A shift in practice towards a process-orientated and collaborative art practice within the strands of art practice in the public realm raises the question, ’what is the practical contribution artists make to society?’ which can only be answered by first understanding how artists work. Introducing the concepts of ‘context’, ‘artist-led’ and ‘residency’ with reference to the Artists Placement Group, the problematics of assessing the social contribution of context-specific art practices are presented as resting upon two difficulties, the conceptual gulf between the artworld and the public realm and the assumption that artists can or should not articulate their intentions for an artwork. Combining questions raised from practice with the problems outlined by Suzanne Lacy, the need for research into the generative process of public artists is established. The purpose of the research is to investigate and develop artists’ understanding of the generative process by examining the interaction of artists in contexts in the public realm and to make that information explicit. An appropriate methodology and theoretical framework is found by critically reviewing recent related practice-based research projects in Art and Design with special attention to the work of Ian Hunter on immersion strategies in rural contexts. The model of the artistic process as problem-solving, developed by J. Getzels and M. Csikszentmihalyi , is also examined against current theories in scientific research into creativity and theories of social policy problem-setting of Donald Schon and the pattern of inquiry by John Dewey and subsequently extended. Data was generated by recording the decisions and reflections of three artists carrying out an actual artist-led context-specific project in the public realm (‘Taming Goliath’). Data gathered by using a specially adapted method (‘Sweatbox’) were analysed by using the Generative Process Model. The results produced narratives which describe each artist’s experience and information on the methods artists use to interact with a context in the public realm, their intentions. The significance of the findings and the experience are discussed in relation to the work of Suzanne Lacy and Allan Kaprow with recommendations for further research. In conclusion, four areas contributing to knowledge are proposed: the extension of the Generative Process Model, the development of an methodology of analysis, the usage of the Sweatbox method and contributions to the body of knowledge of artists’ processes in the public realm.

This Dissertation is submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Fine Art, Technikon Natal, 1999. / In this research paper I will examine the Durban based 'alternative/informal' art space, the FLAT Gallery, which operated from October 1993 to January 1995. I will begin by first defining what is meant by an 'alternative space' and by looking at the historical development of such spaces both in South Africa and the United States of America. This will include an investigation into the ideological motivations and socio-political influences behind such spaces, as well as an exploration of what is meant by 'alternative practice', which I will show as being inseparable from the mission of the 'alternative space.' This will by no means be a comprehensive survey of alternative spaces in South Africa or the United States, but rather a tracing of the phenomenon with relevant examples. Here, I will explore the similarities that existed between the FLAT and other contemporary artist initiatives in South Africa and the United States, drawing comparisons between the FLAT and other similar venues. I will examine the particular circumstances that catalyzed the FLAT Gallery in the specific cultural and historical context of Durban, South Africa in 1993 and 1994. I will then construct a chronological documentation of the FLAT Gallery' s programme including interviews and extensive visual and audio archives. With this archival information and with detailed descriptions of each event, exhibition or performance, I will create a comprehensive record of the FLAT Gallery's activities. This will include an investigation into the historical influences, with specific examples of linkages to other artist-motivated projects in the past. In this way, I will both identify important precedents for many of the FLAT projects. I will conclude with those 'FLAT activities' that continued beyond the operation of the 'alternative/informal' space. It is my intention to create a document that not only offers a comprehensive study of the FLAT Gallery's programme, but also offers students, recent graduates and emerging artists useful practical information. This document is an affirmation of the possibilities for working and exhibiting once one has left the 'comforts' of faculty guidance, peer support, studio facilities and venues for showing work that the institutional environment provides. My claim is that there rests in the artist the responsibility to actively build a place where his/her development as a creative individual can flourish; that one must not wait for 'permission' or for 'someone' to offer validation of one's work. With this document I intend to demonstrate that it is indeed possible here in Durban to do Something!. / M

This thesis provides an account of the events of the first ten years of Printed Matter, Inc., a distribution center for artists’ books established in New York City in 1976. Included are descriptions of the individuals who formed Printed Matter’s first board, their objectives, books published by Printed Matter, and the windows installation program. This thesis also describes challenges the board members faced, including lack of organization, difficulty cultivating a broad public audience, and inadequate income. In addition, it recounts the gradual streamlining of business practices, and the realignment of goals and expectations for the genre as board members accepted the fact of a limited audience for artists’ books. The conclusion offers a brief summary and a look at Printed Matter, Inc.’s current operations.

The purpose of this study was to investigate some visual artists' experiences of establishing themselves and acting as professional artists based in the Swedish region of Värmland. To do this I have used Bourdieu's theories about fields of cultural production. I have interviewed four different visual artists in Värmland to get a view of how they have established themselves in the field of art. I have used qualitative content analysis to see what has been significant for their establishment. The results of this study showed that social relationships, economy and cultural capital matters to establish as an artist. The study also showed that the degree of will and driving force among the artists matters a lot when it comes to achieve success in the field of art.

