In 2013, the 55th Venice Biennale, the world's oldest bi-annual international contemporary art exhibition, opened under the title The Encyclopedic Palace, organized by Italian curator Massimiliano Gioni. The international exhibition section is always flanked by an amalgamation of distinct national spaces, a dual exhibition model that has been the hallmark of the Biennale since 1998. In 2013, the United States pavilion was devoted to American artist Sarah Sze's work Triple Point and her signature arrangement of everyday objects and materials, such as Q-tips, water bottles, painter's tape, and desk lamps. The title of Sze's multi-room installation, culled from earlier works as well as created from new materials, refers to the thermodynamic equilibrium of any given substance--specifically, a "triple point" is the temperature and pressure at which a substance is solid, liquid and gas at the same time. The quasi-scientific installations provide constantly shifting viewpoints as the viewer circumnavigates the interconnected spaces of the U.S. pavilion, moving amid, around, and through the work, but also focusing on different individual objects before pulling back to catch glimpses of the work as a whole. In this thesis, I apply a phenomenological analysis to Triple Point in order to make sense of its scientific references in conjunction with its complex form. I view Triple Point as a culmination of the ideas that Sze has sustained and explored over the course of her career--such as the investigation of everyday objects in relation to site, space, and viewer--that situates the viewer in an experience caught between empirical order and individual perception. To examine Triple Point using the idea of "embodied perception," I formally analyze the work in relation to its scientific meanings as suggested by its titles of individual works--Gleaner, Planetarium, Eclipse, Scale, Orrery, Pendulum, Observatory, and Compass. I then trace the discourse surrounding phenomenology and the rise of installation art through the writings of art historians Michael Fried, Rosalind Krauss, and Claire Bishop, before finally situating French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology as an apt theory for analyzing this work. In embracing both the scientific objectivity implied by Sze's installations without sacrificing the import of physical perception, I contend that Triple Point invites the viewer to look at--but also beyond--the array of familiar objects, emphasizing a shifting sense of the work that is never exhaustively fixed. Thus, Triple Point does not expose the classic dichotomies between art and science, natural and manufactured, image and object, but instead opens up the moment of their confluence--the paradoxical achievement of an embodied perception as described by Merleau-Ponty. Understood phenomenologically, Triple Point invites viewers to get caught-up in the dynamic experience of "between-ness" invoked by the installation's title and to engage with their everyday experiences of contemporary life in a new way.

Esta pesquisa de mestrado teve por objetivo o estudo das obras em acervo no Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo de autoria dos artistas do Gruppo degli Otto, adquiridas por Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho, em 1952 e 1954, na XXVI e na XXVII Bienal de Veneza, para o acervo do antigo Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo. As obras permitem, um estudo sobre os artistas e a formação do Gruppo degli Otto, além de uma imersão na produção de Lionello Venturi (Modena, 1885 Roma, 1961), crítico e historiador da arte que se coloca a frente desses artistas. Levaram também a uma pesquisa a respeito do cenário artístico daquele momento, tanto da Itália, de onde as obras partem, quanto do Brasil, para onde as obras se destinam, e à construção de uma história a respeito da crítica de arte italiana no ambiente da Bienal de Veneza na Guerra Fria, além do estudo do papel da instituição veneziana na fundação da Bienal de São Paulo e os impactos e ramificações deste debate crítico no Brasil. / This master\'s research intended to study the works in the collection not Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo by the artists of the Gruppo degli Otto, that were acquired by Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho, in 1952 and 1954, at the XXVI and XXVII Venice Biennale, to integrate the collection of the former Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo. Those paintings led to a study on the artists that composed the Gruppo degli Otto and its foundation. They also allowed an immersion in the production of Lionello Venturi (Modena, 1885 - Rome, 1961), critic and art historian, who took to himself the role of the critic ahead of the group. The works also lead to a research on the artistic scene of that moment, both in Italy, where the paintings are made, as well as in Brazil, the place to where those paintings would be destined to live, as well as the study of the history of Italian art criticism in the environment the Venice Biennale in the Cold War, and lastly the study of the role of the Venetian institution in the founding of the São Paulo Bienal and the impacts and changes of this critical debate in Brazil.

