A collection of creative texts written concurrently with the creation of the artist’s thesis exhibition. A range of written forms coexist - poetry, prose, and dialogue - to open up the narrative and emotional space of the visual work. The text emerges from the point-of-view of different voices, describing experiences and body states that hinge upon the physical and conceptual space of the pond. Amphibiousness offers a gateway to a state of becoming and transformation. Some of the following texts appear in video works by the artist.

Die Analyse vergleicht Installationen von Bruce Nauman und Olafur Eliasson ausgehend von der Fragestellung, wie sich die künstlerischen Performativitätsstrategien der 1960er/70er Jahren und die der zeitgenössischen Kunst in ihren Wirkungen und Effekten unterscheiden lassen. Dabei werden die Positionen der beiden Künstler als paradigmatisch für eine Ästhetik des Performativen angesehen. Neben dem Vergleich der Künstler steht die theoretische Auseinandersetzung mit der Diskursfigur der Performativität sowie deren methodischen Anwendbarkeit in der Kunstwissenschaft im Vordergrund. Während sich Installationen der 1960er/70er Jahre besonders durch die psycho-physische Einwirkung auf die Sinneswahrnehmung des Betrachters auszeichnen und durchaus Schockeffekte beim Betrachter hervorrufen, befasst sich die zeitgenössische Kunstpraxis vornehmlich mit visuellen und poetischen Effekten, die eine kontemplative Rezeptionshaltung des Betrachters einfordern. Bruce Nauman war es ein Anliegen, den tradierten Status des Kunstwerks als ein zu Betrachtendes, das sich durch Begriffe wie Form, Ursprung und Originalität fassen ließ, in Frage zu stellen und stattdessen eine reale leibliche Erfahrung für den Betrachter nachvollziehbar werden zu lassen. Künstlern wie Olafur Eliasson geht es in den künstlerischen Produktionen vor allem um die Wahrnehmung der Wahrnehmung sowie der Erzeugung von Präsenzeffekten. Mit dem Aufkommen solcher Verfahren wurde deutlich, dass performative Installationen nach anderen Beschreibungsformen verlangten und, dass diese durch eine Ästhetik des Performativen gefasst werden können. Wie genau vollzieht sich der Wandel von den performativen Strategien der 1960er/70er Jahre zu denen der zeitgenössischen Installationskünstlern? Verläuft dieser vom Schock zur Poesie? / This analysis compares installations by Bruce Nauman and Olafur Eliasson based on the following question: How can artistic performative strategies of the 1960s/70s and those of contemporary art be differentiated in their impact and effect. As part of the analysis, both artists’ positions are considered as being paradigmatic for an aesthetic of the performative. In addition to the comparison of the artists, we are confronted with the theoretical discussion about the discursive figure of performativity as well as its methodological applicability in the science of art. Installations of the 1960s/70s are mainly characterized by the psychological and physical impact on the viewer’s perception and their ability to evoke shock effects from the viewer. By contrast, contemporary art practice deals predominantly with visual and poetic effects, demanding a contemplative state of reception. It was one of Bruce Nauman’s intentions to question the traditional status of a work of art as an object that needs to be viewed and defined through concepts, such as form, origin and originality. Instead, he intended to allow the viewer to comprehend it as a real and physical experience. Artists such as Olafur Eliasson, on the other hand, aim in their artistic productions at producing effects of presence by perceiving the perception. Through the emergence of such procedures, it has become evident that performative installations require other forms of description and can be understood through an aesthetic of the performative. How exactly did performative strategies of the 1960s/70s change compared to works by contemporary installation artists? Did they in fact evolve from shock to poetry?

