Art history is riddled with existential questions hiding just beneath the surface of the subject matter, that is, the physical objects being created. This is true for the centuries-old, as well as the contemporary, and picking apart the materiality of works of art can reveal the value of using art as a medium to understand and work through the concept of death in relation to our own human existence. This paper constitutes a thorough, material analysis of three works of art created (or finished) in the last 20 years, specifically focused on the topic of death. The works examined are Roman Opalka’s conceptual lifetime project 1 to Infinity, Morgan Quaintance’s video artwork Efforts of Nature and El Anatsui’s site-specific sculpture Fresh and Fading Memories in Venice, Italy. As well as materiality, contextual aspects of the works are considered for this analysis, this to help make concrete and coherent the narratives and stories that make up the works themselves. These narratives are what this paper is aiming to decipher.

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The aim of this thesis is to analyze the transnational family relationships of Czech pre-1989 political émigrés and post-1989 love/ economic migrants in Sweden and their homeland-based relatives, by looking at the practices via which these relationships are initiated and maintained and the role of materiality in these practices. The theoretical framework builds on the notion of “transnationalism from below” as a perspective which intersects migration and family studies, and posits the focus on material culture as an effective analytical tool. After setting the research in the context of Czech and Czechoslovak migration in the 20th century, qualitative analysis of life history narratives and ethnographic interviews is used to investigate the topic in question. Considering the influence of historical and individual factors, the study identifies the parallels and divergences in the two migrant groups’ practices of long-distance communication and mutual visits and in their attitudes to the role of materiality in transnational family relationships. The thesis concludes by stating that in contrast to the pre-1989 émigrés, the post-1989 migrants’ transnational connections with the homeland-based kin are more frequent and intensive. While material aspects play a more significant role in the post-1989 migrants’ transnational family relationships, material differences are more pronounced in the pre-1989 émigrés’ relationships. The historical circumstances of migration, the individuals’ perceptions of their own acts of migration as voluntary or forced and the question of whether or not they were given a license to leave by their homeland-based kin are said to have a significant impact on relationship initiation, the practices of relationship maintenance and the inherent role of materiality. The importance of individual-level enquiry of the migration experience is thus emphasized.

