No description available.

In this thesis I will demonstrate that there is a similarity between the use of physical walls and digital walls as means of ideological dissemination by power structures as well as socio-political protesters. Also, I will show that their use in this manner not only changes the way that both function ideologically, but also changes the environment that these walls are created/exist in as well. The first case study will analyze Banksy’s employment of carnivalesque graffiti as a means of protest. The second case study will analyze the use of digital public space and “walls” created within social media as tools of protest, paralleling the earlier examples pertaining to the physical walls of public space. The third case study will look at the employment of the digital “walls” of Facebook and Twitter in conjunction with the use of public space in Cairo and its role in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.

Den här uppsatsen undersöker punken och några aspekter av dess visuella identitet. Genom att söka några av dess konsthistoriska rötter finner man att situationism och dadaism ofta nämns som konströrelser med ett uttryck som punken bygger vidare på. Det kan förklaras genom bland annat att Malcom McClaren och Jamie Reid, som låg bakom lanseringen av Sex Pistols, hade en situationistisk bakgrund. Reids arbete med till exempel skivomslag åt Pistols har också lagt grunden för föreställningen om vad punkestetik är. Med analyser av God Save The Queen 1977 och Nowhere Buses 1972 har jag sökt att ge en förklaring till hur de bilderna kan tänkas fungera utifrån en mottagarkontext av frustrerade, arbetslösa ungdomar i slutet av 70-talet. Säkerhetsnålen som en symbol inom punken kan förstås som en kritik av konsumtionssamhället. Den tvetydiga användningen av svastikan på kläder och flygblad är mer svårtolkad, den kan ses utifrån sitt rent provocerande värde eller som att den tillhör en gammal värld och därför är utan betydelse. Från detta har jag följt punkens förgreningar mot en politiskt medveten subkultur där aktivism, anarkistisk teori och D.I.Y.-filosofi är rådande. D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) är en viktig aspekt av punkens utveckling. Punken påverkar även andra konstnärliga uttryck som syns hos till exempel den samhällskritiske konstnären Banksy. Det går också att se ett kulturhistoriskt intresse för den ursprungliga punken, som nu blivit en del av kulturarvet. Utifrån bland annat den ideologiska förförståelsen som framträder i min undersökning har jag analyserar två verk av den svenska konstnären, och punkmusikern, Ella Tillema. På verket Mitt Hjärta Är En Bomb 2009 har jag lagt en feministisk blick och Den Postapokalyptiska Skapelseberättelsen (Partyt är Över) 2011 har analyserats utifrån en mottagarkontext med förståelse för anarkistisk aktivism, djurrättsfrågor och dess symboler. Punken som subkultur kan förstås som en motkultur och punkestetik som en motestetik. En slutsats som min undersökning leder till är att punkestetik kan ses både som förhållningssätt och som stil, D.I.Y.-aspekten är betydelsefull i båda avseenden. Som förhållningssätt handlar det bland annat om att inte vara en passiv konsument, utan vara delaktig och det blir i sin praktik till en slags samhällskritik. Identitet och tillhörighet är en viktig del av för att förstå punkestetik som stil. Stilen skapas dels utifrån bilder som haft stort genomslag inom subkulturen, till exempel Reids. Dels utifrån en teknisk amatörism, i vissa fall skenbar, som markerar D.I.Y.-praktiken där alla har möjlighet att vara delaktiga. Det är dock min mening att stil och förhållningssätt inte kan särskiljas om man vill förstå vad punkestetik är.

