This paper is intended to serve as a supporting document for the exhibition "No Peace" that was held at the Artery Gallery, 158 King St. W, Kitchener, ON, Canada, March 28 - April 18, 2009. This drawing installation presents the emotional restlessness of an immigrant who lives in a peaceful place but at the same time is tormented by the ongoing war in his homeland. The drawings make use of the vocabulary of abstraction while presenting the physical process of a repetitive line-based action. The work does not illustrate a political narrative but reflect on recent global issues by using the personal language of art. The No Peace installation combines drawing with video, animation, and performance in the hope of gaining a more communicative interaction with the viewer.

This paper is intended to serve as a supporting document for the exhibition "No Peace" that was held at the Artery Gallery, 158 King St. W, Kitchener, ON, Canada, March 28 - April 18, 2009. This drawing installation presents the emotional restlessness of an immigrant who lives in a peaceful place but at the same time is tormented by the ongoing war in his homeland. The drawings make use of the vocabulary of abstraction while presenting the physical process of a repetitive line-based action. The work does not illustrate a political narrative but reflect on recent global issues by using the personal language of art. The No Peace installation combines drawing with video, animation, and performance in the hope of gaining a more communicative interaction with the viewer.

This report focuses on social networks surrounding visual music, a sub-field of audiovisual experimental art in which hearing and seeing intersect, often through the music-oriented manipulation of abstract imagery and audio-visual synchronization. The discussion evolves from my fieldwork in Los Angeles, where I interacted with artists, archivists, publishers, institutions, software developers, and scholars. Taking into account Howard Becker's notion of art world, Pierre Bourdieu's ideas of cultural and economic capitals, and Bruno Latour's actor-network theory, I try to understand how these groups have been trying to establish visual music-networks. Although elements of visual music have been present in various media and artistic trends (color organs, abstract films, VJing-DJing, etc.), the field's history and premises are still little known, in part because the very term 'visual music' is a contested one. Due to its entertainment/cultural industries, Los Angeles is a place where multiple processes of high tech differentiation coexist; since the 1930s the city's technocultural environment (from film production to academic programs on computer animation) has lured artists interested in visual music. Not surprisingly, the city holds the only two institutions directly related to visual music in the country. I navigate through this field by considering some intersections between science, art, and technology. / text

Cette thèse entend analyser la figure de l’androgyne du mouvement symboliste à l’avant-garde abstraite. La relecture de la modernité au passage du XXe siècle en France permet de comprendre de quelle manière le symbolisme a exploré le trouble de la sexualité dans un contexte sociopolitique de crise de la masculinité. L’étude visuelle et anthropologique des normes sexuelles révèle une angoisse de l’entre-deux androgyne, associée aux théories psychopathologiques de l’homosexualité. Cette thèse démontre de quelle manière l’androgynie correspond à ce que nous intitulons « le troisième genre » artistique, défini par le rejet des assignations de genre et par de nouveaux modèles de représentation et d’intersubjectivité, issus de l’immersion du féminin dans le masculin. Dans la première partie, l’étude des sources néo-classiques et spirituelles de l’androgyne révèle la recherche d’un idéal politique et artistique permettant la régénération de l’unité des sexes. La deuxième partie envisage la résurgence de cet idéal dans les pratiques symbolistes fin-de-siècle, à travers différents modèles androgynes comme la figure de l’ange, celles d’Orphée et du troisième sexe primitif. Face au trouble des identités sexuelles, la réception de l’idéalisme est analysée à partir de la rhétorique de la dégénérescence associant androgynie, efféminement du masculin et homosexualité. La quatrième partie examine la poursuite de l’idéal androgyne dans les sources de l’abstraction. Le troisième genre abstrait alimente l’utopie avant-gardiste d’un art qui s’auto-génère, dépourvu de caractère sexué et créé par un artiste moderne, célibataire et androgyne. / This thesis aims to analyze the figure of androgyny from the movements of Symbolism to the abstract avant-garde. This reinterpretation of modernity at the turn of the 20th century in France allows an understanding of how Symbolism explored the trouble of sexuality within a social and political context entrenched by the crisis of masculinity. The visual and anthropological study of sexual norms reveals a fear of the androgynous in-between associated with psychopathological theories of homosexuality. This thesis demonstrates how androgyny is tied to what I call the artistic “third gender,” defined by the refusal of gender assignation and new models of representation and intersubjectivity, following the feminine immersion within the masculine. In the first part, the study of the Neoclassical and spiritual sources of androgyny demonstrates the search for the political and artistic ideal, allowing for the regeneration of the unity of sex. The second part reveals the resurgence of this ideal in the fin-de-siècle Symbolist's practices through different androgynous models such as the figure of the angel, the ones of Orpheus and the primitive third sex. Toward the trouble of sexual identities, the reception of idealism is analyzed through the rhetoric of degeneration associating androgyny, masculine effeminacy and homosexuality. The last part examines the pursuit of the androgynous ideal in the sources of abstraction. The abstract third sex nourishes the avant-gardist utopia of an art that is self-perpetuating, devoid of sexual characteristic and led by a modern artist, single and androgynous.