[ES] Esta investigación plantea interrogantes especulativos acerca de la posibilidad de crear un entorno que fomente la liberación de la atención en lugar de atraparla. Y explora de qué manera los dispositivos pueden desempeñar un papel en esta búsqueda. Para abordar estas interrogantes, vincula las prácticas materiales del arte contemporáneo con la emergente preocupación por la materialidad y por la gestión de la atención en el ámbito del diseño de interacción. De ese modo, esta investigación propone dos hipótesis. Primero, que el emergente «giro material» en el diseño de interacción ¿enfocado como está a la materialidad de las interacciones¿ ofrece una oportunidad para estudiar y liberar la atención. Segundo, que, mirando los objetos artísticos contemporáneos como dispositivos interactivos, descubriremos materialidades y prácticas materiales que tienen el potencial de liberar la atención. Para alcanzar estos objetivos, esta investigación combina teorías de los estudios de diseño con métodos provenientes de la sociosemiótica. Selecciona tres objetos artísticos contemporáneos: The Weather Project (2003) por Olafur Eliasson, Plexus (2022) por Camille Norment, y Pollinator Pathmaker (2021) por Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg. Los cuales se convierten en objeto de un análisis discursivo comparativo, que observa siete dimensiones: relacional, organizativa, sensorial, formal, interactiva, de uso y de calma. Esta investigación concluye identificando recurrencias discursivas y materiales entre los casos de estudio. Proporcionando así una base para futuras investigaciones en la intersección entre el diseño de interacción y las artes contemporáneas. Este enfoque busca enriquecer el repertorio técnico y referencial de los diseñadores de interacción. Así como promover la creación de dispositivos que gestionen la atención humana de una manera más liberadora. / [CA] Aquesta investigació planteja interrogants especulatius sobre la possibilitat de crear un entorn que fomente l'alliberament de l'atenció en lloc d'atrapar-la. I explora de quina manera els dispositius poden exercir un paper en aquesta cerca. Per a abordar aquestes interrogants, vincula les pràctiques materials de l'art contemporani amb la preocupació emergent per la materialitat i per la gestió de l'atenció en l'àmbit del disseny d'interacció. D'aquesta manera, aquesta recerca proposa dues hipòtesis. Primer, que l'emergent «gir material» en el disseny d'interacció ¿enfocat com està a la materialitat de les interaccions¿ ofereix una oportunitat per a estudiar i alliberar l'atenció. Segon, que, mirant els objectes artístics contemporanis com a dispositius interactius, descobrirem materialitats i pràctiques materials que tenen el potencial d'alliberar l'atenció. Per a aconseguir aquests objectius, aquesta investigació combina teories dels estudis de disseny amb mètodes provinents de la sociosemiòtica. Selecciona tres objectes artístics contemporanis: The Weather Project (2003), d'Olafur Eliasson; Plexus (2022), de Camille Norment, i Pollinator Pathmaker (2021), d'Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, que es converteixen en objecte d'una anàlisi discursiva comparativa que observa set dimensions: relacional, organitzativa, sensorial, formal, interactiva, d'ús i de calma. Aquesta recerca conclou identificant recurrències discursives i materials entre els casos d'estudi. Proporciona així una base per a futures investigacions en la intersecció entre el disseny d'interacció i les arts contemporànies. Aquest enfocament busca enriquir el repertori tècnic i referencial dels personal dissenyador d'interacció, així com promoure la creació de dispositius que gestionen l'atenció humana d'una manera més alliberadora. / [EN] This research raises speculative questions about the possibility of creating an environment that promotes the liberation of attention rather than capturing it. It explores how devices can play a role in this pursuit. To address these questions, it establishes connections between the material practices of contemporary art and the emerging concerns regarding materiality and attention management in interaction design. Thus, this research proposes two hypotheses. First, the emerging "material turn" in interaction design, focused on the materiality of interactions, offers an opportunity to study attention and set it free. Secondly, by viewing contemporary artistic objects as interactive devices, we can discover materialities and material practices with the potential to liberate attention. To achieve these objectives, this research combines design study theories with sociosemiotic methods. It selects three contemporary artistic objects: The Weather Project (2003) by Olafur Eliasson, Plexus (2022) by Camille Norment, and Pollinator Pathmaker (2021) by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg. These objects become the subject of a comparative discursive analysis, observing seven dimensions: relational, organizational, sensory, formal, interactive, usage-related, and calm-related. This research concludes by identifying discursive and material recurrences among the case studies, providing a foundation for future investigations at the intersection of interaction design and contemporary arts. This approach aims to enrich the technical and referential repertoire of interaction designers and promote the creation of devices that manage human attention in a more liberating manner. / Lingstuyl Araujo, A. (2024). Materialidades para liberar la atención. De las artes al diseño de interacción [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/203094

Mobility within the community is a necessary part of urban life for enhancing personal well-being and happiness. However, autistic individuals may not be the natural players in this context and have risks of using public transport, including getting disoriented, meltdown or shutdown, and being discriminated against in motion. This can be attributed to their difficulties in social communication and cognitive abilities brought about by autism. However, autistic individuals’ lived experience is rarely explored in the field. Thus, this study aims to examine their personal experiences and pay attention to how autism is enacted in public transport settings, and various encounters in a material environment. A two-month ethnographic study was used from the perspective of a micro-lens of a specific autistic adult individual. Through a narrative analysis of “key events” happening in the process of movements, the materiality of mobility by taking public transport for autistic individuals’ ordinary life was presented.  The findings and analysis are unfolding from three oriented dimensions. Firstly, I point out that as a material practical form of moving, encounters of the autistic participant with other passengers in a public moving space are merely a temporary gathering, shaping a relationship that avoids communication. Additionally, risks exist including information overload and being disoriented that show how autism is enacted in public transportation settings. Secondly, I suggest that as the material basis of the movements of taking public transport, the outside landscape presents the materialistic appearance of the modern city, bringing a sense of security as well as a channel for the autistic participant to learn new things, but at the same time the de-naturalization and modernity exacerbates the autistic one’s negative relation to the urban environment. Last, I demonstrate how the coercive nature of the technological objects intervenes in the originally pure tension between autistic individual and moving services, thus indirectly exposing the loss of discursive power and resources experienced by the participant.  Based on these findings, I draw on the discussions of the strategies and the built environment. From the standpoint of the former, it shows that prioritizing fast mobility has led to the neglect of actual needs for a higher standard of moving experience. This also indicates that the autistic one's resistance to movement often manifests as an attachment to the fixed and secure space of the home, forming the strategies of responsiveness and resistance. The latter suggests the ‘perspective turn’ to the social model of disability, realizing that being disabled might be a universal experience of a person, and everyone could be in a state of disability either permanently or temporarily. Therefore, optimizing the built environment of public transport not only benefits autistic individuals but also represents an investment in broader social well-being.

