Does God exist? Can we know for sure? What might it mean to know this? Furthermore what might it look like to make works of art while also seeking to find answers to these questions? This thesis details my personal experiences growing up in a world steeped in postmodernism and my move to answer such questions while looking to develop a meaningful, clear worldview and body of work. I have turned my focus on specific episodes in my life, which significantly illuminate a progression of thinking and experience. Together these thoughts and experiences have become the impetus for both questions and propositions embedded within the long haul of my work culminating in my thesis exhibition.

Notre thèse aborde la question de la beauté dans les arts plastiques d'aujourd'hui. Celle-ci en effet ne va pas de soi, si l'on en croit notamment les multiples publications manifestant un rejet de l'art contemporain. Peut-on parler, actuellement, d'une esthétique de l'œuvre renvoyant à une science du beauté à une satisfaction d'ordre essentiellement intellectuel? Soit de beauté intrinsèque qui, comme dans l'art de la Renaissance, relève tant de l'harmonie et de la justesse de ses formes que de la légitimité de son contenu, grâce à la mise en évidence du bien-fondé de la mimêsis, de la perspective ou des motifs religieux ? Ou bien faut-il plutôt, pour pouvoir juger de la valeur esthétique de l'art contemporain, accorder une place de choix à la singularité de ses causes et effets, en opérant notamment un inévitable glissement vers une science du sensible ? Or notre parallélisme entre "esthétique de l'œuvre" et "continuité" dans l'histoire de l'art d'une part, puis "esthétique des effets" et éventuelle "rupture" d'autre part, nous a conduits à interroger d'abord ces éléments de rupture tels que le refus de la profondeur ou de la représentation figurative, mais aussi celui de la réalisation ouvragée et de la matière noble. Mais il nous a aussi amenés, malgré des conditions politiques ou techniques spécifiques de réalisation, à nous pencher sur une véritable poiêsis contemporaine. Car avec les œuvres plastiques de notre époque, il s'agit bien, toujours et incontestablement, d'art et même "d'épiphanie", dès lors que l'on s'en réfère à la vision ontologique et apologétique du philosophe François Dagognet / Our thesisconcerns the question of beauty in the contemporaries plastic arts. But this one does not without saying, if we consider the simple fact of the numerous publications concerning the rejection of contemporary art. May we speak, today, of a "work's esthetic" which refers to a "science of beauty" and to an essentially intellectual satisfaction? We mean an intrinsic beauty, like the one of the Renaissance's art, concerning as much the harmony as the exactness of the forms or the legitimacy of its contents. We mean an art which puts in a prominent position the mimêsis, the perspective's method or the religious motifs. Or would not it be better, in the intention to become able to judge of the esthetic value of contemporary art, to give a first place to the singularity of his causes and effects, at the same time we slide towards a "science of the sensibility" ? In fact, our parallelism between "work's esthetic" and "continuity", then between "effect's esthetic" and a possible "breaking" makes us think about reasons of this breaking, such as the refusal of profundity or as the figurative representation, as well asthe rejection of construction works or noble material. However, we have succeded to consider contemporary art as a real and new poiêsis, in spite of his specific political and technical ways of realisation. And we may assert that, today, undeniably, it is the matter of real art, and even of "epiphany", as soon as we refer to the ontological and laudatory point of view of the philosophe François Dagognet