L’œuvre du poète autrichien Georg Trakl (1887-1914) passe pour incontournable dans le contexte de création littéraire d’avant-guerre. Mais comparativement à sa portée expressionniste, la dimension intermédiale est peu mise en avant alors que la musique connaît dans cette poésie des formes de médiation originales. Il est donc question d’approcher la manière dont la musique est indirectement intégrée dans le texte trakléen. En faisant le choix d’élargir cette investigation de type musico-littéraire à l’ensemble de la création des années 1910-1925, il est également question d’élaborer une vision de l’époque moderne où la musique occupe, notamment en peinture, une place de choix dans les pratiques interartistiques. / The work of the Austrian poet Georg Trakl (1887-1914) is said to be essential in the context of creative writing before the war. But compared to his expressionist reach, intermedial dimension is not put forward whereas music features in this poetry original forms of mediation. It is therefore a question of approaching how music is indirectly included in the literary work of Trakl.By choosing to expand the investigation of musico-literary type the whole of creation 1910-1925 years, it is also about developing a vision of the modern era where the music plays, including painting, a first-order part in the interartistic practices.

Tikashi Fukushima, um sonho em quatro estações Estudo sobre o Ma no processo de criação do artista nipo-brasileiro apresenta a vida e obra do pintor Tikashi Fukushima (Fukushima, Japão, 1920 - São Paulo, SP, 2001). Esta dissertação tem como proposta investigar a influência da arte e do pensamento japonês na trajetória do artista no Brasil através do preceito Ma elemento cultural que surgiu como vocábulo no século XII , presente na vida e no cotidiano do Japão. O Ma está correlacionado ao kû do budismo que significa o vazio. Porém, um vazio prenhe de possibilidades. Neste trabalho, apresentamos a possibilidade desse fenômeno ser uma das características que diferenciam o abstracionismo de Tikashi Fukushima na arte brasileira. Na travessia da cultura japonesa em mares do Brasil, uma das respostas possíveis do Ocidente sobre o questionamento do Ma, que este trabalho pretende apresentar, é analisada pelo estudo das essências do pensador francês Maurice Mearleau-Ponty. / Tikashi Fukushima, a dream in four seasons - Study of Ma in the creative process of this Nipo-Brazilian artist, presents the life and work of the painter Tikashi Fukushima (Fukushima, Japan, 1920 - São Paulo, Brazil, 2001). This dissertation proposes to investigate the influence of Japanese art and thought on the trajectory of the artist in Brazil according to the Ma principle a cultural element that emerged as a word in the twelfth century , part of Japanese life and everyday activities. Ma is correlated to the Kû of Buddhism that means empty. However, an emptiness loaded with possibilities. In this study we considered that this phenomenon may be one of the characteristics that sets apart the abstract work of Tikashi Fukushima in Brazilian art. In the crossing of Brazilian seas by the Japanese culture, one of the possible answers of the West about the issue of Ma that this dissertation intends to present, is analyzed by studying the essence of the French philosopher Maurice Mearleau-Ponty.

