Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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This thesis focused on several female collectors in the seventeenth century in the Low Countries and what their influence has been on for example the science of botany, garden design, and...Show moreThis thesis focused on several female collectors in the seventeenth century in the Low Countries and what their influence has been on for example the science of botany, garden design, and entomology. The main figures that are discussed are Maria Sybilla Merian, Magdalena Poulle, and Agnes Block.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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In the thesis “Anti-Cantos. A Collection of Stories on Listening and Desire” the relation between listening (to music), desire and the construction of the listening subject is discussed. It...Show moreIn the thesis “Anti-Cantos. A Collection of Stories on Listening and Desire” the relation between listening (to music), desire and the construction of the listening subject is discussed. It consists of three parts: 1) a theoretical introduction in which the traditional Lacanian psychoanalytical idea of desire is revisited through a positive understanding of desire in listening to music, combined with a critique on Adorno’s idea of structural listening, thought from Jean-Luc Nancy’s ideas on resonance and listening; 2) an essay on the relation between listening and desire in literary sources. The Siren episode from Homer’s Odyssey as well as Italo Calvino’s story A King Listens are deconstructed through ideas of Peter Sloterdijk, Maurice Blanchot and Roland Barthes; 3) a trisected essay on three (Blixa Bargeld, Jaap Blonk, Samuel Beckett) musical voices as conveyers of desire in listening. Primary sources are combined with Artaudian ideas on sound and Barthes’ understanding of the Grain of the Voice and jouissance.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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This thesis examines the notion of productive multisensory experiences in museums of modern and contemporary art, as well as the pedagogy of current olfactory curatorial strategies and fruitful...Show moreThis thesis examines the notion of productive multisensory experiences in museums of modern and contemporary art, as well as the pedagogy of current olfactory curatorial strategies and fruitful conceptual tools for such future strategies in art museums. It sets out to develop a theoretical framework for understanding immersive, multisensory art museum experiences as meaningful and educative. The sense of smell functions exemplary in this for it is an exceptional multisensory sensation in itself that requires thorough reconceptualization since it has long been repressed in Western epistemology.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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This thesis proposes a reading of the French academic movement during the early years of Louis XIV's reign, under the lens of discourse and hegemony theory. Special attention is given to the...Show moreThis thesis proposes a reading of the French academic movement during the early years of Louis XIV's reign, under the lens of discourse and hegemony theory. Special attention is given to the writings and paintings of Charles Le Brun, Premier Peintre du Roy, presented as the most accomplished example of the painting's hegemonic function and identity during the founding years of the Academie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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The question of what it means to be an art curator in the expanded field of artistic production has been a subject of enigmatic allure in the field of the arts. Discussions on the subject have...Show moreThe question of what it means to be an art curator in the expanded field of artistic production has been a subject of enigmatic allure in the field of the arts. Discussions on the subject have produced interesting and productive contributions in terms of the role and purpose that is assigned to the curator, of which ‘mediator’ and ‘process shaper’ have achieved major currency. In response to the major challenges brought forth by the rapidly evolving global cultural climate of the last decade – migration, global capitalism, new forms of imperialism-, the practice and discourse of curating is seen to have made a shift from mere mediating towards an emphasis on the performance of leadership within the arts. The thesis statement made in this regard is that contemporary curating constitutes a new form of leadership, that is, cultural leadership. This statement is examined from the main question whether it is indeed possible and productive to conceive of the contemporary art curator as cultural leader? As this is still a largely un-theorized topic, the present research will comprise a theoretical treatise and will be conducted from a combination in methods of literature analysis and critical theory. The avant-garde will be employed as a working concept to explore and assess the new notion of the curator as cultural leader.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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2018-06-30T00:00:00Z
Edgar Wind (1900-1971) was a philosopher and art historian who developed a theory of the symbolic inspired by both the work of Warburg and Peirce. This thesis explores the way his philosophy...Show moreEdgar Wind (1900-1971) was a philosopher and art historian who developed a theory of the symbolic inspired by both the work of Warburg and Peirce. This thesis explores the way his philosophy engaged with questions about humanism, human freedom, and the status of scientific knowledge. Wind's engagement with these issues resulted a realist philosophy based on a view of symbolic representation as embodiment. In the end this is related to current discussions on human-thing entanglement within the material turn and the problems surrounding agency.