Esta dissertação examina os conceitos que embasaram o projeto curatorial da 24ª Bienal de São Paulo, a última Bienal do século XX, realizada em 1998. Busca-se tirar o foco da análise unicamente da Antropofagia e do canibalismo para inserir a mostra no contexto do multiculturalismo. Parte-se do pressuposto de que o fenômeno do multiculturalismo, presente nas discussões políticas decorrentes das mudanças advindas da globalização e da consequente desterritorialização da arte no mundo contemporâneo, tornou anacrônica a tentativa de construção de identidades nacionais fixas, tema central do modernismo brasileiro. Nesse contexto, a 24ª Bienal teria se firmado internacionalmente não por estar centrada em um tema periférico da cultura brasileira, como pretendo comprovar, mas sim por inscrever-se no debate do multiculturalismo em tempos de globalização pós-colonial. / This dissertation (Antropophagy or Multiculturalism? Oswald de Andrade at 24th Biennial of São Paulo) examines the concepts behind the curatorial project of the 24th Biennial of Sao Paulo, the last Biennial of the twentieth century, held in 1998. The research aims to include the multiculturalism context in the discussion, taking of the focus of analysis based just on Antropophagy and cannibalism. It starts from the assumption that the phenomenon of multiculturalism, current in the politic discussions arising from the changes provoked by globalization and the consequent displacement of contemporary art in the world, became an anachronistic attempt to construct fixed national identities, central theme of Brazilian modernism. In this context, the 24th Biennial had established itself internationally not because it was centered on a peripheral issue of Brazilian culture but, as I intend to prove, by being part of the discussion of multiculturalism in times of post-colonial globalization.

O trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre a I Bienal Latino-Americana de 1978 e seu Simpósio. O evento trouxe subsídios para o pensamento crítico sobre a América Latina Contemporânea. Observa-se no estudo a relevância do diálogo sobre a arte em sua identidade especificamente latino-americana (não europeia e nem americana), ocorrido nesta Bienal, e dentro dos quadros da Fundação Bienal de São Paulo. A tese apresenta quatro capítulos, além da introdução e das considerações finais. Os capítulos trazem informações sobre: (1) a Fundação Bienal de São Paulo e as Bienais Internacionais e Nacionais; (2) a organização da I Bienal Latino-Americana, o papel e a expectativa da crítica de arte; (3) o Simpósio, a apresentação de algumas teses, a perspectiva dos artistas; (4) a visão crítica de Aracy Amaral, os procedimentos relacionados a uma possível II Bienal Latino-Americana, as comissões estabelecidas pelos críticos de arte; e em especial, fazemos um comparativo da I Bienal Latino-Americana com a 30º Bienal de São Paulo, e as atuais 54º Bienal de Veneza e a Documenta 13, com uma complementação das Bienais do Mercosul e VentoSul. Recuperaram-se documentos inéditos, tendo-se uma preocupação de reconstruir historicamente o processo de organização desta Bienal, e extrair, dos diálogos registrados em textos, as ideias e estratégias pensadas pelo diretor artístico (curador), e pelos críticos envolvidos no Conselho de Arte e Cultura, e no Simpósio sobre o conceito de arte latino-americana. Evidencia-se o papel da crítica de arte. Trata-se igualmente, a questão da I Bienal Latino-Americana em permanecer parcialmente incógnita, por tantas décadas, nos estudos sobre a arte no Brasil. Na análise empreendida, discorre-se sobre a cena política e artística das décadas 1970 e 1980, sempre que este contexto é relevante para entender a ideia de uma mostra latino-americana de grande porte, a organização desta exposição e os seus desdobramentos críticos e culturais no debate sobre América Latina e Caribe. Uma atenção especial é dada, ao papel da arte no processo de integração desta região do continente americano, e seu possível legado para a contemporaneidade. / Initially, this work presents a research on the I Latin America Biennial of 1978 and its Symposium. Secondly, the event brought subsidies to critical thinking about Contemporary Latin America continent. We have noted the relevance of the dialogue about art in its specifically Latin American identity (neither American nor European) occurred in this biennial, and within the frames of the São Paulo Biennial Foundation. Moreover, the thesis is presented in four chapters, besides the introduction and final considerations. The chapters bring information about: (1) São Paulo Biennial Foundation, including the view of the international editions plus the fourth national ones; (2) its organization of the first Latin