Jacob Ruchti, a modernidade e a arquitetura paulista (1940-1970) analisa individualmente, pela primeira vez, o envolvimento do personagem Jacob Ruchti no movimento estéticosócio- cultural paulista. Nascido na Suíça em 1917, Ruchti formou-se arquiteto pela Universidade Mackenzie em 1940. A abordagem destaca sua contribuição pioneira para a semeadura e consolidação do pensamento moderno na sociedade paulista, no que se refere ao surgimento da arte abstrata, ao nascimento do design e à criação do campo de arquitetura de interiores. Arquiteto, designer e professor, foi um estudante ousado e em grande parte autodidata. Dentro de um contexto social em busca de valores modernizantes, desde jovem defendeu uma visão além da mera funcionalidade na arquitetura ou do simples formalismo na arte, enriquecendo suas idéias pela vivência e aspectos culturais, sociais, psicológicos e, mais tarde, envolvendo a consideração simbólica. Com ampla formação cultural, esteve entre os fundadores do Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil (IAB), do Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM) e do Instituto de Arte Contemporânea (IAC), a primeira escola de design do Brasil, ao lado de Lina e Pietro Maria Bardi (1951). Articulador no movimento artístico paulista atuou nas primeiras bienais de São Paulo, nas montagens ou como membro do júri internacional. Como professor da FAU/USP, de Composição Decorativa (1954-1961), desenvolveu conceitos bauhausianos fundidos à idéia do design moderno brasileiro, o que significou um avanço, também no nome da Cadeira, que passou a chamar-se Desenho Industrial, em 1962. Ao questionar os valores modernistas, antes de seus colegas, combinou a fluência orgânica de Frank Lloyd Wright com a contemporaneidade industrial de Richard Neutra e Marcel Breuer, que aplicou em projetos de arquitetura. Nos anos 50, ao lado de arquitetos igualmente de menor visibilidade no cenário paulista do período (Aflalo, Chen, Croce, Forte, Millan), destacou-se na criação de um mobiliário moderno, e de alta qualidade com a loja Branco & Preto, inovador à época. Finalmente, permeada por um olhar peculiar, será levantada e recuperada, a partir dos anos 60, sua fase projetual arquitetônica, enfocando principalmente os interiores, momento em que projetou para segmentos diversos como bancos, lojas, restaurante, hotéis, escritórios, consultório e dezenas de espaços internos residenciais. Aprimorando-se na exploração máxima dos materiais e de novas tecnologias, utilizando o espírito investigativo nos campos existencial e psicológico como parte integrante do processo da elaboração arquitetônica, passou a introduzir expressividade formal e introspectiva, com base em André Bloc e Frederick Kiesler combinada à arte concreta, na criação de espaços escultóricos internos. Esta pesquisa apresenta a trajetória do universo profissional e acadêmico do arquiteto. / Jacob Ruchti, the modernity and architecture of São Paulo (1940-1970), offers a firsthand individual analysis of the architects involvement as a character in the esthetic, social and cultural movement in the state of São Paulo. Born in Switzerland in 1917, Ruchti graduated from Mackenzie University in 1940. This paper highlights his pioneering contribution to the inspiration and consolidation of modern thought in the São Paulo society, in relation to the rise of abstract art, the birth of design, and to the creation of interior architecture. Ruchti was an architect, designer and professor, a bold student, and mostly self-taught. Within a social context in search of modernizing values, he defended a view beyond the mere functionality of architecture or of the plain formalisms of art, enhancing his ideas through experience and cultural, social and psychological aspects and, later, by including symbolic considerations. Due to his extensive cultural background, Ruchti was amongst the founders of the Institute of Architects of Brazil (Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil - IAB), the Modern Art Museum (Museu de Arte Moderna - MAM), as well as of the Institute of Contemporary Art (Instituto de Arte Contemporânea - ICA), the latter being the first design school in Brazil, together with Lina and Pietro Maria Bardi (1951). As an articulate representative of the São Paulo art scene, he took part in the first Biennial exhibits in the city, either in the setting up of the events or as an international judge member. As a professor of Decoration Composition for FAU/USP (School of Architecture and Urban Planning of the University of São Paulo) from 1954 to 1961, Ruchti developed Bauhaus concepts, integrating them to the idea of modern Brazilian design, which represented a breakthrough, also in relation to the name of the course, later termed Industrial Design, in 1962. By questioning modernistic values prior to his colleagues, he combined Frank Lloyd Wrights organic style with the industrial contemporaneity of Richard Neutra and Marcel Breuer, and then applied the results to architectural projects. In the fifties, alongside architects equally unknown in the São Paulo scene at that time (such as Aflalo, Chen, Croce, Forte and Millan), Ruchti stood out with the creation of highquality and modern furniture for his store Branco & Preto (White & Black), clearly innovative for its time. Lastly, from a particular standpoint, Ruchtis architectural project phase from the sixties onwards will be examined and recovered, focusing mainly on interior design, which was when he switched to projects for various commercial sectors such as banks, stores, restaurants, hotels, offices, medical offices, as well as for dozens of interior home spaces. Ruchtis inquisitive mind in the existential and psychological fields as part of the architectural elaboration process developed his skills through the maximum use of materials and new technologies, and consequently introduced formal and introspective expressiveness based on André Bloc and Frederick Kiesler, combined with concrete art, in the creation of sculptural internal spaces. This paper addresses the development of the architects professional and academic career.

