This diploma thesis is focused on the part of the work of important philosopher and mathematician Bernard Bolzano, which is currently rather neglected. It is his utopian writing On the best state. The aim of my thesis is to find out (through the analysis of the selected representatives of the utopian genre from the 16th to half of the 19th century and their consequent comparison with Bolzano's utopia), where to put the book On the best state in context of European utopian thought. In Czech literature Bolzano's writing is considered to be an example of rationalistic utopia of Enlightenment; however this statement hasn't been proven by deeper comparative analysis. That's why this diploma thesis tries to review this statement in order to either confirm it or define newly the position of Bolzano's book in the history of political utopianism. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first one gives basic introduction to Bolzano's professional and personal life, which is necessary for better understanding of his political thought. The second part analyzes important European utopias of Renaissance, Enlightenment as well as the utopias of the first half of the 19th century. The main part of this thesis is the chapter three, where are discussed selected political, economical and social aspects of the...

Utopian thinking can be understood as an exploration of desires beyond current realities. Seeing ecovillages as spaces for utopian practices, the aim is to investigate what space exists for gender equality and how the utopianism can be used to challenge unwanted patterns. Grounded theory is used to build knowledge from women’s experiences gathered through qualitative interviews. By mapping desires in relation to utopia, it is found that while visions of the sustainable life are seen as attainable, attaining gender equality through equal division of household work is hindered by lack of visions, examples and spaces for discussion of alternatives.

The current communicative planning paradigm appears to lack the ability to include the voices of the voiceless and is stuck in practices that continue to confirm the status-quo through technocratic quick fixes, which do not solve underlying problems causing climate change. This thesis is an exploration of how two unconventional methods, storytelling and co-created speculative design, can contribute to a change in paradigm, specifically improve the inclusiveness of coproduction, where nonhumans are involved in the decision-making processes. This thesis takes the reader on a journey through the embodiment of water in Slussen, by an analysis of semi-structured interviews and a critical discourse, a story from the perspective of water with the title Suorssá, and two alternative designs of Slussen if water were in charge. The applied lense in this thesis is a combination of Latour’s perspective on actants, Bell’s studies of the future, storytelling, critical utopianism, and ecocentrism. The methods and lense are embedded in a case study of water in Slussen, which is a major urban development in Sweden where water plays a considerable role. Through this journey an alternative perspective is attempted to be shared with the participants and an increasing openness towards ecocentrism, where all organisms on the planet have an intrinsic value irrespective of humans, is created. The results suggest that a truly inclusive planning paradigm, especially for megaprojects like Slussen, seems to be a utopian thought. Nonetheless, storytelling and co-created speculative designs turn out to be an effective step towards realizing this vision.