Esta dissertação tem como foco central o estudo de edifícios pavilhões e sua relação com a produção tridimensional - entendida como instalação e escultura. Para tanto, articula-se o conceito de \"campo ampliado\", elaborado por Rosalind Krauss em texto de 1979 para abarcar as transformações da escultura a partir dos anos 60, com seu recente deslocamento, para o âmbito da arquitetura por parte de alguns autores, nomeadamente Antony Vidler. A pesquisa não se resume apenas a uma investigação da contribuição do espaço arquitetônico para a escultura ou da escultura para a arquitetura, mas foca especialmente a linha que as separa, visto que a tendência de convergência das duas disciplinas faz com que seu elo de reciprocidade se dissolva numa produção intersticial, realizada por artistas, arquitetos ou mesmo por ambos em colaboração. O pavilhão sempre foi entendido como um campo experimental para os arquitetos, especialmente ao longo do século XX quando ajudou a consolidar as premissas da arquitetura moderna. Hoje, apresenta grande visibilidade através de diversos programas que oferecem condições únicas de encomenda e concepção pressupondo uma arquitetura singular, que configura uma produção desvinculada do binômio forma-função e cujo assunto autorreferente é a própria arquitetura. Do ponto de vista das artes o pavilhão representa uma expansão da instalação para um todo espacial que passa a envolver também o edifício e, quando tomado como meta arquitetura, opera também como plataforma de afrontamento crítico. O embate teórico acerca dos desdobramentos do \"campo ampliado\", bem como a investigação sobre aspectos essenciais do termo \"pavilhão\", de natureza maleável, são confrontados com uma análise crítica de casos selecionados em três instituições com características bem distintas- Bienal de Veneza, Instituto de Arte Contemporânea do Inhotim e Serpentine Gallery -, e possibilitam alinhavar conclusões sobre esta produção contemporânea no limiar dessas duas disciplinas. / This dissertation is focused on the study of pavilions and their relationship with the three-dimensional production - understood as installation and sculpture. Therefore, the concept of \"expanded field\", elaborated by Rosalind Krauss in the 1979 essay to encompass the transformation of sculpture from the 60\'s, is articulated with the recent shift of this same concept into the realm of architecture by some authors, namely Antony Vidler. The research is not just an investigation on the contribution of the architectural space for sculpture or, on the other hand, from sculpture to architecture, but focuses especially the line that separates them, understood as a disposition of convergence by the two disciplines which dissolves the reciprocal bonds in a interstitial production, performed by artists, architects or even both together. The pavilion has always been understood as an experimental field for architects, especially during the twentieth century when it helped consolidate the assumptions of modern architecture. Today it has gained great visibility through several programs that offer specific conditions by commissioning and assuming a unique architecture design that sets up a production untied from the binomial form-function, resulting in a self referent building whose subject is the architecture itself. From the point of view of the arts, it represents an expansion of the installation configuring a spatial whole that also implicate the building and, when taken as meta architecture, also operates as a platform for critical confrontation. The opposition on theory about the ramifications of the expanded field, as well as a research on the essential characteristics to a malleable term, are faced with a critical analysis of selected cases in three institutions gathering rather distinct characteristics - the Venice Biennale, the Institute of Contemporary Art Inhotim and the Serpentine Gallery -, and allow conclusions on this contemporary production in a disciplinary threshold.

Esta dissertação tem como foco central o estudo de edifícios pavilhões e sua relação com a produção tridimensional - entendida como instalação e escultura. Para tanto, articula-se o conceito de \"campo ampliado\", elaborado por Rosalind Krauss em texto de 1979 para abarcar as transformações da escultura a partir dos anos 60, com seu recente deslocamento, para o âmbito da arquitetura por parte de alguns autores, nomeadamente Antony Vidler. A pesquisa não se resume apenas a uma investigação da contribuição do espaço arquitetônico para a escultura ou da escultura para a arquitetura, mas foca especialmente a linha que as separa, visto que a tendência de convergência das duas disciplinas faz com que seu elo de reciprocidade se dissolva numa produção intersticial, realizada por artistas, arquitetos ou mesmo por ambos em colaboração. O pavilhão sempre foi entendido como um campo experimental para os arquitetos, especialmente ao longo do século XX quando ajudou a consolidar as premissas da arquitetura moderna. Hoje, apresenta grande visibilidade através de diversos programas que oferecem condições