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Negotiating Authenticity: Reproducing The Past For The Present, David Symanzik-Stock

Theses and Dissertations

Negotiating Authenticity: Reproducing the Past for the Present explores how reproductions connect us to the past. From Rembrandt restrikes to plastic souvenirs, reproductions occupy an important chapter in an object’s biography. This exhibition considers the complex relationships between "original” artifacts and their reproductions, which historically has been the focus of scholarly debate. Walter Benjamin, in his 1936 essay The Work of Art in the Age of Technological Reproduction, highlights the intrinsic questions posed of this relationship – when an original work of art (or object) is reproduced, what relationship does both the reproduction and its model (the original) have with …

Function And Aesthetic Value: An Analysis Of The Milwaukee Public Museum's Thai Royal Silver Collection, Aislinn Sanders

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes 45 objects from the Thai Royal Silver collection currently housed at the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM). Of these, 41 were donated by a single donor, Dr. Louis Schapiro, who collected the objects during his time working as Medical Advisor for the King of Siam in 1931-1932. Following his death, his son Mark held onto the objects until 1969, when they became a part of the MPM’s collection. The chosen objects include boxes, bowls, and other types of vessels. Through researching this collection, the following questions guided the direction for this thesis: How did the silver industry begin …

“Noah Fires An Arrow!” The Rise Of Narrative Mechanics In Tabletop Role-Playing Games 1979-1989 And The Importance Of Archiving The Human Element, Cameron Jp Fontaine

Theses and Dissertations

Tabletop role-playing games (TRPG) emerged out of the war gaming and science fiction subcultures in the mid-1970s. During the latter half of the 1970s these games shifted away from their combat focused wargaming roots to forge their own identity separate from miniature wargaming. In the 1980s the industry expanded rapidly and many of the new games focused their efforts on crafting narrative rather than combat based mechanics. It was this focus on narrative mechanics and unique settings which enabled the industry to both directly and indirectly engage with the socio political and cultural movements of the 1980s in Reagan’s America. …

Claim, Consume, Curate: Placing Value On Functional Art, Heather Rose Sheets Hanlon

Theses and Dissertations

This paper is the written portion of the thesis requirements for University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Art History, Museums and Curatorial program. It corresponds with the other component, a museum-style exhibition in the Emile H. Mathis Art Gallery, as its catalog. The catalog and exhibition together address the factors of change in decorative art reception since the modern era and how museum institutions can continue to broaden the conditioned meanings of such art in a dynamic, responsive way.

These changes and suggestions are illustrated through objects and their display in the exhibition vignettes “The Home,” “The Boutique,” “The Museum,” and “Storing Stuff.” …

Face. Off. Faceoff: Mapping African Representations In Western Art Institutions, Samantha Lyn Goral Maloney

Theses and Dissertations

In this project, I analyze the influential perceptions of African art objects, cultures, and histories formed through audience interactions with museum representations of Africa. In the Western world, curiosity cabinets and natural history museums first presented African objects as cultural artifacts aimed to intrigue and educate viewers about distant, exotic lands. Later, art museums reclassified African objects as art and some displays highlighted this shift, but African art exhibitions largely conformed to the anthropological models previously established. Scholars have analyzed these distinct display techniques while considering the visual environment from which these works were historically significant. Despite this critical scholarship, …

Distorted Norms: German Expressionist Prints And The Legacy Of The Early German Masters, Youngchul Shin

Theses and Dissertations

German Expressionism, one of the most influential art movements of the twentieth century, was the source of unprecedented experiments in printmaking. Although the works appear modern to our eyes, Expressionist printmakers drew heavily from the early history of printmaking, which emerged in northern Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The early history of the print included the development of the woodcut, the innovation of the printing press, and the invention of new printmaking techniques such as engraving and drypoint. The ways in which German Expressionists drew upon their heritage in printmaking is evident in three key ways: the revival …

Semi-Living: Tissue Culture & Art Project's Challenge To New Museum Theory, Leigh Margaret Wilcox

Theses and Dissertations

With the rising visibility of modern innovations in biotechnology that have been defining factors in the turn into the twenty-first century, it is not surprising that artists would engage and critique the implications of these scientific advancements. One artistic partnership working to raise awareness through the critique of biotechnological progressions in their work is the collaboration Tissue Culture & Art Project (TC&A) comprised of artists Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr. Working to bridge the gap between the fields of arts and sciences, TC&A employ living and growing cells as the foundation for their semi-living sculptures and manipulate and coach the …