The presented project utilises immersive digital technology to materialise the surrounding space of the human body for the development of sculptural wearables in fashion design. By considering Grosz’s framework on the individual’s personal surrounding space as the theoretical foundation for interpreting body-space interactions, the experimental practices in this project use the designer’s body across the digital and physical realms to transform the surrounding space into spatial bodies. These spatial bodies become wearable constructions in tangible materials, i.e., reused lace, as extensions of the self, showcasing one’s surrounding space.

Den här studien har sin utgångspunkt i ett posthumanistiskt perspektiv – ett perspektiv som försöker få syn på materialiteten och dess roll i pedagogiska praktiker. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur whiteboardtavlan används i förskolan och vilka relationer den tycks producera. Som insamlingsmetod användes deltagande videoobservation, som analysmetod - Aktör-nätverksteori (ANT). Observationerna gjordes på en storbarnsavdelning på en kommunal förskola i nordvästra Stockholm. Utifrån Aktör-nätverksteorin kunde tavlan förstås som en materiell-diskursiv aktör som ihop med andra aktörer ingår i olika nätverk i ett ständigt flöde av kopplingar och översättningar. Men den kan också förstås som en ”effektskapare” bortom de effekterna som den var tänkt att bidra med – och där många överraskande effekter träder fram i den fria leken. Om whiteboardtavlan på samlingen begränsar barnens möjligheter att agera fritt och bidrar till att en maktrelation förskolläraren-barn skapas och upprätthålls, så är det helt andra roller som gäller i den fria leken: tavlan skapar möjligheter till lärande och kreativitet, inbjuder till lek och samarbete och blir en mötesplats för olika barnkonstellationer. Den framgångsrika relationen barn-tavlan skulle dock inte varit möjlig utan andra aktörer i nätverk: pennor, suddborsteen, pennfacket och barnens fingrar/händer. Även kamrat- och mediakulturer i form av Angry Birds träder fram i den fria leken och kan ses som en diskursiv aktör som får allt mer inflytande i förskolans praktiker. Tavlan agens i den fria leken kan förstås som en viktig ”effekt” som inte är särskilt uppmärksammad av pedagogerna. Med whiteboardtavlan som aktör i rummet blir både barn och pedagoger något annorlunda.

In this thesis the making and experiencing of the exhibition “Sundi Mongo – A village in Congo” is examined through ethnographical interviews with former and present employees at the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm. The interviews, together with archive material concerning the exhibition, are analyzed with discourse theory in order to examine how discourses of defining Africa construct application and interpretation of the exhibition pieces. A significant element is dislocation, where the exhibition has been standing since 1983 and the meaning of the exhibition is now expressed as changed. This change of meaning is connected to the change of exhibition ideals and changes in the perception of the exhibition model; a real village called Sundi Mongo, located in southwestern Congo. Change and continuity also concerns interpretations of the museum’s cooperation with the Swedish Missionary Association and affective practices surrounding the exhibition pieces and objects in the museum’s collections. The construction of interpretations of the exhibition pieces and objects are also analyzed with the concept of fantasy.

This thesis is about information sharing in interdisciplinary research practices. It reports one conceptual and three empirical studies. The studies have been conducted through focusing on the field of design research, and in particular on a Nordic network of design researchers. From a practice-based perspective, the exploration of the study object oscillates between three nested and interconnected frames. The main contribution of this thesis is that it illustrates how activities of information sharing not only contribute to, but actually play a central role in the shaping of the practice of design research. It is shown how information sharing works as a contributor to the development, maintenance and shaping of practices in 1) design research as it is conducted in the Nordic network; 2) in the field of design research; and 3) within interdisciplinary research. Without losing sight of the empirical material, the theoretical analysis has made it possible to illuminate the connection between activities of sharing and the enactment of a discipline. Through analysis and discussion of the four studies as a whole, the reciprocal relationship between information sharing and the area of design research is elucidated. It is shown how information sharing, as it emerges in this interdisciplinary practice, functions as a unifying force towards the probable goal of establishing a discipline. / <p>Academic dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information Science at the University of Borås to be publicly defended on Friday 25 April 2014 at 13:00 in lecture room E310, the University of Borås Allégatan 1, Borås.</p>

