Today’s world has undergone through a variety of changes shifting from metaphysical way of thinking into postmodernism which has left its footprint in the aspects of literature, art and theatre. But architecture doesn’t reflect those changes in the theatrical world because buildings are not adjusted to the postmodern performances. In this research I made a journey through postmodern philosophy, literature, art, architecture, and theatre and tried to analyze the main tools of postmodernism, such as deconstruction of narrative, displacement etc. Then I applied them into my project which makes an attempt to translate the postmodern mind into a physical space and create a theatrical area. It tries to answer the question whether architecture is able to accommodate postmodern conceptions and performances where the audiences are the creators and active participants of their own narratives. The case study of the performance Sleep No More has become the concept for my design proposal where I also used displacement to combine several objects in a new context. The analysis and the design method have shown that architecture can accommodate all the cultural developments and can transform from postmodern conceptions into a physical space with the help of the same tools that are used in postmodern literature, art and philosophy. A building can become the embodiment of a post modernistic idea.

ORIBOMBO: Arte da Pós-Modernidade A presente dissertação de mestrado propõe-se a apresentar o Oribombo como arte da pós-modernidade, trazendo a questão do hibridismo do Oribombo, à situação da arte atual, onde se verificam hibridismos de toda natureza, incentivados pela total liberdade. O artista não se prende mais à ideologias e limitações que ditavam as concepções artísticas do passado, inclusive do passado recente. Liberdade é a palavra de ordem da pós-modernidade. Liberdade que se manifesta em todos os segmentos da sociedade. E na arte, uma consequência do livre fazer, é que os hibridismos são constantes, acontecendo de forma natural. As modalidades artísticas são exploradas simultaneamente, abrindo um leque de possibilidades durante o processo de criação. No caso do Oribombo, as modalidades artísticas que se mostraram plasticamente mais interessantes, foram a pintura, gravura, escultura e a colagem. Outra consequência da total liberdade adquirida pelos artistas da pós-modernidade, é que em certos momentos, indaga-se se tudo que é produzido com o título de arte é arte realmente. Essa discussão é muito ampla, mas a premissa de que arte é a produção de um artista, é a que mais ecoa, não somente no meio artístico, como também, entre pensadores e escritores, que direcionaram suas atenções ao desenrolar da história da arte. Os fazeres e conhecimentos artísticos são indispensáveis ao artista plástico visual, sendo assim, as modalidades artísticas que foram fundidas no processo de criação do Oribombo são seculares, mas, a liberdade com que foram tratadas é uma questão pós-moderna. / This dissertation proposes to introduce Oribombo as art of postmodernity, bringing the question of hybridity of Oribombo, the situation of contemporary art, where there are all kinds of hybridisms, encouraged by complete freedom. The artist is not attached to the ideologies and more limitations that dictate the artistic conceptions of the past, even the recent past. Freedom is the slogan of the postmodernity. Freedom that is manifested in all segments of society. And in art, one of the consequences of free artistic making is the hybridism, and it is a constant, happening naturally. The artistic modalities are explored simultaneously, opening up a range of possibilities during the creation process. In the case of Oribombo, the artistic modalities that were artistically more interesting, were the painting, the printmaking, the sculpture and the collage. Another consequence of complete freedom gained by artists of the postmodernity, is that at certain times, inquires if everything is produced with the title art is really art. This discussion is very ample, but the premise that art is the production of an artist, is the one that resonates, not only in the artistic world but also among thinkers and writers, that directed their attention to the course of art history. The doings and artistic knowledge are indispensable to the visual artist. The artistic modalities that were merged into the creation process Oribombo are secular, but the freedom with which they were treated is a postmodern matter.

Wangechi Mutu is an internationally recognized Kenyan-born artist who lives and works in Brooklyn. She creates collaged female figures composed of human, animal, object, and machine parts. Mutu’s constructions of the female body provide a transcultural critique on the female persona in Western culture. This paper contextualizes Mutu’s work and artistic strategies within feminist, postmodern, and postcolonial narratives on collage, while exploring whether collage strategies are particularly useful for feminist artists. In their fusion of machine and organism, Mutu’s characters are visual metaphors for feminist cyborgs, particularly those outlined by Donna Haraway. In this paper, I examine parallels between collage as an aesthetic strategy and the figure of the cyborg to suggest meaningful ways of approaching differences between women and how they experience life in contemporary Western culture.

