Art and Design Commons^™

Avatar, Cyborg, Icevorg: Simulacra’S Scion, Guido E. Alvarez

Theses and Dissertations

I propose a theoretical framework that describes how avatars incorporate media as an inherent part of their nature and find a hosting body in cyborgs to navigate and spawn in media. I propose the birth of a new scion that combines avatar, medium and cyborg into a conceptual being that I call “ICEVORG.”

The ICEVORG expands beyond representation into the actual physical world by means of media transgression—more specifically, by the use of the Strange Loop also known as Metalepsis ICEVORG find an effective soil to thrive and interrogate our ideas of reality by means of iteration, expansion, fragmentation and …

Expanding Eco-Visualization: Sculpting Corn Production, Jennifer E. Figg

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation expands upon the definition of eco-visualization artwork. EV was originally defined in 2006 by Tiffany Holmes as a way to display the real time consumption statistics of key environmental resources for the goal of promoting ecological literacy. I assert that the final forms of EV artworks are not necessarily dependent on technology, and can differ in terms of media used, in that they can be sculptural, video-based, or static two-dimensional forms that communicate interpreted environmental information. There are two main categories of EV: one that is predominantly screen-based and another that employs a variety of modes of representation …

Visual-Audio Media: Transformation And Communication, Alexander Bruno

Theses and Dissertations

Designers are often concerned with communication through the visual; we focus on the printed object, images on screens, furniture, spaces, and other visual experiences. We should also be cognizant of audio and its communicative properties, especially when contextualized with visual content. Pairing visuals and audio can make a greater impact upon a viewer/listener than each media might make alone. My research focuses on a practice of working within strict sets of rules and boundaries to create visual-audio work. This visual-audio work not only communicates a concept or idea, but also lives as a research artifact of my design processes.

Polycultural Interactions: Fuzzy Identity, Xi Lu

Theses and Dissertations

“Robin D.G. Kelley coined the term polyculturalism as an alternative to multiculturalism, ‘since the latter often implies that cultures are fixed, discrete entities that exist side by side—a kind of zoological approach to culture.’ ”

Polyculturalism assumes the whole world’s cultures are interactive and fluid instead of independent and static, and individuals’ relationship to cultures are complex and cannot be categorized. Yet an individual constitutes multiple cultures, and individual identity embraces the various forms of culture in all aspects of one’s life.

My research examines how polyculturalism affects aspects of communications among people who hold a multiplicity of voices. It …

Cute As A Button, Marta R. Finkelstein

Theses and Dissertations

Cute As A Button explores powerlessness, vulnerability, illness and addiction all wrapped up in tender buttons and a cute, cuddly creature. Using animation, sculpture, sound and an intimate space, I surround the viewer in a saccharine nightmare, one that references the dark underbelly of the cute and the sweet. The visual and aural elements are representative of the psychological and emotional states of powerlessness, which are overcome by the act of making and exploring a medium over which I can have complete control.

Rituals, Our Past, Present & Future. Glimpses Of Islamic Enrichment, Othman Mohamed Khunji Mr

Theses and Dissertations

A Muslim should be encouraged to comprehend the benefit

and value behind every aspect of Islamic practice and wisdom,

and not just practice their religion because they were told to do

so. The products proposed in this thesis aim to achieve this by

inviting and encouraging a Muslim to practice The Five Pillars

of Islam while comprehending their value through the use of

modern means such as Arduino technology, 3D printing and

visual computing programing.

