Med detta kandidatarbete vill jag synliggöra datorns roll i digitalt skapande. Detta genom att se till den kod som utgör digitala objekt som ett materia, och utifrån Karen Barads teorier om agentiell realism samt forskning i digital materialitet bjuda in denna digitala materia som en aktör i skapandeprocessen. Jag har strävat efter en inblick i hur digital materia framträder när den tillåts verka som en aktör, hur den tar ett uttryck och yttrar sig. Jag har engagerat mig i digital materia med diffraktion och remix som metod, vilket tillåtit mig en djupare inblick i det samt en inkluderande process där jag och materiat verkar tillsammans; i intra-aktion. I slutändan ser jag hur digital materia inte framträder ensamt, både jag och dator finns sammantrasslade i dess framträdande som ett resultat av den intra-aktion vi mötts i. Mitt ingripande i digital materia blir synligt i form av glitches, spår av digitalt förfall som ger det annars flyktiga digitala materiat mer materiella och konkreta egenskaper. Det blir även tydligt hur digital materia innebär en svårförstådd komplexitet, som framträder visuellt när det tillåts påverka denna skapandeprocess. Men jag även erhållit en medvetenhet om hur digital materia inte har ett absolut framträdande, och mitt arbete kan ses som en undersökning i hur digital materia kan framträda. / With this bachelor thesis I aim to bring to light the role of the computer in digital creative work. This is accomplished by treating the code that make up digital objects as a form of matter, and with Karen Barad’s agential realism and other research into digital materiality as a point of reference this matter is invited to the creative process as an actor. I’ve been striving for a glimpse of how digital matter comes to life when it’s allowed an active part in the creative process, to see how it expresses itself. By engaging with the digital matter through diffraction and remix as methods I’ve been given an insight into the core of it, and through the process I’ve been working alongside digital matter in intra action. Ultimately I can see how digital matter won’t appear alone, I myself and the computer are both entangled together with the digital matter as a result of the intra actions we’ve been engaging in. My intervention in digital matter becomes visible as glitches, traces of decay that give the digital matter, which can be so fleeting, more concrete and material characteristics. The unintelligible complexity of digital matter also comes to light when it’s allowed influence, as it appears visually. With this knowledge I’ve gained the awareness that digital matter does not have an absolute appearance, and this thesis can be seen as an investigation into how digital matter can appear.

Under flera generationer har människan försökt tolka relationen mellan bild och ljud. Finns det en vetenskaplig koppling mellan ljusets frekvens och ljudets frekvens? Kan man uppleva båda modaliteter samtidigt? En liten procent av jordens befolkning kan uppleva denna symbios av modaliteter, en sinnenas union där hjärnan korskopplar två eller flera sinnen, denna funktionsvariation kallas för synestesi. Den digitala utvecklingen har möjliggjort denna korskoppling där man med nummer som material kan gestalta synestesi och skapa och uppleva flera modaliteter i symbios. Detta kandidatarbete syftar på att med hjälp av kinesonisk interaktion undersöka relationen mellan kropp, bild och ljud, hur man med kroppen som verktyg kan sammanväva och skapa bild och ljud samtidigt på ett naturligt och organiskt sätt. Genom etnografiska observationer, fokusgrupper och frågeformulär har vi undersökt olika funktioner som kan bidra till känslan av att ljudet känns naturligt till kroppsliga rörelser och visuell stimuli. Genom agentiell realism har vi sedan förankrat vår kunskap och de beslut vi tagit som designers för att presentera det ramverk vi föreslår för att skapa en multimodal upplevelse där kropp, ljud och bild möts. / For generations humans have strived to interpret the relationships between picture and sound. Is there a scientific connection between the lightwave-spectrum and the sound-frequency domain? Is it possible to experience both modalities at once? A fraction of the population can experience a symbiosis of these modalities, a union of the senses where the brain cross connects two or more, seemingly unrelated senses. This variation of sensory function is known as synesthesia. The rapid development in digital media has enabled this cross connection through numbers, creating a form of art where sound triggers or generates visual elements or vice versa. This bachelor thesis is aimed towards examining the relationship between picture, sound, bodily interaction and how we can weave these modalities together to create visual and sonic elements in real time in a natural and organic fashion through the concept of kinesonic interaction. We have through ethnographic observation, focus groups and questionnaires examined various functions which contributes to the sensation of embodied sound, retaining a natural feeling towards the body movements and visual cues. We’ve anchored our research, knowledge and decisions as designers in agential realism to present a framework which we suggest creates an intertwining multimodal experience where body, sound and picture meet.

