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This study is a practice-based exploration of the screen as a border site, where the concepts of division and encounter are performatively examined. My research strategy is shaped by applying autoethnographic performance strategies to the mediated space of the screen. Media materials (photos, videos and blog entries) are created with mobile media devices used in performative situations, offering a theoretical framework originating in practice. The main argument is that the screen is an assemblage site, where the notions of division and encounter can be artistically explored. Furthermore, the screen is explored as an object, as a metaphor and as an idea. By linking the Latour notion of “assemblage” with Colley’s exploration of the personal use of mobile screens (“autobiometry”), and Ettinger’s notion of “borderspace” as site of artistic encounter, the practices presented in this thesis are located in a field that blurs the boundary between the personal and art; autobiography and autoethnography; technology and identity. In so doing, this thesis expands on previous explorations such as “boundary event” (Trinh T. Minh-ha 1999); “soft mastery” (Turkle 1995); and “screen-reliant art” (Moldoch 2010;). In the performative media materials created for this thesis, the screen is explored through a “processual approach” (Bacon, 2006). This enabled me to examine the nature of interaction with the screen through embodied reflexive practice. This approach firmly places the work in the experiential or performative realm. Key practices that are discussed in this thesis include among others, an earth body performative project by Ana Mendieta (Cuba/USA) entitled Silueta series (1973-1980), a live art work by Tanja Ostojic (Serbia/Germany) called Looking for a husband with EU passport (2000-2005) and my own performative media pieces, Valid until… (2010) and The place where we were last together (2011).

In today’s lexicon a ‘Daily Constitutional’ usually refers to a daily walk. But in actuality, a ‘Daily Constitutional’ is something that one does on a daily basis that is beneficial to one’s constitution or healthful(1); and one’s constitution being the aggregate of a person’s physical and psychological characteristics(2). With this definition, the daily constitutional refers to any daily activity that improves a person’s physical or mental health. At various stages in my life I may have understood my constitutional to be any number of things and it was not until I came into my own did I truly discover my Daily Constitutional, the creative process. In the following thesis I will be covering my thoughts and opinions on the creative process as well as my role of Artist in a larger art community. The thesis consists of six chapters, each being a letter I wrote for Daily Constitutional, A Publication for the Artist’s Voice as the Editor-in-Chief. I created the Daily Constitutional in 2005 in order to provide my contemporary colleagues with an opportunity to once again have a voice in the art world. The publication is entirely submission based with an international open call. Each semi-annual issue is created out of the submissions received and composed by a rotating panel of six artists and has been ongoing throughout my tenure at Virginia Commonwealth University. The mission of the publication is to provide an outlet and forum for the individual Artist’s voice, rather than the cacophony that is the art world at large (galleries, critics, curators, museums, patrons and finally the artists themselves). To provide a place to express, exchange and discuss, without interpretation, the artist’s opinions, ideas and discoveries within one’s practice. This publication can only be made possible, through a collaboration of individual Artists.(3) This document was created with Adobe InDesign CS2. 1. “constitutional.” Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 03 May. 2009. . 2. “constitution.” Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 03 May. 2009. . 3. “Mission Statement,” Daily Constitutional, A Publication for the Artist’s Voice, 2005-09, http://www.dailyconstitutional.org/mission_statement.html

This dissertation examines the video-installations created by American artist Dan Graham in the 1970s. It investigates the artist's relationship to Minimalism by analyzing themes Graham highlights in his own writings and in interviews. In particular, I explore how the artist's understanding of Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin, and R.D. Laing informed his post-Minimalist work and how concepts gleaned from these sources are manifest in his video-installations. Also undertaken are discussions of the artist's interest in aestheticized play, the just-past present, the debate between Behaviourism and phenomenology, surveillance, and Modern architecture. In addition, I investigate Graham's position in Conceptual art, use of site-specificity, and the practice of institutional critique. At the outset, I provide an in-depth analysis of two of Graham's magazine pieces, Schema (March 1966) and Homes For America, that ties together the artist's reading of Marcuse and his rejection of Minimalist phenomenology. Next, I give an account of the artist's connection to early video art and his use of time-delay in works such as Present Continuous Past(s) and Two Viewing Rooms as a means to highlight the just-past present. Finally, I examine Graham's architectural video-installations Yesterday/Today, Video Piece for Showcase Windows in a Shopping Arcade, and Video Piece for Two Glass Office Buildings as instances of site-specific art and as part of the artist's practice of institutional critique. I also explore his references to the notions of art-as-window and art-as-mirror as an expansion of his engagement with Minimalism. Throughout, my discussion includes comparisons between Graham's work and that of other artists like Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman, and Hans Haacke. In sum, this study offers an expanded understanding of how Graham employed video and installation in his art as a means to move beyond Minimalism and to interrogate contemporary American society.

This paper is an exploration of the concepts and motivations behind the video installation and performance that made up my MFA Thesis Exhibition. My primary interest as a filmmaker is in the “invisible art” of editing. In my practice I employ iconic imagery such as old home movies and classic Hollywood films, as my source material. This “found footage” is deconstructed, drastically altered, and reassembled into a new movie that tells my story while still maintaining the memory of the original images. My process and philosophy concerning the salvage and repurposing of video is analyzed and discussed. I also examine my experience in translating video editing into a live improvisational performance.

