The project investigates mathematics, informatics, statistical analysis and their histories, the history of human engagement with machines, and illustrates some uses of artificial intelligence and robotic technologies as media. It is concerned with, amongst other issues, the sentient and not sentient binaries offered in discourses on machine intelligence. The term intelligence is used to distinguish between human and not human. However, a non-human, the intelligent machine, has become incorporated into the processes by which our culture defines intelligence. Those processes were explored in phases of the project that focused upon various kinds of interactions between people and machines, particularly the ways in which those interactions are mediated by knowledge. The discourses that underpin the field of mechanical intelligence spring from the same sources as the rhetoric that delineates human beings from all other things. We make intelligent machines because we have something to prove regarding our own intelligence. The devices expose attributes considered in our culture to be intelligent. The size and technical sophistication of modern robots result from the expenditure of considerable funds across several disciplines. Such machines signify wealth, power and excess, despite any other significance their makers intend.

Transgressing the borders between politics and aesthetics, imaginary and physical forms, this dissertation pursues a broad interdisciplinary exploration of the construction of public space. In order to confront the dual character of public space – a physical realm with unclear borders, as well as an evasive concept, imbued with ideas of freedom, critique and democracy – the dissertation addresses public space as a ”medium”, that is, as a material for aesthetic practice and in terms of communication, as a “projective screen” of society. Using the refurbishment of Stortorget in Kalmar as its generative case, the dissertation examines the conditions for making and thinking such a space, whereby the hidden assumptions of public space are brought to the fore. Due to the hybrid character and complexity of the Stortorget project, carried out as a seamless collaboration between art and architecture, it in addition raises issues that are highly significative for the identity and legitimacy of the respective disciplines. Focussing on the concept of “place”, and tracing its role within art and architecture theory and practice since the paradigmatic shift between late modernity and postmodernity, the dissertation examines the conflictual relationship between art and architecture in order to gain an understanding of them as different, yet intimately connected, ways of producing new forms of reality. The claim made throughout the dissertation is that public space cannot be “reconstructed” on the basis of historical forms and ideals – rather it must be continuously reinvented in accordance with a critical understanding of democracy. Ultimately, the dissertation is an examination of how, and why, public space can be defended as an indispensible form of society and of the complex coalition of its aesthetical and political effects. / QC 20100824

L’œuvre d'Andy Warhol a été évaluée dans le contexte culturel du Pop Art en fonction de certains thèmes : condition de l'image médiatique, héritage duchampien, paradoxes du modernisme, statut de la marchandise, unicité de l’œuvre d'art... Ce faisant, la culture propre de Warhol, déterminée par son rapport à la religion chrétienne, a été largement ignorée. Ces essais interrogent l'articulation d'une culture et d'une pensée religieuses à une pratique et à des motifs modernes à partir d'un changement de paradigme et de perspective. Il fallait vérifier comment ces sources chrétiennes se manifestent dans le détail et en évaluer les conséquences sur l'interprétation. Les questions de l'incarnation et de l'individuation, telles qu'il les traite dans ses portraits, ne sont pas envisageables sans une réflexion sur son rapport à la religion chrétienne. Plus généralement, ce point de vue fait ressortir le rapport complexe de Warhol à la modernité. / The work of Andy Warhol has been evaluated in the context of Pop Art, and scholarship favored a number of themes: the condition of the mass media image, Marcel Duchamp's legacy, the paradoxes of modernism, the status of commodities, the notion of originality of the artwork... So that his specific culture, established in a stringent relationship to Christian religion, has regularly been largely ignored. This dissertation envisions the articulation of a religious culture and thinking to modern praxis and topics. Thus, a change of paradigm and perspective is required. It became necessary to substantiate how the Christian inspiration reveals itself in the work and modify its interpretation. The issues of incarnation and individuation, as Warhol handles them in his series of commissioned portraits, can't be understood without an extended examination of his relationship to Christian theology. More generally, this standpoint does stress Warhol's complex attitude towards modernism.

Quais as relações entre as artes visuais e a cidade? Como isto ocorre especialmente na América Latina? Como podemos situar conceitualmente o lugar deste fenômeno artístico no panorama geral da arte contemporânea? Essas questões pontuam as preocupações basilares deste trabalho, que aborda os inúmeros aspectos da nova arte urbana a partir de um estudo comparativo entre São Paulo e Buenos Aires. Utilizando o conceito de \"cidades-suporte\", que remonta à origem do termo \"suporte\" nas artes e sua ligação com a materialidade da obra, a pesquisa está ancorada em um corpus teórico multidisciplinar. A proposta é analisar o caráter simbólico da cidade e a relação da nova arte urbana com os campos da História, da Teoria e da Crítica da Arte, e sua condição frente às problemáticas apresentadas pela arte contemporânea. Sobretudo, procura-se enfatizar que a arte realizada no suporte da cidade reafirma o caráter presencial e transformador da experiência estética. / What are the relationships between visual arts and the city? How is it like in Latin America? How can we identify conceptually the place of such artistic phenomenon in the general panorama of the contemporary art? Such issues underlie the fundamental purposes of this work which approach the countless aspects of the new urban art from a comparative study between Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. Using the concept of \"cities-support\" which traces back the origin of the term \"support\" in the arts and its link with the materiality of the work, the research is anchored in a multidisciplinary theoretical corpus. The proposal is to analyze the symbolic character of the city and the relationship of the new urban art with the fields of History, Critical Art Theory and its condition before the problematical scenario exhibited by the contemporary art. Above all, it is intended to point out that the achieved art in the city support reaffirms the concrete character and changing of the aesthetic experience.

