Over the course of the past decade the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) stations in Taiwan have become open air art galleries: with more prominent and frequent display of various artistic creations in stations, including interactive artworks. However, unlike the audiences in more meticulously choreographed exhibition contexts, those in stations are usually involuntary. New criteria for the creation and evaluation of artworks in these context are necessary to enhance the connection between the audience and the artwork, and to elicit meaningful experience via interactivity. This research aims to uncover the critical factors that can turn an indifferent passenger into an explorative participant, subsequently leading them to obtain meaningful experiences through interaction with computer-based interactive artwork. This research focuses on artworks that are permanently installed in the stations, with three case studies conducted in MRT stations forming the backbone of the research. Field observation was the first step in each case study, conducted in order to understand the fundamentals of the interactivity between the passengers and the artworks. This was followed by in-depth interviews with the passengers and three professional interview groups. A critical Analytical Framework was formed throughout the course of the research, identifying five engaging characteristics: Incentive, Transfer, Accessibility, Play, and Challenge. These five characteristics were eventually reapplied to re-examine the case studies and the content of the interviews with the professionals. The findings of this research articulate how the Analytical Framework can be adopted in future research intended to create the conditions for more meaningful art-interactions. This Analytical Framework will assist artists, designers and researchers in their pre-planning and follow up evaluations of the degree of engagement generated by computer-based interactive artworks displayed in transport hubs. The interest that the outcomes of this research has attracted in the field suggests that the framework could be extended to the examination of various computer-based interactive artworks in similar public contexts. In this context, the framework would play a valuable role in uncovering a more dynamic paradigm used to illustrate how meaningful experiences can evolve in similar public spaces.

In Western Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, collections were created as repositories of art, technology, ethnographic curiosities and natural wonders. Collecting first became a widespread practice among Italian humanists of the late Renaissance who, influenced by the work of Pliny, were driven by the desire to understand the world through the acquisition of universal knowledge. The physical configuration of such encyclopedic projects could be found in the museums created to organize and assimilate the explosion of knowledge experienced during this period.This thesis addresses the social significance of accumulating an encyclopedic collection in the form of a large, public art museum at the turn of the twentieth century, discusses the Rudolfine Kunstkammer contextualized in a broad history of collecting prior to and including the Renaissance and compares the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Kunstkammer in terms of how similarly or differently the collections communicated a combination of political, social, economic and cultural power.

Qatar is rapidly becoming an internationally renowned art hub not only through the construction of numerous museums and galleries, but also through the development of public art projects. I strongly believe that Qatar can be more than a place to work; it can be a space where art is part of public spaces. But how can we fully and effectively integrate art into public space in Qatar? How can Qatar be more than a place where we work, eat, sleep, and go to the mall from time to time? How can public art involve / benefit the community and local artists? Can it shift behaviors from less of an exclusive to more of an inclusive community? This research is an investigation on public art in order to enhance its development. Instead of commissioning internationally renowned public artworks that are massive and monumental, the objective of this research is to encourage social interaction between communities and local artists through participatory public art projects. This type of art engages users directly in the creative process, permitting them to be both co-actors and observers of the work. The outcomes tackle social engagement through public art interventions that trigger conversations and interactions among communities

[pt] Arquitetura da festa: neoconcretismo e arte pública no Rio de Janeiro é uma investigação sobre práticas artísticas contemporâneas que tomam a cidade do Rio de Janeiro como objeto. A partir da assimilação da arquitetura moderna nos anos 1950 e da relação dos artistas Amilcar de Castro e Hélio Oiticica com a cidade, este trabalho considera a desmaterialização do objeto de arte e sua transformação em ação estética como momento da ruptura neoconcreta. A participação do espectador diminui a distância entre público leigo e a arte contemporânea, que passa a assumir em sua prática a transitoriedade da vida na cidade moderna, expandindo o entendimento da arte pública contemporânea para além da ornamentação do espaço com esculturas e da produção de grafites. A realização de performances, happenings e ocupações estéticas em geral, reconfigura o espaço urbano através da suspensão de hábitos cotidianos e da participação do público, engendrando formas artísticas que apontam para a tradição carnavalesca carioca. / [en] Architecture of the festivity: neoconcretism and public art in Rio de Janeiro is an investigation about contemporary arts practices that takes the city of Rio de Janeiro as its object. With the incorporation of modern architecture and the relation between Amilcar de Castro and Hélio Oiticica with the city, from the 1950s on, this work considers the dissolution of the art object, and its transformation in an aesthetical action, as the moment of neoconcretism’s rupture. The spectators participation in building the artistic proposal diminishes the distance between the non specialized public and the contemporary art, which acquires in its practice, the transitoriness of life in the modern city, expanding the understanding of public art, nowadays, beyond the mere embellishment of the space with sculptures and graffiti. Performances, happenings and aesthetical occupations in general, reconfigure the urban space through the participation of the public, creating artistic forms that points to the cariocas carnivals tradition.