This paper explores my process of orienting myself within spaces and inhabiting them. It focuses on how I use my own body as an instrument for developing a relationship between the two. A ritual is a social conditioning of the body and Authentic Movement is discovering body’s own route. This paper reviews my process of situating myself within a space by using both of them as the language of my body. It also discusses the development of some of my recent work through understanding the language of my own body.

O objetivo desta dissertação é aplicar as teorias da semiótica de linha francesa, inicialmente desenvolvida por A. J. Greimas, para analisar os efeitos de sentido e significação em três trabalhos de video arte realizados pelo artista americano Bill Viola:The space between the teeth (1976), The reflecting pool (1979) e The passing (1991). A linguagem da video arte é muito presente na arte contemporânea, porém os estudos e pesquisas dessa área artística são escassos. Entre os estudos semióticos que pesquisam as linguagens das Artes Visuais, encontramos análises de filmes de cinema, video clipes de músicas, comerciais de televisão, animações, porém não encontramos nenhuma pesquisa relacionada a trabalhos de video arte. Por essa razão nossa pesquisa não teve nenhuma base de referência para a utilização da teoria semiótica na análise de trabalhos de vídeo arte, partindo inicialmente do estudo de análises semióticas de histórias em quadrinhos. Um resumo da história da video arte é apresentado no primeiro capítulo. As teorias que utilizamos são resumidamente explicadas no capítulo 2, no qual damos ênfase para o percurso narrativo do sentido, as relações semi-simbólicas nas línguagens visuais e os novos estudos da semiótica tensiva, proposta por Claude Zilberberg, dela utilizamos o fazer missivo para analisar a estrutura e o fluxo narrativo dos vídeos. No capítulo 3 são realizadas as análises. / The purpose of this work is to use the Semiotic Theory, desenvolved by A.J. Greimas, to analyze three videos of the american artist, Bill Viola: The space between the teeth (1976), The reflecting pool (1979) and The passing (1991). The presence of the video art in the contemporary art is very strong, but the studies and researches in this artistic field is very low. Therefore, our work began with no references of other works that had already analyzed or studied the video art, só we started with some semiotics studies of comic books. In the first chapter we introduce a resume of the history of video art. In the second chapter we explain the theories we are using, mainly the course generate of meaning, the semi-simbolics relations in the visual languages and the news studies of the tensive semiotic, proposed by Claude Zilberberg, from this theory we use the missivity to analyze the structure and the flux of the narrativity in the videos. In the third chapter we presents the analyzes.

O objetivo desta dissertação é aplicar as teorias da semiótica de linha francesa, inicialmente desenvolvida por A. J. Greimas, para analisar os efeitos de sentido e significação em três trabalhos de video arte realizados pelo artista americano Bill Viola:The space between the teeth (1976), The reflecting pool (1979) e The passing (1991). A linguagem da video arte é muito presente na arte contemporânea, porém os estudos e pesquisas dessa área artística são escassos. Entre os estudos semióticos que pesquisam as linguagens das Artes Visuais, encontramos análises de filmes de cinema, video clipes de músicas, comerciais de televisão, animações, porém não encontramos nenhuma pesquisa relacionada a trabalhos de video arte. Por essa razão nossa pesquisa não teve nenhuma base de referência para a utilização da teoria semiótica na análise de trabalhos de vídeo arte, partindo inicialmente do estudo de análises semióticas de histórias em quadrinhos. Um resumo da história da video arte é apresentado no primeiro capítulo. As teorias que utilizamos são resumidamente explicadas no capítulo 2, no qual damos ênfase para o percurso narrativo do sentido, as relações semi-simbólicas nas línguagens visuais e os novos estudos da semiótica tensiva, proposta por Claude Zilberberg, dela utilizamos o fazer missivo para analisar a estrutura e o fluxo narrativo dos vídeos. No capítulo 3 são realizadas as análises. / The purpose of this work is to use the Semiotic Theory, desenvolved by A.J. Greimas, to analyze three videos of the american artist, Bill Viola: The space between the teeth (1976), The reflecting pool (1979) and The passing (1991). The presence of the video art in the contemporary art is very strong, but the studies and researches in this artistic field is very low. Therefore, our work began with no references of other works that had already analyzed or studied the video art, só we started with some semiotics studies of comic books. In the first chapter we introduce a resume of the history of video art. In the second chapter we explain the theories we are using, mainly the course generate of meaning, the semi-simbolics relations in the visual languages and the news studies of the tensive semiotic, proposed by Claude Zilberberg, from this theory we use the missivity to analyze the structure and the flux of the narrativity in the videos. In the third chapter we presents the analyzes.