Mainstream cinema is to an ever-increasing degree deploying digital imaging technologies to work with the human form; expanding on it, morphing its features, or providing new ways of presenting it. This has prompted theories of simulation and virtualisation to explore the cultural and aesthetic implications, anxieties, and possibilities of a loss of the ‘real’ – in turn often defined in terms of the photographic trace. This thesis wants to provide another perspective. Following instead some recent imperatives in art-theory, this study looks to introduce and expand on the notion of the human figure, as pertaining to processes of figuration rather than (only) representation. The notion of the figure and figuration have an extended history in the fields of hermeneutics, aesthetics, and philosophy, through which they have come to stand for particular theories and methodologies with regards to images and their communication of meaning. This objective of this study is to appropriate these for film-theory, culminating in two case-studies to demonstrate how formal parameters present and organise ideas of the body and the human. The aim is to develop a material approach to contemporary digital practices, where bodies have not ceased to matter but are framed in new ways by new technologies.

Video meetings are a regular part of work at Swedish television’s editorial for programming in Swedish Sign Language (SVT Teckenspråk). In the process of creating television programming in Swedish Sign Language, SVT employees communicate with and through technologies. This ethnographic exploration of video meetings at SVT Teckenspråk presents how deafness is reconfigured between hearing, interpreters, and video meeting technology within the context of a public service organisation. Concepts such as technology, meetings, organisations, and visuality are re-formulated from within the context of SVT Teckenspråk and interpreted using feminist and queer theory frameworks. These re-examined concepts are embedded in the history of SVT Teckenspråk and presented as part of the everyday way of holding video meetings. Technologies and people become intertwined and co-constitutive as moments of video meetings are subsequently understood not as human-technology ‘interactions’ but as intra-actions. Using empirical examples of video meetings collected during fieldwork, this thesis evinces how the materialities of video meeting technology relate to the ways in which deafness is or is not enacted, embodied, and co-constituted. Deafness is accordingly framed not as disability, but as a way of being - one that is founded on a different language, culture, and way of seeing. This emically-derived notion of being deaf impacts understandings and acts of video meetings at SVT Teckenspråk. Yet it is through people’s material intra-actions with technologies that notions of deafness emerge which run counter to ways of being deaf which SVT Teckenspråk employees’ (hearing and deaf alike) work hard to establish. Once technologies and the meanings co-created through people’s intra-actions with them are made visible, these same technologies disable rather than enable; making difference rather than making a difference. / Videomöten är en del av vardagsarbetet på SVT Teckenspråk där anställda kommunicerar via och med hjälp av teknologier i skapandet av television på teckenspråk. Denna etnografiska utforskning omkring videomöten på SVT Teckenspråk presenterar hur dövhet omkonfigureras i en sammanvävning mellan hörande, tolkar, samt videomötesteknik inom en public service organisation. Begrepp som teknologi, möten, organisationer, samt visualitet omformuleras med SVT Teckenspråk som sammanhang och tolkas sedan med hjälp av feministiska och queer teoretiska ramverk. Dessa begrepp analyseras ur ett historiskt perspektiv inom SVT Teckenspråk samt omanalyseras som en vardaglig del av videomöten. Teknologi och människa sammanvävs och omformar varandra i videomöteshändelser vilka därefter uppfattas som intra-aktioner snarare än människa-dator interaktioner. Genom empiriska uppslag på videomöten uppsamlade under fältarbete påvisar denna avhandling hur videomötesteknik och dess materialitet relaterar till de sätt som dövhet kan utövas, uttryckas, samt uppformas. Dövhet uppfattas som ett sätt att vara istället för som ett funktionshinder. Ett sätt som bygger på ett unikt språk, kultur, samt världssyn. Detta är SVT Teckenspråk anställdas sätt att förstå och vara i världen och kallas för ‘emic’. Utifrån ett emic perspektiv uppstår ett annat synsätt på dövhet och en ny förståelse av videomöten på SVT Teckenspråk. Trots detta uppstår genom materiella intra-aktioner med videomötesteknik uppfattningar omkring dövhet som strävar mot den syn som SVTs anställda (döva såsom hörande) medvetet etablerat. Istället för att införa jämställdhet och tillgänglighet framställer intra-aktioner med videomötesteknik olikheter mellan döva och hörande. De skapar skillnad istället för att göra skillnad. / <p>QC 20161209</p> / Drivers and Barriers for Mediated Meetings / Disabling Technology? Access and Inclusion in the Deaf/Hearing Workplace