Les œuvres poétiques de Fernando Assis Pacheco (Coimbra, 1937 – Lisbonne, 1995) et d’Adília Lopes (Lisbonne, 1960) présentent des éléments communs: un sabotage du langage poétique traditionnel, une dépréciation du sujet poétique, une représentation du monde apparemment triviale. Notre proposition est que ces trois grandes caractéristiques sont liées entre elles, de par leurs modes de concrétisation et les intentions qui les sous-tendent. On y retrouve en effet un même projet de « dégonflement » – d’un langage poétique grandiloquent et ampoulé, d’un sujet lyrique prétentieux et qui se prend trop au sérieux, d’une conception du monde excessivement épurée ou tendant vers le transcendantal. Néanmoins, cette opération ne s’assimile pas à une action proprement déconstructiviste, car elle vise à transmettre à ces entités un « souffle » susceptible de leur conférer une force animique et une capacité d’intervention. C’est sur la base de ce double mouvement que nous proposons le terme de « poétique de la déflation », en choisissant une notion qui recouvre à la fois ces deux acceptions (respectivement, dans les domaines économique et géomorphologique). L’adoption du prisme de la déflation nous permettra d’examiner le modèle sous-jacent des œuvres de Fernando Assis Pacheco et d’Adília Lopes. Pour le faire, notre travail se décompose en trois parties : nous étudions successivement la façon dont ces auteurs s’engagent dans une procédure de déflation du langage poétique qu’ils utilisent (concrètement, en nous penchant sur ses formes narratives) ; du sujet lyrique qu’ils figurent (par l’analyse d’une fluidification dans la figuration de ce sujet) ; et de la conception du monde que dénote leur poésie (en nous intéressant à la dimension éthique qui y est implicite). / The poetic works of Fernando Assis Pacheco (Coimbra, 1937 - Lisbon, 1995) and Adília Lopes (Lisbon, 1960) have common elements: a sabotage of the traditional poetic language, an impairment of the poetic self, an apparently trivial representation of the world. Our proposal is that these three characteristics are interrelated, by their modes of realization and the intentions that underlie them. We find indeed a project of "reduction" – of the pompous and bombastic language of poetry, of a pretentious lyrical self that takes itself too seriously, of a conception of the world excessively refined or tending towards the transcendental. However, this does not amount to a proper deconstructive action because it aims to convey a sense of strength and energy to these entities a purifying "breath". On the basis of this double movement we propose the term "poetics of deflation", choosing a concept that covers both these two meanings (respectively, in the economic and geomorphic domains). Adopting the prism of deflation allow us to examine the underlying model at Fernando Assis Pacheco’s and Adília Lopes’ poetry. To do so, our work is divided into three parts: we successively study how these writers engage in a process of deflation of the poetic language they use (specifically, by looking at its narrative forms); of the lyrical self that they portray (through analysis of a fluidity in this process of portrayal); and the world view they manifest in their poetry (focusing on its ethical dimension).

Between the years 1960 and 1970, New York gallerist Leo Castelli was closely involved with Milanese editor and publisher Bruno Alfieri's Metro magazine--an international review of contemporary art. By placing his artists in Metro, Castelli inserted them into the world of Italian art criticism and theory. This recontextualization familiarized the American artists of Castelli's gallery to a European audience and positioned them at the end of a succession of modern European styles. Specifically, Castelli's artists, each of whom engaged in a form of pictorial figuration, were seen as ending the dominance of the "pure" abstraction of the French informel style. This thesis uses the archive of correspondence between Bruno Alfieri and Leo Castelli to examine Castelli's contribution to Metro during the 1960s. Departing from this chronology, it also seeks to understand the unique brand of figuration that each of Castelli's artists brought to Metro, given cues from contemporary Italian theory and criticism--particularly that of Gillo Dorfles, who wrote on several of Castelli's artists. / text

Le sujet de ce mémoire émane d’une volonté d’intégrer la recherche à ma réalité organisationnelle, celle des Forces canadiennes (FC). De cette aspiration est née l’idée d’étudier comment se dévoilent la face et la figuration lors de l’instruction de base. Partant d’une approche interactionniste, l’attention a été portée sur la face et la figuration d’un stagiaire au cours de trois interactions avec ses supérieurs. C’est plus précisément, la filature et l’analyse de conversation qui ont été mobilisées pour examiner cette problématique. La pertinence de la démarche est qu'elle met de l'avant une perspective de recherche peu présente dans la littérature, mais surtout, qu’elle s’insère dans un contexte organisationnel méconnu. L'entreprise vise d’une part, à nourrir la théorie en raffinant des concepts existants : la face et la figuration. D’autre part, elle cherche à éclairer la pratique en mettant en évidence des actes communicationnels difficilement observables dans le cadre habituel des activités militaires. / The subject of this thesis originates from a desire to integrate my research with my personal experience with the Canadian Forces (CF). As a result, I had the idea to study how face and facework emerge during basic training. Taking a communicative/interactional approach, I focused on the facework of a student during three interactions with his superiors. Specifically, I used shadowing and conversation analysis (CA) to examine this issue. This project offers important contributions to a topic that has not yet been addressed from the perspective I develop in this study, and few studies have looked at this topic in the context of the CF. Hence, this study aims to enrich theory by refining the concepts of face and facework. In addition, is aims to inform practice by highlighting communicative practices that are difficult to observe in the ordinary course of military activities.

