the visitor with a very structured environment that by nature of its design and materials changes with each footstep. Sand, granulated carbon, and clay cover the floor of the gallery in a geometric pattern inspired by the Fibonacci Sequence and Buddhist sand paintings. As a person enters the installation it immediately changes from its original design simply through disturbance by the visitor's footsteps in the sand. The visitor is faced with the decision to walk carefully leaving minimal impact or allow oneself to change the installation as much as desired by actively manipulating the materials. When the visitor exits, the installation is left in a new state of order, and this process is repeated with each subsequent person that enters. Inter- An Evolving Installation was open for visiting from August 24 through September 3, 2004. Each day the installation changed, slowly at first, then very quickly on the last day of the exhibition. In the end, the deliberate geometric design of its beginnings was no longer recognizable, demonstrating the evolving relationship between order and change.

This study examines possible interpretations for the central portal sculpture found in the narthex of the church of Sainte-Madeleine de Vèzelay in France. I will discuss and support alternative interpretations of the biblical, monastic, and artistic origins of this unusual and puzzling sculpture. Studies on the narthex sculpture debate the programs subject matter, suggesting that it may refer to the Pentecost, the Mission of the Apostles, the Ascension, or exerts of biblical text, specifically, Ephesians 2: 11-22. The thesis will also discuss the sculptures meaning to the lay and monastic communities living in Vézelay. It will be proposed that the sculpture was intended to show support for reforms occurring in the monastic community at Vézelay during the time of the programs creation. The thesis will begin with an introduction and will follow with a chapter on the history of Vézelay from the creation of a small community for Benedictine nuns in the ninth century to the events of the nineteenth century that influenced the sculpture seen in the church today. Much of the sculpture has been damaged or altered since its creation in the twelfth century. The third chapter will describe in detail the sculpture found within the narthex of the church in preparation for my discussion in chapter four on the alternative interpretations for the program proposed by Émile Mâle, Abel Fabre, Adolf Katzenellenbogen, Michael Taylor, and Peter Low. Each theory provides a viable explanation for the central narthex tympanums unusual design; however, as the individual elements surrounding the portal are analyzed, I will discuss the possibility that one overall interpretation for the program, despite thorough research by those who have studied the sculptures, may never be determined.

This group of work addresses the complexities that come as a result of stimulation overload. The breakdown of singular focus triggers the demand that everything in your reality be considered simultaneously. The result is a Happy Cake Meltdown, a visual and auditory coping mechanism with no beginning, no middle and no end. Its about fragmentation and choosing flexibility over specialization. Its about everything.

The visual portion of BLOOD WORK is a record of my reconciliations with its parts: description based on the photograph, memory, and my concerns for abstraction. I am interested in the nuances of gesture as they convey meaning and evoke memory response. Though non-specific, the space surrounding the figures is emptied to accentuate their psychology. By adumbrating one reality and effacing another I attempt to transform the mundane into what I perceive as the uncanny.

There are some moments in time that imprint in a lasting but unremarkable way. These memories are not always profound but yet are sometimes the most enduring. They come forward in our thoughts again and again with no particular rhyme or reason and with the randomness of a field of wildflowers. My memories often come back to me disguised as the flowers themselves.

Numerous copies of both the Medici and Capitoline Aphrodite were produced in the Roman period. Judging only from the number of copies, it is generally accepted that the Capitoline was the most popular type followed by the Knidia and finally the Medici. First an examination of the copies, variants and quotations of each type is given to provide some background on the Medici and Capitoline. Next is a discussion of the dating of the pieces which has typically ranged from the fourth to the first centuries BC. An overview of a second century trend is presented to place both pieces in the second century, followed by a comparison of the Medici to the Telephos Frieze on the Great Altar of Pergamon and other known second century pieces such as the work of Damophon. This theory points to a second century date for the Medici and contradicts the recent scholarship of Christine Havelock who would assign the pieces to the first century and Julie Salathé who would place the pieces more broadly in the fourth to second centuries. Lastly, a discussion of the statue types found on Roman coins will shed light on where the original Medici type stood. These coins were issued at Nikopolis ad Istrum in Lower Moesia, Deultum in Thrace, Amasia in Galatia, Saitta and Philadelphia in Lydia and Megalopolis in the Peloponesse.

Western history is filled with pranks and trickery intent on enlightening audiences by blending fiction with reality. The Yes Men, an Internet-based activist group, did just that, forging new ground and establishing themselves as political pranksters in a media-dominant global society. With an arsenal of parody, satire, interventions, and tactical obfuscation, the Yes Men attack those who they feel abuse their positions of power. They have impersonated public persons and infamous entities, including President George W. Bush, the World Trade Organization, and Dow Chemical. Their mimicry is so convincing that the audience cannot decipher between satire and the real thing. This thesis considers why the confusion happens, and to what extent the nature of simulation has hindered the Yes Men's message. Igor Vamos and Jacques Servin, the creators of the Yes Men, are a pair of activist artists who have attempted to bridge the gap between art, activism and commerce. Vamos and Servin's works as the Yes Men are analyzed within the context of the corporate realm, where they enact their performances. This analysis puts forth the argument that, as Vamos and Servin evolved into the Yes Men, they have been successful in terms of publicity and self-promotion. The Yes Men, however, have been assimilated by the very corporate and societal structure they fight against, thus nullifying their intent.

Two monumental bronze statues were discovered by a diver in the remains of an ancient shipwreck in the Riace Marina off the coast of Calabria in 1972. After their recovery and extensive conservation in the Archaeological Museum in Florence, the Riace bronzes have now come to reside in the Reggio Calabria Museo Nazionale. Lacking any inscriptions and removed from their original context, the Riace bronzes have been the source of much conjectured debate throughout the art world. This paper examines the Riace bronzes on both technical and stylistic grounds by addressing such matters as the method of construction, the physical state of the statues and their metallurgical makeup, and stylistic comparanda. Although the Riace bronzes initially seem indistinguishable, the stance and treatment of anatomy of the two statues differ significantly when comparatively studied. Despite ongoing controversy on the Riace bronzes, it is through this study of casting techniques and the stylistic subtleties employed by the artists that the distinctions between these two statues are truly communicated.