Inspirado em ares toscanos, inflamado por fontes antigas e cingido por ruínas romanas, Leon Battista Alberti compõe, em letras latinas, uma doutrina moderna do belo semeada nos tratados das Artes. Nela, a beleza esplende em pulchritudo e ornamentum: aquela, harmonia proporcional das partes de um corpo que não admite acréscimos ou subtrações ou alterações, é qualidade inerente; este, aderente à figura, é luz auxiliar e pulcro complemento. Evocando a Retórica de Cícero e Quintiliano, e avocando vêneras metáforas, orgânicas, a preceptiva albertiana, ao fundir noções de decorum e aptum e acomodar esteses e motivações éticas, supera a separação entre estrutura e ornamento, atenuando a idéia de uma beleza emersa tão-só de relação proporcional, a encerrar modernas oposições entre ornatus e utilitas. / Inspired in tuscan airs, inflamed by ancient sources and girded by Roman ruins, Leon Battista Alberti composes, in latin letters, a modern doctrine of beauty sowed upon the treatises on the Arts. In that, beauty glares in pulchritudo and ornamentum: the former, proportional harmony of the parts within a body that does not accepts additions or subtractions or alterations, is inherent quality; the latter, adherent to the figure, is auxiliary light and fair complement. Evoking the rhetoric of Cicero and Quintilian, and invoking comely, organic, metaphors, the albertian precepts, by fusing the notions of decorum and aptum and accommodating aesthethical principles and ethical motivations, surpasses the separation between structure and ornament, attenuating the idea of a beauty only emerged from proportional relation, ending modern oppositions between ornatus and utilitas.

Tel qu’il a été formulé par Georges Bataille dans Documents, dans les premières décennies du XXe siècle, l’informe s’est avéré être un puissant moteur de réflexion. Il a fait naître des œuvres qui disent s’en inspirer, et motivé un âpre débat théorique sur le véritable sens à lui donner. Qu’est-ce que l’informe, en effet ? Cette catégorie complexe et paradoxale s’avère très fructueuse dans l’analyse des œuvres théoriques, plastiques et littéraires de la Renaissance qui s’intéressent à la naissance des formes. L’utilisation d’une notion anachronique permet de réunir dans un même ensemble les préoccupations concernant les origines de l’œuvre d’art, celles sur la bonne composition, ainsi que celles concernant la Matière et l’Être. Ce travail dégage ainsi ce qui serait une poétique de la forme en devenir, poétique se réclamant de la philosophie néo-aristotélicienne de l’époque mais opérant un élargissement d’horizons et une refonte conceptuelle très éloignés de la pensée antique. / From the early XXth century the Formless, as defined by Georges Bataille in Documents, has revealed itself to be a powerful tool for reflection. It has inspired art works and triggered an ongoing debate about its true meaning, for what is the formless exactly? In search for its essence, this category has proven to be of great value when analyzing theoretical, artistic and literary Renaissance works dealing with the birth of form. The anachronic notion of Formless permits an intertwining of questions regarding the origins of the piece of art, good composition, matter and being. Through this essay we will discuss the poetics of art in the making, so-called (neo)Aristotelian in the XVIth century – poetics in a constant and fluid definition of the Aristotelian meaning enlarged by non-Aristotelian concepts, and categories distant to those attributed to it in classical times.

Il est patent que les objets de design, en particulier les objets d’ameublement que sont les chaises, exercent un rôle social dans l’espace privé et public, mais ils peuvent aussi fonctionner symboliquement et produire une expérience esthétique. Cette thèse mène une réfl exion critique sur le rôle du design à partir de bases pragmatiques. Ainsi que le suggère Nelson Goodman dans Manières de faire de mondes, les œuvres d’art sont loin d’être les seules choses qui symbolisent. Notre travail consiste à montrer que les chaises, en tant qu’objets de design peuvent aussi fonctionner communicationnellement. Ayant constitué un corpus de 11 types de chaises selon deux critères caractéristiques du mode d’évaluation et de qualifi cation des œuvres de design ‒ l’innovation et la diff usion ‒, nous analysons les chaises comme des natures mortes, en tant qu’objets isolés. Et c’est pour mieux montrer ensuite la relation intime existant entre le corps d’un usager et la chaise qui devient alors un objet vivant, riche de cette relation. / It is clear that objects of design, especially design furniture in the case of chairs, not only fulfi ll a social function in both the private and public spheres, but they can also take on a symbolic role and produce an aesthetic experience. Based in pragmatic thinking, the present thesis aims to develop a critical line of questioning for studying the role played by design. As Nelson Goodman claims in his Ways of Worldmaking, works of art are not the only things that can symbolise. Our goal consists in showing that, insofar as they are objects of design, chairs also function communicatively. Drawing from a corpus of eleven diff erent types of chairs, put together according to two characteristic criteria related to the evaluation and description of works of design – i.e. innovation and distribution – we fi rst analyse chairs in terms of still life, that is to say, as isolated objects. This preliminary analysis allows us to underscore, in a subsequent move, the intimate relationship that prevails between the user’s body and a chair, which now becomes a living object, one that is enriched by this very relationship.