Vi vill med det här kandidatarbetet inleda en konversation med havet. Tillsammans med Karen Barads posthumanistiska performativitet, agentiell realism, vill vi utmana och ifrågasätta den antropocentriska designerrollen där materialiteten ses som passiv och designern som ensam härskare över meningsskapandet i designprocessen. Med Barads onto-epistemologiska utgångspunkt undersöker vi hur design-processen uppstår i arrangemang av både mänskliga och icke-mänskliga aktörer, där mening framförhandlas genom relationer inom fenomen. Genom att tillämpa detta posthumanistiska förhållningssätt i lekfulla experiment tillsammans-med-havet kan vi se hur mening är situerad och skapas inom de materiell-diskursiva fenomen och apparater som utgör designprocessen.  Vi förstår designprocessen som ett ingripande i världens tillblivelse. Ett ingripande där ett kollektiv av aktörer står som medskapare, där mening, kroppar, subjekt och objekt uppförs och samformas genom intra-aktion. Detta förhållningssätt föder en medvetenhet om vårt ansvar i att ingripa i världens tillblivelse och vårt ansvar för de kroppar som skapas, en etik i handling. / In this Bachelor thesis we aim to establish a conversation with the sea. With Karen Barads posthumanist performativity, agential realism, as our companion we aim to challenge the anthropocentric role of the designer. In doing this we question the view of materiality as passive and the designer as the sole creator of meaning in the design process.  With Barads onto-epistemological standpoint we explore how the process of design is enacted in a performance of human and non-human actors, where meaning is negotiated through relations within phenomena. By putting this posthumanist notion into practice through playful experiments together-with-the-sea, we can understand how meaning is situated and shaped within the material-discursive phenomenas and apparatuses that is, and is part of, the design process.  We understand the design process as an intervening in the world’s becoming. An intervening where an assemblage of actors stands as co-creators and where meaning, bodies, subject and object is enacted and co-shaped through intra-action. This perspective gives us an awareness of our responsibility to intervene in the world’s becoming and our accountability for the bodies produced, an ethics in action.

This study is about 1-3-year-old children and their meeting with the documentation made available to them by preschool teachers. Eight preschool teachers in seven different preschools were interviewed. These interviews were combined with observations of the preschool environments to be able to view the documentation that was made available to the children. In this study we examine what happens in the meeting between children and material objects in documentation practises. We also sought to understand how material objects play a role in children’s participation in documentation practises. In this study we therefore use Karen Barads (2007) theory of agential realism to analyse the relationship between humans and the material environment. Basing the analysis on agential realism by viewing material objects as active agents instead of passive, we were able to gain insight into how photographs of children taking part in earlier activities or pictures of insects played a part in the activities and negotiations around the documentation. The youngest children’s handling of the documentation made available to them did not always coincide with the expectations of the preschool teachers. The documentations hanging on the wall would be worn out or taken down by the youngest children. Understanding the potential meaning behind the worn-out corners was made possible by using an agential realist approach where the child is seen as entangled in a constant intra-action with the human and non-human environment. We found that an agential realist approach has the potential to contribute to a versatile understanding of documentation practices with preschools youngest children.

