Contemporary Art Commons^™

An Echo From The Living Room, Makayla Nichole Songer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We are unable to interface with reality as it is. Everything that encompasses our understanding of reality and ourselves—from our physical perceptions to our memories—are subject to innate flaws that make a complete grasp of reality impossible. an echo from the living room is invested in the idea that reality itself is malleable, taking influence from altered states of reality such as dreams, nightmares, and memory. Drawing from the personal experiences of recurring nightmares and living in a haunted house, as well film, the uncanny, and the multiple, an echo from the living room strives to create space for these …

Stills Of Passage: Photography And Migration In The Us-Mexico Borderlands, 1978-1992, Nadiah Rivera Fellah

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project investigates documentary photography at a critical juncture in the history of the US-Mexico borderlands. Following a period of rapid industrialization and growth in Mexico, the 1970s and 1980s were marked by moments of economic and political crisis, which simultaneously spurred a massive wave of northward migrants and the militarization of the US-Mexico border. These developments produced a large class of Mexican undocumented workers in the US, which in turn stimulated the formation of a hybrid border culture. At the same moment, a generation of young artists from Mexico and the United States, eager to document these changes, radically …

Thinging : Powerful Objects., Tammy M. Burke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The works in "Thinging” are inspired by desire, the genuine and the false, systems of real and perceived values, the quest for immortality, the allure of things, our use of them to make ourselves, and imagining pasts and futures via objects. The following concepts are threaded through the work: cathexis, ritual as a value builder, collections, hoarding, display, object history, exchange, use, and sign values, and vibrant materiality. At the heart of my investigation is the quest to examine the origins of object power, and by what measures it can be evaluated: value from belief, market value, and something perhaps …

Exploring Place As A Producer Of Localized Art Styles And Its Role In A Contemporary Global Art World., Alexis Doerr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Place as influencing the production of local art idioms is examined. Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of habitus and Michael Baxandall’s concept of visual capacity explain the social, economic, and physical structures that comprise place and affect how people perceive and evaluate the world around them. Art education, professional development opportunities, and local arts spending are discussed as the main structures of place that shape local art idioms and art making processes. South Dakota artists Harvey Dunn, Terry Redlin, and Dorothy Morgan are used as a case study. The writer argues that due to globalization the long-standing structure of art center and …

Between The Cracks: From Squatting To Tactical Media Art In The Netherlands, 1979–1993, Amanda S. Wasielewski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the early 1980s, Amsterdam was a battleground. During this time, conflicts between squatters, property owners, and the police frequently escalated into full-scale riots. Although the practice of squatting was legally protected in the Netherlands, the formation of a social movement around squatting in the mid- to late ’70s brought about a turbulent period exacerbated by economic hardship and widespread youth unemployment. Those active in the squatters’ movement sought to carve out new spaces in the fabric of the city, guided by anarchist politics and a desire for autonomy. These cracks, or temporary autonomous zones, in the established order created …

Cultural Heritage Preservation In The Context Of Climate Change Adaptation Or Relocation: Barbuda As A Case Study, Martha B. Lerski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This case study introduces an arts camp methodology of engaging communities in identifying their key cultural heritage features, thus serving as a meta study. It presents original research based on field studies on the climate-vulnerable Caribbean island of Barbuda during 2017 and 2018. Its Valued Cultural Elements survey, enabling precise identification of key tangible and intangible art forms and biocultural practices, may serve as a basis for further studies. Such approaches may facilitate future research or planning as climate-vulnerable communities harness Local or Indigenous Knowledge for purposes of biocultural heritage preservation, or towards adaptation or relocation. I report on findings …

Raman And Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy For Forensic Analysis: Case Studies On The Identification Of Illicit Substances And Artist Pigments, Abed Haddad

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Raman spectroscopy is an effective tool for detecting trace amounts of material by fingerprint-like vibrational spectra. At times, the weak intensity of Raman scattering can make it difficult to distinguish trace materials. This shortcoming is addressed by surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), which produces strong signal enhancements when target compounds are near metal nanoparticles. For the first part of this thesis, the identification of fentanyl and carfentanil, main culprits in the opioid epidemic, was done using normal Raman and the SERS spectroscopy. As an aid in the assignment of the spectral lines, a computational model was built using Density Functional Theory …

