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Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 34).

It would be wrong to suggest that this essay is in any way a comprehensive study of brutal sculpture. Certainly not. There have been many deliberate omissions for reasons which become clear in the text. Very briefly, omissions of certain sculptors and their work are largely due to my wish to avoid repetitive ideas and images. My view in this essay is to provide a cross-section of ideas and works, whereby the reader might gain some insight into the varied nature of this kind of sculpture. Thus, there seemed very little need for endless similarities of concept and expression. It was the diversity which I felt was important. The chapter which discusses concepts of beauty is also not a comprehensive study. This subject demands more than a humble essay to do it any justice. However, my reasons for touching the vague and controversial outline of these concepts were, primarily, to suggest that notions of beauty as the sole criterion in the judgement of art are too limiting, and, consequently, to introduce the concept of vitalism, which I believe is more valid. Finally, I wish to mention the personal motive behind this work. Over the years, I have witnessed the emergence of brutal elements in my own work, which I found disturbing at times. I have never been able to answer satisfactorily the criticism I've received. All I knew was that these things came from a very deep source. It is with this in mind that I embarked on this project, hoping to achieve two things. Firstly, to provide an objective survey of an important development in art, and, secondly , to answer some of my criticism. Foreword, p. 1.

An image of the body in the act of attack might be taken as an inherently episodic or narrative motif, due to the apparently transitive nature of the movement involved. Such a categorization is challenged, however, by an array of ancient Greek images that distance the attacking figure from a temporal context, as by the elision of an explicit victim; such images betray the attacking body’s “iconic” aspect, which is underlain by the efficient communication of symbolic values linked to the identity of the subject. This dissertation surveys the development of the iconic motif of the attacking body across diverse media, from its cross-cultural origins in the Bronze Age to its reformulations in the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic eras. In doing so, it tracks the codification of value-rich attacking “schemata” (recurring poses) in the representation of particular identities, including warriors, athletes, and various divinities, among others. Integrating the social-symbolic model of gesture and the body that has emerged across academic disciplines with a generally (though not exclusively) semiotic approach to the ancient imagery, the study elucidates key continuities in the significance of the motif as it appears in multiple forms and across an intriguing range of iconographic and functional contexts. Ultimately, it builds an argument that in a society in which the exertion of violence was central to the performance of status and the construction of power, the visual motif of the attacking body was critically linked to the figuration of human and divine identity: the “act as attribute.”

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 35-37).

From Introduction: The 'forensic aesthetic' presents the viewer with traces and debris - the residue that haunts sites of transgression, violence and death. In his book Scene of the Crime, art critic and curator Ralph Rugoff (1997:62) defines the forensic aesthetic as follows: "Inextricably linked to an unseen history, this type of art embodies a fractured relationship to time. Like a piece of evidence, its present appearance is haunted by an indeterminate past, which we confront in the alienated form of fossilized and fragmented remnants." Through its play on seemingly insignificant detail&, clues and traces, the forensic aesthetic suggests that meaning is dispersed, fragmentary and uncertain. According to Rugoff (1997:17), the forensic aesthetic "aims to engage the viewer in a process of mental reconstruction". It compels the viewer to adopt a 'forensic gaze' : to sift through broken narratives and fragments of information, reading the artwork as one might read a sample of evidence. Rugoff (1997:62) argues that: "[S]uch art insists that 'content is something that can't be seen' ... it requires that the viewer arrive at an interpretation by examining traces and marks and reading them as clues. In addition, it is marked by a strong sense of aftermath. ... Taken as a whole, this art puts us in a position akin to that of [the] forensic anthropologist or scientist, forcing us to speculatively piece together histories that remain largely invisible to the eye." One might argue that some of the earliest known examples of the forensic aesthetic in art presented themselves in the Renaissance period in the form of the pseudo-forensic anatomical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. In his Studies of the Hand (fig. 1), for example, Da Vinci methodically represents the underlying structures of the human hand in a series of drawings that are scattered intermittently across the page. The remainder of the page is covered with hand-written notations. In this work, the artist approaches the human body with a scientific, almost forensic, gaze. Here the body is presented in fragments, rather than as a whole. According