The purpose of this study was to determine and investigate -the criteria used to identify artistically gifted children and attempt to determine their validity. Sources of data included interviews with art teachers, interviews with children in combination with observations, and observations of characteristics cited in the literature. With one exception, the criteria which these art teachers used to identify artistically gifted children correlate with criteria found in the literature. There appeared to be, however, some characteristics with which these art teachers were not familiar. One characteristic found in the literature was neither listed by these art teachers nor observed by the investigator. Results indicated that these art teachers may value different types of characteristics than the experts.

A dissertation presented to the Faculty of Humanities of the University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Fine Arts. Johannesburg, 2016 / Collaboration in South African printmaking studios, both between artists and printmakers, and between artists working together in print studios are examined in this study. How South African artists have used the conventions of collaborative printmaking practices to complement their own practice; and what kind of dynamics can emerge from such collaborations is the primary concern of this study. Printmaking is widely viewed as a subsidiary, or supplementary practice to artists’ primary concerns in their particular medium of practice. It is important to examine the role of collaboration in printmaking studios, and how it may benefit, or hinder artists in their creative productions. To contextualise my study, I provide a brief historical overview of collaboration in Western printmaking; and briefly examine printmaking against South Africa’s political landscape since the 1960s. Recent critical observations on collaboration in the arts are introduced to foreground various categorizations and approaches to such practices. My research focus is not on the intricacies of collectivism in collaboration but rather on how a form of ‘teamwork’ collaboration in print studios can generate agency, within the context of concerns raised in my own creative practice. As a printmaking teacher, practitioner and collaborator, I hope these findings could be used to address some of the concerns experienced in collaborations.

Faculty of Humanities School of Arts 0317536k b_balancing_act@yahoo.com / After endless contemplation on the idea of ‘word and image’, the following expression of J.W.T Mitchell in Word and Image (1996: 56) brought insight: ‘[W]ord and image’… a pair of terms whose relations open a space of intellectual struggle, historical investigation, and artistic/critical practice. Our only choice is to explore this space (own emphasis). I shifted my position from the forlorn act of peeling to one of creative exploration. Not necessarily exploring the specific space between word and image, but rummaging ‘the space between’; always hovering amid opposites. This space provides an opportunity to confront and debate the many issues that stem from the relations formed in its fluidity. It is a space that informs my thinking. It is a space of conversation. I see not only my writing, but also the art that I scrutinize as conversation. My conversation is captured in the linear structure of this thesis, but the conversation of art is dynamic. It is informal and flexible – following not one path, offering no answer, giving the potential at each moment for surprises and transformation. The idea is to ponder contemporary art’s dialogue, the manipulators thereof and the indispensable factors constituting this notion: space, grammar, medium, criticism. The notion of dialogue assumes a listener, a participant, an audience. But who is this audience with whom ideas are conversed, and what language do you (presumably) use to communicate the necessary? I have chosen to investigate these questions, the purpose and plan of art, with relation to a selected group of artists: an individual, Terry Kurgan and a collective – Stephen Hobbs, Marcus Neustetter and Kathryn Smith, known as The Trinity Session.

黃仕民. / 論文(碩士) -- 香港中文大學硏究院藝術學部, 1996. / 參考文献 : leaves 53-55. / Huang Shimin. / 前言 --- p.1 / Chapter (一） --- 繪畫中使用新物料的起因及其普遍性 --- p.2 / Chapter (二） --- 新物料的特質 --- p.5 / Chapter (三） --- 在當代繪畫中引起的影響 --- p.10 / Chapter (四） --- 結論 --- p.17 / 附圖 --- p.22 / 附註 --- p.52 / 參考書目 --- p.53

This dissertation focuses on the role of George Maciunas as “chairman” of the neo-avant-garde movement Fluxus. Its introductory chapter provides an overview and assessment of Fluxus scholarship, and advances the argument that Maciunas established an intersection between post-Cage aesthetics and postwar administration. The succeeding chapters situate Maciunas’s work in relation to apparatuses regulating education, circulation, production, and health care. Taking as its primary objects Maciunas’s “paperwork”—his visually striking charts, newsletters, card files, architectural plans, and other documents—this study shows how Maciunas employed administrative techniques to build the infrastructure for Fluxus’s collective practice and, concurrently, drew on Fluxus’s aesthetic tactics to disrupt or evade state regulation. Chapter two, “Card Files & Charts,” reconstructs how Maciunas’s training in the professions of architecture and art history was applied to organizing Fluxus’s publications and concerts; Chapter three, “Newsletters & Postcards,” traces Maciunas’s maintenance of an international Fluxus network via the postal service; Chapter four, “Registrations & Catalogs,” reveals how Maciunas codified Fluxus’s negotiation of individual and collective authorship within the legal framework of US copyright law; and, finally, Chapter five, “Prescriptions,” locates in Maciunas’s performances a body marked by medical administration.

In 1967, the German dealer Konrad Fischer opened his gallery by importing artists rather than their works. The result was a new infrastructure between America and Europe whose parameters defined the art of the 1970s and continue to resonate today. This dissertation considers the origins and ramifications of this shift on the level of market organization and a redefinition of the artistic process in computational terms.