America Biennial, its position and expectations of the art criticism; (3) the Symposium, the presentation of some thesis, and its artists belief; (4) the thought of the art critics of this period, especially the critical view of Aracy Amaral, the procedures related to a possible II Latin America Biennial, the commissions of art critics; in particular, the comparison of the I Latin American Biennial with the 30th São Paulo Biennial, and similarities with the 54th Venice Biennial and Documenta 13, plus, the Biennial of MERCOSUR and VentoSul. We recovered some unpublished documents and were concerned to reconstruct historically the process of organizing this biennial in study. Ideas and strategies designed by the artistic director (curator) about the concept of \"Latin American art and also by the art critics involved in the Art and Culture Council as well as in the Symposium were extracted from the documents. We have also investigated the issue of the Biennial being partially unknown for so many decades, especially in studies about art in Brazil. All in all, in the undertaken study, the artistic and political scene of the 1970 and 1980s were considered whenever it is a relevant context to understand the idea of a large Latin American exhibition, its organization and its critical and cultural branches for the debate on Latin America and Caribbean. A special attention is given to the role of art in the process of integration of this region of the American continent.

Unusually wet spring seasons in the Intermountain West (IW) have been linked to a wind fluctuation in higher levels of the atmosphere near the equator. Strong westerly winds during October-January often result in unusually wet conditions in the following spring. Average winds near the equator at 75,000 feet above the earth’s surface can be split into different categories according to wind direction: westerly (positive), easterly (negative), and transitional. Composites of winter and spring precipitation anomalies based on these different categories show that strong westerly winds occur in October-January prior to most extreme spring precipitation events. Drier springs tend to occur after easterly winds the preceding fall. Analysis of the atmospheric processes causing this wind pattern suggests that the intensity of spring precipitation in the IW may be forecast, based on winds in the upper atmosphere months in advance. These findings are useful for the IW because extreme wet springs could lead to floods, such as those in spring 1983 and 2011, and affect the amount of water available from spring runoff.

The mean strengths of the wintertime stratospheric polar vortices are known to be related to the phase of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) in the tropical stratosphere from circulation statistics - the "Holton-Tan relationship". The principal topic of this thesis is improving understanding of the mechanism behind the QBO's influence. Following the example of previous studies, the QBO influence on the Northern Hemisphere (NH) extratropics on monthly time scales in an observational reanalysis is examined, and is shown to closely resemble the stratospheric Northern annular mode (NAM). It is argued that this may not be informative about the mechanism, as the response could be NAM-like for many different mechanisms. It is suggested that examining the transient response of the NH extratropics to forcing by the QBO would be much more informative, particularly on time scales of a few days. In a primitive equation model of the middle atmosphere, the long-term stratospheric NH response to imposed zonal torques is often found to be NAM-like under perpetual January conditions, with wave feedbacks making a very important contribution. However, the response in runs with a seasonal cycle is not NAM-like. Investigation of the transient responses indicates the wave feedbacks are qualitatively similar in each case but only strong enough under perpetual January conditions to make the long-term response NAM-like. This supports the hypothesis that feedbacks from large-scale dynamics tend to make the stratospheric response to arbitrary forcings NAM-like, and therefore indicates that the long-term response is not generally useful for understanding forcing mechanisms. Examining the short-term transient response to known torques is found to be more successful at inferring information about the torques than several other previously proposed methods. Finally, the short-term transient response of the NH extratropics to forcing by the easterly QBO phase in a general circulation model is found to be consistent with the proposed mechanism of Holton and Tan (1980), indicating that this mechanism plays a role in the Holton-Tan relationship.