For almost 200 years the University College of Physical Education and Sports in Stockholm (former Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics; GCI later GIH; Stockholm College of Physical Education and Sports) has been educating PE teachers - and still does. In the very beginning and throughout the first 100 years, gymnastics was a major part of the studies at the institute, and also in ordinary schools. Early gymnastics were invented by Per Henrik Ling, the father of the Swedish Ling gymnastics, and later developed by his son, Hjalmar Ling. The part of the Ling system called pedagogical gymnastics, consisted of “daily gymnastic training exercises”, which showed how gymnastics should be taught and performed. The aim of this thesis is to follow and describe gymnastics as a subject and its development at the PE teacher-training programme at GCI/GIH. Special attention is placed on the movement part without apparatus (the floor exercise) for male and female students. The time period studied is 1944 to 1992. The thesis consists of two separate empirical studies, with a shared interview study of 12 former teacher educators participating in both studies. Besides the above-mentioned interviews, the methods used are document analyses and visual analyses. Triangulation is used in order to follow the changes of the subject’s content, figuration and representation. The first empirical study investigates the institution of gymnastics’- collective memory, its content and legitimacy. This is done by looking at what time was allotted to the subject in relation to other subjects, and also which concepts were used in relation to floor exercise. The interviews deal with the objectives of the subject and what kind of influences the former teacher educators came in contact with. From a semiotic approach, the second study deals with visual analyses of film sequences, with floor exercises performed by male and female students. (See enclosed CD). The film material comes from the Institute’s events. The content and composition of the film sequences are analysed, and the representation of the movements is interpreted by semiotic discourse analyses. The interview study deals with the former teacher educators’ pedagogical view of the formation of the gymnastics. The results show that in 1944 the subject gymnastics took approximately 40% of the total study time. In 1992 the time allocated for gymnastics has been reduced to approximately 9%. From the 1940s to the 1970s, two separate gymnastics discourses existed, one male and one female, expressed in the movement content and in the figuration of movements. The male discourse was maintained almost intact, without any changes. The female discourse, on the other hand, was continually changed and developed over the actual period of time, strongly influenced by rhythmic and dance. When coeducation was implemented in the late 1970s, a new culture of body movements was developed – which was unisex. Between 1949 and1970 in the film material, the masculine discourse was represented by the body image of a systematically trained and disciplined body, executing corrective gymnastics exercises, according to an instrumental way of looking at physical training. The smooth, healthy looking young body image of a woman, executing rhythmical aesthetical gymnastics, according to existing values, characterised the feminine discourse. There seems to have been aesthetics fostering rationality that ruled the female gymnastics. In 1985 the representation of the body image changed, and focus on the performance of the movements disappeared. The objectives of the subject have changed from the collective, corrective and/or aesthetical form of gymnastics to a gymnastic discourse where the attention of simplifying the movements, the individual and the social climate in the group are central. Finally, the findings show that four factors have influenced the changes and development of the subject and the teacher-training programme. Firstly, changes in society in terms of equality, gender roles and a changed role of the PE teacher. Secondly, the impact of the sport discourse outweighed the status of the gymnastics discourse and its legitimacy. The cultivating values, in terms of the aesthetical schooling for the female students, disappeared. Thirdly, the striving for research-related instructions in the teachertraining programme, (urged by the state from 1977) affected both time allotments for gymnastics and sports and the relation between theoretical and practical courses. Finally, over the years, the subject gymnastics has been strongly influenced by different scientific discourses: first the medical discourse, followed by the physiological discourse and from the1980s and on, by the social scientific (pedagogical) discourse.