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Att skapa en berättelse inom illustration, som till exempel i serier, går oftast ut på att en bild följs av en annan för att berättelsen ska vara förståelig och tydlig. Blandar man ihop bilderna blir serien utan en röd tråd och berättelsen tappar sitt narrativ men storytelling är mer än att endast para ihop bilder i en följd så som det ska vara. I denna undersökning utforskar vi hur man kan skapa en serie illustrationer som skapar ett narrativ oavsett hur de sätts ihop. Vi har utforskat surrealistiska konstmetoder som automatism, cut-up, association, och bildgenerering då våra illustrationer har inslag av surrealism. Därefter har vi använt oss av användartester för att få en uppfattning om hur effektiva våra illustrationer är i att skapa flera narrativ genom illustrationernas ordning. Vi har dragit kopplingar till film, comics, och illustrationer samt går vi in på djupet gällande hur saker som färg, form, komposition, miljö och hur dessa faktorer påverkar ett narrativ. Våra illustrationer fokuserar på visuell kommunikation utan hjälpmedel som text, ljud, eller rörelse (animation). Resultatet pekade på att det mesta beror på individen, ens egna erfarenheter och bakgrund, för att hitta ett narrativ i en mängd illustrationer som är öppna för tolkning. / Creating a story with illustrations such as comics is usually made through a set sequense of pictures in an order that makes the story comprehensive. If you move the pictures around the story loses its narrative however storytelling is more than putting pictures in a sequence. This paper is made with the purpose of exploring how we can create a series of illustrations with a comprehensive narrative no matter what order you put them in. Since our illustrations are inspired by the artform of surrealism we have explored surrealistic methods such as automatism, cut-up, association, and generating of pictures. We later used user testing to test the effectivness of our illustrations and their capability to create multiple narratives based on the order of the illustrations. We have made connections to things such as movies, comics, and illustration and take a deep dive into factors like colour, shape, composition, background and how they affect the narrative. Our illustrations focus on visual communication and will therefore not include text, sound, or movement (animation). The result showed that it depends on the individual, a person's own experiences and background, to find a narrative in a set of illustrations that are open for interpretation.

[pt] Nesta pesquisa, investigo as relações entre aquilo que convencionalmente tratam por instituição da crítica e produções artísticas e arquitetônicas, ensaiando uma possível alternativa ao discurso crítico hegemônico – pautado na racionalidade, impessoalidade e binariedade do pensamento moderno, ocidental e colonial. Ensaio algo que gira em torno da noção de crítica performativa, uma contra-operação crítica, que se opõe à ideia de crítica por sentença. Neste espaço de experimentação, guiado pelo pensamento desconstrutivista e o que propõe a teoria queer radical, lanço operações de escrita que buscam desestabilizar, fraturar e, no limite, dissolver a lógica da fronteira, da separabilidade e do binarismo. Uma série de axiomas do campo de Arquitetura e Urbanismo torna-se, portanto, alvo dessa pesquisa: pensar fazer, crítica produção, teoria prática, conceito partido, figuração abstração, urbano rural, desenho canteiro, dentro fora, público privado, essência aparência, ética estética… Pergunto: o que pode nascer da relação promíscua entre a crítica de arte e de arquitetura e as produções destes campos quando a linha fronteiriça perde seus contornos? / [en] In this research, I investigate the relations between what is conventionally referred to as critical institution and artistic and architectural productions, rehearsing a possible alternative to the hegemonic critical discourse – rooted in the rationality, impersonality and binary of modern, western and colonial thought. I propose something that revolves around the notion of performative criticism, a critical counter-operation, which opposes the idea of criticism by judgment. In this space of experimentation, guided by deconstructivist thinking and radical queer theory proposes, I launch writing operations that seek to destabilize, fracture and dissolve the logic of borders, separability and binarism. A series of axioms from the field of Architecture and Urbanism therefore become the target of this research: thinking doing, criticism production, theory practice, urban rural, public private, etc. I ask: what can emerge from the promiscuous relation between art and architecture criticism and the productions of these fields when the borderline loses its contours?