Meaning or sense [sens] is traditionally thought to be bestowed by a subject, or found ready-made within the world. Against these views Merleau-Ponty develops an account of the genesis of sense in which it arises from the mutually formative relation between an intentionally directed body and the perceptual levels of the world. In this thesis I explore the implications of Merleau-Ponty's theory of sense for the work of art, arguing ultimately that artistic sense arises from a reversible relation between artist and world, intention and process, historical works and artistic goals, viewer and work. This account deepens through an analysis of the ontology of the Flesh through which we find that sense, as the intentional being of the body and the world, is what constitutes subject and object in the first place. Through a folding back on itself, being senses itself and gives rise to a generative difference through which new sense can emerge in perception, expression and aesthetic experience. / Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) - Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Master’s, Ontario Graduate Fellowship (OGF)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Artes de Exu trata os objetos de arte não só pelos aspectos artísticos e sociológicos, mas também pelos aspectos que ligam as obras a Exu, além do enunciado. Como coisa contida na concepção, na execução e imbricada na própria história da obra. As obras escolhidas são: Tridente de NI (2006) de Alexandre Vogler e Exu dos Ventos (1992), de Mario Cravo Júnior. As obras contêm conflitos que envolvem a mídia, religiosos e políticos. A partir de pesquisas etnográficas é feita uma análise dos olhares que se cruzam na construção dos sentidos na disputa pelo espaço simbólico, considerando ainda o trânsito percorrido pelas obras entre a oficina, o espaço de exposição e a rua. Pertence ainda ao corpo das análises as referências na mídia impressa, forma de veiculação das imagens, apropriações e discursos. As artes de Exu se evidenciam no desenrolar dessas tramas, conforme os objetos artísticos oferecem um lugar para pensar na conciliação entre diferentes: entre a cruz e o tridente, entre Cristo e Exu e entre cristãos e religiões de matriz africana / Artes de Exu deals with art objects not only by its artistic and sociological aspects, but also by the aspects that connect these works to the divinity Exu. As if something is contained in the conception, execution and within the history of these works. The chosen objects are: Alexandre Voglers Tridente de NI (2006) and Mario Cravo Juniors Exu dos Ventos (1992). These works brought conflicts involving press, religion and politics. From ethnographic researches its built an analysis of the different meanings that have been crossed in the construction of senses that struggle for the symbolic space, also considering the movement between street and gallery, performed by these works. Its also present in Artes de Exu the references collected from the printed press, the image circulation, appropriations and discourses. Some works of Exu appear themselves in the upbringing of these conflicts, as the referred art objects offer the condition to think about the conciliation between different aspects such as: the cross and the trident, Christ and Exu and Christians and African related religions

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Artes de Exu trata os objetos de arte não só pelos aspectos artísticos e sociológicos, mas também pelos aspectos que ligam as obras a Exu, além do enunciado. Como coisa contida na concepção, na execução e imbricada na própria história da obra. As obras escolhidas são: Tridente de NI (2006) de Alexandre Vogler e Exu dos Ventos (1992), de Mario Cravo Júnior. As obras contêm conflitos que envolvem a mídia, religiosos e políticos. A partir de pesquisas etnográficas é feita uma análise dos olhares que se cruzam na construção dos sentidos na disputa pelo espaço simbólico, considerando ainda o trânsito percorrido pelas obras entre a oficina, o espaço de exposição e a rua. Pertence ainda ao corpo das análises as referências na mídia impressa, forma de veiculação das imagens, apropriações e discursos. As artes de Exu se evidenciam no desenrolar dessas tramas, conforme os objetos artísticos oferecem um lugar para pensar na conciliação entre diferentes: entre a cruz e o tridente, entre Cristo e Exu e entre cristãos e religiões de matriz africana / Artes de Exu deals with art objects not only by its artistic and sociological aspects, but also by the aspects that connect these works to the divinity Exu. As if something is contained in the conception, execution and within the history of these works. The chosen objects are: Alexandre Voglers Tridente de NI (2006) and Mario Cravo Juniors Exu dos Ventos (1992). These works brought conflicts involving press, religion and politics. From ethnographic researches its built an analysis of the different meanings that have been crossed in the construction of senses that struggle for the symbolic space, also considering the movement between street and gallery, performed by these works. Its also present in Artes de Exu the references collected from the printed press, the image circulation, appropriations and discourses. Some works of Exu appear themselves in the upbringing of these conflicts, as the referred art objects offer the condition to think about the conciliation between different aspects such as: the cross and the trident, Christ and Exu and Christians and African related religions

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo analisar o trabalho artís tico Projeto para a Ocupação de uma Casa, realizado dentro do programa de mestrado em Poéticas Visuais entre 2004 e 2005. Através desse trabalho pretendeu-se compreender e aprofundar o interesse no ambiente doméstico presente na produção que o antecedeu. Para isso, foi feita uma revisão crítica dessa produção, onde foram identificados os principais assuntos, recursos e problemas que formaram o interesse no ambiente doméstico. Essa revisão constitui a primeira parte desta dissertação. Na segunda parte, é analisado o Projeto. Partindo de um conjunto de referências prioritariamente literárias, uma série de objetos foi elaborada para ocupar cada um dos cômodos de uma casa escolhida, de modo que, ao percorrê-la, uma narrativa de caráter ficcional se formava. No texto, verificam-se as intenções e resultados de cada peça e ambiente; se elas cumpriram a meta de aprofundamento e entendimento da questão doméstica, as suas soluções formais, os sentidos que engendraram e o papel que desempenharam na constituição da narrativa. / The objective of this thesis is to analyze the art work Project for the Occupation of a House, which was developed within the masters program in Visual Poetics, between 2004 and 2005. The thesis has aimed at understanding and deepening the interest in the domestic environment that was present in the production that preceded it. In order to achieve this, a critical review of the production was carried out, in which the main subjects, resources and problems involved in the interest in the domestic environment were identified. This review constitutes the first part of the thesis. In the second part, the Project is analyzed. With the background of a number of primarily literary references, a series of objects was elaborated to occupy each of the rooms of a chosen house, in a way that as the house was visited, a narrative of fictional character was formed. In the text, the intentions and results of each piece and surrounding are checked: whether or not they have achieved the result of deepening the understanding of the domestic question, their formal solutions, the meanings that were generated, and the role they played in the cons titution of the narrative.