Ce travail propose d’interroger la constitution du lien thérapeutique avec des enfants présentant des troubles autistiques ou psychotiques. Ces pathologies narcissiques-identitaires considérées comme troubles majeurs de l’intersubjectivité soumettent nos dispositifs de soins à de constants ajustements, pour accueillir ce que ces sujets nous livrent avec insistance, et qui prend la forme de comportement répétitifs. Nous sommes dans une pratique clinique extrême, aux confins du langage qui nous oblige à repenser notre cadre interne, à redéfinir nos postures, pour soutenir un travail de symbolisation. Retirés dans une sensorialité réconfortante ou absorbés dans des activités ritualisées, ces sujets nous engagent psychiquement et corporellement à « trouver-créer » comment leur faire signe pour établir le contact et relancer les processus de réflexivité entravés. La trajectoire vers l’autre, détour essentiel à la subjectivation des éprouvés corporels est à construire. Ce travail est une modélisation de cette trajectoire du retrait devant l’objet à l’attrait pour l’objet. Deux notions sont développées, celle de l’effacement et celle de l’oscillatoire, qui viennent figurer la dynamique de la rencontre, faite de rapprochements et d’éloignements. Les « états de présence » du thérapeute sont un rouage essentiel de ce processus d’attraction, dont l’accomplissement sera « le partage d’affects ». / This work presents an investigation of the therapeutic relation to children with autistic or psychotic problems. These narcissistic-identity pathologies, considered as a major problem of intersubjectivity, submit our instruments of care to constant adjustment; in order to harvest what these subjects insistently present in the form of repetitive behaviors. We find ourselves in an extreme of clinical practice, at the limits of language, which forces us to reconsider our internal framework and redefine our positions with the aim of supporting a task of symbolization. Withdrawn into a comforting sensoriality or absorbed in ritualized activities, these subjects engage us psychically and corporally to "find-create" how to draw attention so as to establish contact and relaunch the inhibited processes of reflection.The trajectory towards the other, an essential detour towards the subjectivizing of corporeal feelings, is in need of construction. This work models that trajectory from withdrawal before the object to the attraction towards the object. Two concepts are developed, that of erasure and of the oscillatory. They come to fashion the dynamics of interaction, composed of advances and retreats. The "states of presence" of the therapist are an essential cog in the process of attraction, for which attainment becomes "affective sharing".

隨著YouTube的普及與拍攝影片的門檻降低，愈來愈多使用者將自製影片分享至網路平台，其中也包含以科學為主題的網路影片，加上近年來如PanSci泛科學、Taiwan Bar以及Oisee等知識型YouTube頻道在國內興起，網路科學影片已然成為使用者分享資訊的方法之一，具備傳播知識的潛力。然而，網路科學影片儘管在網路上具有相當高的人氣，卻因其缺乏科學機構或媒體組織的把關，呈現方式和表現手法皆與傳統科學影片不盡相同，所能發揮傳播科學之功能也時常被忽略。故本研究以網路科學影片為研究對象，試圖瞭解網路科學影片所蘊含之人性化特質，及其促進科學參與之可能。 本研究採文本分析法，並以主題分析法作為資料分析的方法，選取國內外與科學主題相關之YouTube頻道及影片進行文本檢視。本研究歸納出網路科學影片人性化特質的三個影響面向，分別是：使得網路科學影片更加強調創作者個人特質、重視人與人之間的互動，並使之蘊含著鼓勵創作的「隨創」精神。 結果發現，網路科學影片強調以「人」為主體之運作方式，將傳統專家至上之科學權威轉移成任何使用者的分享論述，因而更有機會促進民眾認知參與、線上參與以及創作行為的投入，提升科學參與的可能性。整體而言，本研究以人性化的觀點探討網路科學影片之特質，並認為其有機會能夠促進科學的參與，主要之研究目的在於重新審視其在科學傳播所扮演的角色與功能，以帶動更多與網路科學影片相關的討論與研究發展。

