In this exegesis I have attempted to formulate a primary toolset for dramatic writing that I can apply to create dramatic structure in plays, the chief example being my play Albatross (included herein). This toolset is contingent upon Aristotle's basic tenet of drama, that "tragedy is an imitation of an action" (2002: 10). This exegesis theorises that the work of modern writers on drama such as Spencer, Packard, Catron, Lamott, See, Hicks and many others, fundamentally accords with Aristotle on this point, such that the tools they espouse can collectively be considered a standard set for dramatic writing. Beyond this, my research has led me to believe that there is a primary subset of tools specific to creating dramatic structure. These tools, formulated from dramatic theory, best capture my own way of thinking about my writing practice. I divide them into two types: the first, tools of creation, comprise Theme and Values; Character and their Values; Characters and Action; Character Orchestration and Obstacles; and Event and Significant Change. The second, tools of evaluation, are Passivity; Stakes; and Premise. Together these eight tools have been responsible for creating dramatic structure in the play, Albatross.

Divining the Martyr is a project developed in order to achieve the Master of Arts (Research) degree. This is composed of 70% creative work displayed in an exhibition and 30% written work contained in this exegesis. The project was developed through practice-led research in order to answer the question “In what ways can creative practice synthesize and illuminate issues of martyrdom in contemporary makeover culture?” The question is answered using a postmodern framework about martyrdom as it is manifested in contemporary society. The themes analyzed throughout this exegesis relate to concepts about sainthood and makeover culture combined with actual examples of tragic cases of cosmetic procedures. The outcomes of this project fused three elements: Mexican cultural history, Mexican (Catholic) religious traditions, and cosmetic makeover surgery. The final outcomes were a series of installations integrating contemporary and traditional interdisciplinary media, such as sound, light, x-ray technology, sculpture, video and aspects of performance. These creative works complement each other in their presentation and concept, promoting an original contribution to the theme of contemporary martyrdom in makeover culture.

Indelible is a performance and dance research project. It has three outcomes or pathways, presented on DVD-ROM, via which the user-reader can experience multi-modal perspectives on remembering, memory, and representing performative ideas, events and actions. These pathways are video, writing and interactive and together they form a series of hypermedia framings by which the corporeal and philosophical underpinnings of the project are witnessed. The research is considered to be practice-led, in which my practice consists of choreographic strategies, physical actions, media-based processes, and writing. Within these core representations I have sought to confront the methodological and theoretical paradox affecting performance makers electing to recontextualise their work beyond live processes. How might the absence or disappearance of a so-called live work contribute to the overall design and representational practices underlying the outcomes? In this sense the three pathways that comprise Indelible generate a complex network of artistic, scholarly, poetic, and methodological layerings or enfoldings in which the user-reader is presented with possibilities for experiencing the vital subjectivity and inherent fallibility of memory and remembering. (For complete abstract open dopcument)

M. Tech. (Department of Visual Arts and Design: Fine Art, Faculty of Human Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / This study explores two artistic methods of enquiry in order to firstly better understand the lived experience and its contributions on the formation of sexuality and secondly, to explore how a method can dissect and interrogate a theoretical discourse such as Queer theory. The project takes a twofold approach. In the Practice-led Research (PLR) section, which constitutes the first part, I attempt to utilize PLR as a means of exploring the lived experience along with the artistic contributions PLR might have on the ideation process and identity construction I made use of journal writings as a means for data generation and artistic exploration. The second part of this study, utilizing Research-led Practice (RLP), I attempt to dissect and interrogate Queer theory and the ideation process involved with RLP. I analyse Queer theory as a starting point for my artistic productions and explore and compared the two approaches to one another with regards to the ideation process and the construction of the self. The main aim of this study was to use the strategies of PLR and RLP to interrogate the process of ideation generation. The study set out to achieve three objectives. Firstly, it compares and contrasts the research methods suggested by PLR and RLP, as both operate from different points of ideation. Secondly it compares and contrasts the type of insights (philosophical ideations) around homosexuality and Queer theory that arose from using the two different methods. Lastly it tentatively/speculatively assesses which of the two approaches worked for me both as an artist (the making/ideation process) and as a gay man (the personal philosophical ideation process). In chapter one I discuss the background to the study and where it is situated within academia. In chapter two I discuss the two methodologies namely PLR and RLP and how I made use of them in the artmaking process. In chapter three I discuss the findings of working with PLR. In chapter four I engage with the theoretical discourse of Queer theory. In chapter five I discuss RLP and how Queer theory influenced the artmaking process. In chapter six I conclude with the findings. This study allowed me to channel my lived experience as a valid method of inquiry along with PLR. I discovered that a gay identity is based on personal experiences and shaped by the body. My second body of work (RLP) allowed me to investigate and interrogate Queer theory and I found that a Queer identity sits within a continuum. Working with these two methodological approaches allowed me to expand and grow as both an artist and gay man. Tentatively I conclude that PLR worked effectively for me to achieve this growth, whereas the RLP approach I found somewhat confining. Yet, the RLP approach ‘forced’ me to reconsider my preconceptions and the conclusions I had reached using the PLR approach.

