Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Verlust & Pérdida: On Loss Of Love And Innocence; Entre Mis Brazos: On Belonging - A Set Of Voice Recitals Featuring German, Mexican, Spanish, And American Composers, Sonny Phillip David Capaccio

Senior Projects Spring 2020

This pair of recitals was programmed with the intent to evoke emotions that we have all experienced, whether it be the intense sorrow of solitude or the unbridled joy of companionship. Also, in compliance with the guidelines set by the concentration in Latin American and Iberian Studies, half of the music from these recitals was composed by Spanish and Mexican composers dating from the late 19th century to modern day. Each concert was meant to illustrate some kind of narrative around their respective themes.

The first concert, “Verlust & Pérdida: On loss of love and innocence,” consists of two basic …

My Moonshadow And I, Sarah J. Sieber

Senior Projects Spring 2020

February 10

Waiting on hold with eBay customer service because I won a bid for a butterfly shirt. My winning bid was $0.32. I didn’t realize I’d won because I wasn’t very invested and apparently a month passed and an unpaid item case was opened against me. When I go on the website to try to pay I get an error message. This is why I’m on hold with eBay customer service. I’m now being helped by a person named Justin.

The item description is “Eyeshadow Long Sleeve Blue Butterfly V Neck Shirt.”

The call ended abruptly. A disconnection. Now …

Time Is A Construct(Ion): Heritage And Becoming In Quito's Historic District, Samuel Abate

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Paradigm Of The Unknown, Vasia A. Pemberton

Senior Projects Spring 2020

This project is about portraying the essence of certain unexplained or controversial areas of belief that affect the lives of each and every one of us whether or not we are aware of it. My focus is to explore these confusions over the paranormal, the existential, and the supernatural, by overlaying, compiling, and comparing these different narratives as well as connecting them to a sense of greater mystery, or a fundamental knowledge that we are somehow not privy to.

Graft And Slime In New York City: Exploring The Impact Of Organized Crime On The Nullification Of The Eighteenth Amendment, Tristan T. Kozul

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Ethos Of The Blues: An Ethnography Of Blues Singers And Writers, Zoë Emilie Peterschild Ford

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Dawn Tyler Watson, a blues singer based in Montreal, QC, performs a variety of genres. No matter what she performs, however, she continually expresses a blues ethos. Through improvisation and her resolute individuality Dawn writes and sings narratives always with a nod to the blues. What I call the “ethos of the blues” refers to a blues spirit that exists not only in music, but in literature, and in everyday life. Dawn’s practice reveals that blues is a music that values protective, generous, and exploratory narrative. As important as its storytelling quality is the genre’s Americanness. Blues, derived from a …

Viewing The Covid-19 Resilient Skincare Market Through A Sociohistorical Lens: The Patterning Of Conspicuous Consumption Mediated By Marketing, Siren Chen

Senior Projects Fall 2020

The Chinese skincare market distinguishes itself with an inelastic consumer demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. This project employs the endogenous preferences economic framework and a sociohistorical lens to analyze the social forces that sustain the resilient beauty market. Through setting up a socially embedded framework for economic analysis, this project highlights the active role of marketers, which are omitted in mainstream economics, in fostering a bond between consumers and skincare products. With a comparative analysis of both the colonial and the COVID-19 pandemic contexts, this project demonstrates how marketers connect consumers to skincare products through reference to the system of …

Animals And People, Nikolas Slackman

Senior Projects Fall 2020

A novella detailing the end of photographer Eadweard Muybridge's life, after his return to Kingston-upon-Thames. His story is intercut with quotations and investigations into the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini, an ancient Albanian codebook.

Waves Upon The Sea: Accident And In Search Of Lost Time, Ethan Hosta

Senior Projects Fall 2020

Senior Project submitted to the Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College

Eurydice, Gus Aronson

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Does the attention we pay to the world around us when we photograph destroy the inherent truth of it, as it was when Orpheus looked back at Eurydice? Is our attempt to understand the world by preserving it through a photograph only a fleeting attempt for survival in the face of eschatological thought? Or does pho- tography -- the act of looking itself --- render the opaque into a living clarified truth through poetic action?

As Roland Barthes notes in Camera Lucida, “the Greeks entered into death back- ward: what they had before them was their past.” What Orpheus had …

Bach To The Future: An Exploration Of Authenticity And Baroque Performance Practice Through Bwv 131 & Bwv 111, Megan Elizabeth Halm

Senior Projects Fall 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College. An exploration of historical performance practice through J.S. Bach's cantatas BWV 131 and BWV 111.

Small Packages, Caitlin E. Harris

Senior Projects Spring 2020

I chose to honor a lifelong impulse to make small objects. As my mother describes: “you've always been self sufficient and could get lost making things in your creative world. You were very independent and perfectly content spending hours entertaining yourself.” “Small Packages” is a collection of work created and installed entirely from my home. I spent a year making drawings and sculptures of a certain scale in order to accumulate enough tiny pieces that, when put together, would produce something impactful. I worked in a variety of mediums, including drawing, painting, screenprinting, casting, carving, weaving, felting, and sculpting, and …

Embodied Desire: Establishing The Transmasculine Viewer, Bel Simek

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

Voice Of Silence: Women Inmates' Perspective On Sexual Violence In The Soviet Gulag, 1936-1956, Louisa Jane Fulkerson

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Hut Annandale: Humblest Dwelling, Ruiqi Zhu