The Thesis Project aimed to cultivate understanding about the interrelationships between humans and materials in the context of consumerism, sustainability, and time, through helping people learn about woodworking materials and tools,  develop a more profound respect for them, and understand how one interacts with them. Incorporating repair culture and material education into a collaborative service design, the author reflected on his sustainability as a woodworker to enable others to connect with materials and tools in a meaningful way. The Project followed a nonlinear process, allowing the author to move back and forth to reflect, refine and progress from idea to form, and back to idea, while respecting his tangible need for medium and method. By researching scores of different woodworking tools found in an antique tool box received as a gift, the author defined their purpose in woodcraft and their connection with people they served and society as a whole. Inspirations for the Project consisted of woodworking, time, and social, environmental and economic stability, in addition to various types of design: service, collaborative, circular, and critical. Four different processes – prototyping, service blueprint, advertising and service experiences – were employed to respond to the research question. Key results included the provision of over 20 services to 15 individuals through a simple design process. By helping people to fix their objects in an ongoing conversation about sustainability with regard to material use and consumption, tools and practices were used effectively to change interrelationships between people and materials. Through the services and ‘hands-on conversations’, many began to understand and appreciate the possibilities of tools to revitalize old furniture and increase their value. Some people used tools themselves to resolve their problems, with all participants showing appreciation for the services, while expressing commitment to use, rather than discard, the objects. A few of the thousands contacted through social media, responded to calls for assistance, with the Project concluding that the process has potential, but without a business model, it would be difficult to sustain. Questions regarding the future included: What type of business could harness opportunities, offering viable employment? How many would need to be involved? How great is the demand for services? Which policies or regulations must be in place for a successful practice? The author was cognizant of the need for additional skills and knowledge to pursue the challenge of operationalizing the services provided through a sustainable livelihood.

L'Art Brut est un concept inventé par le peintre français Jean Dubuffet en 1945 pour désigner des œuvres faites par des artistes non professionnels, autodidactes et isolés en contextes rural, psychiatrique voire carcéral. De 1947 à 1976, avec l'aide de la Compagnie de l'Art Brut, il collecta, présenta et documenta ces œuvres dans le but de remettre en question le goût et les valeurs de son époque. Faites le plus souvent à partir de médias non achetés dans des commerces d'art, leur matérialité questionne les catégories artistiques, les pratiques conventionnelles de l'art, ainsi que l'accrochage muséal.Cette thèse s'attache à montrer en quoi le processus créateur, les matériaux, et les dimensions des œuvres collectées par Dubuffet et ses compagnons ont servi à construire un « mythe », au sens barthien du terme, dans le contexte de l'après Seconde Guerre mondiale. Nous montrons que les matériaux « pauvres », les formats extrêmes – très petits, très grands, informes – ont supporté l'idée fantasmatique d'un art « brut », « hors-norme », « anti-culturel » et « autre ». Notre travail réinscrit, d'autre part, le projet de l'Art Brut dans l'histoire des avant-gardes dans le but d'en montrer la spécificité et la portée politique. Nous mettons enfin en avant en quoi les formats des œuvres collectées ont amené à une réforme de l'espace muséal. La Collection de l'Art Brut, ouverte en 1976 et conçue spécifiquement en fonction de la matérialité des œuvres, se présente comme un modèle muséal à part. / Jean Dubuffet coined the term Art Brut in 1945 to designate artworks made by untrained and non-professional artists. Between 1945 and 1976, with the help of the Compagnie de l'Art Brut, he constituted and exhibited an important collection made of thousands of artworks – the Collection of Art Brut, which was donated to Switzerland in 1976. Art Brut artworks were collected in psychiatric hospitals, rural contexts, or jails. Some are made with second-hand materials, most of them differ from the academic canons, and their uncommon aspect – very large, very small, and formless – questions the artistic norms. This research demonstrates that the materiality of these artworks has been the support of an avant-gardist project and a myth in the context of the post Second World War. They serve Dubuffet's subversive discourse and his fantasy to transform the art and the society of his time through artworks made outside the "cultural" sphere. They also serve the myth of an art « poor », « humble », « natural » and « raw ». In addition to that, this thesis highlights how the sizes of these artworks have changed museum space and display. Unprecedentedly, the Collection de l'Art Brut was conceived according to the materiality of artworks, leaving space to welcome rolls of more than 5 m.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T14:43:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maristela Carneiro.pdf: 8124302 bytes, checksum: 56cc35354bdb6a901cb7676c4b500655 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-27 / Fundação Araucária de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Paraná / This research proposes to investigate the constitution of alterity representations in funerary constructions in the São José Municipal Cemetery, since its foundation in Ponta Grossa (Paraná/Brazil), in 1881, to the present day, based in selected material and symbolic elements. With the aid of technological tools in georeferencing and chartogram generation, the theoretical and methodological perspective was built in the interdisciplinary angle, allowing views both from a high standpoint and from eye level. It is certain that cemeterial symbology intends the expression or transmission of cultural values, for the establishment and reaffirmation of identities and social relations. The plurality of these values, expressed by the funerary spaces and by the art and history contained in there, is profoundly related to the different ways found to deal with the question of death itself. / Esta pesquisa se propôs a investigar a constituição das representações de alteridade nas construções tumulares presentes no Cemitério Municipal São José, desde a sua instituição em Ponta Grossa (Paraná/Brasil), em 1881, até os dias atuais, a partir dos elementos materiais e simbólicos selecionados. Com o auxilio de ferramentas tecnológicas de geo-referenciamento e geração de cartogramas, a perspectiva teórica e metodológica se construiu no viés interdisciplinar, permitindo olhares do alto e em primeiro plano. É certo que a simbologia cemiterial objetiva a expressão ou transmissão dos valores culturais, para o estabelecimento e reafirmação das identidades e relações sociais. A pluralidade destes valores, expressos pelos espaços funerários e pela arte e história ali contidas, está profundamente relacionada às diferentes maneiras encontradas para se lidar com a própria questão da morte.