Trace., Kcj Szwedzinski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Trace utilizes autoethnography to investigate aspects of Judaism to discover how one decides what to embrace, embody, or deny from inherited legacies. Autoethnography attempts to combine quantitative and qualitative data in order to systematically analyze and describe personal experience. The artist acting as Ba’alei Kushiah, or question bearer, uses Talmudic philosophy as a methodology and approach to art making. This research is self-referential; using Jewish thought to ask questions about Judaism. Judaism, often existing in an in between place with outward characteristics that reflect regional influences, facilitates a dialogue about whether there are relative or absolute delineations within and between …

Between And Beyond, Noah F. Heil

Art and Art History Honors Projects

Between and Beyond is a series of handbuilt and wheel-thrown ceramic objects which explore intimate queer relationships through the human figure. I assemble slabs of clay to create openings and negative spaces within the sculptures, implying the ways in which the human form also acts as a vessel. The sculptures as well as the figures themselves remain open and vulnerable, literally and metaphorically. The body is depicted through fragmented sections, alluding to the ways in which society and culture break up gender and sexuality into limiting binaries. These intimate, private moments are meant to conjure an imagined future free of …

Keith Haring: Silence = Death, Nellie Jalalian

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The American aids crisis is one of the most important epidemics of the contemporary world, yet many americans do not know the severity of the crisis or the true lasting effects on recent society. In my project I will go over personal accounts of individuals directly affected by the illness, like famed artist Keith Haring, to give it a more human perspective. I will also reflect on the art that was created at the time, and how that was reflective on the people affected. Aids is an immunodeficiency virus that has been proven difficult to diagnose in the early on …

Authorship And Attribution: Forgery And The Power Of Names, Elise Jacobsen

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The individualistic culture of the Western art world places a great deal of emphasis on the power of names, whether it be artists or art experts. This creates a unique environment for forgery to occur, even flourish, as demonstrated by the career of Wolfgang Beltracchi, and by the commonality of Russian Avant-Garde fakes. In my research I investigate the phenomenon of art forgery and authentication, its effects on the professional art world and the perception of art, and the particular cultural factors, such as the emphasis on authorship and the importance of originality, that make forgery both possible and popular.

The Poetic Function Of Imagination: The Parallel Process Of Poiêsis, Angela Carlson

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

In the advent of Postmodernism, modern approaches to understanding the nature of things is being put into question. As the gap between objective and subjective realms of experiences is narrowing, there is an increased need for a more artful approach to science. This paper serves as my attempt to promote the field of Expressive Arts Therapy (ExATh) as a mode of poetic science for understanding the experience of ‘Being’ in the world. Through a critical review of the semantic development of the ancient Greek concepts poiêsis, noêsis, and aisthêsis, the imagination is identified as a function of alêthaic revealing, …

From Lace To Chains. The Making Of A Print, Alison G. Stewart

Zea E-Books Collection

How have printed works of art changed over time? Do printmakers today work with the same materials and techniques that printmakers used centuries ago? And does printmaking involve the same motivations, concerns, or methods of distribution today as it did in the past?

These were questions asked by University of Nebraska–Lincoln students in a history of prints class in the School of Art, Art History & Design taught by Hixson-Lied Professor of Art History Alison Stewart during fall semester 2018. For this curatorial project, students selected one set of old master prints (pre-1850) and one modern (post-1850) print from Sheldon’s …

Shawn Hunt's Transformation Mask: The Intersection Of Contemporary And Traditional Heiltsuk Art, Terese R. Lukey

Art & Art History ETDs

Shawn Hunt is an artist of Heiltsuk (Bella Bella), French, and Scottish Canadian ancestry who is at the forefront of contemporary Northwest Coast art in the Vancouver area. Historic artworks of his community have been often overlooked in scholarly literature due to the seeming willingness of the people to adapt to colonization. Viewed as a “tainted” culture, the Heiltsuk have been noticeably ignored in the art historical realm. However, their masks are some of the best examples of traditional regalia that are found in museums across Canada and the United States. Contemporary native artists of the Northwest Coast continue to …

