Through this practice based research I argue that cultural democracy as a way of thinking contests dominant models of commissioning art to effect social change. A method of generative metaphor of critical distance emerges through four projects based on a contextual and theoretical framework that tests the conditions for recognising cultural democracy as a critical practice. Cultural democracy is distinct from the democratisation of culture, which means providing free, accessible professional culture to all. The socially engaged art commission is, I argue, an example of the democratisation of culture based on predefined economic, aesthetic and social values. Cultural democracy disrupts expected forms of participation and communication of culture, drawing attention to these values. As an uninvited act of disobedience, it is thought and practised as individuals reclaim the right to express themselves, creating conflicts with expected norms of behaviour. This research project began in 2006, nine years into New Labour's administration, and reflects an urgent question of the time: what are the implications of increasing dependency on a culture of commissioning art to effect social change that might perpetuate, rather than radically rethink, social injustices' These concerns are even more significant in a political and economic climate where public funding for critical, non-conformist participation in culture slips further down the agenda. My own career is a symptom of New Labour's neoliberal policies of social inclusion and the arts. A new period of 'austerity' may imply fewer paid opportunities for this professional class of socially engaged art workers, coupled with a distancing of the recognition of cultural democracy as a possible alternative, with further reliance on free, precarious cultural labour. For this reason, I hope this research will be of use to those who also find it an urgent task to address these issues critically and practically.

Chelsea Handler is a comedian and host of the TV show Chelsea Lately. She has been successful in the late night comedy talk show genre to a degree that no woman has before. While she represents the most significant advancement for women in the genre, she also plays to patriarchal themes in order to maintain her foothold. In my thesis, I locate Handler within the history of women's stand-up comedy, analyzing her appeal via the figure of "The Unruly Woman" and other image types. I apply a mythic analysis as I look for Handler's manifestation of mythic types, including archetypal Goddess representations. I analyze her treatment of violence against women, exploring how Handler approaches these themes in ways that allow her into the "old boys club." I use textual and audience analysis to assess Handler's ability to be a transformative and empowering figure for women in comedy and beyond. / by Lauren Walleser. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This multiple-case study examined the factors that influence activist artists in the production of their work. Four artists who were well established in their careers took part. The research was designed to gain insight into what motivates artists to become activists. The research methodology was rooted in qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological traditions with a descriptive, interpretative and exploratory approach, using data collected from in-depth interviews. This study sought to explore and synthesize common patterns and similarities of activist artists. Seven themes emerged: identity, place, and personality as style, life experience, world issues, community and change. Regarding activist artists using a variety of what is typically considered “style” to present their work, this study concluded that there are similarities that support the notion that activist artists can be seen as a group. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2010-01-27 15:59:37.792

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 78 p. : ill. (some col.) Includes bibliographical references.

Camille Mauclair (1872-1945) est l'un des auteurs qui comptent non seulement parmi les plus prolifiques mais aussi parmi les plus lus de son temps. S'il a su puiser dans toutes les occasions offertes par la Troisième République, investissant sa curiosité des débuts dans différents genres (roman, poésie, essai et critique), c'est toutefois en tant que critique d'art qu'il s'affirme professionnellement. Ce travail de recherche retrace le parcours professionnel et intellectuel de Mauclair, des années modernistes du symbolisme aux années de l'entre-deux-guerres et de l'Occupation, et explique à travers l'histoire des idées comment un auteur internationaliste a placé la question nationale au cœur de son débat et est progressivement devenu un pôle de conservatisme et de réaction. Sa perception d'un art national basé sur le XVIIIe siècle inaugure une histoire de l'art vulgarisatrice et nationaliste. La notion de crise devient pour lui une clé pour la compréhension du système de l'art qui l'entoure. La radicalisation de ses thèses l'amènera à une collaboration déterminante avec l'homme influent de l'extrême-droite François Coty et cette collaboration fera de Mauclair un pamphlétaire de l'art. Au début de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, le critique adhère à la presse collaborationniste et ses choix réactionnaires et antisémites lui coûteront la postérité. / Camille Mauclair (1872-1945) was one of the most prolific and most read authors of his times. He used every opportunity offered to him by the Third Republic and he engaged his talents to many literary genres: fiction, poetry, essays, and critiques. However, he only established himself professionally as an art critic. This thesis traces the professional and intellectual itinerary of Camille Mauclair from his early preoccupation with the modernism of symbolism to his later reactionary period and seeks to explain how an initially internationalist author placed the national idea at the heart of his debate. His perception of national art as starting from the l8th century launches a popularizing and nationalist art history. He furthermore develops the notion of crisis in ail levels and he turns it into a key to the understanding of the system of modern art. The radicalization of his opinions leads to his collaboration with the powerful figure of extreme-right François Coty which will make him a profession al lampoonist. During the Second World War, Mauclair joins the collaborationist press and his reactionary and anti-Semitic opinions will ruin his posthumous fate.

