Studium chování opticky zachycených částic nám umožňuje porozumět základním fyzikálním jevům plynoucím z interakce světla a hmoty. Předkládaná práce podává vysvětlení zesílení tažné síly působící na opticky svázané částice ve strukturovaném světelném poli, tzv. tažném svazku. Ukazujeme, že pohyb dvou opticky svázaných objektů v tažném svazku je silně závislý na jejich vzájemné vzdálenosti a prostorové orientaci, což rozšiřuje možnosti manipulace hmoty pomocí světla. Následně se práce zaměřuje na levitaci opticky zachycených částic ve vakuu. Představujeme novou metodologii na charakterizaci vlastností slabě nelinearního Duffingova oscilátoru reprezentovaného opticky levitující částicí. Metoda je založena na průměrování trajektorií s určitou počáteční pozicí ve fázovém prostoru sestávajícím z polohy a rychlosti částice a poskytuje informaci o parametrech oscilátoru přímo ze zaznamenaného pohybu. Náš inovativní postup je srovnán s běžně užívanou metodou založenou na analýze spektrální hustoty polohy částice a za využití numerických simulací ukazujeme její použitelnost i v nízkých tlacích, kde nelinearita hraje významnou roli.

Uppsatsen behandlar konst och visuella kulturer inom den evangeliska brödraförsamlingen, eller herrnhutismen, i Västsverige ca 1740-1810. Porträtt, kyrkomålningar samt dekorationstryck har studerats. Stora delar av den herrnhutiska ideologin och estetiken importerades mellan församlingsgrupperna, och de västsvenska objekten är analyserade med hjälp av framförallt tyska exempel. Ett nyckelord är passager – passager mellan ljus och mörker, ord och kött, död och liv, inre och yttre – vilka gestaltades genom såret, mandorlan, blomman, ögat och stjärnan. En styrka i bildkonsten var just mångtydigheten i dessa religiösa symboler, då de tillät betraktaren att läsa in symboliska betydelser utifrån den egna kontexten.  Syftet är att diskutera och belysa herrnhutismen ur ett helhetsperspektiv gällande estetik, ideologi och social kontext, vilket harmonierar med hur de själva uppfattade livet: Inom ramen för det tidigmoderna allegoriska paradigmet såg man helheter och samband i det stora och i det lilla. Genom att studera objekten utifrån uppfattningen om att helheterna existerar har jag velat öppna upp för och möjliggöra en tolkning av dess visuella kulturer utifrån den kontext i vilken de själva verkade. Synsättet påminner mycket om dagens systemteori och uppsatsen diskuterar också dessa likheter utifrån begreppen grace och integration. / The aim of this study is to examine the symbolism in art objects and visual culture belonging to the Moravian Church in western Sweden during the 18th century. The objects chosen are portraits from Gothenburg, church art from the countryside, as well as printed decorations in books and church service agendas. The Moravian church is one part of a general transition from an early modern society, through Enlightenment, towards romantiscism and secularization. The Moravian church was also to a high degree an international movement. Therefore the objects analyzed here have been related to examples from the international Moravian church, as well as to local examples without any obvious association to the community. One aspect of the determinant ideology of the Moravian church was their view of how practical life, the religious ideology and estetic ideals together formed aspects of a whole. Life was not seen as fragmented in parts. Instead its different forms of expression were all regarded as ways for the Divine to express itself, as well as ways for the people to experience and approach the Divine, an approach that goes within the frame of ”Ordo Salutis”. This ability to experience life as a whole is also a scientific approach used in the present study to interpret their art and symbolism. The study shows how a number of symbols (the eye, the star, the wound, the mandorla and the flower) all are aspects aiming to point towards the one main transition – the one between light and dark, life and death.

