Ce travail examine l’œuvre de l’artiste abstrait italien Alberto Burri (Città di Castello, 1915 - Nice, 1995) et ses nouvelles contributions à partir de 1945, notamment dans l’utilisation de la matière en peinture : Goudrons, Sacs, Bois, Fers, Plastiques, jusqu’aux Cretti et Cellotex. La métamorphose de sa recherche est contemplée en faisant état des différentes phases de sa création. C’est dans le Texas, durant sa captivité au cours de la Seconde Guerre mondiale qu’elle vit le jour et continua sans cesse de prendre forme, dans chaque lieu qu’il habita : Rome, où il entra en contact et influença nombre d’artistes, et aussi Los Angeles, Beaulieu-sur-Mer. Prenant également en compte la réception critique de ses créations en Italie et ailleurs, on étudie ses spéculations par rapport à celles des Avant-gardes et à d’autres artistes travaillant avec de la matière, en France, en Italie, dans d’autres pays européens, aux États-Unis et au Japon (entre autres, Gutaï, Néo-Dada, Nouveau Réalisme, Arte Povera…) Tableaux, sculptures, grands «Cycles», œuvre gravé, livres d’artiste, décors pour le théâtre, Sculptures-Théâtre : un voyage monumental, où Burri - entre révolution et classicisme - concevant des œuvres puissantes et raffinées, à l’ «équilibre déséquilibré», renouvela complètement le langage artistique de l’après-guerre. / This survey examines the work of the Italian abstract artist Alberto Burri (Città di Castello, 1915 - Nice, 1995) and his original contributions using a variety of materials in artistic creation since 1945: Tar, Burlap, Wood, Iron, Plastic, and finally Cretti and Cellotex. The metamorphosis of his research is evidenced through all the different phases of his activity, starting in Texas at the time of his internment during WWII and constantly continued in every place he lived: Rome, where he met and influenced many artists, Los Angeles, Beaulieu-sur-Mer. Also examining the critical reception of his work in Italy and elsewhere, his speculations have been studied in relation to those of the Avant-garde and other artists working with materials, in France, Italy, other European countries, United States and Japan (among others, Gutaï, New-Dada, Nouveau Réalisme, Arte Povera…) Paintings, sculptures, big "Cycles", graphic work, artists’ books, stage sets, Theatre-Sculptures: a monumental journey, during which Burri - between revolution and classicism - created powerful and refined works of "unbalanced balance", completely renewing the post-war artistic language.

This thesis challenges existing readings of paintings by Alberto Burri which discuss the work in relation to matter or the body or the psyche. The reading of Burri's Ferro, Sacco, Combustione Legno and Grande Legno G59 demonstrates how the work effects a dynamic quality of alternation between the skin and 'brute' matter. The signification of the work shifts between two types of materiality - that of sheet metal, hessian, plastic and plywood and that of the wounded human skin and psyche.It is argued that the ambiguity of the materiality of Burri's paintings effects a dynamic reciprocity between subject and object. The author argues that Burri's painting alerts the viewer to the reciprocities between industrial materials, corporeal surfaces and subjectivities, to the continuities and ambiguities with and between the skin and work / Master of Arts (Hons) (Visual Arts)

Thesis (MA (Hons) Visual Arts) -- University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 1998. / "Submitted in part fulfillment for the degree of M(Hons) in Visual Arts, University of Western Sydney, Nepean" Bibliography : p. 40-42.

<p>Abstract</p><p>G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are having the high medical importance since almost half of the medicinal drugs are designed as modulators of receptor molecules. Crystal structure or NMR structures of GPCRs are very difficult to determine because all GPCRs are typically bound to the cell membrane and thus their molecular activation mechanism is still unclear. The recent publication of the crystal structure of the 2-adrenoreceptor will provide new insights in the field of GPCR research.</p><p>Ghrelin is a peptide growth hormone which binds to the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R) and stimulates the release of growth hormone. Based on the known ghrelin receptor binding core sequences wFwLL (upper letter and lower letter representative for L-form and D-form of the amino acids respectively), we prepared two novel peptide analogs with terminal S-(2-aminoethylsulfenyl) cysteine residues. These peptides were tested for their ability to suppress the binding of ghrelin to transfected COS7 cell-line (Kidney fibroblast line from the green African monkey) cells expressing the ghrelin wild-type receptor or certain mutants thereof. As a result we observed a significant reduction of the total number of binding sites accessible for ghrelin, which increased with the time the cells were incubated with our test compounds. This observations support our hypothesis that the peptides we tested form a covalent bond with free thiols located closely to the ligand binding-site of the receptor protein by disulfide thiol exchange which is an interesting target for development of anti-obesity drugs.</p>