Cette thèse interroge et analyse comment la lumière, en tant que phénomène naturel et physique, est devenue un phénomène proprement pictural. Si la lumière, qu’elle soit naturelle ou artificielle, est la force mettant en acte la visibilité du monde pour la majorité des êtres vivants, elle est également à l’origine des couleurs qui sont les effets de son action spécifique sur l’œil. En interagissant directement avec la matière, la lumière produit la couleur et penser philosophiquement le concept de lumière dans l’art pictural revient donc tout d’abord à comprendre le cheminement des voies propres de la couleur qui fut progressivement reconnue comme la spécificité même de la peinture. Intrinsèquement liées au sein de toute expérience perceptive, lumière et couleur impliquent un processus physiologique dont les paradigmes évoluèrent au fil des siècles. La couleur révèle un monde visible dont l’origine lumineuse échappe pourtant à la perception et les peintres œuvrèrent à dégager l’origine invisible du visible : la lumière, essence de la visibilité. Le sujet percevant, découvert comme l’agent actif de l’expérience optique impliqua une transformation radicale et le monde du visible, qui constituait jusqu’alors une forme privilégiée de connaissance, fut reconsidéré en fonction des caractéristiques subjectives de l’œil. En devenant objet de connaissance, la vision pénétra ainsi dans le champ de la philosophie et des sciences expérimentales. C’est plus particulièrement à travers l’analyse de l’œuvre de Mark Rothko et de celle de Pierre Soulages que nous orienterons la seconde partie de notre recherche tant le concept de lumière y rencontre de riches problématiques esthétiques qui entrent en résonance avec les paradigmes artistiques propres à l’histoire de la peinture. / This doctoral thesis suggests questionning how light, a natural and physical phenomenon has also become a concept in the field of painting. Light, artifical or natural, is not only the mere driving force behind vision for the majority of beings in this world, it is also at the origin of colors, which result from the action of light on the eye. By interacting directly with the material, light produces color. Therefore, to think philosophically the concept of light in pictorial art would thus means first to understand the inner ways of color, which have been gradually recognized as the true specificity of painting. Intrinsically connected within any perceptive experience, light and color involve a physiological process paradigm which evolved in the course of the centuries. Color reveals a visible world whose bright origin still cannot be grasped by our perception, and painters have worked to release the invisible origin of the visible: light, the essence of the visibility. The role of the perceiving subject is then profoundly transformed as it becomes regarded as the active agent of the optical experience. The visible world, thus far a privileged shape of knowledge, is reconsidered according to the subjective characteristics of the eye. By becoming an object of knowledge, vision became associated to the fields of philosophy and experimental sciences. Most precisely, since the concept of light meets in their works such rich aesthetic problems which resonate with the artistic paradigms that belong to the history of painting, it is throughout an analysis of Mark Rothko’s and Pierre Soulages’s work that the research work has been focused in a second part.