I am provoked by the fact that the circle of Gulf-region Muslims

I’m surrounded by, and have been exposed to since childhood,

belong to one …

The Orphanage Of Things: A Narrative Of Abandonment, Malaz Elgemiabby

Theses and Dissertations

In Sudan, 110 babies are abandoned in the streets of Khartoum every month. The majority of abandoned children are born out of wedlock. Young women with illegitimate pregnancies are often ostracized by their families and society, and the lack of emotional, financial and legal support has led many to take desperate measures, including the abandonment of their children. Relinquishing mothers exist like ghosts in Sudanese society. The only evidence of the mother’s experience is her anonymous, abandoned child. In order to understand and examine this phenomenon, I used ethnographic performance art informed by design research practice (Performative Research Design). I …

Tracing Motion, Stephanie M. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

This document explores the use of motion within design to defamiliarize a message. The objective is to expand a viewer’s level of understanding through prolonged perception. I experiment with this idea using present-day tools which afford my own movement during the capturing process to create various visual interpretations of motion. I look to László Moholy-Nagy, Aleksandr Rodchenko and Eadweard Muybridge who explored the use of the camera, the new technology of their day, to understand its potential to create a new visual language. They believed the lens of the camera was the eye of the future—and the public’s exposure to …

Virsa: The Contemporary Value Chain, Samreen Zahra Mrs

Theses and Dissertations

"Handicraft" means a useful or decorative object made by a craftsman who has direct control over all stages of production. Handicrafts have always had a greater value, an identity of their own that is reflective of their place, culture and materials, as well as a sense of belonging to a particular place and time. With the ever-growing mass production that followed the Industrial Revolution, we lost those crafts to multiple reasons: one being cheaper, industrial-made products reducing the demand for handicrafts, and another being a shift in consumer tastes. Most craftspeople hardly earn enough to survive and fulfill their basic …

Reconnect: Designing To Touch, Dana Seros Rohani

Theses and Dissertations

Our everyday lives are surrounded by gadgets and digital devices that help us perform our daily chores with ease and efficiency. However, these digital devices can also separate us from what we should do ourselves. Although children who are exposed to high levels of technology might become attuned to the latest and the best gadgets, they might not learn to use their physical abilities. Another implication of a child’s over dependence on technology is that parental interactions such as encouragement, tutoring and reinforcement are provided by gadgets rather than living, breathing parents. Research done by Padma Ravichandran and Brandel France …

Z Axis Follies, Adam Collignon

Theses and Dissertations

This document will outline the nature of performance / object interaction, and the role of documentation in this interaction. In addition, I will explore the body / object as a site of multiplicities, the quality of simultaneity in appearance and apprehension of such multiplicities, and traverse the triumphs and travails of the body / object’s journey from one state of being to the next.

Art 102 Research Paper Guide, Rachelle Street, Robert Rubyan, J S. Held

Open Educational Resources

This art analysis form will help guide your students through looking at artwork with the aim to writing a research paper on a work they observe in-person.

Matt Siber: Idol Structures, Gregory Harris, David Raskin

DePaul Art Museum Publications

No abstract provided.

Proactive Conversation, 3d Printing, And An Old Nintendo, Tesha C. Ellis

UROP Posters

Abstract

One hundred years from now, it would be a true historical treat to be able to showcase 20th and 21st century digital entertainment by presenting video game consoles in mint condition for interactive, educational, play. Arguably, it would be more enlightening and informative for future audiences to be able to physically engage with the electronic artifacts instead of simply observing them behind glass. With the use of 3D technology, components of video game systems can be preserved, and then printed as needed for repairs. It will help keep them functional for future researchers, educators, and enthusiasts.

Contemporary Kitsch: An Examination Through Creative Practice, Sally Stewart

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This exegesis examines the theoretical concept of contemporary kitsch within a creative practice that incorporates sculptural and installation art. Kitsch is a distinct aesthetic style. Once designated to the rubbish bin of culture, kitsch was considered to be low class, bad taste cheap fakes and copies (Greenberg, 1961; Adorno & Horkheimer, 1991; Calinescu, 1987; Dorfles, 1969). I argue, however, that this is no longer the case. This research critically examines the way in which contemporary kitsch now plays a vital and positive role in social and individual aesthetic life.

Although there are conflicting points of view and distinct variations between …

The Project Shop, Lindsey Sullivan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The Project Shop is a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) brand designed to promote a value-creating activity that impacts the lives and personal development for those who participate. The strategic culmination of research, marketing, and graphic design generated during the creation of this brand is intended to attract a target demographic of 18-24 year olds. This target market is identified as a transient population often typified by being civic-minded and pragmatically idealist.

