This paper has researched what the power of a performance protest is when making use of artistic means. Artist Nan Goldin constructed performance protests against the Sackler family, a...Show moreThis paper has researched what the power of a performance protest is when making use of artistic means. Artist Nan Goldin constructed performance protests against the Sackler family, a pharmaceutical dynasty partly responsible for the opioid crisis in the United States. These protests served the purpose of getting museums to cut their ties with the Sackler family, thus also refusing funding from the Sackler’s. This paper has investigated how Nan Goldin has succeeded in doing so, using theories from performance studies to visual rhetoric. This research hopes to have illustrated how these previously mentioned powerful performance tools can help build a community to fight against big institutions.Show less
This thesis researches the presumed connection between the theory of semiotics and the work of contemporary text-based artist Nora Turato (1991). More specifically, Turato’s publication pool 5 ...Show moreThis thesis researches the presumed connection between the theory of semiotics and the work of contemporary text-based artist Nora Turato (1991). More specifically, Turato’s publication pool 5 (2022) will be used as a case study to answer the research question: ‘To what extent does Nora Turato’s artists’ book pool 5 integrate text and visual design to create a distinct form of expression within the realm of text-based arts?’. By analyzing Turato’s use of the medium of the artists’ book, situated in text-based arts, this thesis aims to explore the supposed connection between the arts and semiotics, while also situating the work of Turato in a broader contextual sphere. Using the perspectives of visual analysis and semiotics, this thesis aims to extend the understanding of the relationship between authorship, language, and meaning within text-based contemporary art.Show less
Several Belarusian artists began including re-appropriated folkloric imagery and art-making techniques in response to anti-dictatorial protests, which erupted in Belarus on May 24th, 2020 following...Show moreSeveral Belarusian artists began including re-appropriated folkloric imagery and art-making techniques in response to anti-dictatorial protests, which erupted in Belarus on May 24th, 2020 following the rigged elections. Rufina Bazlova was one such artist, who documented the protest events in The History of the Belarusian Vyzhyvanka (2020-2021). This digitally-native artwork was mechanically embroidered to mimic traditional Belarusian cross-stitch embroidery on linen shirts- vyshyvankas. Using Bazlova as a case study, this paper examines how, and to what extent, the interweaving of digital and folk-storytelling in contemporary Belarusian art contributes to the representation of a post-2020 Belarusian identity, perpetuated across mass- media since 2020. In exploring this investigation through Peircean semiotics and anthropological methodologies, this thesis shows: how folkloric imagery and material heritage contribute to a distinctly Belarusian identity through their indexical and symbolic meaning, which also gives them anti-colonial agency; and how their contemporary re-contextualisation within the digital creates a historical continuity between former oppositional identities and a uniquely digital, post-2020 identity. In doing so, this research targets a common misconception of a lacking Belarusian culture and identity.Show less