to Rugoff (1997:86&88), the forensic aesthetic addresses the body "not as a coherent whole but as a site of prior actions ... as a dispersed territory of clues and traces". When read in terms of the mode of the forensic aesthetic, Da Vinci's Studies of the Hand may be said to look at the human body as forensic object. In this way, this work may be said to speak of the manner in which the forensic gaze operates in the context of the artwork. Throughout the following essay, I discuss the various ways in which the forensic aesthetic manifests itself in art. I have necessarily been selective in the artworks that I have chosen for discussion, as this topic is very broad indeed. In Chapter One, I explore the tradition of the forensic aesthetic in art by way of a select number of artworks. This chapter focuses on investigating the way in which these works, whether consciously or unconsciously, speak of associations between violence and representation through the mode of the forensic aesthetic. The contents of Chapter Two concentrate on the work of South African artist Kathryn Smith. Smith's work may be said to possess a forensic quality, in that it references forensic practices and techniques. Her work has not been the topic of a lengthy monograph, but it has been considered in various exhibition catalogues, reviews and articles. For example, an essay by Colin Richards entitled 'Dead Certainties' (2004) investigates the forensic quality of Smith's imagery in terms of its play on notions of the trace. Similarly, an article by Maureen de Jager, entitled 'Evidence and Artifice' (2004), examines the manner in which Smith's work transgresses the boundaries between 'forensics and fantasy'. In her book, Through the Looking Glass (2004), Brenda Schmahmann addresses Smith's Still Life series (figs. 9, 10, 11) in relation to the issue of self-representation, exploring the relationship between the 'self' and the body as 'other'. Lastly, a review by James Sey, which was published in Art/South Africa (2004), considers Smith's work in terms of its aesthetic appeal, which serves as a framing device for the uncomfortable subject matter that informs the bulk of her imagery. My reading of Kathryn Smith's work departs from and expands on the available literature in that it focuses on the manner in which her images comment self-critically on the act of representation. I have chosen to focus on Smith's work in particular, as it uses the mode of the forensic aesthetic to speak of the field of artistic practice - a motif that runs throughout my own body of work as well. Moreover, Smith's work, like my own work, may be said to engage with the forensic aesthetic in a South African context. In Chapter Two, I compare a number of Smith's works to the artworks discussed in Chapter One, and examine the manner in which they speak of the links between art and crime. Chapter Three concentrates on outlining the ways in which my own work reads off the conventions of forensic investigation. In this chapter I discuss the manner in which my work, by way of a forensic approach, draws parallels between the medium of photography and the mechanisms of trauma. I focus on works that have been included in my Master's exhibition, Vigil (2005). The following essay is a study in representations of violence in art. In the course of this essay, I contextualize the forensic aesthetic as a mode of representation, as well as address the manner in which the forensic aesthetic seems to allow for, even facilitate, self-conscious reflection on the practices of representation itself.

This half-thesis has developed as a supporting document to an exhibition titled Vabvakure, people from far away, which responds to the growing trends of violence perpetrated against African foreign nationals living in South Africa. This violence which has generally been termed as 'xenophobia' has been framed within this discourse as 'afrophobia', as it is fraught with complexities of race, ethnicity and class. Evidently, not all foreign nationals are at risk but selective targeting of working class black African foreign nationals seems to be the modus operandi. Fanning these flames of prejudice are stereotypes and negative perceptions of Africa and African immigrants that have permeated into the national consciousness of South Africa, which the mainstream media has been complicit in cultivating. My practice is concerned with challenging this politic of representation in relation to the image of the African foreign national within South African society, who have been presented negatively and labelled as the 'Makwerekwere', the 'bogeymen' that have been blamed for the country’s current woes. In response to this, my research adopts the premise that forms of cultural mediation such as visual and performance art can offer further insights and possibly yield solutions that can be used to address these sentiments. As globalisation and neoliberal ideologies reshape the world, there is a growing need in the post-colonial state to revisit and re-construct notions of individual and collective identity, especially that of the nation. Nations, nationalisms and citizenry can no longer be defined solely through indigeneity, for as a result of radical shifts in the flow of migration and immigration policies that allow for naturalisation of aliens and foreign nationals, we are now faced with burgeoning levels of social diversity to the extent that constructions of nationhood that are based on the concept of autochthony have resulted in the persecution of the ‘other’.