únicas de encomenda e concepção pressupondo uma arquitetura singular, que configura uma produção desvinculada do binômio forma-função e cujo assunto autorreferente é a própria arquitetura. Do ponto de vista das artes o pavilhão representa uma expansão da instalação para um todo espacial que passa a envolver também o edifício e, quando tomado como meta arquitetura, opera também como plataforma de afrontamento crítico. O embate teórico acerca dos desdobramentos do \"campo ampliado\", bem como a investigação sobre aspectos essenciais do termo \"pavilhão\", de natureza maleável, são confrontados com uma análise crítica de casos selecionados em três instituições com características bem distintas- Bienal de Veneza, Instituto de Arte Contemporânea do Inhotim e Serpentine Gallery -, e possibilitam alinhavar conclusões sobre esta produção contemporânea no limiar dessas duas disciplinas. / This dissertation is focused on the study of pavilions and their relationship with the three-dimensional production - understood as installation and sculpture. Therefore, the concept of \"expanded field\", elaborated by Rosalind Krauss in the 1979 essay to encompass the transformation of sculpture from the 60\'s, is articulated with the recent shift of this same concept into the realm of architecture by some authors, namely Antony Vidler. The research is not just an investigation on the contribution of the architectural space for sculpture or, on the other hand, from sculpture to architecture, but focuses especially the line that separates them, understood as a disposition of convergence by the two disciplines which dissolves the reciprocal bonds in a interstitial production, performed by artists, architects or even both together. The pavilion has always been understood as an experimental field for architects, especially during the twentieth century when it helped consolidate the assumptions of modern architecture. Today it has gained great visibility through several programs that offer specific conditions by commissioning and assuming a unique architecture design that sets up a production untied from the binomial form-function, resulting in a self referent building whose subject is the architecture itself. From the point of view of the arts, it represents an expansion of the installation configuring a spatial whole that also implicate the building and, when taken as meta architecture, also operates as a platform for critical confrontation. The opposition on theory about the ramifications of the expanded field, as well as a research on the essential characteristics to a malleable term, are faced with a critical analysis of selected cases in three institutions gathering rather distinct characteristics - the Venice Biennale, the Institute of Contemporary Art Inhotim and the Serpentine Gallery -, and allow conclusions on this contemporary production in a disciplinary threshold.

Esta pesquisa de mestrado teve por objetivo o estudo das obras em acervo no Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo de autoria dos artistas do Gruppo degli Otto, adquiridas por Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho, em 1952 e 1954, na XXVI e na XXVII Bienal de Veneza, para o acervo do antigo Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo. As obras permitem, um estudo sobre os artistas e a formação do Gruppo degli Otto, além de uma imersão na produção de Lionello Venturi (Modena, 1885 Roma, 1961), crítico e historiador da arte que se coloca a frente desses artistas. Levaram também a uma pesquisa a respeito do cenário artístico daquele momento, tanto da Itália, de onde as obras partem, quanto do Brasil, para onde as obras se destinam, e à construção de uma história a respeito da crítica de arte italiana no ambiente da Bienal de Veneza na Guerra Fria, além do estudo do papel da instituição veneziana na fundação da Bienal de São Paulo e os impactos e ramificações deste debate crítico no Brasil. / This master\'s research intended to study the works in the collection not Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo by the artists of the Gruppo degli Otto, that were acquired by Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho, in 1952 and 1954, at the XXVI and XXVII Venice Biennale, to integrate the collection of the former Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo. Those paintings led to a study on the artists that composed the Gruppo degli Otto and its foundation. They also allowed an immersion in the production of Lionello Venturi (Modena, 1885 - Rome, 1961), critic and art historian, who took to himself the role of the critic ahead of the group. The works also lead to a research on the artistic scene of that moment, both in Italy, where the paintings are made, as well as in Brazil, the place to where those paintings would be destined to live, as well as the study of the history of Italian art criticism in the environment the Venice Biennale in the Cold War, and lastly the study of the role of the Venetian institution in the founding of the São Paulo Bienal and the impacts and changes of this critical debate in Brazil.