Au début des années 1990, apparaît une nouvelle pratique contemporaine : l’art participatif. Celle-ci se caractérise d’abord par une création hors-atelier : la création s’inscrit dans l’espace social. Elle se distingue ensuite par le fait qu’elle n’est pas le fruit du travail de l’artiste seul, mais celui d’une collaboration en présence entre artiste et participants. Notre thèse constitue une enquête sur les enjeux à la fois artistiques et politiques de cette pratique. Nous inscrivons ainsi l’art participatif dans une histoire artistique de la participation sur le XXème siècle, afin de comprendre les problèmes communs justifiant la mobilisation d’un tel dispositif de création, et la spécificité de ce dernier en art participatif ; mais aussi dans une histoire esthétique permettant d’éclairer la façon dont la participation remet en question nos préconceptions les plus profondes sur l’art. Une deuxième partie de notre travail consiste à étudier le développement de cette pratique, en relation avec la politique, au Royaume-Uni de 1997 à 2015. Les gouvernements successifs promeuvent la participation au rang de valeur, et multiplient la mise en place de dispositifs de participatory democracy. Avoir recours à un dispositif de création participatif acquiert, dans ce contexte, une autre dimension et signification. Nous étudions également l’art participatif en rapport avec le politique, que nous analysons comme la tentative de réinventer de nouvelles formes du commun et de la communauté. Nous faisons l’hypothèse que le processus de collaboration entre artiste et participants fait émerger une forme d’association politique nouvelle : la communauté de singularités. / In the early 1990’s emerged a new artistic practice: participatory art. This post-studio practice is characterized by an embodied collaboration between the artist and the participants. Our thesis is an investigation on the artistic and political stakes of this practice. We inscribe participatory art in an artistic history of participation, in order to understand the shared problems encountered by artists along the 20th century calling for the mobilization of this creative device, and also its specific use and functioning in participatory art. We also inscribe this practice in an aesthetic history which enlightens how participation questions our most rooted preconceptions about art. A second part of our work is dedicated to the study of the development of participatory art in relationship to politics (understood here as policies) in the UK from 1997 to 2015. Participation is promoted as a value in itself by the successive governments and participatory democracy is said to be developed by various kinds of public consultations. Participatory art acquires in this context a different meaning and dimension. Finally we intend to show how participatory art can be interpreted as an attempt to create new forms of communality and community. We suggest the idea that the collaborative process between the artist and the participants produces a new kind of political association: the community of singularities.

Orientador: Lygia Arcuri Eluf / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T04:28:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Werneck_Guilherme_M.pdf: 84848532 bytes, checksum: c5a6035bfa6cc7ce9836fcb6c0946a9a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Este projeto de dissertação descreve e analisa a memória afetiva em que se construiu minha carreira refletida na maneira de me relacionar com a vida. Discute e valoriza a importância do processo de trabalho e a origem individual da sensibilidade estética e do fazer artístico . Expõe a metodologia inglesa do ensino nas artes visuais e sua aplicação. O assunto de pesquisa visual, técnicas e o desenvolvimento da linguagem pessoal foram tratados em superposição cronológica de experiências. A influência do movimento da nova figuração nos anos 80 em Nova Iorque e Londres e a diluição gradativa dos elementos figurados estão expostos e analisados neste trabalho . As reproduções mostram a dinâmica evolutiva do tempo e espaço dentro da ordem do observar, interpretar e simplificar. O objetivo desta pesquisa é a de expor no âmbito acadêmico uma reflexão sobre as potencialidades formativas autobiográficas criadas com base nas diversas experiências vividas com a arte, no sentido de ampliar o conhecimento sensível e aprofundamento da linguagem pessoal / Abstract: This dissertation describes and analyzes the affective memory where my career was build. It reflects the way its relate with my life. It argues and it values the importance of the work process and the individual origin of aesthetic sensitivity and artistic making. It displays the British methodology of education in the visual arts and its application. The subject of visual research, techniques and the development of the personal language had been treated in chronological overlapping of experiences. The influence of the movement of the new figurative painting "The New Spirit of Painting" in the eighties in New Iorque and London and the gradual dilution of the appeared elements is displayed and analyzed in this work. The reproductions inside shows the evolving dynamics of the time and space in the a sequence of observing, interpreting and simplifying. The objective of this research is based on the the academic display giving a scope and a reflection on the autobiografical formative potentialities created by the diverse experiences lived with the art, in the direction to extend the sensible knowledge and deepening of the personal language / Mestrado / Artes Visuais / Mestre em Artes