Thèse de doctorat : Etudes théâtrales : Rennes 2 : 2007. / Bibliogr. f. 396-425. Index des auteurs.

The research project uses still life as a means of exploring current events of violence and oppression. These events are represented through juxtaposing plastic toys with organic objects. The toys include a range of popular generic toys such as army men, cowboys and Indians and toy soldiers. The organic objects were selected for their relationship to the specific event being represented. The toys and organic objects were positioned to create interesting and logical compositions. Themes of the series include opposing objects and ideas pitched against each other such as plastic/organic, perpetrator/victim, violence/peacefulness and destruction/sustenance. Within each work the plastic toys take on the demeanor of the tyrant(s), whereas the organic objects adopt the role of the victim(s). The research project uses these themes to convey the message that violence is both a barbaric way of dealing with conflict and a senseless form of self-expression. I have used symbols and metaphors to build a visual language. For the language to be translated accurately a great deal of research has taken place into the appropriate still life objects for each work. Each work incorporates metaphors and or symbols for both the oppressor and victim within the event being represented. The studio outcome of this research project, Silent Bang, includes a series of highly detailed finished paintings of various scales. Silent Bang as a body of work is colourful and aims to be aesthetically pleasing in addition to conveying a powerful message that incites interpretation.

[ES] La presente Tesis Doctoral constituye un estudio sobre las formas en que la violencia contemporánea en México ha repercutido el campo de las artes visuales, con un especial énfasis en la forma de entender y representar el cuerpo humano. Acotado en tres décadas (1988-2018), este trabajo es una investigación contextual que se afianza en el entramado social, político, histórico y económico para construir un análisis más profundo en torno a las formas en que la violencia ha trastocado igualmente el ámbito artístico, y poder ver cómo, a lo largo del tiempo, se ha modificado la imagen del cuerpo humano en la producción artística, gracias a que, por una parte, la muerte se presenta con más frecuencia en lo cotidiano y, por otra, los grupos criminales han recrudecido sus formas de ejercer violencia. Este panorama facilitó que muchos delitos graves se volvieran comunes, y poco a poco, los criminales llegaran a ejecutar actos violentos novedosos permitiendo nuevas formas de relación y trato con el cuerpo humano. Si con el paso del tiempo el crimen organizado ha vulnerado el cuerpo humano de formas cada vez más atroces, haciendo además un esfuerzo por visibilizarlos y acercarlos a la sociedad civil, ciertos artistas pueden ver en ello una oportunidad para reflexionar y construir nociones del cuerpo hasta ahora inéditas, como la de imaginar un cuerpo volátil, manifestado en la obra Vaporización (2001) de la artista sinaloense Teresa Margolles, donde propone un espacio lleno de vapor, consecuencia de alimentar condensadores situados al interior del museo, con agua previamente usada para lavar cadáveres en la morgue. El cuerpo que aquí presenta Margolles, anula toda figuración sólida y adquiere la capacidad incluso de flotar y adherirse a la piel y ropa del visitante, quién saldrá del espacio portando una milimétrica esencia humana ajena a su ser. Otro ejemplo son las concepciones humanas más cercanas a la máquina y la alta tecnología propias de las investigaciones del artista mexicano Rafael Lozano-Hemmer quién visualiza cuerpos humanos dependientes del código binario y que no dejan de ser inquietantes luego de reconocer que muchos de estos artefactos tecnológicos son igualmente usados tanto por el ejército como por los criminales en sus abyectos actos. Así, esta Tesis parte de un análisis contextual del México reciente, dejando cronológicamente el punto de inflexión de esta escalada de violencia -el año 2006- cerca de la mitad del período de tiempo estudiado para tener un antes y un después de la Declaración de Guerra por parte del Estado y permitir una cierta distancia en el análisis de las repercusiones en el arte de este enfrentamiento