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.

This study constitutes the first critical history of dematerialization. Coined by critics Lucy Lippard and John Chandler in their 1968 essay, “The Dematerialization of Art,” this term was initially used to describe an emergent “ultra-conceptual” art that would render art objects obsolete by emphasizing the thinking process over material form. Lippard and Chandler believed dematerialization would thwart the commodification of art. Despite Lippard admitting in 1973 that art had not dematerialized into unmediated information or experience, the term has since entered art historians’ lexicons as a standard means to characterize Conceptual Art. While art historians have debated the implications of dematerialization and its actuality, they have yet to examine closely Lippard and Chandler’s foundational essay, which has been anthologized in truncated form. If dematerialization was not intrinsic to Conceptual Art, what was it? By closely analyzing “The Dematerialization of Art” and Lippard and Chandler’s other overlooked collaborative essays, this dissertation will shed light on the genealogy of dematerialization by contending they were not describing a trend limited to what is now considered Conceptual Art. By investigating the socio-historical connections of dematerialization, this dissertation will advance a more far-reaching view of the ideology of dematerialization, a cultural misrecognition that the world should be propelled toward immateriality that is located at the intersection of particle physics, environmental sustainability, science-fiction, neoliberal politics, and other discourses. This analysis then focuses on three case studies that examine singular works of art over a twenty-year period: Eva Hesse’s Laocoön (1966), James Turrell’s Skyspace I (1974), and Anish Kapoor’s 1000 Names (1979-85). In doing so, this dissertation will accomplish two objectives. First, it looks at how these works materially respond to the ideology of dematerialization and provide a means for charting how this cultural desire unfolds across space and time. Second, this dissertation contends that contrary to Lippard and Chandler’s prognostication, dematerialization—and immateriality—does not correlate to emancipation from capitalization. Rather, it will be shown that dematerialization, its rhetoric, and its strategies can actually be enlisted into the service of the commoditizing forces Lippard and Chandler hoped it would escape.

This dissertation provides the first in-depth examination of American artist Stuart Davis’s early theoretical writings made between 1918 and 1923. These writings are seminal documents in his artistic development. They lay the foundation for the creation of some of his most important works, inlcuding his groundbreaking Tobacco paintings of 1921 to his renowned Egg Beater series of 1927–1928, which Davis claimed set the direction for all his subsequent artistic output. One of the key ideas in these early writings is Davis’s concept of realism. This study traces the origin of Davis’s realism to his interaction with a network of ideas arising from cubism, symbolism, New York dada, and anarchist philosophy. In doing so, this study considers how Davis’s notion of realism informed both the development of his style and his iconography in his works of the 1920s.