This thesis deals with portraiture of roman emperors on their statues and coins during the 3rd and 4th century. It begins with accession of military emperors and ends by Constantinian dynasty. The thesis tries to describe the changes in roman imperial portrait and determine its clearer roadmap. Main influences for roman imperial portraits are found together with milestones within the roadmap. It primarily focuses on individual attributes in the portrait and attempts to define ability to identify emperors themselves. Also, it tries to describe the extent to which these attributes influence the ability to identify the emperor on the statue or on the coin. Moreover, the thesis aims to connect imperial propaganda and portrait of the emperor. Finally, the thesis contains brief historical overview of this era. KEYWORDS: Roman Empire, Roman coins, Roman sculpture, portrait, the Military Emperors, crisis, Gallic Roman Empire, principate, dominate, tetrarchy, Gallienus, Aurelianus, Probus, Diocletianus, Constantinus, Julianus Apostata

The main topic of this diploma thesis resides in the comparison of the expressionist painting and the existential literature in connection with the motif of screaming. Despite the temporal and geographical distance of the two artistic movements (we are focused more profoundly in the German and Austrian expressionist painting, while the main literary work of this thesis, the existential novel The Fall comes from the great mind of a French writer, Albert Camus), the research aspires to prove the interconnection of the two movements and their common tendencies, based on the analyses of chosen themes, motifs, technics, and structure. We propose the motif of screaming as the main part of the comparison, as it constitutes an essential axis of the occidental art, as well as the crucial contact point between Expressionism and Existentialism. In spite of the bountifulness of the various interpretations this motif offers, we have chosen only selected ideas and concepts. As far as the formal structure is concerned, the work is divided into three chapters, where the first two are focused on the origins, a brief characterization of the main point of the two esthetics. Furthermore, they describe their related counterparts of the visual arts and literature (the Expressionist literature and Existential painting...

The author of this thesis endeavours to create a comprehensive portrait of Hanuš Bartoň, a Czech contemporary composer, pianist, and academic educator. The thesis is focused on his compositions and his contribution as a pianist and a teacher with the aim to establish a practical source of information. This source ought to fulfil both its musicological potential, especially concerning the analysis of Czech classical music of the end of the 20th century up till now, as well as its potential in the field of education, noting Bartoň's works for children and his academic pedagogical contribution. The thesis is systematically organised into several parts. The main body starts with the composer's biography. The attention then moves to his compositions, which are systematically presented and commented on from the perspective of Bartoň's musical style development and its tendencies. His works adhere to the postmodern ideal considering the fact that the music deals in a specific way with the synthesis of stylistic elements. The scope of his oeuvre is relatively wide. It mostly encompasses instrumental pieces, although there are many others including, for example, musical-dramatic works, vocal pieces, electroacoustic music, and music for the theatre. The individual compositions and their performances are...

This dissertation contains two parts: Part I, which discusses the methods and means by which poets achieve originality within ekphrastic works; and Part II, Recklessness and Light, a collection of poems. Poets who seek to write ekphrastically are faced with a particular challenge: they must credibly and substantially build on the pieces of art they are writing about. Poems that fail to achieve invention become mere translations. A successful ekphrastic poem must in some way achieve originality by using the techniques of the artist to credibly and substantially build on the art. The preface discusses three ekphrastic poems: W.H. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts,” John Ashbery’s “Self-Portrait in Convex Mirror,” and Larry Levis’ “Caravaggio: Swirl and Vortex.” In order to invent, each of these poets connects time within the paintings to time within the poem. The poets turn to techniques such as imprinting of historical context, conflation, and stranging of perspective to connect their work with the paintings. I examine these methods of generating ekphrastic poems in order to evaluate how these poets have responded to one another and to consider emerging patterns of ekphrastic poetry in the twentieth century.

Anna Riwkin fotograferade Elise Ottesen-Jensen i över tre decennier. Uppsatsens syftar till att reda på vad Riwkins fotografier av Ottesen-Jensen visar, hur de använts och hur Ottesen-Jensen tagit form som politisk aktör och subjekt genom dessa fotografier. Genom att undersöka ett material utvalt efter omfattande arkivsök, tidningssök och genomgång av litteratur har en bild av – och berättelse om – Ottesen-Jensen tagit form. Samarbetet med Riwkin har samtidigt synliggjorts och ett dubbelt aktörsskap trätt fram. Berättelsen om Ottesen-Jensen har strukturerats genom ett antal motivtyper som jag benämner talaren, lyssnaren, resenären, pedagogen och ordföranden. Uppsatsen synliggör hur den berättelsen tog form, mottogs i sin samtid, reproduceras och förändras idag. / Anna Riwkin photographed Elise Ottesen-Jensen over three consecutive decades. The aim of the thesis is to examine what Riwkin’s photographs of Ottesen-Jensen portray, how they have been used, and how Ottesen-Jensen is visually produced as a political subject through the same photographs. By examining a material selected through extensive research in personal-, magazine- and newspaper archives, exhibition catalogues and research, an image of – and story about – Ottesen-Jensen has taken shape. In the process, a collaboration and joint agency with Riwkin have materialized. The story about Ottesen-Jensen is presented through the suggested concepts of the talker, the listener, the traveler, the teacher, and the president. The thesis makes visible how that story was shaped and received, as well as how it is reproduced and evolving today.