This dissertation studies the critical reception of Hilma af Klint trough three exhibitions: Spiritual in Art – Abstract Painting 1890-1985 (Los Angeles, 1986), Secret Pictures by Hilma af Klint, (Helsinki, 1988) and Hilma af Klint – A Pioneer of Abstraction (Stockholm, 2013), addressing the crucial prominent figures and voices in the discursive field around af Klint. The aim is carried out through the Critical Discourse Analysis by Norman Fairclough, coupled with Pierre Bourdieu's concept of the cultural field and habitus. Judith Butler's theory of gender performance completes the theoretical framework by addressing issues of gender in both af Klint's practice as well as in the analysed critical reviews. The thesis examines how the discourses about af Klint changed during different periods of time in the 1980s and the 2010s. The central hypothesis is that this case study can be used as an example to see how the art field presents women artists as a marginal phenomenon instead of including them in the general art historical canon. But the reception of af Klint cannot be fully understood through the lens of gender; thus, e.g. the closeness to the occult is considered both as a leading mechanism in the artistic practice, creating interest towards af Klint, and as an identity which pushes her to the marginal. The results of this study lead to a better understanding of critical articles' role in the cultural phenomena's narrative creation.

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The following work investigates the nature of the aesthetic experience of the abstract expressionist paintings of Mark Rothko. I suggest that the aesthetic experience in relation to his paintings best is understood in terms of the sublime. To support my position, I discuss the impact of abstraction in comparison to figuration in art on our aesthetic experience. Abstraction in art, I suggest, provides the basis for an aesthetic experience where the viewer can enjoy the visual features and composition free from connecting any depicted imagery to our physical world. This, I hold, provides the basis for a unique type of aesthetic experience. Further, I suggest that the visual complexity in the abstract paintings of Mark Rothko, as well as the aesthetic appeal of his artworks, provides a sense of great magnitude and depth whilst captivating our aesthetic attention. The notion of abstraction allows our minds to never reach a final conclusion as to what type of object we are perceiving. The artistically refined manner in which the artworks are presented captivates our aesthetic attention, allowing us to fully perceptually engage in the limitless sense of depth and visual complexity of his paintings. This, I suggest, provides an encounter in which we through means of perception encounter the idea of a complete form of which magnitude we can never fully comprehend. I argue that this suggests that the aesthetic experience of the abstract expressionist paintings of Mark Rothko best is understood as that of the sublime.