Abstract Rosa Liksom is one of the most internationally recognized contemporary Finnish authors and leading Finnish postmodernists. Indeed, the postmodernist aesthetics of her works have received most of the academic attention: features such as irony, dark humor, intertextuality, and parody have been convincingly studied. Liksom’s singular public image has been connected to these aesthetics, but although her cosmopolitanism is often mentioned, her postmodern nonconformity has usually been read in a local and a national context. Liksom’s engagement with modernity has been only implicitly and insufficiently explicated. This dissertation focuses on Liksom’s works and public image in the broader historical context of the modern project in its 20th century legacy. The study of Liksom’s engagement with the utopianism of the modern project is paramount to a deeper understanding of the politico-ethical underpinnings of Liksom’s works and image. To examine Liksom’s retrospection of the modern project, this dissertation makes use of a broad range of theoretical approaches, which can be collectively summarized as contextual close reading. The central theoretical framework is Fredric Jameson’s theory of postmodernism. Other important theories are Linda Hutcehon’s theories of postmodernism and irony, Svetlana Boym’s typology of nostalgia, as well as Krishan Kumar’s theory of utopia. This study elucidates the complexity of Liksom’s engagement with the modern project and bestows new importance on the positive, constructive elements of Liksom’s works that have hitherto gained less attention. Liksom’s works try to salvage something from the history of the modern project instead of merely lingering in the negative attempt to deconstruct historical truths and dismantle the very possibility of such truths. Below the irony and criticism of utopianism in Liksom’s artistic ethos runs a mournful undercurrent that broods over the lack of agency and political choices we seem to face in our present historical condition, and a nostalgia that reflects upon the lost utopian potentialities of the past. Liksom’s works suggest this process of mourning may result in a tentative prospect of communion between people and cultures based on an understanding of their shared situatedness in a postmodern, uncertain world. / Tiivistelmä Rosa Liksom on kansainvälisesti tunnetuimpia suomalaisia nykykirjailijoita ja keskeisiä postmodernisteja. Akateeminen kiinnostus onkin keskittynyt ensisijaisesti hänen teostensa postmoderniin estetiikkaan: teosten ironiaa, musta huumoria, intertekstuaalisuutta ja parodiaa on tutkittu ansiokkaasti. Liksomin ainutlaatuinen taiteilijakuva on kytketty tähän estetiikkaan, mutta vaikka hänen kosmopoliittisuutensa usein mainitaankin, hänen postmodernia epäsovinnaisuuttaan on yleensä tulkittu lokaalissa ja kansallisessa viitekehyksessä. Toistaiseksi Liksomin suhdetta modernin ajan ihanteisiin on pohdittu vain välillisesti ja riittämättömästi. Tässä väitöskirjassa Liksomin teoksia ja julkisuuskuvaa käsitellään laajemmassa viitekehyksessä, nimittäin modernin projektin ja sen 1900-luvun perinnön kontekstissa. Ymmärtääksemme Liksomin teosten ja julkisuuskuvan poliittis-eettisiä perustuksia syvällisemmin on välttämätöntä tarkastella hänen suhdettaan moderniin utooppisuuteen. Tässä väitöskirjassa selvitetään monipuolisen teoreettisen välineistön avulla, kuinka Liksom retrospektiivisesti tarkastelee modernin projektia. Teoreettista lähestymistapaa voidaan kutsua kontekstuaaliseksi lähiluvuksi. Keskeinen teoreettinen viitekehys on Fredric Jamesonin postmodernismin teoria. Muita keskeisiä teorioita ovat Linda Hutcheonin teoria postmodernismista ja ironiasta, Svetlana Boymin nostalgian typologia, sekä Krishan Kumarin ja utopia-teoria. Liksomin taiteellisen eetoksen ironisuuden ja utopiakritiikin alla kulkee surumielinen pohjavire, joka pohtii nykyisessä historiallisessa tilanteessa kohtamaamme toimijuuden ja poliittisten vaihtoehtojen puutetta, ja nostalginen pohjavire, joka mietiskelee menetettyjä utooppisia mahdollisuuksia. Liksomin teoksiset antavat ymmärtää, että tämän suruprosessin tuloksena voi olla mahdollisuus löytää ihmisten ja kulttuurien välinen yhteys, joka perustuu ymmärrykseen siitä, että me kaikki paikannumme postmoderniin, epävarmaan maailmaan.

Ce travail porte sur les six premiers récits de Gioconda Belli, romancière, poète et ex-révolutionnaire nicaraguayenne. Il interroge trois motifs récurrents dans son œuvre – la Révolte, la Révolution et l’Utopie –, et cherche à en expliquer la présence obsessionnelle. En tant qu’intermédiaires entre les sphères individuelle et collective, ces objets d’étude nécessitent un éclairage à la fois psychanalytique et sociologique ; ces deux disciplines sont donc les outils privilégiés dans l’analyse, de même que la psychologie sociale, qui s’intéresse précisément aux processus psychiques régissant les interactions interpersonnelles. L’hypothèse de départ est que l’engagement dérive de la situation identitaire instable des personnages au début du récit, et que le choix entre Révolte, Révolution et Utopie dépend des conditions identitaires dans lesquelles ils se trouvent. Pour vérifier ce postulat, notre étude s’attache à dessiner les contours de la carence affective de chaque protagoniste, et analyse les processus identitaires susceptibles d’influencer la décision de s’engager, ainsi que les mécanismes psychiques que cette décision déclenche. Le fait que la quête d’identité ne soit pas assouvie par l’engagement mène alors à s’interroger sur la fonction idéologique de la Révolte, de la Révolution et de l’Utopie dans ces romans. Il s’agit donc aussi de déterminer le rôle de ces trois objets dans les récits, par l’étude de leur dimension temporelle, qui remplit une fonction à la fois diégétique et idéologique, ainsi que par l’analyse du dispositif argumentatif qui leur est associé, et qui révèle, de la part de l’auteur, une instrumentalisation de la littérature à des fins politiques. / This work deals with the first six novels of the novelist, poet and ex-revolutionary from Nicaragua, Gioconda Belli. It explores three recurrent themes – Revolt, Revolution and Utopia – and endeavours to explain the reason for their obsessional presence. As intermediaries between the individual and the collective, these concepts require both a psychoanalytical and sociological perspective. These two academic disciplines thus constitute the main tools of the research, as well as social psychology, which deals indeed with the psychological processes at play in interpersonal relations. The underlying assumption is that commitment stems from the characters’ unstable identity at the beginning of each novel, and that the choice between Revolt, Revolution and Utopia depends upon the circumstances of the creation of these identities. To put this assumption to the test, our study tries to locate the marks of emotional deprivation in each protagonist, and analyses the identity processes which are likely to influence the determination to commit and the psychological mechanisms resulting from such decision. Yet, the quest for identity is not quenched by commitment and this puts into question the ideological function of Revolt, Revolution and Utopia in these novels. Hence, this study equally tries to determine the role of these three objects in Belli’s work. It considers their temporal dimension, which has both a diegetic and an ideological function, and studies the argumentative devices attached to them, revealing thus the author’s political instrumentalisation of literature.

