Art Practice Commons^™

Rui(N)Ation: Narratives Of Art And Urban Revitalization In Detroit, Jessica Ks Cappuccitti

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation considers the City of Detroit as a case study for analyzing the complex role that artists and art institutions are playing in the potential re-growth and revitalization of the city. I specifically look at artists and arts organizations who are working against the popular narrative of Detroit as “ruin city.” Their efforts create counter narratives that emphasize stories of survival and showcase vibrant communities. By focussing on artist-led and institutional initiatives, I emphasize the importance of art in both community and narrative-building.

This research has taken the form of a written dissertation and two adapted projects, and positions …

Disaster As A Framework For Social Change: Searching For New Patterns Across Plant Ecology And Online Networks, Christina Battle

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation looks to disaster as a framework for enhancing community and the ways in which small gestures of artistic practice might be utilized for change. Embracing the complexity of disaster, the dissertation weaves linkages across a number of disciplines: disaster studies, climate science, contemporary art, internet studies, and plant ecology, in order to seek out potential tactics. Utilizing artistic strategies, especially an embrace of failure as part of methodology, this dissertation accepts the contradictions of such complexity, asserting that following patterns of overlap is a necessary tactic for approaching emergent and speculative futures. The overall project takes cues from …

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 importance …