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Lots of us have a dream deep down in the heart: to get away from the congested cities and live in a hut in nature. French port Jean Wahl once wrote: The frothing of the hedges I keep deep inside me. In my project, he explored this dream and constructed a group of architectural structures by hand for those potential hermits. Studying at Bard College, I have found this region is a place with a great hermit culture. With the picturesque scene of nature and the location near the New York Metropolitan area, here the mid-Hudson Valley has attracted lots …

Tendertopia, April Fionn Perin Wogenburg

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

Fruit Of The Spirit: An Investigation Of How French Colonialism Trans-Nationally Created The Creolized Black Dance In New Orleans, Called Secondline, Through The Lens Of An Original Treme Babydoll., Micah Theodore

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Despite The Blues: Richard Wright And Ralph Ellison’S Blues Based Works, Miranda Virginia Reale

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Ain't got no mother, ain't got no culture

Ain't got no friends, ain't got no schoolin'

Ain't got no love, ain't got no name

Ain't got no ticket, ain't got no token

Ain't got no god

–Nina Simone, “Ain’t Got No-I Got Life,” from the album Nuff Said (1968).

In between human intention and reality lies a disproportionate space that Albert Camus labels “the absurd.” Modern man’s affliction is thus absurd, as orthodox systems turn obsolete, the traditional virtues of the past cease to be familiar. The epistemology of the absurd may not have developed from American soil; but I …

“No Place” In Cyberspace, Scarlett Sinay

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Lovelution, Timothy Lindhurst Trumpet Jr

Senior Projects Spring 2020

“Lovelution” contains 6 songs detailing the growth that a man experiences by learning to accept the Love of a woman via the medium of modern Hip-Hop and Trap genre-based music with Jazz influences. In “Blue Heart” the man connects with a woman who understands the loneliness that he feels from and they begin a relationship. In “Spaceship” we see the first wave of doubt wash over the man due to the issues in his newfound relationship. “Lay With You” displays when the two reunite and resolve their issues. “Too Much” shows us the man’s unfortunate mental spiral due to his …

Feta, Blintzes, And Burritos: The Evolution Of The Diner And Immigrants' Role In Defining American Food Culture, Alexis Kimberly Maresca

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Afterlife Of A Renaissance Sculpture: Reception History Of Michelangelo's Pietà, Yanhan He

Senior Projects Spring 2020

This project explores three significant moments in the history of reception of Michelangelo's Pietà, demonstrating changes of the Pietà's meaning according to that of its location, the era, and groups of spectators. The project first introduce reception of the Pietà around the time of its creation, focusing on the polemic opinions of Renaissance artists who have seen the sculpture in person. It then analyzes reception of the sculpture during the age of Grand Tour, when the audience group of British aristocrats shows notably limited interest in the sculpture. Finally, it talks about reception of the Pietà during the …

Ariadne’S Transformation: Presenting Femininity From Roman Poetry To Modern Opera, Xinyi Wang

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Ariadne's story is dominated by her relationships with men: Minos, Theseus, and Bacchus. But who is she? Can her personality be examined independently from men? If yes, does she have her own voice in expressing herself? Do we hear her voice? If no, then, how does her personality help construct her story? My analysis will focus on how the Roman poets Catullus and Ovid, the Baroque composer Monteverdi, and the twentieth-century composer Strauss present Ariadne, and how their Ariadnes’ voices are heard. Perhaps she will always be eternal and undying as long as she remains a figure around which discussions …

A Survey Of Surveillance: Reworking The Male Gaze And The Surveillance Gaze Through Art And Technology, Phoebe Rae O'Connell

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

The Gospel According To Andrei: Biblical Narrative In The Films Of Andrei Tarkovsky, Aurora J. Amidon

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Although Soviet-era Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovksy may be known primarily for the tactile quality of his filmmaking, the thematic grandeur of his storytelling, and his abstract, poetic understanding of time, it is also worth noting the overt intertextuality of his cinematic portfolio. My senior project examines the ways in which Tarkovsky layers different reference points toward three biblical narratives: beginning with the Crucifixion, moving to the Binding of Isaac, and ending with the Return of the Prodigal Son. Tarkovsky applies biblical allusion, as well as the reconstruction of biblical narratives in a modern setting, in order to examine the structure …

Armed And Dangerous: The Ascendance Of The National Rifle Association, Alexander David Lynch

Senior Projects Spring 2020

My project, Armed and Dangerous: The Ascendance of the National Rifle Association focuses on the history of the National Rifle Association (NRA). I attempt to chart the NRA’s progression from a fairly apolitical organization into the vitriolic, single issue lobbying/business group that it has been since 1977. My first chapter provides an overview of the NRA in its contemporary iteration. My second chapter will focus on the social and cultural myths that have allowed the NRA to prosper in the face of harsh criticism. In this chapter, I also try to identify the ontological roots of the gun rights argument …

Parts Of Sound: Possibilities Of Listening Historically To Collection, Broadcast, And Exhibition, Noah Henry Fry Nickerson

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

From The Black Panther Party To Black Lives Matter: The Weaponization Of Surveillance Against Black Activists, Arianna Marinez-Perry

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

“​Saitama​” & “​Conversations With Cage & Frisell​”, Jacob Mcconnaughy

Senior Projects Spring 2020

“Saitama”

For the first part of Senior Project, I embarked on a goal to gather as much material as I could to form a coherent album that could be released to the public on streaming platforms that focused on electronic music. With a Roland Juno-60, a vintage analog synthesizer from the early eighties, I sat down everyday and hit record and let myself be taken away by the sounds and textures that I was able to conjure. The finished project combines previous ideas and culminated in the release of a full length album entitled Saitama.

“Conversations with Cage & Frisell” …

Discarding The “Garbage City”: Infrastructures Of Waste In Cairo, Egypt, Mary E. Klein

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.