A presente pesquisa explora o YouTube como campo de criação da performance art contemporânea. Em primeiro lugar o site é abordado com foco em suas implicações culturais, empregando tanto uma bibliografia específica sobre o YouTube como autores que refletem sobre a subjetividade contemporânea, destacando-se neles aspectos que se relacionam com as práticas dos usuários do site. Em seguida é analisada uma seleção de obras de performance no YouTube realizadas por artistas de diversas nacionalidades. Elas estão reunidas em cinco vetores: #camgirlsattwhores, que trata da mulher e do feminismo na internet, apoiando-se principalmente no trabalho de Erica Scourti; #persona-ironia, que se baseia nas teorizações de Renato Cohen sobre a persona performática; #anti-confissão, que aborda a prática da confissão segundo conceitos desenvolvidos por Michel Foucault, Óscar Cornago e Christopher Lasch; #corpo-efeitos, no qual a principal referência é o trabalho de N. Katherine Hayles sobre o pós-humanismo; e #prank, que conta com as teorizações de V. Vale e Fábio Salvatti. Na etapa final, são realizados experimentos práticos no YouTube, inspirados nos ideais de Joseph Beuys e Allan Kaprow, e nas práticas artísticas de Petra Cortright. A pesquisa articula, portanto, diversas perspectivas culturais e artísticas, tanto teóricas quanto práticas, para apreender o objeto de estudo, defendendo um novo tipo de arte que transborde o mercado e as categorias tradicionais e propondo um uso desartístico e lúdico das tecnologias atuais. / This work explores YouTube as a field for contemporary performance art creation. Firstly, the research approaches the website focusing in its cultural implications, investigating specific literature about YouTube as well as authors that reflect upon contemporary subjectivities, highlighting in them aspects that relate to the website users\' practices. Then, it analyses a selection of works by performers of various nationalities, gathering them in five vectors: #camgirls-attwhores, which deals with women and feminismo on the internet, relying mainly on Erica Scourti\'s work; #persona-irony, which is based on Renato Cohen theories on the performative persona; #anti-confession, which addresses the practice of confession making use of concepts by Michel Foucault, Óscar Cornago and Christopher Lasch; #body-effects, in which the main reference is the work of N. Katherine Hayles on post-humanism and #prank, which relies on writings by V. Vale and Fábio Salvatti. Finally, practical artistic experiments on YouTube are carried out, inspired by the ideas of Joseph Beuys and the artistic practices of Petra Cortright. Therefore, the research has articulated multiple cultural and artistic perspectives, both theoretical and practical, to seize the object of study, advocating a new kind of art, one that overflows traditional categories and the art market and proposing an unartistic and playful use of current technologies.

The Screen Test (Americana/Australiana) project is a collection of works that re-makes selected fragments of film spanning cinema history. Through a process of selectively slowing and stilling this form, of what Laura Mulvey calls Delayed Cinema, opens up new possibilities for interpreting and understanding cinema and the photographic. The aesthetic qualities and repetition of the scene or shot are re-created and re-performed, allowing an alternate form of cinema to take place. This alternate cinema takes on the characteristic of the Hollywood screen test and thus we can see each piece as the artist performing the screen test for each film. However, over time the screen test becomes the site for shifting the aesthetic elements within the film and shaping the narrative as a form of aesthetic building block. The viewing of each fragment allows for a new reading of film that suspends or subverts the temporal narrative and allows the contained segment to exist outside of the film opening up the possibility of constructing and emphasizing new iconic images and meanings. Each video piece is supplemented with a photographic still in tableaux form that further explores the aesthetic material of the film or shot raising the aesthetic components of the film ( props, locations etc) to the level of fetishism that may have been missed in the original version. This photographic rendering of the film fragment rethinks the possibilities of photographic tableaux and its relation to the iconic and indexical of photomedia art practice. Similarly, each photographic work is informed by theories of film analysis and psychology that has examined the primacy of the film still with Freudian notions of the primal scene and the uncanny. We are after all bringing to life the graveyard of cinema history. These photographic qualities of the mis en scene and the indexical of metonymy allow a heightened aesthetic experience, which transforms itself into an aberration of the director’s intended meaning, thereby reconstructing this meaning within the context of camp humour and irony. The work also acts as a playful and absurd interpretation of the cult of celebrity within cinema and the art world, which frees up of the interpretation of the film’s meaning and becomes the site for contemporary re-readings of film culture. The juxtaposition of the American Hollywood film and its emphasis on studio lighting, props, character and dialogue against the outdoor location of the Australian films conflates the two cultural imperatives, allowing for the examination of cultural myth through cinema. American cinema is revealed as the dominant culture whose imperialism dogs Australian film and fosters a culture of low self-esteem. Further, the Americana works become the site for cultural examinations of gender, narcissism and war - both real and imagined – and Hollywood is explored in terms of its social imaginings and how they play into real life events. The Australiana component explores the mythology of the Australian landscape with an emphasis on the culture of masculinity and self-destructive violence. However, each work is the result of a conflation of both cultures and other films, or parts of the same film, shifted within the fragment. The production of each photographic and video piece requires the taking on of the role of director, cinematographer, actor and producer. Through the use of interactive technologies such as DVD and the Internet not only am I able to experience a new subjective relationship with the intricacies of cinema but also by recreating these cinematic fragments I am able to bring into being and transform the spectre of cinema into the realm of contemporary art practice.