L'alternance de production est définie comme la charge en fruit d'un arbre irrégulière sur plusieurs années consécutives. La principale hypothèse en soulignant l'alternance est que la charge en fruits d'une année en cours inhibe la formation de fleurs pour l'année suivante. Ce phénomène génère d'importants problèmes agronomiques pour les espèces fruitières comme le pommier, en réduisant la production de fruits au cours des années 'OFF' et la qualité des fruits au cours des années 'ON', tout en augmentant les coûts de gestion des vergers, en particulier pour l'éclaircissage des fruits. Une stratégie pour atténuer l'alternance est de développer de nouvelles variétés avec une production régulière. Les principaux objectifs de ma thèse étaient: (i) d'améliorer les stratégies de phénotypage et les méthodes pour caractériser l'alternance de production, (ii) de disséquer le contrôle génétique de l'alternance de production en utilisant une descendance de pommier en ségrégation et d'identifier les principales régions génétiques responsables de la variation du caractère, et (iii) d'étudier les processus physiologiques sous-jacents à l'alternance de production. J'ai combiné des méthodes comme la modélisation, la génétique quantitative, la détection de Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) et de gènes candidats ainsi que la cartographie et l'expression de gènes.Mon étude a utilisé une population de pommier ségrégation obtenue à partir d'un croisement entre des parents contrastés pour les caractéristiques architecturales et de floraison (‘Starkrimson' x 'Granny Smith'). Le phénotypage de la population pour l'alternance de production a été réalisée à l'échelle d'arbres entiers, en observant les occurrences de floraison pendant six années consécutives, et à l'échelle locale, en observant la succession de méristèmes floraux vs végétative en position terminale de rameaux. De ces données, de nouveaux modèles ont été développés afin de quantifier l'alternance de la production, en tenant compte de la croissance ontogénétique de la production et la présence / absence de floraison entre les années successives le long des pousses courtes. Ceci nous a conduits à proposer de nouveaux descripteurs de la tendance d'un génotype à l'alternance de production dans les premiers stades de développement des arbres et ouvre des possibilités pour une évaluation plus rapide et plus précoce de ce caractère dans les programmes de sélection de fruits à pépins.Pour identifier les régions génomiques impliquées dans l'alternance, une détection de QTL a été réalisée sur la base des données phénotypiques et des valeurs de BLUP obtenues à partir des modèles. J'ai démontré que la régularité de la production est sous contrôle polygénique. J'ai extrait une liste de gènes qui sont présents au sein de ces QTL en utilisant la séquence du génome du pommier. Les principaux gènes candidats identifiés sont liés aux gibbérellines, aux auxines, et à la floraison. J'ai étudié l'expression des gènes candidats co-localisant avec des QTLs par PCR quantitative en utilisant les méristèmes prélevés sur les arbres portant une forte charge en fruits vs une faible charge. Une analyse microarray m'a permis d'obtenir un aperçu global des processus biologiques et de l'expression des gènes qui sont modulés dans le méristème lorsque des fruits sont présents. Certains gènes liés à la floraison, au développement du méristème, aux gibbérellines et aux auxines ont montré un profil d'expression affectée par la présence de fruits.Mes résultats fournissent des éclaircissements sur le contrôle physiologique et génétique de ce caractère complexe qui est l'alternance et ouvrent la perspective d'inclure la régularité de production dans les schémas de sélection de pommier et d'autres espèces fruitières / Biennial bearing is defined as the irregular crop load of a tree over consecutive years. The main assumption underlining biennial bearing is that the fruit load of a given year inhibits flower formation for the following year. This phenomenon generates major agronomic problems for fruit species such as apple, by reducing fruit production during ‘OFF' years and fruit quality during ‘ON' years, while increasing orchard management costs, especially for fruit thinning. A strategy to attenuate biennial bearing is to develop new varieties with regular production. The main objectives of my project were (i) to improve phenotyping strategy and methodology for biennial bearing characterisation, (ii) to dissect the genetic control of biennial bearing using an apple segregating progeny and to identify key genetic regions responsible for