Intertextuality And Iconography In Sergei Iukhimov's Illustrations For The Lord Of The Rings: Five Case Studies, Joel Merriner

Journal of Tolkien Research

Intertextuality and Iconography in Sergei Iukhimov’s Illustrations for The Lord of the Rings: Five Case Studies

Abstract

J.R.R. Tolkien once remarked in a letter to his publisher that his friends had been so impressed by Pauline Baynes’ illustrations for Farmer Giles of Ham that they labelled his text a “commentary on the drawings”. This apparently light-hearted anecdote conceals an interesting truth: the relationship between text and image can be problematic and the reading of an illustration depends largely on the culturally acquired discursive precedents which an individual viewer brings to the act of looking. This situation may be further …

The Impact Of Patronage On Contemporary Visual Arts, Emily Coats

Honors College Theses

Patronage is vital to the art world and the success and notoriety of its artists. From straightforward patronage during the Renaissance of the Medici Family, the independent artists of modernism, to contemporary crowdfunding, it is important to note the changes in the art world throughout history to truly understand how artists and patrons have grown and continue to evolve in our contemporary society. Considering how patronage has changed and adapted throughout history and understanding the influence it has, not only allows a deeper understanding of the art world but also the world’s culture.

Socio-Political Criticism In Contemporary Indonesian Art, Isabel Betsill

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The objective of this paper is to understand the connections between contemporary art and politics in Indonesia both in terms of how politics has shaped art practices, and in terms of how art influences politics. Questions I was interested in exploring include how contemporary art practices have changed considering the political changes over the past 30 years; if and how contemporary art is being used to facilitate political dialogues in the country; if and how contemporary art is being used to criticize and invoke change regarding social issues; and what the role of art spaces, collectives and foundations is in …

Reworking The White-Masculine Ideal, Steven H. Gonzalez

Art Theses and Dissertations

This text functions as an exploration of self through artistic practice, a designated space for reflection on contemporary Queer experience. In looking specifically at the permeation of the idealized-white-masculine figure as found within Western visual culture, social media and gay pornography become isolated as sites where these figures are commonly found. This line of inquiry defines how the ideal is reified through these differing digital platforms and the social implications the homogenized male form has on raced individuals. In addition to determining the image of the perfect masculine physique through research, this text expands on how its' imaged representation becomes …

Thesis/Thesis Document 2, Jessamyn Plotts

Art Theses and Dissertations

Thesis/thesis document 2 explores the subversive power of the painted image, made by a physical performative act. Such acts are not confined to the production of the art object, but expand across the landscape, involving the minds, bodies, and things of culture adjacent to the making process. Following the thinking of Maurice-Merleau Ponty, Thesis/thesis document 2 understands painting not as the container of a finite, legible message, but as a physical platform for the conveyance of perceptual, personal, and experiential ambiguity. Made in this way, painted images offer a powerful alternative to the proliferation of propaganda and advertisement …

“Todos Somos Trigueños”: La Presencia De Los Pueblos Indígenas En El Arte Urbano De Perú, Aubrey Parke

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Con una base en teorías de las ciencias sociales, incluso sociología, antropología y estudios urbanos, este proyecto investiga la representación de los pueblos indígenas en el arte urbano de Perú. Mi objetivo es entender como artistas urbanos en Lima conceptualizan a los pueblos indígenas a través de sus murales. Hice entrevistas con siete artistas urbanos en Lima durante un periodo de dos semanas, y también discutí con ellos ejemplos de su trabajo. Analizo las entrevistas y los murales dentro del contexto de la globalización, la historia del indigenismo en el arte peruano y las historias personales de cada artista. Encontré …

Now Was Too Late, Kaleigh Rusgrove

MFA Statements

No abstract provided.