This thesis examines the political pop art of contemporary Chinese artist Wang Guangyi in light contemporaneous shifts within the political, economic, and artistic space of China from 1978 until the present. Through an analysis of the work of art as an historically determined antagonistic aesthetic praxis, this thesis attempts to reveal the sedimented traces of the alternative modernity which the Chinese government is actively attempting to construct. With its evocative juxtaposition of contrasting ideological forms, the artwork of Wang Guangyi seeks to deconstruct the normative and teleological narratives encountered within the dialectic interplay between state sponsored transnational capitalism and Marxist-Leninist communism. An understanding of the discursive structure upon which these dual modernising narratives has been based, and of the fragmented artistic space they have engendered, should serve to enliven the debate concerning the role of cultural production in questioning and revealing narratives of the nation, of the Self, and of modernity.

This thesis examines the political pop art of contemporary Chinese artist Wang Guangyi in light contemporaneous shifts within the political, economic, and artistic space of China from 1978 until the present. Through an analysis of the work of art as an historically determined antagonistic aesthetic praxis, this thesis attempts to reveal the sedimented traces of the alternative modernity which the Chinese government is actively attempting to construct. With its evocative juxtaposition of contrasting ideological forms, the artwork of Wang Guangyi seeks to deconstruct the normative and teleological narratives encountered within the dialectic interplay between state sponsored transnational capitalism and Marxist-Leninist communism. An understanding of the discursive structure upon which these dual modernising narratives has been based, and of the fragmented artistic space they have engendered, should serve to enliven the debate concerning the role of cultural production in questioning and revealing narratives of the nation, of the Self, and of modernity.

ORIBOMBO: Arte da Pós-Modernidade A presente dissertação de mestrado propõe-se a apresentar o Oribombo como arte da pós-modernidade, trazendo a questão do hibridismo do Oribombo, à situação da arte atual, onde se verificam hibridismos de toda natureza, incentivados pela total liberdade. O artista não se prende mais à ideologias e limitações que ditavam as concepções artísticas do passado, inclusive do passado recente. Liberdade é a palavra de ordem da pós-modernidade. Liberdade que se manifesta em todos os segmentos da sociedade. E na arte, uma consequência do livre fazer, é que os hibridismos são constantes, acontecendo de forma natural. As modalidades artísticas são exploradas simultaneamente, abrindo um leque de possibilidades durante o processo de criação. No caso do Oribombo, as modalidades artísticas que se mostraram plasticamente mais interessantes, foram a pintura, gravura, escultura e a colagem. Outra consequência da total liberdade adquirida pelos artistas da pós-modernidade, é que em certos momentos, indaga-se se tudo que é produzido com o título de arte é arte realmente. Essa discussão é muito ampla, mas a premissa de que arte é a produção de um artista, é a que mais ecoa, não somente no meio artístico, como também, entre pensadores e escritores, que direcionaram suas atenções ao desenrolar da história da arte. Os fazeres e conhecimentos artísticos são indispensáveis ao artista plástico visual, sendo assim, as modalidades artísticas que foram fundidas no processo de criação do Oribombo são seculares, mas, a liberdade com que foram tratadas é uma questão pós-moderna. / This dissertation proposes to introduce Oribombo as art of postmodernity, bringing the question of hybridity of Oribombo, the situation of contemporary art, where there are all kinds of hybridisms, encouraged by complete freedom. The artist is not attached to the ideologies and more limitations that dictate the artistic conceptions of the past, even the recent past. Freedom is the slogan of the postmodernity. Freedom that is manifested in all segments of society. And in art, one of the consequences of free artistic making is the hybridism, and it is a constant, happening naturally. The artistic modalities are explored simultaneously, opening up a range of possibilities during the creation process. In the case of Oribombo, the artistic modalities that were artistically more interesting, were the painting, the printmaking, the sculpture and the collage. Another consequence of complete freedom gained by artists of the postmodernity, is that at certain times, inquires if everything is produced with the title art is really art. This discussion is very ample, but the premise that art is the production of an artist, is the one that resonates, not only in the artistic world but also among thinkers and writers, that directed their attention to the course of art history. The doings and artistic knowledge are indispensable to the visual artist. The artistic modalities that were merged into the creation process Oribombo are secular, but the freedom with which they were treated is a postmodern matter.

Main focus of this work is to compare and map the evolution of primal sources of inspiration in Czech art in the years 1980-2015. It brings the overview of the authors, who adopted the elements of visual reality, and describes the ways how they used it in their works. Highlighted are the authors whose works are influenced by some of the following topics: commerce and kitch, pornography, comic books, graffiti and street art, folklore, culture of natural nation and childs drawings. Reasons and motivation of the authors for using these extraordinary ways of expression are also clarified. The main part of the work is completed by a context of the exhibitions which took place in the defined time period and follow the topic. It is possible to imagine the evolution and the meaning of primal sources of inspiration in the context of post modern art, according to the basis of the discovered findings.