This study examines the manifestation of New Urbanism in the South African environment and applies the themes, characteristics and principles of New Urbanism to the landscape of Melrose Arch in Johannesburg. This precinct has been developed according to New Urban principles, and it is the aim of the author to assess whether these principles have been applied successfully, keeping in mind that since New Urbanism is an American design movement, some of its principles may be impractical to apply in a South African environment. In order to conceptualise the environment in which the analysis takes place, the author sketches a background of the origin and history of Johannesburg, including the development of the city centre and rise of the suburbs. Trends such as decentralisation and gentrification are also recognised and examined. A correlation is drawn between the Johannesburg of a few decades ago and the contemporary city to see how events and tendencies created the city of today. The current initiatives that are being undertaken to reinvent the CBD and other areas of the city are considered as well, in order to provide a context for Melrose Arch. The author also briefly examines the origin and history of leisure landscapes such as arcades, world fairs and expositions, shopping malls and themed landscapes. The purpose is not to give exact timelines and histories of these phenomena, but rather to provide a historic foundation to work from in order to sketch the context wherein developments such as Melrose Arch can be situated. The author examines the predecessors of and influences on New Urbanism in an attempt to understand this movement. Starting with the Classical Reformers and the concept of the Ideal City, a common theme runs through several other development theories, such as Garden Cities, Pedestrian Cities, as well as the more recent Edge Cities. The influence of Sprawl on cities is noted, and measures to reduce the occurrence of sprawling land by implementing solutions that are connected to New Urbanism are discussed. The author discusses the inception of New Urbanism, taking into account all the previous discussed development theories that influenced it in one way or another. Additionally, some variations on New Urbanism, such as Traditional Neighbourhood development (TND) and the Pedestrian Pocket (PP) are discussed. New Urbanism is thus placed in a contemporary context by regarding its history and influences. The application to Melrose Arch includes a brief history of this landscape, as well as its architecture and the articulation of space within the precinct. Some themes evident in Melrose Arch are discussed; many of these are based on popular myths and ideologies and how they are represented in this particular space. Issues such as Security and control, Class and status, Consumption and Utopianism are discussed and applied to Melrose Arch. Finally, the principles and characteristics of New Urbanism are applied to Melrose Arch in order to assess how successful the implementation of New Urbanism is in this precinct. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Visual Arts / MA / unrestricted

Film produced by Nazi Germany has been a classic that has drawn scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines as well as innumerable cineastes from various cultural backgrounds. The simultaneous rise in the number of players acting as observers and operators in digital games with a WWII theme has drawn recent scholarly attention since it is thought that this pattern is contributing to players' hazy understanding of historical events. In order to close the gap from earlier studies that there is no future perspective for these concepts refined from Nazi films, nor relevance to films in the field of Game Studies, I proposed a new connection between Nazi films and WWII games based on the conceptual relocation of Fascist Aesthetic, Futuristic Utopianism, and Steel-like Romanticism. In this relocation, Fascist Aesthetic has kept its elements from Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda films but expanded to the pursuit of death and violence in the Wolfenstein series (WWII FPS games), Futuristic Utopianism in Piel's science fiction trilogy derived from the passion for technology of the Weimar period, his original designs in the Sci-fi trilogy have proved to be an inspiration for WWII games. In Walter Ruttmann's industrial films, steel-like romanticism was portrayed as a romantic sensation from the production of large-scale, intricate weapons by dedicated German workers to achieve the reactionary modernism, but in WWII simulation games, it evolved into a nostalgia for the weapons built by the Reich. As a result of this change, a trustworthy commemoration of the Third Reich is vanishing from visual culture and its grim past has been changed by simulation.

