Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
closed access
This project investigates in what ways or senses bioart can potentially bridge the gap between theories about human nature and human dignity, and actual human enhancement. This is done in three...Show moreThis project investigates in what ways or senses bioart can potentially bridge the gap between theories about human nature and human dignity, and actual human enhancement. This is done in three parts. As I move from a discussion of the current biotechnological debate that finds itself at a stalemate, to a more general view on (bio)art and its potential transformative force, I eventually turn to case studies of bioart practice to see whether art can perhaps contribute to an embodied living of biotechnology in our society. Can art contribute valuable insights to the concept of human nature and our biotechnological future, which the theoretical debate cannot, and if so, how? In the final part, part 4, I suggest that bioart’s critical potential is best considered in terms of affecting the academic debate and discourse. In this sense, it can potentially play a role in the tug-of-war that is the biotechnological debate. It functions significantly better in an academic context than it does for The General Public. I conclude that there are three crucial aspects to the potential transformative force of bioart: ambiguity, embodiment and crossing of boundaries. The fourth, demystification, is shown to be not quite successful in practice. This research shows that ambiguity is the most important aspect to the specificity of bioart. It leads me to consider what I call The Complicity Paradox to be the most influential in terms of bioart potentially shifting the biotechnological debate and enacting a transformative force within discussions on biotechnology and its far-reaching consequences. Bioart does this across the different fields of art, science and the humanities. Bioart can simultaneously be complicit in, as well as contest and be critical of biotechnology and its forces by becoming part of the fields that are biotechnology and science itself, potentially changing them from within.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
closed access
This research maps the problems experienced by the prelingual Deaf in museums. Most Deaf people face linguistic, educational, and social barriers in museums. Nowadays, more and more museums make an...Show moreThis research maps the problems experienced by the prelingual Deaf in museums. Most Deaf people face linguistic, educational, and social barriers in museums. Nowadays, more and more museums make an effort to create access to their collection of artworks through programmes designed especially for Deaf people, like guided tours in sign language by Deaf museum educators or on tablets. An inclusive museum, however, is not labelling people as ‘Deaf’ or ‘hearing’, but is accessible to everyone without the need to design special programmes for particular groups. This interdisciplinary research combines Museum Studies, philosophy, Disability Studies, and cognitive neurosciences, to raise awareness for the inaccessibility of museums to the prelingual Deaf, and develops a theory of a multisensory presentation of collections of artworks that is accessible and beneficial not only to the Deaf, but also to other visitors. From the viewpoint of the museum visitor as embodied being, this research examines the possibility to make aesthetic judgments based on touch, taste, and smell.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
closed access
This research looks at two parallel theoretical approaches. The first deals with contemporary exhibitions and the curatorial procedures that are introduced in the 1960s, while the other focuses...Show moreThis research looks at two parallel theoretical approaches. The first deals with contemporary exhibitions and the curatorial procedures that are introduced in the 1960s, while the other focuses more on Conceptual Art and its emergence during the same period. After 1960s, many artists introduced a more experimental and conceptual dimension in their work therefore, art started altering. More specifically, the integration of postwar sculpture into Conceptual Art and vice versa, brought about a transition in the curatorial procedures that were developed during the 1960s in the Netherlands and beyond. The main objective of this thesis is to examine the ways in which this progression occurred, by analyzing the innovative approach of Wim Beeren in the exhibition ‘Op Losse Schroeven’ and 40 years later Cherix’s prudent idea in the exhibition ‘In and Out of Amsterdam’. Through this critical investigation, an adequate and appropriate assessment of the emergent ‘new art’ is offered in combination with the alteration of art production. Through this research I intended to examine the roles of both international and Dutch artists along with international and Dutch galleries and museums, in the emergence of the abovementioned 'new art'.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis concerns the Afro-Brazilian cult of Candomblé, focusing on the work of Pierre Verger. The research presents Candomblé as a cultural-religious practice, which is the result of a cross...Show moreThis thesis concerns the Afro-Brazilian cult of Candomblé, focusing on the work of Pierre Verger. The research presents Candomblé as a cultural-religious practice, which is the result of a cross-cultural exchange, referring to the photography and discourse of Pierre Verger and other authors, such as Reginaldo Prandi, Roger Bastide and Babatunde Lawal. This work introduces Pierre Verger’s intimate relationship with Candomblé and the north-eastern Brazilian state of Bahia. The thesis reviews the history and constitution of Candomblé in the slave trade context of colonialism, its Yoruba roots, mythology, public ritual and initiation rite. Finally, the thesis attempts to frame Candomblé in an art historical perspective through the Yoruba metaphor of artistic creativity and the concept of orí.Show less
![From Sculpture to Conceptual Art: A Transition in Curating Exhibitions [1960-1975]](/sites/all/themes/scholarly/img/closed_access.png?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=bb68179a27186a04cd5c&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=5)
