Thesis (MFineArt)--University of Melbourne, School of Art VCAM, The Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts, 2010. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-60)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, March, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis works as a means for exploring the role of dreams and otherness within performance practice. By building upon the work of French intellectual Georges Bataille, I work to propose a method by which dreams may be incorporated through a phenomenological lens intended to invite openness to interpretation as a means of engaging the otherness of the audience. To aid in this theoretical aim, I highlight In Quiet Search of a Universal Gesture (a show featured in the Marion Kleinau Theatre directed by myself and Jason Hedrick) as an example of dream art as a means of exploring otherness.

My installation is an exploration of the subconscious ventures within dreams, focusing on aspects of identity, anxiety, and intimacy. The personal disposition of an ‘active’ imagination, even while I sleep, has made me both fascinated and exasperated by my dreamed experiences. By documenting my dreams through animation I am able to explore this power dynamic between my consciousness and subconscious which orchestrates these scenes. Tension between the audio, content, and aesthetic of the work explore the grey emotional areas of dreams that leave residue in the back of our head as we navigate the real world. Time, form, and the scientific and societal laws that govern our lived experiences may be distorted beyond recognition within a dream, and mankind’s proclivity to fantastical dreams makes sleep a gateway to something otherworldly and freeing, all-consuming and overwhelming.

Justina Goldbeck Artist Statement My work explores themes of supernatural alternate universes and humans interaction with nature. Using the medium of photography I strive to create impossible realities, juxtaposing the real and the imagined. My work portrays mystical women interacting with surreal environments and seeks to portray the simple act of existing nature as a magical and spiritual experience. As a female artist my work has often been criticized for being too beautiful and for this reason, void of substance. I believe that beauty has inherent value and goodness. My photos celebrate the beauty of female strength and the unmarred landscape. The mirror to me represents negative stereotypes of superficiality attributed to women female created art. Male painters and photographers thought history have become famous for portraying the passive female form. However, selfies or other images taken of women and by women are considered exercises in vanity. This series seeks to challenge that narrative. The mirrors in my images add depth to the piece, showing a perspective one would not see otherwise. In most images the mirrors obscure the subject and reflect the environment she is in, uniting women with nature, and revealing something deeper within the subject. Photographs are taken far away from civilization and are not preplanned and are constructed without the use of elaborate technology. My practice is rooted in exploring, discovering new landscapes and new ways to photograph them. My work is notably not manipulated in photoshop. All of the seemingly impossible elements of the pieces are created in camera using mirrors and strategically placed colored camping lights. This lack of manipulation is intended to challenge the idea that images reflect unadulterated reality. It is also to contradict the idea that anything impossible must be photoshopped. My work is influenced by magical realism as well as surrealist photography. As a female photographer working with female subjects it is important to me to escape the traditional relationship between active artist and passive subject. Each photo I take is a collaboration with my female subject as well as a collaboration with nature. Through my photos I seek to emphasize a non objectified female form as she interacts with nature and portray my subject as a magnetic and powerful force uniting in spirit with her natural environment.

The thesis deals with Vratislav Effenberger´s poetry from 1940 - 1951, issued in 2004 by Torst publishing under the title "Básně 1". This publishing house aims to publish the whole author´s work. At the beginning, the thesis introduces readers with the methodological demarcation, with the secondary literature and the main objective of the work. The second chapter deals with the general tendencies in French as well as in the Czechoslovakian surrealism expansion. The third chapter informs about Effenberger´s theoretical and artistic texts, many of which still await for publication. The fourth chapter focuses on Effenberger´s attitude towards surrealism and on his role as the main theorist. There is a number of surrealist terms explained. The content of the fifth chapter is finally the own interpretation of each poetry collection in comparison to interpretations of major surrealism personage such as Bruno Solařík, Miloslav Caňko and František Dryje. The sixth chapter provides the interpretation in ways of entering into Effenberger´s poetry based on the themes of space and time, subjectivity, objectivity, black humor and absurdity and the way of imaging the woman and erotica. The aim of this thesis is to describe Vratislav Effenberger´s personality and his poetry to the common current reader and help to understand it better.

Last Night in Americaland is a collection of poems of life, death, terror, refusal, confusion, America, music, geography, place, love, friendship, hope, and the past.

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