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Die Dissertation untersucht einen Paradigmenwechsel in der Rezeption der historischen Avantgarde in (medien-)künstlerischen Projekten der 1980er und 1990er Jahre in Ex-Jugoslawien und Russland. Dieser Paradigmenwechsel liegt im veränderten Verhältnis zum Begriff der (politischen wie künstlerischen) Utopie begründet. In den 1980er Jahren zeichnet sich die Rezeption sowohl im sogenannten sowjetischen Postutopismus (Il’ja Kabakov, Ėrik Bulatov, Oleg Vasil’ev, Komar & Melamid, Kollektive Aktionen) als auch in der jugoslawischen Retroavantgarde (NSK, Mladen Stilinović, Malevič aus Belgrad etc.) durch ein ‚diskursarchäologisches’ Interesse an potentiell totalitären Elementen der Avantgarde aus. Seit Beginn der 1990er Jahre lässt sich eine signifikant veränderte Rezeption der historischen künstlerischen Avantgarde in Projekten junger KünstlerInnen aus dem östlichen Europa festellen (Neoutopismus, Retroutopismus). Die Utopien der Avantgarde werden im sogenannten Retroutopismus (Marko Peljhan, Vadim Fishkin) nicht mehr primär mit totalitären Tendenzen gleichgesetzt, sondern sie werden jetzt vor allem auf ihre medientechnologischen Projektionen und Entwürfe durchgesehen. Diese wurden nicht nur von einzelnen Avantgarde-Künstlern und –Theoretikern (Velimir Chlebnikov, Bertolt Brecht), sondern auch von Wissenschaftlern und Ingenieuren (Nikola Tesla, Herman Potočnik Noordung) am Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts entwickelt. In den 1990er Jahren wird in künstlerischen Projekten somit ein verstärktes medienarchäologisches Interesse für frühe utopische Technologiephantasien der Avantgarde wahrnehmbar, das symptomatisch für ein signifikant verändertes Verhältnis zur Utopie bzw. zum Utopischen ist: Das Utopische löst sich von seinem eindeutig negativen, da politisch-totalitären Beigeschmack (verstanden als ‚Utopismus’) und wird wieder verstärkt positiv politisch konnotiert, d.h. als emanzipatives oder auch visionär-gespinsthaftes Potenzial verstanden (‚Utopizität’). / The dissertation researches a paradigmatic shift in the way artists reflect the historical avant-garde in visual and media art projects of the 1980s and 1990s in (ex-)Yugoslavia and Russia. The reasons for this paradigm shift can be found in the changing relationship to the notion of utopia, both in its political and its artistic connotation. In the 1980s, the reception both in so-called Soviet postutopianism (Il’ja Kabakov, Ėrik Bulatov, Oleg Vasil’ev, Komar & Melamid, Kollektive Aktionen) and in the Yugoslav retro-avant-garde (NSK, Mladen Stilinović, Malevič from Belgrads etc.) is characterized by a ‘discourse archeological’ interest in the potentially totalitarian elements of the avant-garde. Yet this point of view changes fundamentally during the 1990s in a younger generation of artists (neoutopianism and retroutopianism). Retroutopianism (Marko Peljhan, Vadim Fishkin) no longer primarily equates the utopianism of the avant-garde with totalitarian tendencies, but is reexamined with regard to its media-technological projections and designs, which were not only developed by individual avant-garde artists and theoreticians (Velimir Khlebnikov, Bertolt Brecht) but also by scientists and engineers during the early 20th century (Nikola Tesla, Herman Potočnik Noordung). Artistic projects of the time reveal an increasing ‘media-archeological’ fascination for the avant-garde's early utopian fantasies of technology. This fascination, in turn, is symptomatic for a significant change in the relationship to utopia and utopian thinking on the whole: utopian thinking per se separates from its unambiguously negative, political-totalitarian aftertaste (understood as 'utopianism') and takes on a new positive political connotation. It is now understood as an emancipatory or visionary-spectral potentiality ('utopicity').

I denna uppsats undersöker vi hur kapitalistisk realism, så som formulerat av Mark Fisher, uttrycks i två samtida romaner: The Road (2006) av Cormac McCarthy och Another Now (2021) av Gianis Varoufakis. Vi undersöker även romanernas relation till hopp och använder Ernst Blochs idéer i ämnet. I McCarthys skildring av människan, samhället och tiden, bekräftas kapitalistisk realism genom glorifiering av bland annat irrationalitet, brutal individualism och det "eviga nuet". Hoppet i romanen är av religiös natur. I Another Now, å andra sidan, ifrågasätts kapitalistisk realism, och alternativa synsätt och sociala arrangemang föreslås. Hoppet sammanfaller här med Blochs idé om det begripliga hoppet. / In this paper we examine how capitalist realism, as formulated by Mark Fisher, is expressed in two contemporary novels: The Road (2006) by Cormac McCarthy and Another Now (2021) by Yanis Varoufakis. We also examine how the novels relate to hope, and use Ernst Blochs ideas on the subject. In McCarthy's depiction of humanity, society, and time, capitalist realism is validated through, among other things, the glorification of irrationality, brutal individualism, and the "eternal present". Hope in the novel is of a religious character. In Another Now, however, the same ideology is questioned, and alternative views as well as concrete post-capitalist social arrangements are proposed. Here, hope aligns with Bloch's idea of comprehended hope.