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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Constantijn Huygens is know as the pioneering architect of the Dutch classicist revival, and his poems in praise of his collaborator, Jacob van Campen, laud him as the figure who has rid the Dutch...Show moreConstantijn Huygens is know as the pioneering architect of the Dutch classicist revival, and his poems in praise of his collaborator, Jacob van Campen, laud him as the figure who has rid the Dutch cityscape of Gothic building style. However, Huygens’ collection of art included three paintings by Pieter Saenredam, famous in his own right for his depictions of Gothic architecture. Why then would Huygens own so many paintings by Saenredam, among them the largest known from his hand, a picture of the largest Gothic church in the country, Utrecht Cathedral? The reason, I argue, is that Huygens’ institution of classicist architecture was accompanied by deep confessional anxiety. The introduction of classicism to the Republic coincided with an influx of wealth, luxury and worldly pride, arguably appearing as its sign. As Huygens tells us, his home on the Plein was subject to the charge of vanity. What I will argue in this essay, however, is that classicism recalled not only the decadence of Greece and Rome in its form, but Rome’s pagan idolatry as well. In the writings of Simon Stevin, Salomon de Bray and Huygens in turn, there was great ambivalence over Vitruvius and his pagan history of classical architecture. As I will argue, each author adopted his own strategy in coping with this so-called problem of paganism, and that the works of Saenredam were central to Huygens’ own approach. I will begin by demonstrating that Saenredam’s perspectival technique was rooted in the principles of Vitruvian design, appearing, like Huygens’ homes, as a mark of the modernity of the Republic. However, I will ultimately argue that this technique classicized native Gothic churches, presenting them as a sacred history for Huygens’ architecture. In this way, Saenredam’s works redeemed Huygens’ classicist revival, ensuring that his homes would project an identity for the nation that was at once modern and pious.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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This thesis explores the exhibition-tryptic Crisis of History held at the gallery space Framer Framed in Amsterdam in 2014-2015. It investigates how its practices can be regarded as innovative in...Show moreThis thesis explores the exhibition-tryptic Crisis of History held at the gallery space Framer Framed in Amsterdam in 2014-2015. It investigates how its practices can be regarded as innovative in shaping discourses on contemporary art. The exhibition looks critically at how ‘non-Western’ art has been dealt with in exhibition practices as well as in academic discourses and aims to present alternative visions. I have used the notions minor curating by Cotter and histoire croisée by Werner and Zimmermann, as well as Keshmirshekan’s critical history of contemporary art of Iran to conceptualise the exhibition practices of Crisis of History’s curators Robert Kluijver and Elham Puriyamehr. I have particularly zoomed-in on part #3 of the triptych as the layering of perspectives is most clearly visible here. The exhibition practices include strategies of self-representation, intellectual artistic positioning and open-endedness due to the equal importance of exhibition display and public programming. The use of the artworks, the offering of multiple and layered voices deployed in the exhibition practice shows how the interaction between theory, curatorial visions and artistic imagining of alternative pasts and futures brings the field of contemporary art forward in articulating visions towards the development of an inclusive art history.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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This thesis intends to explore the relation between memory and matter, through an analysis of contemporary art. The research begins with an investigation of the meaning of memory and explores...Show moreThis thesis intends to explore the relation between memory and matter, through an analysis of contemporary art. The research begins with an investigation of the meaning of memory and explores alternatives to this understanding, as proposed by major theorists in the field of cultural memory studies. These alternatives are then further researched through an analysis of the work by Gabriel Orozco, Anish Kapoor and Navid Nuur. Their work will function as case studies in which certain artworks are related to the comprehension of memory as proposed in the first chapter. Through the study of the performative, transformative and evocative qualities of the artworks, the affect and agency of art will be revealed. These analyses will include an exploration of the connection between memory and matter, as it uses new materialist's notions to reconsider the idea of memory. Through applying a new methodology into an existing field of research, this thesis intends to spark thought for the reconsideration of notions that we take for granted. Ultimately this thesis aims to reevaluate what we know about memory, objects of memory and art.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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This thesis focuses on the role of collections of natural history and curiosities in the vocational education of Merchants and civil servants around 1700. Central are the ideas of the German...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the role of collections of natural history and curiosities in the vocational education of Merchants and civil servants around 1700. Central are the ideas of the German economist and merchant-scholar Paul Jacob Marperger (1656-1730).Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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This thesis analyzed the development of discourse on extra-European art in art historical surveys published between 1842 and 1900 and how this discourse was influenced by the development and...Show moreThis thesis analyzed the development of discourse on extra-European art in art historical surveys published between 1842 and 1900 and how this discourse was influenced by the development and institutionalisation of art history and by discourses on extra-European arts from other, related, scientific disciplines. It argues that the selective influence of art history as an institutionalizing discipline and other scholarly disciplines with an interest in extra- European art enlarged, changed and complicated the understanding of extra-European art as expressed in these discourses. Moreover, it substantiates that while certain dimensions of the understanding of extra-European art may have seemed to stay constant, this does not constitute a uniform understanding of this art. The findings are based on the analysis of the Handbuch der Kunstgeschichte (1842) by Franz Kugler, the Handbuch der Kunstgeschichte (1855) by Anton Springer and the Geschichte der Kunst aller Zeiten und Völker (1900) by Karl Woermann with the use of the method of Critical Discourse Analysis, which investigates not just the texts but also their scholarly environment, and an extensive close reading of the three surveys.Show less
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