Through investigating my installation, performance, video and collaborative practice, Honeymoons builds connections between timelessness in repetition, the sacred potentials of pop culture, the animation of matter and the relationship of the body to space. Central to these relationships are questions about the function of the erotic in a mediated world. How can a sensual experience help us to define what is real, what has value?

No description available.

This thesis examines some of the ways in which phenomenology might be applied to the representation of landscape experience within contemporary art practice. In particular, the thesis examines how embodied landscape experience, informed by an understanding of phenomenology, might be articulated by contemporary art practice that uses the media of film and digital video. The thesis also questions ways in which time might contribute to an understanding of such a representation of the landscape. Based on a critical analysis of landscape experience and its representation in art practice, the thesis identifies critical omissions both within the aligned disciplines of cultural anthropology and art history, particularly in instances where art has been employed ineptly as a tool for critical enquiry. Through a conceptual analysis of phenomenology, cultural archaeology, cultural anthropology, theories of technology, art history, critical film theory and art practice, this project makes a critical examination of new ways in which art can articulate phenomenological notions of landscape experience, both in the forms of a written exegesis and in examples of my own practice. To these ends, the writing of Christopher Tilley and Tim Ingold is examined in order to draw upon some of the ways in which cultural archaeology and cultural anthropology use Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology and James Gibson’s ecological theory of visual perception to understand an embodied engagement with the landscape. Following an expanded phenomenological examination of landscape the thesis identifies ways in which cultural anthropology has used painting. This examination is followed by an analysis of the work of Mike Michael and Don Ihde in order to determine the role played by technology within the mediation of experience and its representation in art. The writing of Joyce Brodsky is examined to analyse the relationship between embodied experience and art practice and, using Sobchack’s analysis, the thesis describes ways in which Merleau-Ponty’s idea of reversibility can explain moving imagery as the perception and expression of experience. As part of the method of analysis, a case study is conducted into how phenomenological ideas that have been identified in association with landscape experience might be understood within Tacita Dean’s work Disappearance at Sea. An analysis of phenomenological notions of landscape experience within my own art practice has led to the generation of a body of practice that includes film and digital video media. Key examples of my art practice have been selected that can articulate this thesis. Specifically, a 16mm film, Line, and a digital video, Length II provide evidence of contemporary art practice articulating an experience of the landscape from a phenomenological viewpoint. Within the production of moving imagery, there is a sequence of human actions and technological interventions that can be considered in phenomenological terms. Through a reflection of my own embodied experience - extended by vehicles, cameras and their associated technology - Line and Length II pay specific attention to how the placement of a camera and its associated technology mediates the mobile character of an experience of the landscape. Central to this enquiry has been the contention that through a rigorous application of phenomenology, a new mode of making moving imagery emerges, specifically one that gives particular emphasis to the placement of the camera and its associated technology in order to reveal the dynamic relationship between a perceiver and their environment in the twenty-first century.

No description available.

My final thesis exhibition, Effluvia and Aporia, explores impermanence, loss and uncertainty. I use materials and images in a poetic way, where there is a link between what the work is and what it means. I use looped videos with images of water, light, and dissolving clay to invite a meditative state. I also use materials like tissue paper, paper-mache, and paper thin porcelain tiles to invite fragility and complexity into the viewer's experience. I am concerned with creating an interactive environment that allows for a multiplicity of responses and interpretations from each viewer depending on their unique perceptions. I am interested in impermanence, loss and uncertainty as themes because I find that they are ever present in life. My intention is to explore these ideas and create an experience that allows for the viewer to reflect on them as well.

The worldwide gap between rich and poor is widening. Status seeking and status keeping are fueled by the conspicuous consumption of luxury goods. These bright shiny objects are staples in a restricted economy in which only the wealthy participate. The notion of gaining riches for the purpose of helping the poor is fading. Materialism, luxury and riches have been the subject of religious and secular inquiry. In this quest, wealth has been condemned and applauded. Prestige-obsessed consumers are becoming blind to worsening social conditions.

This thesis defines both design and the role of a designer, and includes an exploration of the differences between art and design. Additional topics covered are the history of design education, the principles of design, and the expectations for design education held by students and the design industry itself. From my own research and experiences as a professional designer and design instructor, I have outlined a curriculum on how to produce students who can create good designs, as well as know how to act as professional designers.

On Friday October 21st, 2016, there was a large-scale hack of an Internet domain hosting provider that took several websites including Netflix, Amazon, Reddit, and Twitter offline. Dyn, a cloud-based Internet Performance Management company, announced at 9:20AM ET that it resolved an attack that began at 7AM ET that day. However, another attack happened at 11:52AM ET. The attacks raised concern among the public and directed our attention towards Internet security. This also revealed the precariousness of Internet infrastructure. The infrastructure being used today is opaque, unregulated, and incontestable. Municipally provided public utilities are built without any transparency; thus, we do not expect failure from those systems. For instance, the Flint, Michigan water crisis raised issues of water infrastructure. Not only did the crisis spark talks about the corrosion of pipes, but also larger societal issues. Flint, a poor, largely African American community, became a victim of environmental racism—a type of discrimination where communities of color or low-income residents are forced to live in environmental dangerous areas. In order for myself and the larger public to understand this opaque system, we need to understand the infrastructure and how it works. With regards to Internet infrastructure, I focus on data centers, where there are backup servers, batteries and generators built into the architectural landscape in case of failure. There is a common held thought that overshadows the possibility of imminent technological failure—it cannot happen. This sort of thinking influences other modes of our daily lives: individuals building concrete bomb shelters underground for the apocalypse, stocking food, but not preparing for data breakdown. The consciousness of loss is further perpetuated by technology and its life expectancy. Clouded Space: Internet Physicality attempts to explore the unexceptional infrastructure of the Internet and how it exists right beneath our feet. That in itself is not very cloud-like. The work questions integrity of our infrastructure as much as environmental issues, highlighting the questionable relationship we have with data and our inclination to backup data to protect ourselves from failure. This is a relatively new topic and the challenges are not well understood. There seem to be cracks in the foundation, and though they are not yet obvious, they appear to be widening.

This work focuses on the cross-section between classic still-life art and complex personal issues. It uses traditional and nontraditional still life photography to tell individual vignettes about my life. I explore unresolved issues, which offer subtle suggestion of an experiential narrative. All of the backgrounds and objects included are intentional and represent specific places, people, and events. I allow the viewer to bring their own experiences to the photographs, by not giving them specifics of my stories. I used this work as a way for me to move past these experiences and my hope is that they might also help others. I have created beauty from my dwelling.

This thesis concerns a body of work titled "One-Liners". Through portraiture the paintings deal with how humor can illuminate difficult and complex emotions.