Dans une Allemagne détruite et divisée qui tente de faire face à son passé nazi, et dans une Amérique aux prises avec le maccarthysme et la guerre froide, quatre jeunes poètes et photographes scrutent les soubresauts de l’histoire. René Burri dans Les Allemands, Hans Magnus Enzensberger dans Landessprache, Robert Frank dans Les Américains, et Allen Ginsberg dans Howl and other poems se font les consciences de leur époque. Ils conçoivent leur pratique artistique comme l’exercice d’une essentielle critique face à un ordre social établi qui ne l’autorise guère. A travers mots et images, ils passent au crible la pensée dominante (« american way of life », « melting-pot », « miracle économique », « culpabilité collective ») et font saillir les paradoxes et apories qui la sous-tendent. Tant bien que mal, ils tentent de dessiner les contours d’une identité à la fois collective – celle d’un peuple – et individuelle – la leur, aux prises avec une société dans laquelle ils éprouvent toutes les difficultés à s’incarner. Ils trouvent appui auprès de figures littéraires, frères de révoltes contemporains ou passés, qui les accompagnent dans leur résistance. Chacun à leur manière, ils explorent de multiples voies/voix, réelles ou imaginaires, pour échapper aux formes d’enfermement et d’aliénation qui pèsent sur eux : itinérance, voyage, anarchie, utopie, drogue, folie, dédoublement poétique. A des degrés divers, leur geste poétique ou photographique se traduit en un geste phénoménologique qui s’abreuve d’images ou de sensations aiguisant la perception. C’est par ce geste, à la fois créateur et critique, qu’ils touchent au nerf de leur époque. / Four young poets and photographers trawl through the troughs and peaks of history in a divided and destroyed Germany struggling to come to terms with its Nazi past and an America grappling with McCarthysm and the Cold War. René Burri in Les Allemands, Hans Magnus Enzensberger in Landessprache, Robert Frank in Les Américains, and Allen Ginsberg in Howl and other poems are the consciences of their time. They see their artistic activity as an essential criticism of a social order which only grudgingly allows them to do so. They thoroughly examine the prevailing opinion ("American way of life", "melting pot", "economic miracle", "collective responsibility") through their words and images and in doing so cast light on the paradoxes and aporiae that underline it. Somehow, they attempt to draw the outlines of an identity that is both collective – that of a people – and individual – their own, all the time battling against a society in which they have difficulty existing. They grasp at literary figures, rebellious brothers from the present or the past who give them comfort in their act of resistance. Each in his way explores several paths and voices – real or imaginary – in order to escape from the imprisonment and alienation that threatens him: wandering, traveling, anarchy, utopia, drug-use, madness or a poetical dual personality are all brought to bear. In various degrees their poetical or photographical gesture finds expression in a phenomenological gesture that feeds on living images and sensations that sharpen the sense of perception. It is with this critical gesture, at the same time both creative and critical, that they capture the spirit of their age.

Abstract G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are having the high medical importance since almost half of the medicinal drugs are designed as modulators of receptor molecules. Crystal structure or NMR structures of GPCRs are very difficult to determine because all GPCRs are typically bound to the cell membrane and thus their molecular activation mechanism is still unclear. The recent publication of the crystal structure of the 2-adrenoreceptor will provide new insights in the field of GPCR research. Ghrelin is a peptide growth hormone which binds to the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R) and stimulates the release of growth hormone. Based on the known ghrelin receptor binding core sequences wFwLL (upper letter and lower letter representative for L-form and D-form of the amino acids respectively), we prepared two novel peptide analogs with terminal S-(2-aminoethylsulfenyl) cysteine residues. These peptides were tested for their ability to suppress the binding of ghrelin to transfected COS7 cell-line (Kidney fibroblast line from the green African monkey) cells expressing the ghrelin wild-type receptor or certain mutants thereof. As a result we observed a significant reduction of the total number of binding sites accessible for ghrelin, which increased with the time the cells were incubated with our test compounds. This observations support our hypothesis that the peptides we tested form a covalent bond with free thiols located closely to the ligand binding-site of the receptor protein by disulfide thiol exchange which is an interesting target for development of anti-obesity drugs.