This bachelor’s thesis traces the life and career of textile designer Wanja Djanaieff, in particu- lar the collections she designed for the Swedish Olympic team for the games in Munich 1972 and Innsbruck 1976, in order to investigate the hypothesis that the social and political climate in Sweden shaped and constrained the stylistic choices available to textile designers at the time. Through the use of a biographical method, including an interview with Wanja, her works are placed within a broader cultural and political context, and the ways in which her art was influenced by historical developments, such as the decline of the Swedish textile industry from the 50’s onwards, are highlighted. Additionally, it is investigated which constraints were imposed on her designs by her clients, and how Wanja faced these constraints. It is argued that presence of irony and androgynous designs in Wanja’s work mirrors contemporary social developments, lending support to the notion that art reflects broader societal trends.

This study investigates how water is depicted in contemporary public art in Sweden, a country surrounded and built by water, and how it reflects in the art. The essay is based on Rosalind Krauss’ sculpture theory and examines how a mythical and vital substance like water is depicted and what its underlaying meaning is in three contemporary public sculptures; Till minnet av en älv (2020) by Anja Örn, Passage (2011) by Katarina Löfström and Hiljainen vesi /Tyst vatten (2019) by Laura Könönen. The study investigates if any mutual patterns can be seen and if so which, and how the relationship between the sculptures and their spatial context can be described based on Rosalyn Deutsches notion assimilative and divisive. Through analyses and comparison of the three sculptures it has emerged that water in all three public artworks stands as a metaphor for something else, here in form of the consequences of hydropower, the impermanence of time and minorities’ feeling of exclusion and community. Over these serious topics lies too a sense of melancholia. A common interest for the nature also appears and mainly because the artists have chosen to depict water even when it symbolizes something else. But the interest in nature also appears when two of the sculptures is made from natural rock and its characteristics. Furthermore, the study indicates that, despite the complexity in defining a public artwork as place-specific or placeless, all three of the sculptures have a connection with the place. The sculptures can therefore perceive as assimilative although to varying degrees and with element of divisive tendencies.

Thesis (MA VA (Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The primary function of paintings and novels in Western culture has historically been considered the depiction or description of reality. Over the course of the last century, however, the inherent reflexivity of both art and literature has become progressively more insistent and programmatic, in such a way as challenges the relationship between form and the world. A re-thinking of the role of representation is thus central to both modernism and postmodernism. This thesis is an investigation into the relationship between modern and postmodern reflexivity. Through the close examination of four artists who serve as case studies, I argue that literary and artistic modernism‟s emphasis on form and subjectivity, as well as the tendency of postmodern art and writing to flaunt its own status as rhetoric/fiction, are different facets of a continuous response to a rapidly changing world. Using the insights of post-structuralist theory, I suggest that whereas modernism‟s reflexive drive is directed towards truth and self-knowledge, postmodern reflexivity is centrally concerned with the elusive, continually shifting nature of meaning. What emerges in the light of the practice of individual artist and authors, however, is that the modern and postmodern reflexive modes are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but can co-exist, producing a vital and necessary tension. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Beskrywing en uitbeelding van die werklikheid word geskiedkundig as die kernfunksies van skilderye en die roman in die Westerse kultuur beskou. Gedurende die laaste eeu het die inherente refleksiwiteit van beide kuns en letterkunde toenemend meer programmaties en sistematies geword. Dit het geskied op „n wyse wat die verhouding tussen vorm en die wêreld uitdaag. „n Herbesinning van die rol van uitbeelding of representasie is gevolglik van sentrale belang vir beide modernisme en postmodernisme. Hierdie tesis is „n ondersoek na die verwantskap tussen moderne en postmoderne refleksiwiteit. Deur „n noukerige ondersoek van vier kunstenaars se werk, stel ek voor dat die letterkundige en artistieke klem van modernisme op vorm en subjektiwiteit, sowel as die gebruiklike kenmerk van retoriek/fiksie, verskillende aspekte is van „n voortdurende weerkaatsing op „n vinnig veranderende wêreld is. Deur die teoretiese perspektiewe van post-stukturalisme toe te pas, stel ek voor dat modernistiese refleksiwiteit neig na die waarheid en selfkennis, terwyl postmoderne refleksiwiteit fokus op die onbepaalde en veranderlike aard van betekenis. Nietemin, uit my kritiese beskouing van die kreatiewe praktyk van afsonderlike kunstenaars en skrywers blyk dit dat die modernistiese en postmodernistiese refleksiewe benaderinge nie noodwendig mekaar uitsluit nie, maar saam kan bestaan en „n dinamiese en noodsaaklike spanning skep.