Architecture is visuality. Its object is what Norman Bryson has referred to as a screen of signs. "Between subject and the world is inserted the entire sum of discourses which make up visuality, that cultural construct, and make visuality different from vision, the notion of unmediated visual experience. Between retina and the world is inserted a screen of signs, a screen consisting of all the multiple discourses on vision built into the social arena." (Norman Bryson, from Practice; Architecture, Technique, and Representation, by Stan Allen) Architecture and representation are integral to the screen. How do we make architecture? Is the act of making architecture a montage? Can architecture be made through montage? What is the role of montage in an architecture for life and death? The process of making architecture is not a prescribed methodology with a predetermined outcome. Architecture, crafted by the hand of the architect, is a divine act of assemblage of subconscious allegorical thought, image, and tectonics. Through this art of assemblage, an architecture is born capable of instigating a narrative of metaphor and memory. Metaphorical narrative has the innate ability of summoning memory, and is critical in an architecture for life and death. Architecture is the only total sensory means of narrative. / Master of Architecture

Studien undersöker 14 djurfiguriner från Arne Furumarks utgrävning av den sena bronsåldersbosättningen Sinda på Cypern. Figurinerna detaljstuderas med syftet att vidare förstå Sindas socio-kulturella miljö. De grupperas utifrån liknande drag, för att sedan analyseras utifrån de influenser som genomsyrade tiden. Figurinerna jämförs även med de från andra platser för att se om det existerade ett lokalt formspråk i Sinda. Genomgående betraktas figurinerna utifrån teorierna att föremåls betydelse påverkas av sin kontext, och att ting och människa är sammanbundna. Gravkontexten betraktas som figurinernas primära kontext, i motsats till Furumarks tidigare slutsatser. Sindas figuriner skiljer sig från de på andra platser, i huvudsak genom deras naturtrogna drag, även om det finns förenande aspekter. Sindas förmodade fokus på djurhållning visar sig i vilka djur som är representerade; tjurarnas betydelse låg i huvudsak vid fertilitetssymbolism, och även de andra djuren har en koppling till jordbruk och djurhållning. Det påtagliga mykenska inflytande påverkade utformandet av den typ som alla Sindas figuriner tillhör, de så kallade buff painted bulls. / This study examines 14 animal figurines found in the late bronze age settlement of Sinda during Arne Furumark’s excavation. The figurines are studied in detail with the purpose of better understanding the socio-cultural environment of Sinda. The figurines are grouped by similar traits and is analyzed based on the influences and ideas of the time. They are also compared to figurines from other places, to see if there existed a locality in style in Sinda. Throughout, the figurines are understood from the theories of the human-thing relationship and that the context affect the purpose of an object. The grave context is understood as the objects’ primary context, as opposed to Furumarks earlier conclusions. Sinda’s figurines differ from those of other places, mainly due to their naturalistic traits, although there are uniting attributes. Sinda’s presumed focus on livestock is apparent in the represented animals; the bulls signified fertility, and the other animals depicted also had a connection to agriculture and livestock. The apparent Mycenaean influence affected the shaping and development of the type of figurine found in Sinda, the so-called buff painted bulls.