the trait variation, and (iii) to investigate physiological processes underlying biennial bearing. I combined methodologies such as modelling, quantitative genetics, candidate gene and Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping and gene expression.My study used an apple segregating population issued from a cross between contrasting parents for architectural and flowering features (‘Starkrimson' x ‘Granny Smith'). Phenotyping of the population for biennial bearing was achieved at whole tree scale by observing flowering occurrence for six consecutive years, and at local scale, by observing the succession of floral vs. vegetative meristems in terminal position of shoots. From this data, new models were constructed to quantify the alternation of production, taking into account the ontogenetic increasing trend of production and the presence/absence of flowering between successive years along short shoots. This led us to propose new descriptors of the tendency of a genotype to biennial bearing in the early stages of tree development and opens possibilities for a faster and earlier evaluation of this character in pipfruit breeding programmes and for orchard management.To identify genomic regions involved in biennial bearing, a QTL detection was performed on the basis of phenotypic data and BLUP values obtained from the models. I demonstrated that the regularity of production is under polygenic control. I mined a list of genes that are present within these QTLs using the apple genome sequence. The main candidate genes identified are related to gibberellins, auxins, and flowering.I investigated the expression of candidate genes co-locating with QTLs by quantitative PCR using meristems collected on trees bearing heavy fruit load vs. light crop. A microarray analysis enabled me to obtain a global overview of biological processes and gene expression that are modulated in the meristem when fruits are present. Some genes related to flowering, meristem development, gibberellins and auxins showed an expression profile affected by the presence of fruit.My results provide elucidation on the physiological and genetic control of the complex trait that is biennial bearing and open up the perspective of including regular bearing in breeding schemes for apple and other fruit species.

A tese está organizada em torno dos estudos de caso de três edições da Documenta de Kassel (1997, 2002, 2007), bem como das 24ª (1998), 27ª (2006) e 28ª (2008) edições da Bienal de São Paulo, tendo como foco de análise as transformações ocorridas nas práticas curatoriais e na esfera institucional da arte a partir dos anos 1960 e 1970. A construção conceitual foi realizada através de um diálogo entre as transformações nas práticas curatoriais contemporâneas, resultado de uma revisão dos papéis das instituições como mediadoras entre a produção artística e o público, com os processos de inserção de regiões e discursos periféricos em um sistema cultural global. / The Thesis is organized around the case studies of the last three editions of Kassel´s Documenta (1997, 2002, 2007), and the 24th (1998), 27th (2006) and 28th (2008) editions of São Paulo Bienal. It is focused on the analysis of the transformation that has been occurring in the curatorial practices and in the art institutions since the 1960s and 1970s. Its conceptual background is based on the relationship between the critical (aesthetic) practices and the process of cultural globalization.

A tese está organizada em torno dos estudos de caso de três edições da Documenta de Kassel (1997, 2002, 2007), bem como das 24ª (1998), 27ª (2006) e 28ª (2008) edições da Bienal de São Paulo, tendo como foco de análise as transformações ocorridas nas práticas curatoriais e na esfera institucional da arte a partir dos anos 1960 e 1970. A construção conceitual foi realizada através de um diálogo entre as transformações nas práticas curatoriais contemporâneas, resultado de uma revisão dos papéis das instituições como mediadoras entre a produção artística e o público, com os processos de inserção de regiões e discursos periféricos em um sistema cultural global. / The Thesis is organized around the case studies of the last three editions of Kassel´s Documenta (1997, 2002, 2007), and the 24th (1998), 27th (2006) and 28th (2008) editions of São Paulo Bienal. It is focused on the analysis of the transformation that has been occurring in the curatorial practices and in the art institutions since the 1960s and 1970s. Its conceptual background is based on the relationship between the critical (aesthetic) practices and the process of cultural globalization.