This study investigates the extent to which subversive practices of conceptual art can be identified in contemporary works. It attempts to understand if, despite the widespread understanding of conceptual art as a mainstream in today's art scene, there may still be examples of contemporary practice that are as deviant and challenging to the notion of art today as those that came at the forefront of the conceptual art movement.       The standard historical definition of 'conceptual art' generally refers to the artistic movement taking place between 1966 and 1972. The aim of this study, however, is to give an account of its development both prior to and beyond that narrow temporal window, seeking to identify both the roots and the legacy of the philosophical aspects of conceptual practice.       The study traces these roots to the actions of Duchamp, who shifted the focus from aesthetics to a more cognitive valuation of art, by designating an everyday object as an artwork; an action that paved the way for the notion that, rather than being skilled craftsmen, artists are the authors of meaning, and artworks are the creation and transmission of ideas.       This ‘Duchampian’ approach which pushes and explores the boundaries of art within the framework of the artwork themselves has also influenced the selection of works for analysis. Like most other contemporary artworks, Michael Mandiberg's After Sherrie Levine and Banksy’s The Walled off Hotel, are considered conceptual in the sense that they work to transmit ideas to the viewer, but yet, like Duchamp’s ready-mades a hundred years earlier, they sit beyond commonly accepted understandings of the formal boundaries of the artwork, thus risking not being perceived as artworks at all. For that reason, these works potentially constitute radical practices that could be understood as questioning the limits of art making today.       From a theoretical point of view the study engages in hermeneutics and constructivism in order to construct an analysis of these two artworks relating their websites as well as artists’ intentions to the philosophical notions of conceptual art. The results show that the After Sherrie Levine is a critique of Levine's aura as well as of the art institutions. It also proposes that artistic appropriation as an art form can have an instrumental value in exploring the limits of art making. It further shows that it is possible to create art that is neither exclusive nor mysterious. The analysis of The Walled off Hotel shows that while operating as a local company with an ambition to lead the creative resistance movement in the West Bank through art, the hotel also constitutes a political satire with real effects in the area. The thesis proposes that this work is deviant and ‘organic’ in the way it renegotiates both the role of the artist and the very notion of 'art' itself.        Thus both After Sherrie Levine and The Walled off Hotel can be regarded as rather ‘Duchampian’ practices today.

No description available.

The development of graffiti into an accepted art form, street art, is a cause of concern for South African property owners. The current position in South African property law regarding the original acquisition of ownership suggests that the creation of street art on movable property belonging to another could result in the transfer of ownership. Ownership of the movable may transfer via accessio to the street artist provided that the artwork changes the nature of the movable. This would occur even if the street artist does not act in good faith because bona fides is not a requirement for the original acquisition of ownership via accessio. This anomaly requires that the South African law on accession in the case of pictura be developed such that good faith be a requirement for the transfer of ownership in this format. With the development and growing popularity of the art form the likelihood of this legal anomaly is becoming a greater possibility. Indeed, the popularity of British street artist, Banksy, has provided numerous examples of contested ownership, albeit within English law. Banksy artworks are collectable and financially valuable. Consequently, not only are they desirable but many of his street artworks are considered to be examples of British cultural heritage and as such may be worthy of protection and preservation. These cases highlight the growing need in South Africa to clearly identify who South African street artworks belong to and, to identify any South African street art that warrants cultural heritage protection. The legislation regarding the protection of South African cultural heritage resources has not yet been extended to any street artworks. Yet there are examples of street art in South Africa that meet the requirements for cultural heritage status or which have the characteristics of cultural heritage resources. The extension of cultural heritage resource status to South African street artworks that are culturally significant could assist in the protection and preservation of these resources. However, the effectiveness of the cultural heritage legislation, in particular the National Heritage Resources Act 25 of 1999, is limited. There are several problematic aspects in this Act. This is of great concern as the issues effect all South Africa’s cultural heritage resources (not just street art which may qualify for such status). However, these issues could be responded to through amendments to the legislation. Significantly, the National Heritage Resources Act seeks to deprive private owners of their property as it seeks to regulate what owners can do with cultural heritage property which they own. However, as it stands there are far too many challengeable issues in this legislation to justifiably deprive this property in terms of s25 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. This renders significant portions of the National Heritage Resources Act inoperable. Consequently, the amendment of this legislation is necessary to ensure the purpose of the legislation i.e. to ensure the protection and preservation of the South Africa’s cultural heritage resources through the deprivation of property rights or indeed, if necessary, through the expropriation of property. / College of Law / LL. D.