The diploma project Move is a simple 3D digital game in the genre typology of platform games, specifically of an atmospheric-meditative nature, with elements of a walking simulator from a third-person perspective shooter (TPS). Its interactive content is based on topics such as portraits, wandering, meditation, painting and personal mythology. Through the author's stylization of the theme and graphic processing, my goal is to create a playable prototype of a digital game containing interactive elements, with a controllable character named Mo and the atmospheric environment of the levels through which the player passes. Using the medium of digital games, I would like to point out the possibilities of communication means, that it offers within the art world.

This essay investigates how Philip Guston and Henry Taylor explore the subject of African American oppression in their art and how they have been received by critics and art institutions. Using semiotics based on Hans Haydens article “Den omplacerade koden: Om Edgar Degas Interiör”, this essay explores how meaning is created in signs existing within the respective artists’ works. Readings of the artists´ own words has also assisted in the search for meaning and understanding of the paintings. Postcolonial perspectives were also applied for the means of interpreting the artworks in question, and the signs they contain. For this section Ania Loombas book Colonialism/postcolonialism as well as Åsa Bharathi Larsons doctorate thesis Colonizing Fever have been utilized.        After the visual analysis the essay investigates how the artists have been received by critics and art institutions. In the case of Guston, a time difference is also accounted for, analyzing how his work was received when he first presented his paintings in the 70’s compared to today. Upon analyzing Guston’s work multiple signs were identified and interpreted. Most notably the hooded Klan member, whose representative purpose is multifaceted, communicative of subjects such as racism, guilt, and the concept of being evil. Visual codes regarding self-portraiture also pointed at one of the paintings as being a self-portrait. This theory is also supported by Guston’s own claim of the Klan paintings being pictures of himself.        In Taylors work, signs present and discuss oppression of black people in America from a historical as well as a contemporary perspective, often referencing people and places personal to Taylor.        In the 1970’s Philip Guston’s Klan paintings were heavily critiqued for their visual qualities and stylistic expression, while no notable comments were made of the content/subject matter. Today the situation is different, with the main critique of his works being directed to his use of Klan imagery. Many artists and writers today are in support of Gustons work though.         Henry Taylor’s paintings are generally well received by critics and have seen a rise in popularity concurrent with the Black Lives Matter movement. Taylor has also recently been the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Modern Museum of Contemporary art in LA.

This research delves into the complex themes of perception, art, and self in Oscar Wilde's novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Drawing from Wilde's philosophy of "Art for Art's Sake," the study explores the characterization of Dorian Gray through the perspectives of Lord Henry and Basil Hallward. The central question revolves around whether Henry's and Basil's individual understanding of Dorian accurately represents his true nature and how this perception influences the protagonist. To establish the philosophical foundation, Wilde's essays "The Decay of Lying" and "The Critic as Artist" are analyzed, highlighting the concepts of art, critique, and the artist. The symbolic significance of the portrait and mirror is examined, revealing their role in reflecting Dorian's duality and inner conflict but also working as an extention of Henry and Basil as Art Crtitics. By incorporating Ian Watt's theory of apprehension of reality, the paper explores the limitations of Henry and Basil in comprehending Dorian's true self. Dorian is viewed as a semi-art figure, both a work of art and a human being. The research aims to shed light on why Henry and Basil fail to truly see Dorian, ultimately enhancing our understanding of his characterization. Through a methodology encompassing close reading, analysis, and interpretation, this study contributes to existing scholarship by offering new insights into the intricate exploration of self-perception and the interplay between art and life in Wilde's only novel.