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The evaluation of creative participatory community projects remains a controversial issue in politics, policy and the arts, its focus sharpened by the reality or rhetoric of austerity. Despite the recent plethora of policy documents and reviews there is little consensus about how projects should be evaluated or what constitutes good evidence about the impact on individual and collective wellbeing of ‘being creative’. This research set out to develop and trial feasible and effective evaluations for small to medium sized projects in the West Midlands of the UK based on field research into how impact is produced. Through mainly qualitative research in diverse contexts it was able to identify a range of conditions in projects reflecting the interrelationship of creativity and participation in which positive impact could be maximised. The research sought to theorise the impact of these conditions using elements of Actor Network Theory and Freire’s concept of praxis, concluding that impact is likely to be incremental, partial and non-linear. Central to this theorisation was the synthesis of evidence about the impact of creativity and embodied making on thinking, affect and a sense of agency, with ideas about how people change, producing a new evidence-based theory of change. In a practice-led approach, new creative methods were trialled in which data produced by participants had aesthetic as well as communicative value and the evaluation process itself contributed to positive impact. While it was possible to evaluate aspects of this impact through episodic interventions, field trials showed that it was more effective to develop a systemic evaluation strategy. Such a strategy needed to be participatory and integrated into project planning, in order to respond to the stochastic systems creativity inevitably provokes. This proved to offer two advantages: the potential to engage many stakeholders, not just as respondents but also as agents actively defining and measuring evaluation outcomes; and the potential for reflection about impact as process rather than outcome. These findings were then implemented in a number of projects, including trials of the Arts Council UK’s developmental Children and Young People’s Quality Principles. The method has been identified as ‘improving the conversation’ amongst partners, stakeholders and artists who can re-position themselves as active agents of evaluation rather than mere respondents, using the tropes, practices and materials of their own professional practices.

This doctoral thesis is a practice-led and corporate-grounded enquiry into the role of design research methods in a global technology company. The work aims to understand and communicate through a series of case studies how locally conducted participatory action research can be integrated into the processes of an in-house design team at the global NCR Corporation. It questions the current approaches taken in the design and development of consumer transaction technologies in the context of a global organisation and new markets. The thesis starts by introducing the reader to the global corporation in which the study is focused and author employed, the NCR Corporation. The contextual grounding of the corporate environment, its heritage, history and continued evolution will illustrate the dynamic yet traditional role design has played within the corporation. As a senior member of the Consumer Experience Design (Cx Design) team in the corporation the author is well placed to evaluate the role of design and how it can evolve. The immediate contextualisation is then followed by a broad examination of the literature in the field of design in a corporate culture, research methods and socially-led innovation. This will define the boundaries of interest and influence in the thesis. A participatory action research approach was taken to address the research questions. Informed by a series of hyperlocal and global community engagements framed and directed from within the corporate culture, the author defines an understanding of the levels of community engagement through design research. The resulting outputs are then applied within the context of the NCR Corporation where the impact and influence on such engagements can be understood. The author concludes that his contribution to new knowledge, the development of a Participatory Action Based Strategic Design Process, can be applied within a global technology company. The process adapts McNiff’s and Whitehead’s (2011) seven phases of action research reporting and Ravi Chhatpar’s strategic decision-making process. The thesis demonstrates the value and influence of design research methods in the design of consumer transaction technologies. The thesis provides an understanding of how design research methods have been applied in a corporate environment, how the insights are applied, and demonstrates how the research has influenced the author’s practice and therefore the wider Cx Design group.

Multidimensional aesthetics in photomedia practice shift the emphasis away from the culturally dominating singularity of the camera's eye-piece towards a supple interplay of semi-transparent image planes and shifting positions. Using various image-capture devices that can produce digital, film, still or moving pictures, I create bodies of work that invite the viewer to see many perspectives simultaneously. The challenge is to implement the effectiveness of the technologies and simultaneously dislodge those principles and values fundamental to their imperialist cultural backgrounds. My practice investigates a diplomatic negotiability of aesthetic language to accommodate conceptual and cultural difference/s. Located on the print surface or in animated sequences are symbolic representations that disclose histories, cultures, times and places in subtle and ambiguous ways. The interplay of allure and resistance, repetition and change, are strategies that reveal the delicate and paradoxical nature of the multidimensional psyche.

This exegesis traces a path through the production of an animated work, and discusses the evolution of an individual production workflow that refigures the industrial animation process of prototyping. By incorporating spontaneity within the animation workflow, the creative output of the project focusses on the development of a series of non-narrative, process-driven temporal constructions that fuse form and process. The creative work occupies 75% of this Masters project, and the exegesis 25% (7500 Words)

This thesis consists of a novel, eighteenth, and an exegesis, The ‘Lad Lit’ Dilemma: Institutional influences on creative writing practice. It will address my research question; how did institutional factors surrounding the publishing category of Lad Lit influence my creative practice in drafting and re-drafting the novel eighteenth? eighteenth is the story of Will Swift, a seventeen year-old Brisbane university student. Will is part of a close group of friends from high school. When he falls for Kate, family friend of his mate Simon, his first semester of study becomes more complicated than he might have expected. Will’s movement through these issues and character development is represented symbolically through four eighteenth birthday parties. The project’s exegesis then analyses the changing nature of the publishing industry in the last twenty years, and the implications of these changes for creative writers. Together, the two elements of this practice-led research will articulate the shift in the balance between the cultural and commercial imperatives of publishers, explain the impact of this shift for the publishing category of Lad Lit, and explore the ramifications of this for creative writing practitioners.