The Project Shop caters to the needs of its target market by concentrating on habits and particular styles of living. This demographic often seeks DIY projects that are customizable due to …

Design And Implementation Of An Interactive Animatronic System For Guest Response Analysis, Brian Burns

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In theme park based entertainment applications, there is a need for interactive, autonomous animatronic systems to create engaging and compelling experiences for the guests. The animatronic figures must identify the guests and recognize their status in dynamic interactions for enhanced acceptance and effectiveness as socially interactive agents, in the general framework of human-robot interactions. The design and implementation of an interactive, autonomous animatronic system in form of a tabletop dragon and the comparisons of guest responses in its passive and interactive modes are presented in this work. The dragon capabilities include a four degrees-of-freedom head, moving wings, tail, jaw, blinking …

Design Of A High Intensity Turbulent Combustion System, Mohammad Arif Hossain

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In order to design next generation gas turbine combustor and rocket engines, a systematic study of flame structure at high intensity turbulent flow is necessary. The fundamental study of turbulent premixed combustion has been a major research concern for decades. The work is focused on the design and development of a high intensity turbulent combustion system which can be operated at compressible (0.3 < M < 0.5), preheated (T0=500K) and premixed conditions in order to investigate the 'Thickened Flame' regime. An air-methane mixture has been used as the fuel for this study. An optically accessible backward-facing step stabilized combustor has been designed for a maximum operating pressure of 6 bar. A grid has been introduced with different blockage ratios (BR = 54%, 61% & 67%) in order to generate turbulence inside the combustor for the experiment. Optical access is provided via quartz windows on three sides of the combustion chamber. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is done in order to verify the structural integrity of the combustor at rated conditions. In order to increase the inlet temperature of the air, a heating section was designed to use commercially available in-line heaters. Separate cooling subsystems have been designed for chamber cooling and exhaust cooling. The LabVIEW software interface has been selected as the control mechanism for the experimental setup. A 10 kHz Time Resolved Particle Image Velocimetry (TR-PIV) system and a 3 kHz Planer Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) system have been integrated with the system in order to diagnose the flow field and the flame respectively. The primary understanding of the flow field inside the combustor was achieved through the use of Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) by using commercially available software package ANSYS FLUENT. Preliminary validation is done by 10 kHz TR-PIV technique. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis have been done for CFD and experiment. Major flow parameters such as average velocity, fluctuation of velocity, kinetic energy, and turbulent intensity have been calculated for two distinct Reynolds number (Re = 815 & 3500). PIV results are compared with CFD results which show significant agreement with each other.

Mario Rufino Méndez Y La Caricatura Política En Nuestra Raza: Estudio Testimonial De Una Rica Producción Cultural De Los Afro-Uruguayos (1933-1948), María Cristina Burgueño

Modern Languages Faculty Research

This work is a one volume published by the National Library of Uruguay with a prologue by Dr. George Reid Andrews. It provides an in depth analysis of the corpus of caricatures made by Mario R. Mendez, an afro-Uruguayan artist, for the magazine “Our Race” during its second period 1933-1948. These editorial caricatures made a strong statement against the Fascism in Europe and the League of Nations’ attitude towards the invasion of Ethiopia ordered by Benito Mussolini. They also satirized the political and social reality in Uruguay. Both, the caricatures and the magazine provide a testimony of an extensive cultural …

New Challenges For The Archiving Of Digital Writing, Heiko Zimmermann

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "New Challenges for the Archiving of Digital Writing" Heiko Zimmermann discusses the challenges of the preservation of digital texts. In addition to the problems already at the focus of attention of digital archivists, there are elements in digital literature which need to be taken into consideration when trying to archive them. Zimmermann analyses two works of digital literature, the collaborative writing project A Million Penguins (2006-2007) and Renée Tuner's She… (2008) and shows how the ontology of these texts is bound to elements of performance, to direct social interaction of writers and readers to the uniquely subjective …