Dans une société où nous souhaitons désormais donner du sens à notre travail, remplir une mission, les organisations à but non lucratif (OBNL) constituent de plus en plus un milieu professionnel attrayant. Cet intérêt s’est également répandu au sein de la communauté scientifique qui cherche à comprendre la particularité de ce contexte organisationnel. Certain.e.s chercheur.e.s remarquent que les conflits sont mal perçus dans ce type d’organisations qui prône la collaboration, tandis que d’autres soulignent l’omniprésence de conflits dans toutes organisations. Les concepts de face et de figuration sont souvent utilisés pour analyser le conflit organisationnel. Cependant, peu de recherches, voire aucune, adoptent ce cadre théorique pour étudier le conflit dans des OBNL. La face et la figuration étant co-construites durant l’interaction, ce mémoire s’intéresse ainsi particulièrement à ce contexte analytique « méso ». Au sein de celui-ci, il est d’ailleurs primordial de prendre en compte la dimension interculturelle qui est intrinsèque à tout milieu organisationnel, notamment à Montréal. À partir d’une étude qualitative réalisée au sein d’une organisation à but non lucratif montréalaise, ce mémoire cherche à comprendre, au moyen d’observations de réunions d’équipe et d’entrevues, la manière dont les membres d’une OBNL gèrent leur face et leur figuration lors d’interactions interculturelles. Grâce à une analyse des actes de langage, les résultats de cette recherche révèlent que les tensions sont effectivement perçues comme inappropriées, mais que les participant.e.s utilisent des stratégies de figuration pour les diminuer ou les cacher et orienter leur figuration vers des objectifs transcendants. / In a society where many workers seek to engage in meaningful, mission-centered work, non-profit organizations (NPOs) are an increasingly attractive workplace. NPOs’ focus on employee engagement, participation and collaborative practices has sometimes meant that scholars have neglected the unique challenges of managing conflicts in this organizational context. Some researchers state that conflict is viewed as inappropriate for NPOs, whereas others argue that conflict is ubiquitous in all types of organizations. Although, the concepts of face and facework are often used to examine organizational and intercultural conflicts, few if any empirical studies have analyzed conflict in NPOs using this theoretical framework. As face and facework are co-constructed in and through interaction, this thesis focuses specifically on this “meso” analytic level, while also taking into account the intercultural dimensions of interactions. Based on observations of team meetings and interviews with team members of a culturally-diverse NPO in Montreal, this thesis aims to understand how members of the organization managed their face and facework during intercultural interactions. Relying on an analysis of speech acts, the results revealed that tensions are indeed viewed as inappropriate, but that participants used facework strategies that avoided or minimized them and oriented their facework to transcendent objectives.

L'objecte d'aquesta tesi ha estat el de defensar, a partir de l'exemple de l'obra de Francis Ponge, la plausibilitat referencial del llenguatge poètic, supòsit tot sovint rebatut a causa d'una radicalització del tòpic de l'autoreferencialitat poètica i per un planteig en suma restringit del concepte de la referencialitat. Però que un poema es constitueixi en tant que específica configuració significant no hauria d'implicar un menyscabament de la seva capacitat de representació, perquè si la poesia és creació mitjançant el llenguatge, tot allò que jutgem poètic no dimanaria sinó de la mateixa idiosincràsia de l'expressió verbal. Així doncs, hem argumentat, en primer lloc, l'efectivitat referencial del llenguatge ordinari per tal d'il·lustrar tot seguit la del poètic i, en particular, la que explicitaria el verb de Francis Ponge, atès que la poètica d'aquest autor es caracteritza, precisament, pel fet d'obstinar-se en una convençuda referencialitat: la que l'impel·lí a dirigir-se envers les coses; la que el dugué a submergir-se en les paraules. El objeto de esta tesis ha sido el de defender, a partir del ejemplo de la obra de Francis Ponge, la plausibilidad referencial del lenguaje poético, supuesto a menudo rebatido a causa de una radicalización del tópico de la autorreferencialidad poética y por un planteamiento en suma restringido del concepto de la referencialidad. Pero que un poema se constituya en tanto que particular configuración significante en modo alguno implicaría un menoscabo de su capacidad de representación, porque si la poesía es creación mediante el lenguaje, todo lo que juzgamos poético no dimanaría sino de la propia idiosincrasia de la expresión verbal. Así pues, hemos argumentado, en primer lugar, la efectividad referencial del lenguaje ordinario para ilustrar a continuación la del poético y, en particular, la que explicitaría el verbo de Francis Ponge, pues la poética de este autor se caracteriza, precisamente, por obstinarse en una convencida referencialidad: la que lo impulsó a dirigirse hacia las cosas; la que lo condujo a sumergirse en las palabras. / Starting from Francis Ponge's work, this PhD thesis argues for the referential plausibility of the poetic language. This assumption has often been contested partly because of the cliché of poetic self-referentiality and partly because the concept of referentiality has had an extremely restricted approach. This thesis suggests that, on the contrary, a poem's capability of becoming a particular and significant configuration does by no means imply a lessening of its representative force. Indeed: if poetry is creation by means of language, everything we judge as poetic stems solely from the idiosyncrasy of verbal expression. Thus, the thesis argues for the referential efficiency of ordinary language to then illustrate the referential efficiency of the poetic. It focuses in particular on the verbum as put forth by Francis Ponge. This author's poetics is best characterized by its persistence in a convinced referentiality, which leads Ponge to address things, and which takes him to sound the depths of words.