Constraint And Control, Patricia Ayres

Theses and Dissertations

I have long considered themes of the body. Drawing on my knowledge as a fashion designer, I bring materials and hardware from the fashion industry into my artwork transforming and rendering them non-functional. My sculptures relate to stories of isolation, separation, and confinement. The following pages will analyze how the United States penal system controls, constrains and restricts the body through physical and psychological wounds. Furthermore, they will examine how the Catholic Church controls people’s minds and behavior through a ritualistic belief system.

Big Sister Enterprise: Just Be There, Wai Ying Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

Wai Ying Zhao, an artist and curator, instituted an American company named Big Sister Enterprise in 2018. BSE is a Delaware registered LLC that imitates briefcase companies implemented in order to foster a community of emerging artists with the intent of exhibiting and promoting their works. Zhao’s initiative stems from the awareness that many artists are struggling to continue their studio practices because of unstable income or being overworked in jobs such as art handling, gallery sitting and bartending. Through openings and events held in spaces in both New York and Shenzhen, she aims to create a community where emerging …

Access Point: Yuan Dongping’S Mental Patients In China And The State Of Chinese Documentary Photography In The 1990s, Sheung Ng

Theses and Dissertations

An investigation of the biographical, political, art historical, and social factors that could affect the discrepancy between the intention and reception of Chinese photographer Yuan Dongping’s Mental Patients in China photobook published in 1996, providing insight into the state of Chinese documentary photography publishing in the 1990s.

Capitalism As Readymade: 5.5 Case Studies, Nathan S. Rayman

Theses and Dissertations

Rayman makes an argument to repurpose capitalist systems as readymade artworks to shift the existing flow of capital from speculator to art producer.

The Case Of New Institutionalism: Maria Lind At The Kunstverein München, 2002–2004., Olga Tykhonova

Theses and Dissertations

The thesis focuses on a particular moment in the history of Kunstverein München - the directorship and curatorial practice of Maria Lind from 2002 to 2004, referred to as exemplary of the New Institutionalism. I analyze Lind’s directorship through the lens of the director-curator concept and institution as an “agonistic space.”

Deconstructing The Image Of Woman: Video Portraiture And Women’S Performance For The Camera 1972-1980, Olivia Gauthier

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines key examples of video portraiture, a subgenre of 1970s video art in the United States. Through the examples three aesthetic categories are defined: mirroring, masquerade, and disrupting the male gaze. Video portrait works are framed by goals of the Women’s Liberation Movement and Second Wave Feminism.

Expanding Experimentalism: Art And Popular Music At The Kitchen In New York City, 1971-1985, Sarah A. Cooper

Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores artists' engagement with popular music at the interdisciplinary alternative space, the Kitchen, from 1971 to 1985. It seeks a critical language to challenge institutional frameworks to account for the creative output of artists' bands and the relationship between parallel and hybrid popular music and avant-garde performance practices.

The "I" Of The Artist-Curator, Natalie Musteata

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation charts the proliferation of artist-curated exhibitions in museums and institutions of art from 1969 to the early 2010s. It is my contention that the artist-curated exhibitions of these four decades can be divided chronologically into several types: in the 1970s and ’80s, they disrupted museological conventions and helped contemporize the (perceived) aging collections of historical institutions; in the late 1980s and ’90s, they tackled pressing social and political issues, reimagining the practice of “institutional critique”; in the late 1990s and 2000s, they indulged in solipsistic investigations of the artist’s psyche, reinforcing the traditional, romantic conception of the artist …

A Didactic Teaching And Learning Project In Art Market Research. Researching And Publishing The History Of Commercial Art Dealing, Nadine Oberste-Hetbleck

Art History Pedagogy & Practice

In addition to research, one of the main tasks of art historians is the authoring of academically and stylistically sound texts in differing genres. This case study of the research and publishing project Zur Geschichte des Düsseldorfer Kunsthandels (A History of Commercial Art Dealing in Düsseldorf) will demonstrate how research and writing can be integrated into teaching. The project involved supervised work with source materials, data visualization, semi-structured interviews (oral history), a supplementary writing workshop, as well as detailed feedback from a writing instructor, the teacher, and fellow participants in the seminar. In addition, the high practical relevance of the …