This study focuses on the transnational role and involvement of interest groups in the water politics of two Southern African international river basins – the Kunene and Orange Rivers. The thesis is in part based on the theory of social constructivism, with the purpose of investigating the extent to which the collective transnational activities of interest groups, regarding the implementation of WRMPs in selected Southern African international rivers, lead to the undermining of the acceptance of the actions and policies that are authorised at the state level of world politics. Two case studies were analysed namely the proposed Epupa Dam and the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). Regarding the problem statements and the chosen theoretical approach, a number of findings were made. Firstly, interest groups posed a substantial challenge to the national and international ‘agential power’ of the states., although the erosion of the policies initiated at the state level differed in respect of the two cases. In the Kunene River basin, the interest groups have moderate international ‘agential power’ and moderate to high domestic ‘agential power’. Namibia’s international and domestic ‘agential power’ is substantially lower than that of the interest groups, mainly on account Angola opposing plans for a dam at Epupa. In the Orange River basin, the interest groups have high domestic ‘agential power’, especially the Lesotho interest groups, and moderate international ‘agential power’. The reason for the high domestic ‘agential power’ of the Lesotho-based interest groups is Lesotho’s reflexive ‘agential power’. This reflexivity is a direct consequence of Lesotho’s changing identity from a politically unstable to stable state. South Africa’s international and domestic ‘agential power’ is higher than that of the interest groups, mainly because the South African government went ahead with plans to construct the LHWP in an era where there was little opposition to the project. Since there was no interest group involvement during the planning phase of the LHWP from 1956 to 1986, there was no interest group challenge of the LHWP. Also, the interest groups could not effectively challenge the economic power of South Africa. Furthermore, the ANC changed its stance from being anti-LHWP in the 1980s to pro-LHWP when it became the ruling party. This meant that the Project was backed by the ruling party’s ideological power. Thus, it was concluded that interest groups had a significant role and influence on the water politics regarding the WRMPs in the international river basins of Southern Africa. The thesis contributes to the body of research on water politics in a number of ways. First, the study contributes to an understanding of the reasons why interest groups are transnationally involved in water politics and of the roles they play in this process. Second, a theory of water politics (hydro-normative commensalism) was developed, that primarily focuses on the role of norms in water politics. Third, a new definition of water politics was developed, stating that water (hydro-) politics is the transnational interaction, through norm creation and utilisation, between a plethora of non-state and state actors, varying from individuals to collectivities, regarding the allocation and use of, and perception towards domestic and international water resources. The relationship between the state and interest groups is increasingly transnational because of a diminishing capacity of the state to insulate itself from the influences of non-state actors regarding the implementation of policies. / Thesis (DPhil (International Politics))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

The aim of the present study is to explore how children’s participation is constructed and enacted in preschool documentation and what kinds of activities evolve between teachers, children and material objects in preschool documentation practices. The study is based on videorecorded observations of teachers and children documenting different preschool activities in two preschool groups. The video observations are analysed using theoretical perspectives on power relations, governmentality, documentality and agentic realism. The results are presented in two research articles. The results show the complexity of children’s participation in preschool documentation practice. In the first article two different documentation methods, with different theoretical underpinnings, were used in the preschool: portfolio and pedagogical documentation. The results show that, regardless of documentation method, children’s participation varied from attendance to involvement and influence, which can be seen as two ends of a power relation. Power relations between teachers and children also varied between situations as well as within individual situations. The result of the second article shows that children’s participation in preschool documentation practices, as well as the documentation itself, was affected and controlled not only by the humans present, but also by different material agents, such as photos and colour-coded labels. Taking material agents into account allows for a broader understanding of documentation practices, which in turn could open up for new forms of children’s participation in preschool documentation. / Syftet med studien som utgör grunden för uppsatsen var att undersöka hur barns delaktighet i förskolans dokumentation är konstruerad och ”görs” och vilken typ av aktivitet som utvecklas mellan lärare, barn och materiella objekt inom förskolans dokumentationspraktik. Studien är baserad på videoinspelade observationer av lärare och barn som dokumenterar olika aktiviteter i förskolan på två förskoleavdelningar. Videoobservationerna analyserades med hjälp av teoretiska perspektiv på maktrelationer, governmentality, documentality och agentic realism. Resultatet presenteras i två vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultaten visar komplexiteten i barns delaktighet i förskolans dokumentationspraktik. I den första artikeln studerades användningen av två olika dokumentationsmetoder, med olika teoretiska underbyggnad, nämligen portfolio och pedagogisk dokumentation. Resultatet visar att barns delaktighet varierade från deltagande till medverkan och inflytande oavsett vilken dokumentationsmetod som användes. Detta kan ses som två ändpunkter av en maktrelation. Maktrelationer mellan lärare och barn varierade också mellan situationer och inom en situation. Resultatet av den andra artikeln visar att barns deltagande i förskolans dokumentationspraktik samt också dokumentationen i sig, påverkades och styrdes, inte enbart av de deltagande personerna, men också av olika materiella agenter, till exempel foton och färgade etiketter. Att även beakta materiella agenter innebär att förståelsen av dokumentationspraktiken kan vidgas, vilket i sin tur skulle kunna öppna upp för nya sätt för barn att vara delaktiga i förskolans dokumentationspraktik.