bélico. La segunda parte constituye un corpus teórico donde convergen reflexiones relativas a la violencia, la memoria y el duelo, para posteriormente reparar en el cuerpo humano y sus múltiples posibilidades. Lo anterior sirve de preámbulo para poder entender cómo el ser humano, en su total fragilidad, se ve afectado por agentes endógenos y exógenos que terminan por provocarle la muerte -una muerte impregnada con mayores o menores dosis de violencia-, para luego investigar sus correlatos en el campo artístico. Este análisis brinda un panorama del trabajo y pensamiento alrededor del cuerpo y permite ver cómo la violencia ha jugado un papel importante no solo en el contexto socio político de México, sino también en la forma de pensar e imaginar el cuerpo. Finalmente, gran parte de la riqueza de esta investigación proviene de las aportaciones de fuentes primarias, como son las entrevistas que pude realizar a más de veinticinco artistas, curadores e investigadores vivos que, en sus propias palabras, ayudan a entender los cambios que ha vivido México, sus artistas y la noción de cuerpo en las tres últimas décadas. / [CA] La present Tesi Doctoral constitueix un estudi sobre les formes en què la violència contemporània a Mèxic ha repercutit el camp de les arts visuals, amb un especial èmfasi en la manera d'entendre i representar el cos humà. Delimitat en tres dècades (1988-2018), aquest treball és una investigació contextual que s'aferma en l'entramat social, polític, històric i econòmic per a construir una anàlisi més profunda entorn de les formes en què la violència ha trastocat igualment l'àmbit artístic, i poder veure com, al llarg del temps, s'ha modificat la imatge del cos humà en la producció artística, gràcies a que, d'una banda, la mort es presenta amb més freqüència en el quotidià i, per una altra, els grups criminals han empitjorat les seues maneres d'exercir violència. Aquest panorama va facilitar que molts delictes greus es tornaren comuns, i a poc a poc, els criminals arribaren a executar actes violents nous permetent noves formes de relació i tracte amb el cos humà. Si amb el pas del temps el crim organitzat ha vulnerat el cos humà de formes cada vegada més atroços, fent a més un esforç per visibilitzar-los i acostar-los a la societat civil, uns certs artistes poden veure en això una oportunitat per a reflexionar i construir nocions del cos fins ara inèdites, com la d'imaginar un cos volàtil, manifestat en l'obra Vaporización (2001) de l'artista sinaloense Teresa Margolles, on proposa un espai ple de vapor, conseqüència d'alimentar condensadors situats a l'interior del museu, amb aigua prèviament usada per a llavar cadàvers en la morgue. El cos que ací presenta Margolles, anul·la tota figuració sòlida i adquireix la capacitat fins i tot de surar i adherir-se a la pell i roba del visitant, qui eixirà de l'espai portant una mil·limètrica essència humana aliena a la seua ser. Un altre exemple són les concepcions humanes més pròximes a la màquina i l'alta tecnologia pròpies de les investigacions de l'artista mexicà Rafael Lozano-Hemmer qui visualitza cossos humans dependents del codi binari i que no deixen de ser inquietants després de reconéixer que molts d'aquests artefactes tecnològics són igualment usats tant per l'exèrcit com pels criminals en els seus abjectes actes. Així, aquesta Tesi parteix d'una anàlisi contextual del Mèxic recent, deixant cronològicament el punt d'inflexió d'aquesta escalada de violència -l'any 2006- prop de la meitat del període de temps estudiat per a tindre un abans i un després de la Declaració de Guerra per part de l'Estat i permetre una certa distància en l'anàlisi de les repercussions en l'art d'aquest enfrontament bèl·lic. La segona part constitueix un corpus teòric on convergeixen reflexions relatives a la violència, la memòria i el duel, per a posteriorment reparar en el cos humà i les seues múltiples possibilitats. L'anterior serveix de preàmbul per a poder entendre com l'ésser humà, en la seua total fragilitat, es veu afectat per agents endògens i exògens que acaben per provocar-li la mort -una mort impregnada amb majors o menors dosis de violència-, per a després investigar els seus correlats en el camp artístic. Aquesta anàlisi brinda un panorama del treball i pensament al voltant del cos i permet veure com la