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Masters of Technology in Graphic Design Degree, Durban University of Technology, 2017. / The aim of this research is to investigate the influence of context on the artistic exploration of the nude figure, in the work of selected artists. Qualitative research methods were used. The research is practice-led, as my art making plays an essential part in guiding my research. An outline detailing the various influences and changes to artistic practice surrounding the nude – from ancient Greece to the development of feminist ideas - provides an historic context to the study. I look at major sociocultural and technological advances to examine the relationship between artistic representations of nudity and context. This includes a look at the terminology, naked and the nude, and how these shape understanding. Contextual influences are narrowed down to how they have affected the work of selected artists’ whose work utilizes the nude as a communication tool. The selected artists that I investigate are Jenny Saville (1970-), Erin M. Riley (1985-), Vinz (1979-), and myself. In my own work, issues of public and private space are interrogated by looking at aspects of social networking and online behaviour. This exploration focuses on issues relating to the overlap of these two spaces that where once seen as dichotomous. Through this research I showed that contemporary artists still make use of the historic subject matter. By including symbolism taken from contemporary sociocultural surroundings the nude’s communicative value is continuously updated. This supports the idea that context effects the artistic exploration of the nude. / M

Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 27 novembre 2023) / Ce mémoire présente et analyse une démarche contextuelle, expérimentale, intuitive et attentive, qui, à l'envers de notre société performante et productiviste, place l'humanité, la quête de sens, la liberté et l'autonomie au cœur de ses préoccupations. La collaboration avec l'Autre constitue le point focal de cette pratique qui entrelace recherche, art et vie à travers l'activité (Kaprow, 1996), le dessin et l'écriture. Les expérimentations menées pendant plusieurs années avec mes enfants, l'interaction avec un groupe d'adultes dans le cadre d'ateliers-laboratoires à Sherpa et de nombreuses collaborations avec la flore, la faune, les éléments et les astres seront présentées et comparées. Par la suite, l'analyse portera sur la relation de la pratique avec le jeu (Gray, 2016) et l'attention ainsi qu'avec le soin, en lien avec l'esthétique matriarcale (Göttner-Abendroth, 1982). Le rapport au travail et à la productivité sera brièvement évoqué avec les travaux d'Ariane Daoust et André Gorz.

Dessiner est dans ma pratique une action artistique, politique et sociale de résistance à l’effacement et à la disparition des figures, des personnes. Dans ma pratique, le dessin rend visible et son processus se définit par une action intrinsèque aux mouvements du corps : il suit ses tremblements, s’imprègne de son contexte et trace un lien entre son état intérieur et extérieur. À travers un processus d’actions dessinées, ma recherche questionne l’état de présence, son apparition et sa disparition. Ma pratique du dessin s’est ainsi déplacée pendant la maitrise, en va-et-vient constants de mon atelier vers l’espace public. À l’atelier je dessine en suivant des conditions de création, dans l’espace public, j’invente des espaces dans lesquels j’invite des personnes à se dessiner selon certaines conditions. Nous verrons comment l’action de dessiner permet de s’apparaitre à soi et aux autres. Et comment cette micro action cherche à recréer du lien. Il sera question dans ce mémoire de définir les axes de résistance des actions dessinées et de comprendre en quoi ces actions locales et volontairement rudimentaires agissent dans ma pratique en tant que « perturbateur social »