Detta arbete syftar till att undersöka de relationer som uppstår mellan teaterrekvisita, skådespelare och ljudtekniker genom det posthumanistiska perspektivet agentiell realism. Jag utforskar även vilka fenomen som uppstår ur dessa relationer. Vad händer när sensorer implementeras i rekvisitan så att skådespelarna själva kan trigga vissa ljudeffekter från scenen?  För att undersöka detta har jag tagit fram prototyper av teaterrekvisita med sensorer och på så sätt i viss mening gett föremålen en egen röst. Detta bidrar till att de kan delta i dialogen med människorna i en föreställning, samtidigt som samspelet mellan skådespelare och ljudtekniker förändras.  Genom processens olika iterationer har gränsen mellan subjekt och objekt blivit allt mer otydlig, liksom den mellan de olika rollerna. Skådespelaren blir i viss mening ljudtekniker, liksom både rekvisitan och ljudteknikern i sin tur blir skådespelare. / This thesis aims to investigate the relationships between theatrical props, actors and sound engineers through the posthumanistic perspective of agential realism. I also explore the phenomena that emerge from these relationships. What happens when sensors are implemented in the prop in order for the actors themselves to trigger certain sound effects from the stage? To investigate this, I have developed prototypes of theater props with sensors and thus in some sense given the objects a voice of their own. This contributes to them participating in the dialogue with the people in a performance, while at the same time changing the interplay between actors and the sound engineer. Through the different iterations of the process, the division between subject and object has become increasingly unclear, just like the one between the different roles. In some sense, the actor becomes an audio engineer, as both the prop and the audio engineer in turn become actors.

Utifrån ett posthumanistiskt synsätt, och tillsammans med Karen Barads teori kring agentiell realism och performativitet, vill vi i det här kandidatarbetet bjuda in vår omvärlds fysiska fenomen som medskapare i vår designprocess. Med hjälp av dessa fenomen vill vi utmana och ifrågasätta den antropocentriska designerrollen genom att belysa materialitetens performativa förmåga till kunskapsproduktion och meningsskapande i designprocessen. Vi undersöker hur designprocessen och dess involverade val och handlingar uppstår genom mötet av både mänskliga och icke-mänskliga aktörer; vi beviljas ett inifrånperspektiv som placerar oss mitt i vår världs trassel av intra-aktioner och blir därmed en del i dess tillblivelse. Genom att tillämpa detta förhållningssätt i experiment som utforskar relationen mellan den analoga världen och den digitala, undersöker vi hur dessa möten kan bidra till utformandet av en gestaltande ljudinstallation. / With a posthumanist approach and based on the theory of agential realism and performativity by Karen Barad, we want, in this Bachelor Thesis, to invite the physical phenomena of our surrounding world as co-creators of our design process. With help from these phenomena we would like to challenge and question the anthropocentric designer role by illustrating the performative ability of materiality for producing knowledge and creating meaning in the design process. We explore how the design process and its involved choices and actions emerge through the concurrence of both human and non-human actors; we are granted a from-within perspective that places us in the midst of the entanglement of our world’s intra-actions and therefore become a part of its genesis. By applying this approach to experiments which delve into the relationship between the analog world and the digital, we explore how these concurrences can contribute to the designing of a sound installation.

Within the interdisciplinary field of new materialism Karen Barad’s theory of agential realism deconstructs our current euro-western metaphysical perception of the world and our existence within it, to then re-build an understanding based on relatively new findings within quantum physics. In this thesis I try to recreate Barad’s theory to see what ethical consequences might come from it. Together with practical examples within the discourse of today’s social world and our global connectedness I hope to create a better understanding of the impact of our actions and being on our culture and what we call the natural world. Removing the unique agency given to human culture and language to instead, with the help of post-humanistic ideas, add agency as a universal enactment rather than an attribute, we should start to see ourselves as active and real parts of the world-building that is our home. One main question that I see arise in the end is: what does responsibility entail when we all are one and the same?

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