As plantas de café (Coffea arabica L.) têm padrão de produção bienal em razão da competição entre o crescimento vegetativo e reprodutivo que ocorrem ao mesmo tempo. A quantificação de compostos de carbono e nitrogênio, bem como o perfil metabólico desses compostos foram investigados a fim de identificar possíveis alterações do crescimento dos tecidos que compõem o ramo produtivo do cafeeiro em resposta à carga de frutos. Os efeitos da carga de frutos foram estudados em quatro estádios fenológicos (expansão inicial, expansão final, granação e maturação de frutos), avaliando-se o crescimento de folhas velhas, maduras e novas; a secção dos ramos em que elas estão inseridas, assim como os frutos. Para isso, manipulações na carga de frutos foram realizadas na planta inteira cultivada em experimento de campo na região de Presidente Olegário, Minas Gerais, Brasil (18° 35\' 25\" S e 46° 19\' 20\" O; 1045 m de altitude). Os tratamentos consistiram em reduzir as cargas de frutos em seu estágio inicial de desenvolvimento a 0%, 30%, 60% e controle mantendo 100% do frutos na árvore. Este estudo demostrou que a alta carga de frutos prejudica principalmente o crescimento da vegetação nova, mas sem nenhum efeito sobre as folhas e ramos já formados. Também foi evidenciado que a alta carga de frutos promove competição entre os frutos afetando o seu tamanho e sua massa unitária. Essa redução do crescimento vegetativo e de frutos se deve principalmente pelo esgotamento de amido nos ramos que contribuem fortemente para o aporte de carbono para os órgãos dreno. A folha velha fornece sacarose para promover o crescimento vegetativo e de frutos, mas esse suprimento de carbono parece não ser suficiente para manutenção do crescimento dos frutos em excesso. Neste caso, o amido é então consumido dos ramos dessas plantas resultando no aumento do teor de sacarose nos ramos e folhas maduras, os quais são os maiores responsáveis por destinar carbono para o crescimento e desenvolvimento dos frutos. Em plantas com carga de frutos reduzida, os órgãos fonte de carbono são diferentes das plantas com alta produção de frutos. Neste caso, o ramo e folha madura fornecem sacarose para o crescimento da vegetação nova e frutos sem gasto aparente do amido acumulado nos ramos. As folhas e os ramos velhos são os principais contribuintes imediatos de nitrogênio, mas os ramos são os principais órgãos fonte desse nutriente tendo grande capacidade de armazenar nitrogênio e de disponibilizá-lo para as plantas sob alta produção de frutos. Assim, o nitrogênio e carbono armazenado nos ramos têm papel fundamental para tamponar a depleção desses nutrientes causada pelo número excessivo de drenos metabólicos. Os frutos das plantas com carga reduzida parecem ter sido sombreados pelo abundante crescimento de folhas e ramos de forma distinta dos frutos oriundos das plantas com carga excessiva de frutos. Esse sombreamento parece ter ocasionado menor grau de maturação dos frutos dessas plantas em razão do aumento dos compostos fenólicos e redução de pectina e antocianina nos frutos e/ou nos seus tecidos. Entretanto, esse efeito sobre a maturação dos frutos é tênue não alterando a quantidade de sacarose e aminoácidos solúveis totais nos frutos e em nenhum dos tecidos que os compõem. Utilizando uma abordagem metabolômica, foi confirmada que os ácidos orgânicos foram influenciados pelo menor grau de maturação dos frutos oriundos das plantas com carga reduzida. Essa evidência também suporta a ideia de que o maior crescimento vegetativo das plantas com carga reduzida pode aumentar o tempo de maturação dos frutos. Analisando o perfil de aminoácidos, foi confirmada que as folhas velhas e maduras são os órgãos fonte principais de nitrogênio para os drenos fisiológicos. A redistribuição de nitrogênio dessas folhas na forma de asparagina, glutamina, tirosina e fenilalanina para os drenos ocorreu em plantas com carga de frutos excessiva. Esse fluxo de nitrogênio para os drenos fisiológicos em conjunto com a degradação de proteínas dos ramos dessas plantas culminaram com aumento de fenialanina nos grãos, glutamina e aspartato nos frutos e alanina nas folhas novas em comparação com as plantas com carga de frutos reduzida. Houve estímulo da síntese de putrescina nos grãos provavelmente como um mecanismo para reajustar o fluxo de carbono e nitrogênio no organismo vegetal inicialmente pertubado em resposta à carga de frutos. Neste sentido, novas investigações pré e pós traducionais precisam ser desenvolvidas a fim de elucidar a interrelação do metabolismo de carbono e nitrogênio para a homeostase