Esta pesquisa procura abordar as propriedades críticas da arte na constituição de esferas públicas, compreendendo os diferentes aspectos nos quais o conceito de público tem sido abordado no contexto artístico. Para tanto, concentra-se em propostas artísticas que lidam com espaços não institucionais da arte e procuram constituir seu público por meio de uma dinâmica da vida cotidiana, levando em consideração como as formulações artísticas e as críticas sobre o que se conceitua como Arte Pública contribuem para as intensas transformações neste campo. Como metodologia para examinar tais questões, realizei uma reflexão sobre a minha experiência enquanto artista simultaneamente a uma abordagem teórica. Assim, a estrutura da dissertação se divide em dois núcleos: o primeiro apresenta um recorte de meu percurso artístico, que problematiza a forma do texto enquanto mediador entre o leitor da dissertação e as propostas artísticas realizadas. O segundo, abrange uma contextualização teórica que discute a maneira pela qual as transformações das práticas artísticas, ao longo do século XX, abordam o conceito de público e esfera pública, tendo como referência Hannah Arendt, seguida de uma tentativa de aproximação de tais questões com o contexto brasileiro. O texto aqui apresentado é, por sua vez, uma conformação gráfica que pretende estabelecer visualmente as interconexões conceituais desse processo metodológico. / This research aims at an understanding of the critical attributes of art in the constitution of public spheres, with regard to the different aspects in which the concept of public has been approached in the artistic context. In order to do so, it focuses on artistic proposals that deal with non-institutional art spaces and that try to constitute their audiences through an everyday-life dynamic, taking into account how the artistic formulations and the criticism of public art contribute for the intense transformations in this field. As a methodology to approach these questions, I have developed an investigation about my own experience as an artist, parallel to a theoretical analysis. Thus, the structure of the thesis it is divided into two parts: the first one presents a portion of my artistic process, which problematizes text form as mediation between the reader of the thesis and the actual artistic proposals. The second one covers a conceptual contextualization, that discusses the way in which the transformation of artistic practices during twentieth century approaches the concept of public and public sphere, using as reference the work of Hannah Arendt, following an attempt to insert these questions within the Brazilian context. The presented text is a graphic organization that tries to establish the conceptual interconnections of this methodological process.

This dissertation explores the important but long forgotten career of the American artist Francis Davis Millet (1848-1912) and in the process calls into question several common understandings of turn-of-the-century American civic art. Through an examination of Millet’s civic art, including mural painting, illustration, and parades, I argue that Millet attempted to use the works he created for large audiences to help viewers navigate a common modern experience: the cultural diversity they encountered all around them. While many American artists making civic art during this period focused on allegorical scenes and emphasized whiteness, Millet’s images taught audiences about cultural diversity and even reflected a certain cultural sensitivity in their careful rendering of nonwhite subjects. In doing so, Millet employed the rhetoric of empiricism and engaged with his subject matter in a manner understood by his audience to be under the purview of science. This, I argue, aligned his project to the hierarchical understanding of “culture” and “evolution” presented by the anthropological community at the time, which argued for the superiority of white over nonwhite groups. In this way, though Millet attempted to move away from all-white subject matter and used global themes relevant to a modern moment, the underlying message he promoted served to reinforce notions of Anglo American hegemony.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how a larger Swedish municipality administer public art and to what extent the practical work relates to the objectives adopted in the municipal comprehensive plan. A qualitative method conducted by semi structured interviews in three tiers with a politician, an official, a representative of an artist organization and a local artist constitutes the base of the study. The interviews are also complemented with subject relevant literature and analysis of municipal documents to support the findings. Results show that the politician and the official have contrasting views on how to concretize the objectives. The discrepancy may cause a misconception of what to expect from public art investments. Further results indicate that municipal practice on the selection of artists, together with the strict bureaucratic framework, may have negative effect on the diversity of artistic expressions that is viewed as important for an attractive city. After years of poor public art management in the surveyed municipality, a foundation is at the time of writing being established to enable more strategic management. Overall the study presents challenges and opportunities about the future of public art management in a mid-sized Swedish municipality.