Your New Best Friends: An Exploration of Furby, Siri and Other Sociable Electronics is focused around interactive electronic systems and the effect these systems can have on our human psyches. My work focuses on two particular periods of development: the late 80’s to early 90’s, and the 2010’s to present. One period represents my childhood and the other my early adulthood. By comparing the two I can examine trends in the ways we engage with robotics and can better understand the ubiquity of electronically mediated interactions today. I utilize these new understandings to manipulate the capabilities of devices from both periods to create pieces that communicate care in a new way, sparking a moment of joy for the viewer while also increasing the awareness of the failings of devices when compared with true human interaction.

The purpose of this research is to try to understand and be aware of what happens when space is transformed and the body becomes space. Space understood as the place where bodies and movement are situated or inhabit, commonly characterised as unlimited, continuous or three-dimensional, as well as, on the other hand, a limited surface with common purposes. The physical body understood as that with mass, energy and three-dimensionality, which does not distinguish between human and non-human, material and living. The manipulation of bodies as the action of manipulating with the hands, with other parts of the body or even with another instrument, is the idea of distorting reality, of transforming and transposing it. Through manipulation, or rather movement, space is changed and dialogues and stories are created. Since the concept of manipulation focuses on what the person wants to achieve, creating a hierarchy between bodies, and the concept of transformation can be understood as the exchange or dialogue between bodies, where everyone offers and receives, the term manipulation will be changed to transformation. Transforming space as a horizontal place where bodies and movement inhabit; understanding bodies as that human and non-human, material and living, and movement as the means by which they dialogue with each other and with space. The transformation of space as a leap from what has so far been known as the manipulation of objects, with the aim of understanding the relationship between bodies and space as a circus discipline through movement as dialogue. As an aerial harness dance artist working with suspension, distortion of reality and shifting perspectives between the vertical and horizontal plane, I seek to understand what happens to space when it is transformed through a series of methodologies and methods. The methodologies employed focus on the practice of circus and dance, spatial architecture, the art therapy and the adaptation of bodies as pedagogy. In terms of methods, there is a difference between those that already exist, such as the study of concepts and other projects, and others that emerge as a result of the research. The latter are new methods, concepts such as movement as dialogue, horizontality as a multidimensional space [the breaking down of boundaries between human - non-human and space – body], limitation and control as possibility, vulnerability as a potential, bodies as spaces; as well as pause, adaptation, installation and observation as means to understand the transformation of space and the body as space. Treat this study within the field of research of new materialism with the aim of developing the potential of interconnectedness, understood as that which reciprocally relates bodies occupying a space, and spaces occupying a body; the means of expression that arises between body and space; and the breaking down of barriers inside, such as between living and material bodies, space and body, or the human being and everything else; within the circus with the aim of transforming the space.

No description available.

“Between Floors: The Ups and Downs of Mediated Narrative” and the accompanying creative remediation project, “Between Floors: Love and Other Blood Related Diseases,” meld theory and practice of print with electronic literature and installation art. I argue that as the medium changes, the narrative is transformed. The narrative can be reconstructed and pieced together as the reader or viewer becomes increasingly involved, even embodied within the work. This embodiment is what Nathaniel Stern calls “Moving and thinking and feeling” (1) and can result in a more direct emotional experience. The form, structure, and medium (sjužet) rely on authorial intention, yet as a narrative becomes more interactive and experiential the feedback loop shifts, placing meaning, message, and construction of narrative (fabula) between media and reader/viewer. This necessarily complicates the notion of authorship, yet within an embodied space, such as the installations included in this analysis, there is a potential for greater emotional understanding between author/artist and reader/viewer. In the print story “Between Floors: Love and Other Blood Related Diseases,” the protagonist, June, visits her father in a hospital after a tragedy and ends up spending the rest of her life there. The metaphor of an elevator throughout the print, electronic, and installation versions furthers the trapped, claustrophobic feeling of the narrative as well as the ups and downs of relationships and grief. Pieces of the narrative remain recognizable through the electronic literature and installation, yet as the reader/viewer is increasingly immersed in the narrative, it becomes his or her own—a more subjective and overwhelming emotional experience. The elevator metaphor extends through the analysis—an emblem of traditional linear narratives and the narrative arc and technological immersion. The analysis explores theories of language, medium, authorship, nonlinearity, interactivity, and embodiment through existing narrative, new media, and installation theorists such as Peter Brooks, Marshall McLuhan, and Nathaniel Stern. This dissertation and to an extent, experiment, uses theory and practice to illuminate narrative using a recombination of existing theory and an original remediation in three distinct forms, to further the understanding of the nature of narratives, media, authors, and readers, while blurring boundaries between disciplines.