Si l’impact des Montréalaises dans la sphère publique sur les plans social et politique est bien connu, leurs actions sur le plan urbain le sont moins. Au tournant du XXe siècle, ces femmes, travaillant au sein de la Fédération nationale Saint-Jean-Baptiste (FNSJB) et du Montreal Local Council of Women (MLCW), usent de leur agentivité afin de justifier leurs interventions sur la matière urbaine. Suivant la théorie des sphères séparées, elles justifient leur place et leur utilité dans la sphère publique en s’appuyant sur leurs qualités maternelles « naturelles », en tant que gardiennes et ménagères du foyer. Les femmes de Montréal utilisent également les idéologies réformiste et nationaliste qu’elles jumèlent au maternalisme. C’est dans ce contexte qu’il se produit un glissement de la maison à la ville, où elles envisagent l’urbain, par sa matière, comme une maison pour les habitant.es de Montréal. Les projets qu’elles mettent en place ou auxquels elles participent en témoignent. Elles ouvrent des hôpitaux et des écoles et veillent à rendre disponible du logement pour la population vulnérable, à travers des foyers, des orphelinats et autres institutions. Elles veulent aussi rendre leur ville belle et propre, notamment en créant un réseau de parcs et de terrains de jeux, en gardant à l’œil les loisirs « immoraux » et en agissant sur la propreté et l’hygiène. Ces projets, qui sont autant de façons d’intervenir dans et sur l’urbain, témoignent de leurs préoccupations idéologiques, mais aussi du type de ville qu’elles veulent faire naître. Bien qu’inévitablement leur identité collective en tant que femmes blanches de l’élite les mène à poser un regard situé sur les autres Montréalaises et ainsi à mettre en place des projets qui peuvent nuire à ces dernières, la ville qu’elles envisagent est plus à l’écoute des besoins de la population. Elles parviennent ainsi à se doter d’un pouvoir sur la matière urbaine, pouvoir à la fois reconnu par la population qui bénéficie de leurs services, par les autres organisations réformistes et masculines, et même par les autorités municipales. En somme, leurs interventions sur la matière transforment non seulement le visage de la ville, mais aussi la manière dont la ville est pensée. / Although the role of Montreal women in enacting social and political change is well known, their impact on the urban landscape has not garnered enough attention. At the turn of the twentieth century, these women, working within the Fédération nationale Saint-Jean-Baptiste (FNSJB) and the Montreal Local Council of Women (MLCW), used their agency to justify interventions in urban matters. Influenced by the separate spheres doctrine, they defend their place and usefulness in the public sphere through their “natural” maternal qualities, as guardians and housekeepers of the home. Montreal women combine this maternalism with reformism and nationalism. In this context, a slip from house to city takes place, where, through materiality, the urban becomes a home for the city’s inhabitants. The projects that they create or participate in demonstrate this. They open schools and hospitals and work to make decent lodgings accessible for the city’s population, through homes, orphanages, and other institutions. They also work to beautify, clean and make their city a better place to live in, most notably through the creation of a network of parks and playgrounds, the surveillance of “immoral” leisure establishments, and by promoting urban cleanliness and hygiene. These projects that impact the built environment not only underline their ideological inclinations, but also the type of city that they envision. Although their collective identity as elite white women influences their view of other Montreal women, leading them to pursue projects that can have negative effects on the latter, the city they envision is one that is more in tune to the needs of the population. They ultimately succeed in securing for themselves power over urban matter, power that is both recognized by the people who benefit from their projects, but also by men in reformist organizations, and even in municipal government. Thus, their interventions on urban matter not only transform the city, but also the way we think of the city.

This qualitative study investigates how the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directives (CSRD) shape the decision-making processes that influence companies' supply chain design. Employing institutional theory to understand how different institutional contexts shape decision-making mechanisms. An abductive approach to feature both empirical observations and theoretical concepts. Moreover, with seven semi-structured interviews, the study aims to bridge the gap in understanding the impact of CSRD on the supply chain design of large Swedish-listed companies, as well as the potential opportunities they present. The study chose to emphasize double materiality and Scope 3 emissions through the report to provide an understanding of the foundation for these directives that influence the supply chain design. The study's findings, derived from semi-structured interviews, are organized around a conceptual model designed to illustrate the process and explain the impact of CSRD. This model depicts a four-step implementation process: Awareness of CSRD, Setting CSRD Strategies, Application of Set Strategies, and Supply Chain Impact. Furthermore, various factors including Institutional Pressure, Experience/Background, Institutional Barriers, Institutional Support, and Operational Challenges on CSRD Application influence the process. Through this model, the study makes four significant contributions toward addressing the gap in existing literature and the research question. The contributions are that strategic opportunities can arise from CSRD, institutions support rather than pressure, long-term realizations to successfully implement CSRD, and lastly, CSRD has and will impact supply chain design. This reveals that CSRD significantly drives tangible changes in the decision-making process regarding supply chain design, offering new perspectives on how companies perceive these directives in terms of operational opportunities emerging from sustainability transitions.

The main goal of the thesis is to provide its readers information about external audit and describe individual phases and audit procedures of auditing the financial statements. The practical part of the thesis is then focused on application of theoretical knowledge on practical example. Audit is performed for area of long-term tangible and intangible assets in the selected company. The conclusion of the thesis includes deficiencies identified during the audit and proposed solutions of these deficiencies.