Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Virginia, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 280-299). Also available online through Digital Dissertations.

The Instruments installation represents the superimposition of two systems. The marketed elements that comprise the hegemony exerted by commodity culture are placed on top of the occult qabalistic Tree of Life. This overlaying makes the commentary that the pursuit of identity through commodified objects usurps and drowns out the natural fundamental components of the human psyche. The artist accomplishes this by creating various expressive multimedia sculptures out of actual objects. Each one is given a title that references a particular sphere on the Tree of Life glyph, for each piece is meant to represent that sphere’s aspect of the human entity as it is expressed in the commodity realm. The artist begins by introducing the reader to the artistic contexts and the various conceptual structures that serve to inform and describe his mode of working and its results. Subsequently, a detailed description of each work is given, simultaneously functioning as a necessarily brief survey of the spheres on the qabalistic glyph.

The Instruments installation represents the superimposition of two systems. The marketed elements that comprise the hegemony exerted by commodity culture are placed on top of the occult qabalistic Tree of Life. This overlaying makes the commentary that the pursuit of identity through commodified objects usurps and drowns out the natural fundamental components of the human psyche. The artist accomplishes this by creating various expressive multimedia sculptures out of actual objects. Each one is given a title that references a particular sphere on the Tree of Life glyph, for each piece is meant to represent that sphere’s aspect of the human entity as it is expressed in the commodity realm. The artist begins by introducing the reader to the artistic contexts and the various conceptual structures that serve to inform and describe his mode of working and its results. Subsequently, a detailed description of each work is given, simultaneously functioning as a necessarily brief survey of the spheres on the qabalistic glyph.

In this thesis I reframe theories of love-relationships in late modernity (by Anthony Giddens, Zygmunt Bauman and Ulrich Beck & Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim) in relation to a general framework of discursive theory (inspired by Michel Foucault). I suggest that current developments and contradictions in the field of love-relationships with advantage can be understood in terms of discourse and discursive conflict. Utilizing the discursive framework, I conceptualize two conflicting discursive regimes (as romantic love and individualized freedom), and their components. With these components in mind, I explore how contradicting discursive components are problematized in established risk-discourse, using cases of popular culture as illustrative reference. Risk-discourses force short-term practical solutions, and put pressure on further discursive change by inducing anxiety and cognitive dissonance. Future discourse will have to adapt to several conditions, including the (in)compatibility of discursive components, how well practical strategies work out, how social interaction is organized, and how discursive deconstruction unavoidably have consequences for the fundaments of love itself. / I uppsatsen omtolkar jag senmodernitetsteorier om kärleksrelationer (av Anthony Giddens, Zygmunt Bauman och Ulrich Beck & Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim) till ett generellt diskurs­teoretiskt ramverk (inspirerat av Michel Foucualt). Uppsatsen redogör för hur samtida utvecklingar och motsättningar inom fältet kärleksrelationer med fördel kan förstås i diskursteoretiska termer. Med hjälp av detta ramverk utvecklar jag två diskursiva regimer och deras respektive komponenter (konceptualiserade som romantisk kärlek och individualiserad frihet). Med dessa komponenter i åtanke granskar jag hur konflikterande komponenter problematiseras genom etablerade riskdiskurser, med fallstudier av populärkultur som illustrativa exempel. Jag menar att att dessa riskdiskurser driver fram kortsiktiga praktiska lösningar, och orsakar ångest och kognitiv dissonans vilka motiverar ytterligare diskursiva förändringar. Kommande diskursiva förändringar måste förhålla sig till flertalet omständig­heter inklusive diskurskomponenternas (in)kompabilitet, huruvida praktiska lösningar är hållbara, hur social interaktion organiseras i allmänhet och hur diskursiv dekonstruktion oundvikligen får konsekvenser för kärlekens fundament.

Once a source of environmental concern, mine tailings could now contribute to the fight against climate change. Greg Dipple and team are discovering how mines can potentially ofset their own emissions.