Theory and Criticism Commons^™

Active, Disorienting, And Transitional: The Aesthetic Of Boredom In The Works Of Nam June Paik (1932-2006), Eugene Kwon

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The term boredom has a long and complex history. Boredom has been a topic of interest for both critical theorists and artists from various disciplines since antiquity. In the sixties, the meaning of the term boredom took on new significance as several art critics employed the term “boredom” to describe contemporary artworks. One artist from this period did not hesitate to describe his artworks as boring: Nam June Paik (1932-2006), a multimedia artist known for his avant-garde installations, sculptures, videos, and films. In my study, I argue that an aesthetic of boredom underlies certain works by Paik that employ particular ...

Romantic Exoticism: The Music Of Elsewhere In The Nineteenth Century, Josiah Raiche

Senior Honors Papers

Western art music has drawn on many sources. One of these is non-western music, which can be integrated into European classical music tradition in the form of exoticism. This paper will highlight musical elements used by composers seeking to create exoticism, examine selected works, and note common elements of western music that have exotic roots. In the nineteenth century, there were three general trends in exoticism. The first, non-musical exoticism, utilizes conventional western music alongside extra-musical exotic elements. Romantic exoticism portrays distant lands using musical elements, drawing these from the audience’s perceptions of the music represented. Realistic exoticism attempts ...

Many Worlds Converge Here: Vision And Identity In American Indian Photography, Alicia L. Harris

Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity, Department of Art and Art History

Photographs of Native Americans taken by Frank A. Rinehart at the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in 1898 were then and continue to be part of the construction of indigenous identities, both by Anglo-Americans and Natives. This thesis analyzes the ramifications of Rinehart’s portraits and those of his peers as well as Native American artists in the 20^th and 21^st centuries who have sought to re-appropriate these images to make them empowering icons of individual or tribal identity rather than erasure of culture.

This thesis comprises two sections. In the first section, the analysis is focused on the ...

Elke Krystufek And The Obessive Production Of Person, Melanie E. Emerson

Mid-America College Art Association Conference 2012 Digital Publications

Elke Krystufek’s artistic practice has centered almost wholly on duplicate and substitute images of herself, specifically emphasizing the female body and its position within the discourses of art history and gendered identity. While an earlier generation of feminist artists used their bodies as subject and object of their work in order to critique stereotypes and forcefully dismantle barriers that excluded women from the public sphere or labeled them objects of desire, Krystufek uses similar tactics to point to the fact there is no longer a private space. Identity is not solely the property of an individual, but rather an ...

Form And Meaning: How Media's Representation Tells The Story Of The Berlin Wall, In Young Lee

Richter Research Abroad Student Scholarship

When the Berlin Wall fell, the first reaction of the citizens of Berlin was to destroy the loathed barrier altogether. As early as 1991, the city of Berlin firmly rejected and questioned the idea of attributing monument status to the Wall. Why should they have to preserve the border fortifications which marked the city with a sad universal notoriety? Today the Wall is approached and interpreted from a wider perspective that includes a border landscape and a sociopolitical landscape. The Wall serves as a visual object that illustrates a pictorial phenomenon in the context of political communication. Although the 'Iron ...

The Aesthetic Unconscious, Roland K. Végső

Faculty Publications -- Department of English

Within the context of recent European history, examines the phrase "aesthetic ideology" and attendant conceptual considerations. Discusses Jacques Rancière’s work and his unequivocal rejection of what he calls “this great anti-aesthetic consensus,” and the central category of the “distribution of the sensible” (le partage du sensible). Rancière calls some level of political engagement “primary aesthetics” and opposes it to actual “aesthetic practices.”

Further, considers Alain Badiou’s critique of Rancière’s Disagreement. Badiou summarizes Rancière’s argument by calling it “a democratic anti-philosophy that identifies the axiom of equality, and is founded on a negative ontology of the collective ...

Digital Curation And Information Management: Technological Changes In Art History, Joy K. Hyatt

Explorations – The Journal of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creativity at Wright State

Archival and curatorial practices including information management within the fields of art and art history are changing. As a contribution to these vital fields of study, this project addresses their practical application in this digital age. My ten-week research project, Digital Curation and Information Management: Technological Changes in Art History explored this concept. Taking place at Wright State University (WSU), this included a practical application of my art history and motion picture coursework. This included investigating the many phases of digital image curation (the act of curating) through information analysis and management. The assimilation of online and written literature, program ...

Relational Viewing: Affect, Trauma And The Viewer In Contemporary Autobiographical Art, Matthew Ryan Smith

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation examines the communicative relationship between contemporary autobiographical art and the viewer. By analyzing the work of six artists, Richard Billingham, Jaret Belliveau, Larry Clark, Nan Goldin, Lisa Steele and Bas Jan Ader, I maintain that lived experience and personal history condition the way viewers respond to autobiographical art. I turn to literary theory as a critical methodology to argue that autobiographical art operates as a catalyst for identification, memory and self-discovery. I use affect and trauma theory to demonstrate how artwork produces meaning and discourse through the viewer’s feelings, emotions and bodily sensations. Consequently, I survey the ...

Memory In Paintings Of Quattrocentro Renaissance Florence: Religious Paintings And Secular Portraits, Ashley Matcheck

Psi Sigma Siren

Collective memory studies as a field has always been the interdisciplinary study of how and why memories have been created. The difference between collective or cultural memory studies and that of a strictly historical study is often discussed and debated as people question whether memory or history is more valuable regarding past events. Jan Assmann explains that “in the context of cultural memory, the distinction between myth and history vanishes. Not the past as such, as it is investigated and reconstructed by archaeologists and historians, counts for the cultural memory, but only the past as it is remembered.” Assmann has ...

The Possibility Of Forgery, John Mahlan

Colgate Academic Review

In this paper, I explore some issues in the philosophy of art. I examine a well-known thought experiment about a 20 th century French author who, without copying the words, attempts to write his own version of Don Quixote that would be indistinguishable from Cervantes’ novel to any given reader. I argue that this second Don Quixote is a unique work in its own right, and that this gives us important insights into the nature of artworks, the possibility of forging artworks, and aesthetic evaluation in general. I am currently expanding this paper into an honors thesis on the nature ...

Smoke Signals: Courbet’S Man With A Pipe, And What It Tells Us, Christina Chicas

Colgate Academic Review

In examining the critiques of this one self-portrait, Man with a Pipe, a multitude of interpretations arise. However, some commonalties can also be found: the idea that the painting is meant to represent the mood and inner climate of the smoker; the sense of the artist moving away from artistic conventions; and an attempt by the artist to find himself.