de seus metabólitos em resposta à carga de frutos. / Coffee plants (Coffea arabica L.) have a biennial production pattern because of the competition between vegetative and reproductive growth occurring at the same time. The quantification of carbon and nitrogen compounds as well as the metabolic profile of these compounds were investigated in order to identify possible changes in the growth of the tissues of productive branch of the coffee tree in response to the fruit load. The effects of fruit loading were studied in four phenological stages (initial expansion, final expansion, fruit granulation and maturation), evaluating the growth of old, mature and young leaves; the section of the branches in which they are inserted, as well as the fruits. For this, manipulations in the fruit load were carried out on the whole plant cultivated in a field experiment in the region of Presidente Olegário, Minas Gerais, Brazil (18 ° 35\' 25\" S and 46° 19\' 20\'\' O; 1045 m level). The treatments consisted in reducing the loads of fruits in their initial stage of development to 0%, 30%, 60% and control maintaining 100% of the fruits in the tree. This study showed that the high fruit load mainly impairs the growth of young vegetation, but with no effect on already formed leaves and branches. It was also evidenced that the high fruit load promotes competition among the fruits affecting its size and its unit mass. This reduction of vegetative and fruit growth is mainly due to the depletion of starch in the branches that contribute strongly to the carbon supply to the sink organs. Old leaf provides sucrose to promote fruit and vegetative growth, but this carbon supply does not seem to be sufficient to maintain excess fruit growth. In this case, the starch is then consumed from the branches of these plants resulting in the increase of the sucrose content in the mature branches and leaves, which are the main responsible for allocating carbon for the growth and development of the fruits. In plants with reduced fruit load, the carbon source organs are different from plants with high fruit yield. In this case, the branch and mature leaf provide sucrose for the growth of young vegetation and fruit without apparent expense of starch accumulated in the branches. The old leaves and branches are the main immediate contributors of nitrogen, but the branches are the main source organs of this nutrient having great capacity to store nitrogen and to make it available to the plants under high yield of fruits. Thus, the nitrogen and carbon stored in the branches play a fundamental role in buffering the depletion of these nutrients caused by the excessive number of metabolic sinks. The fruits of the plants with reduced load seem to have been shaded by the abundant growth of leaves and branches of distinct form of the fruits originating from the plants with high fruit load. This shading seems to have caused a lower degree of maturation of the fruits of these plants due to the increase of phenolic compounds and reduction of pectin and anthocyanin in fruits and/or their tissues. However, this effect on fruit maturation is tenuous without altering the amount of sucrose and total soluble amino acids in the fruits and in none of the tissues that compose them. Using a metabolomic approach, it was confirmed that the organic acids were influenced by the lower degree of maturation of fruits from the plants with reduced load. This evidence also supports the idea that the higher vegetative growth of the plants with reduced load can increase the maturation time of the fruits. Analyzing the amino acid profile, it was confirmed that the old and mature leaves are the main source organs of nitrogen for the physiological sinks. The nitrogen redistribution of these leaves as asparagine, glutamine, tyrosine and phenylalanine to the drains occurred in plants with excessive fruit load. This nitrogen flow to the physiological sinks together with the protein degradation of the branches of these plants culminated with increase of phenylalanine in the grains, glutamine and aspartate in the fruits and alanine in the young leaves compared to the plants with reduced fruit load. There was stimulation of putrescine synthesis in the grains probably as a mechanism to readjust the carbon and nitrogen flux in the initially disturbed plant organism in response to the fruit load. Thus, new pre- and post-translational research needs to be developed in order to elucidate the interrelation of carbon and nitrogen metabolism to the homeostasis of its metabolites in response to fruit load.