Federico Zandomeneghi (1841-1917) a toujours été considéré comme un artiste vénitien ayant émigré en 1874 à Paris avant de devenir un adepte de Degas et participer, à partir de 1879, aux expositions impressionnistes. Cette recherche a pour principal objectif d’analyser les liens que l’artiste entretint avec son pays - l’Italie - avant, pendant et après son long séjour parisien. Aussi nous sommes-nous plus particulièrement concentrée sur la période allant de 1841 à 1874 durant laquelle Zandomeneghi se forma dans les Académies de Beaux-Arts de Venise et Milan, avant de partir s’installer à Florence où il rencontra les peintres macchiaioli. Nous avons en outre analysé le contexte artistique italien dans lequel l’artiste évolua, et aussi dans quelle mesure les rapports qu’il tissa avec les nombreuses personnalités du monde de l’art qu’il eut l’occasion de fréquenter (Diego Martelli, Marcellin Desboutin) eurent une influence sur les choix qu’il fit par la suite ; puis, nous avons essayé de décrire la position que Zandomeneghi s’était gagnée sur le sol italien avant de le quitter définitivement. La seconde partie de notre recherche retrace en revanche - grâce à l’analyse d’un corpus de lettres inédites - le processus de réévaluation critique qui s’amorça en Italie après la mort de l’artiste et pour lequel œuvrèrent Enrico Piceni et Angelo Sommaruga : ces critiques et marchands d’art milanais ont en effet joué un rôle fondamental dans la redécouverte de Zandomeneghi en Italie. Même si Zandomeneghi avait passé quarante-trois années de sa vie en France, il ne réussit jamais à conquérir sa place dans l’historiographie française alors que, pour la seconde fois, il jouit des honneurs de la critique italienne. Cette recherche a pour objectif de mettre en lumière les raisons du cadrage historiographique dominant à l’heure actuelle, à savoir celui qui ne voit en Zandomeneghi qu’un peintre impressionniste vénitien, étiquette sous laquelle il a d’ailleurs été proposé au public à l’occasion des expositions plus récentes. / Venetian Federico Zandomeneghi (1841-1917) is always remembered as an artist who relocated to Paris in 1874 to become a follower of Degas, taking part in the Impressionist exhibitions starting in 1879. The primary objective of this thesis is to analyse this artist's ties to Italy, before and after his long-lasting experience in France. We delve into the period starting in 1841 and lasting until 1874 during which Zandomenegi trained at the academies of Venice and Milan, and during which he moved to Florence, at which point he first encountered the Macchiaioli. Moreover, this study has given us the opportunity to deepen our understanding of the Italian artistic context in which Zandomeneghi developed, to what extent his close relatonships with the numerous artists he encountered affected his later artistic choices (Diego Martelli, Marcellin Desboutin), and what position Zandomeneghi attained in Italy before leaving his country permanently. In the second part of the present study, a corpus of unpublished letters between two Milanese art personalities, the art critic Enrico Piceni and art dealer Angelo Sommaruga, was thoroughly examined. Their role was indeed crucial for Zandomeneghi’s artistic rediscovery. Although Zandomeneghi spent 43 years of his life in France, he was never fully recognized in the French historiography, whereas was acclaimed for the second time by the Italian critic after his death. This thesis aims to shed light on the reasons why Zandomeneghi has always been considered a Venetian impressionist, a label that has been employed even in very recent expositions.

Continuous Curatorial Conversations is a practice-led exploration of conversation, both as a medium and as a tool for capturing supplementary histories of the curatorial. The primary question of this research project is how the medium of conversation can be explored to write supplementary histories of the curatorial which thus far have been omitted from extant publications on the subject. Three important sub questions guide this exploration. First, what is and has been the role of conversation within the curatorial? What are the possibilities and limitations within the medium of conversation? What roles do conviviality and hospitality play within the process of conversation? This thesis reflects upon a series of curated projects that explore the sp/pl/ace for curatorial conversation and also reviews a collection of one-to-one recorded conversations conducted by the author, including conversations with Alfredo Cramerotti, Hedwig Fijen, Mel Gooding, William Furlong and Sarah Lowndes. Sites of fieldwork include: the 54th Venice Biennale; Manifesta 8, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art; and Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012. Through these projects and related recordings it unpicks the norms and possibilities of what and when one can record on the subject of the curatorial. The hypothesis of this study is that a great deal of curatorial activity is locked up in conversation, yet a disproportion makes it to the pages of the history of the field. Furthermore, in its clean transcribed form it misrepresents the fragility and nuance of the original exchange. The theoretical context of this research looks at Nicolas Bourriaud’s notion of Relational Aesthetics, the writing of Maria Lind and Paul O’Neill, with a focus on Audio Arts. A new methodology relating to curatorial conversation and its recording has therefore been identified as ‘critical conviviality’. The writing relating to Continuous Curatorial Conversations research takes the form of four books. The book ‘An Introduction’ comprises the PhD thesis and sits next to a bespoke online platform www.continuous-curatorial-conversations.org which hosts a selection of audio recordings collated during the research process. The books ‘Continuous’, ‘Curatorial’, and ‘Conversations’ unpack the lineage and context of Alexandra C.M. Ross’s practice and projects conducted during her research and are to be read in no strict order. The new knowledge resulting from this thesis and relating practice is the attention to the subtleties of conversation and its capture as it relates to the instigation, recording and presentation of semi-private matters in semi-public contexts.