Esta pesquisa procura abordar as propriedades críticas da arte na constituição de esferas públicas, compreendendo os diferentes aspectos nos quais o conceito de público tem sido abordado no contexto artístico. Para tanto, concentra-se em propostas artísticas que lidam com espaços não institucionais da arte e procuram constituir seu público por meio de uma dinâmica da vida cotidiana, levando em consideração como as formulações artísticas e as críticas sobre o que se conceitua como Arte Pública contribuem para as intensas transformações neste campo. Como metodologia para examinar tais questões, realizei uma reflexão sobre a minha experiência enquanto artista simultaneamente a uma abordagem teórica. Assim, a estrutura da dissertação se divide em dois núcleos: o primeiro apresenta um recorte de meu percurso artístico, que problematiza a forma do texto enquanto mediador entre o leitor da dissertação e as propostas artísticas realizadas. O segundo, abrange uma contextualização teórica que discute a maneira pela qual as transformações das práticas artísticas, ao longo do século XX, abordam o conceito de público e esfera pública, tendo como referência Hannah Arendt, seguida de uma tentativa de aproximação de tais questões com o contexto brasileiro. O texto aqui apresentado é, por sua vez, uma conformação gráfica que pretende estabelecer visualmente as interconexões conceituais desse processo metodológico. / This research aims at an understanding of the critical attributes of art in the constitution of public spheres, with regard to the different aspects in which the concept of public has been approached in the artistic context. In order to do so, it focuses on artistic proposals that deal with non-institutional art spaces and that try to constitute their audiences through an everyday-life dynamic, taking into account how the artistic formulations and the criticism of public art contribute for the intense transformations in this field. As a methodology to approach these questions, I have developed an investigation about my own experience as an artist, parallel to a theoretical analysis. Thus, the structure of the thesis it is divided into two parts: the first one presents a portion of my artistic process, which problematizes text form as mediation between the reader of the thesis and the actual artistic proposals. The second one covers a conceptual contextualization, that discusses the way in which the transformation of artistic practices during twentieth century approaches the concept of public and public sphere, using as reference the work of Hannah Arendt, following an attempt to insert these questions within the Brazilian context. The presented text is a graphic organization that tries to establish the conceptual interconnections of this methodological process.

abstract: By focusing on photojournalists for LIFE and Ladies’ Home Journal, I investigate mental health care in state institutions located in America during the Great Depression and World War II immediately prior to the great deinstitutionalization that began in the 1950s. Relying upon scholars of medical humanities, social theory, disability studies, feminist studies, the history of psychiatry, and the history of art, I consider the iconography used to represent mental illness in photography during the first half of the twentieth century to explore the ways mentally ill individuals were presented as disordered and lacking humanity. I explore the didactic nature of both photography and film, emphasizing how the artists and directors imbued their mediums with medical credibility and authority. The photographs of Alfred Eisenstaedt, Jerry Cooke, and Esther Bubley from the 1930-40s reveal the state of mental health care in America during the Great Depression and World War II. I will investigate the stereotypes seen in representations of mental illness in photographs and how these depictions shaped and were in dialogue with popular films like Spellbound (1945), The Snake Pit (1948), The Three Faces of Eve (1957), and Marnie (1964). As a point of contrast to the images and films representing mental illness, I examine depictions of healthy people in mental health clinics during this time. Finally, I offer four examples of public, contemporary art, including House for a Gordian Knot (2013), Bloom (2013), 1000 Shadows (2013), and Faces of Mental Health Recovery (2013), that explore mental illness to illustrate the enduring legacy of the iconography and stereotypes represented in the photography and films explored in the first half of this dissertation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Art History 2019

This study investigates the politics of public space and social fear that work to create new scenarios for social and racial segregation in the processes of gentrification, such as privatization, fortification, and symbolism in public art in a major southern metropolitan city. The Public Art Program of Atlanta, Georgia is implementing public art projects at various sites, chosen based on being in depressed neighborhoods in the hope that it will bring new life to blighted urban areas and change the current use of space. Through an applied anthropological and multi-perspective approach, this study explores how middle and upper class residents currently regard their in-town neighborhood, surrounded by historic black universities and neighborhoods, public housing, and having a highly visible homeless population. Fortification, privatization, and residents’ response to the public art project speak profoundly to the processes of gentrification that are occurring there.