This thesis presents a theoretical and historical account of how artists have responded to politics of democracy since the late-1980s. Three questions guide the direction of this analysis. Firstly: why, during its apparent apotheosis in recent years, have numerous artists critiqued democracy as the political, critical and aesthetic frame within which to identify their work? Secondly: how have artists undertaken this critique? Thirdly, and most importantly: what aesthetic and political discourses have artists proposed in lieu of the democracy that they critique? Particular case studies of art from Europe help us to address these questions, for Europe has been an important crucible for vociferous, and often fraught, arguments about democracy in recent aesthetic, philosophical and political discourses. The first chapter of this thesis rigorously contextualises these discourses in relation to historical mobilisations of democracy since the Iron Curtain??s collapse. Relying on writings by Pat Simpson, Slavoj ??i??ek, Alain Badiou and Mario Tronti, I chart the significant imbrications of political ideology, philosophy and what I call ??aesthetics of democratisation?? from the end of European communism, through the democratisations of postcommunism to the militarised democratisations of Iraq and Afghanistan after 2001. Notions of democracy shift and change during this period, becoming what ??i??ek calls a problematic ??transcendental guarantee?? of assumed values and self-legitimation. These shifting values in turn propel the concurrent critiques of democracy that are the subjects of the five subsequent chapters: Ilya Kabakov??s ??total?? installations; Neue Slowenische Kunst??s mimicry of the nation-state during the 1990s; Thomas Hirschhorn??s large-scale works from the late-1990s onwards; Christoph B??chel and Gianni Motti??s collaborative ventures; and the co-operative practices of Dan and Lia Perjovschi. Through examination of the artists?? installations and voluminous writings, and based primarily on archival research and interviews, this thesis examines how their aesthetic politics emerge from the remobilisation of nonconformist art histories, through self-instituted contexts and alternative models for art production, exhibition and interpretation. These models, I argue, counter our usual understandings of art practice and its politics in Europe. They cumulatively assert ??postsocialist aesthetics?? as an impertinent, yet urgent, prism through which to analyse contemporary art.

This thesis presents a theoretical and historical account of how artists have responded to politics of democracy since the late-1980s. Three questions guide the direction of this analysis. Firstly: why, during its apparent apotheosis in recent years, have numerous artists critiqued democracy as the political, critical and aesthetic frame within which to identify their work? Secondly: how have artists undertaken this critique? Thirdly, and most importantly: what aesthetic and political discourses have artists proposed in lieu of the democracy that they critique? Particular case studies of art from Europe help us to address these questions, for Europe has been an important crucible for vociferous, and often fraught, arguments about democracy in recent aesthetic, philosophical and political discourses. The first chapter of this thesis rigorously contextualises these discourses in relation to historical mobilisations of democracy since the Iron Curtain??s collapse. Relying on writings by Pat Simpson, Slavoj ??i??ek, Alain Badiou and Mario Tronti, I chart the significant imbrications of political ideology, philosophy and what I call ??aesthetics of democratisation?? from the end of European communism, through the democratisations of postcommunism to the militarised democratisations of Iraq and Afghanistan after 2001. Notions of democracy shift and change during this period, becoming what ??i??ek calls a problematic ??transcendental guarantee?? of assumed values and self-legitimation. These shifting values in turn propel the concurrent critiques of democracy that are the subjects of the five subsequent chapters: Ilya Kabakov??s ??total?? installations; Neue Slowenische Kunst??s mimicry of the nation-state during the 1990s; Thomas Hirschhorn??s large-scale works from the late-1990s onwards; Christoph B??chel and Gianni Motti??s collaborative ventures; and the co-operative practices of Dan and Lia Perjovschi. Through examination of the artists?? installations and voluminous writings, and based primarily on archival research and interviews, this thesis examines how their aesthetic politics emerge from the remobilisation of nonconformist art histories, through self-instituted contexts and alternative models for art production, exhibition and interpretation. These models, I argue, counter our usual understandings of art practice and its politics in Europe. They cumulatively assert ??postsocialist aesthetics?? as an impertinent, yet urgent, prism through which to analyse contemporary art.