violència ha jugat un paper important no sols en el context soci polític de Mèxic, sinó també en la manera de pensar i imaginar el cos. Finalment, gran part de la riquesa d'aquesta investigació prové de les aportacions de fonts primàries, com són les entrevistes que vaig poder realitzar a més de vint-i-cinc artistes, commissari i investigadors vius que, en les seues pròpies paraules, ajuden a entendre els canvis que ha viscut Mèxic, els seus artistes i la noció de cos en les tres últimes dècades. / [EN] This Doctoral Thesis constitutes a study on the ways in which contemporary violence in Mexico has impacted the field of visual arts, with a special emphasis on understanding and representing the human body. Limited to three decades (1988-2018), this work is a contextual investigation that is strengthened in the social, political, historical and economic framework to build a deeper analysis around the ways in which violence has also disrupted the artistic field, and to be able to see how, over time, the image of the human body has been modified in the artistic production, thanks to the fact that, on one hand, death is more frequently presented in everyday life and, on the other, criminal groups have intensified their ways of exercising violence. This panorama made serious crimes become common, and little by little, the criminals execute new violent acts with new forms of relation and treatment with the human body. Though over the years organized crime has violated the human body in increasingly atrocious ways, also making an effort to make them visible and bring them closer to civil society, certain artists can see in this an opportunity to reflect on and work on notions of the body unpublished to this day, such as imagining a volatile body, as manifested in the work Vaporización (2001) by Sinaloan artist Teresa Margolles, where she proposes a space full of steam, the result of feeding condensers located inside the museum with water previously used to wash corpses in the morgue. The body presented here by Margolles cancels out all solid figuration and acquires the capacity to float and adhere to the skin and clothes of the visitor, who will leave the space carrying a millimetric human essence alien to his being. Another example is the human conceptions closer to the machine and high technology, typical of the investigations of mexican artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, who visualizes human bodies dependent on the binary code and which do not cease to be disturbing after recognizing that many of these technological artifacts are equally used by the army and by criminals in their abject acts. This Thesis starts from a contextual analysis of México recently, leaving chronologically the turning point of this escalation of violence - the year 2006 - about half of the period of time studied to have a before and after the Declaration of War by the State and allow a certain distance in the analysis of the repercussions in art of this warlike confrontation. The second part constitutes a theoretical corpus where reflections on violence, memory and grief converge, to later repair the human body and its multiple possibilities. This serves as a preamble to understand how human beings, in their total fragility, are affected by endogenous and exogenous agents that end up causing death - a death impregnated with greater or lesser doses of violence - and then investigate its correlations in the artistic field. This analysis provides a panorama of the work and thoughts around the body and allows us to see how violence has played an important role not only in the socio-political context of México, but also in the way of thinking and imagining the body. Finally, a lot of the richness of this research comes from the contributions of primary sources, such as the interviews I was able to conduct with more than twenty-five living artists, curators and researchers who, in their own words, help to understand the changes that México, its artists and the notion of body have undergone in the last three decades. / Méndez Landa, FJ. (2021). Cuerpo y violencia y en México (1988-2018). Un estudio sobre la permeabilidad de la violencia en las artes contemporáneas mexicanas y sus repercusiones en el entendimiento del cuerpo [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/162917