This thesis explores the decolonial concept of 'pluriversal' presented in the institution of Framer Framed Amsterdam through the exhibition "To those who have no time to play" by Russian...Show moreThis thesis explores the decolonial concept of 'pluriversal' presented in the institution of Framer Framed Amsterdam through the exhibition "To those who have no time to play" by Russian performance artist Gluklya (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya). It uses concepts, theories, and analysis methods of decolonial praxis and museology. Thus this thesis examines the role of pluriversality in the exhibition through various applications and proceeds to approach the exhibition as decolonially as academically possible.Show less
In the twenty-first century, many artists show an interest in early modern collections, and this fascination has manifested itself in their artistic practice. Especially the cabinet of curiosity is...Show moreIn the twenty-first century, many artists show an interest in early modern collections, and this fascination has manifested itself in their artistic practice. Especially the cabinet of curiosity is frequently reintroduced, cited and reappropriated, with underlying concepts and visual tactics resurfacing. It will be determined to what extent visual or conceptual phenomena are reinterpreted or referenced by discussing the work of Steffen Dam, Damien Hirst, Marc Dion, and Marc Quinn. In their art, there is a revival of the traditions of collecting, classifying, categorising, ordering and displaying the natural world. Furthermore, the interrelationship between art and science forms a prominent factor. This study aims to identify the main influences, strategies and connections to the curiosity cabinet and explore to what extent these are reflected in work by these artists. Various case studies will be discussed using visual analysis. Primary and secondary sources will be used to support this visual analysis to uncover possible connections and gain insight into the artists' sources of inspiration and intent. It will be considered how far their methods are tied to curiosity collections. The goal is to determine the collective characteristics present in those case studies. This will add to the comprehension of the main historical influences on these artists and the interconnection between their artistic practices.Show less
The natural process of death is feared by plenty of people, but death is also popularized. The topic of death has a prominent place in popular culture. Crime TV-shows have been extensively covering...Show moreThe natural process of death is feared by plenty of people, but death is also popularized. The topic of death has a prominent place in popular culture. Crime TV-shows have been extensively covering this topic for quite some time. The way that crime shows address death is different from humanity’s fundamental understanding of death: to treat the dead with respect and value the persons they once were. In essence, crime TV-shows have created a different understanding of death. Because of its popularity, it can be questioned whether crime TV-shows affect other cultural forms. Art, just as crime shows, has an extensive history within the theme of death. Since death is a recurring topic in both art and crime TV-shows, it is of significance to research if and how these two cultural forms are connected. Consequently, this paper researches to what extent the new understanding of death, created by crime TV-shows, is reflected in contemporary art. Three case studies of contemporary artworks are discussed to illustrate to what extent the new understanding of death is reflected in art. These include The Class (2005) by Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Cleaning (2009) by Teresa Margolles, and 48 Star Flag (1990-2005) by Andrew Krasnow. The topic of death in these artworks is very literal since human remains are used in the creation of the artwork. Each of the three artworks sheds a light on a different aspect of the dead human body, namely corpses, blood, and skin. The paper discusses to what extent the artworks relate to crime TV-shows, which provides a deeper understanding of how the artworks reflect the new understanding of death.Show less
The national celebration 400 jaar VOC marked the 400 year anniversary of the foundation of the Dutch United East India Company (VOC) in 2002. This thesis investigates how the meaning of the VOC...Show moreThe national celebration 400 jaar VOC marked the 400 year anniversary of the foundation of the Dutch United East India Company (VOC) in 2002. This thesis investigates how the meaning of the VOC is fixed through notions of past, present and future, as well as the continuity between these moments, in three exhibitions that took place in the context of the celebration: De Kleurrijke Wereld van de VOC (The Colourful World of the VOC) at the Scheepvaartmuseum (Maritime museum) in Amsterdam; Upstream, with specifically the work of artist Shilpa Gupta (Mumbai, b. 1976) in Amsterdam and Mumbai; and Dutch Masters from Indian Collections, an initiative of the Royal Netherlands Embassy, on view in Mumbai. I trace the positions of these exhibitions within the celebration, and, following Michel Foucault’s power-knowledge and Gloria Wekker’s application of Edward Said’s term of the cultural archive to the Dutch context, employ a discourse analysis. I argue that what is absent from the accounts of relations between past, present and future of the VOC in the three exhibitions, except for Gupta’s statements, is the idea that 400 jaar VOC also means 400 years of Dutch colonialism, which influence dominant meaning-making processes in Dutch society today. The recognition of colonialism as structure of thinking forming a relationship between past, present and future is equivalently lacking in statements criticizing postcolonial theory today in the Netherlands.Show less
Artistic practice today is uniquely situated to pose critical, alternative responses to contemporary ecological problems. A compelling example from Mexico City is the 2015 performance piece Plan...Show moreArtistic practice today is uniquely situated to pose critical, alternative responses to contemporary ecological problems. A compelling example from Mexico City is the 2015 performance piece Plan Acalote by contemporary art collective Plan Acalli, which reenacted the journey of a traditional acalli boat across Mexico City, crossing highways and avenues that were once canals. This thesis examines the ecological potential of this artwork by studying the performance and its context through a framework of materialist posthumanism. I argue that Plan Acalote crucially enabled human participants to develop environmental skills and awareness and involved ritual, pilgrimage-like encounters. I propose that, in this way, the acalli boat’s journey can thus be read as a material transformation or “becoming” of paved urban roads into an acalote, or Nahua waterway: a collaborative, situated and performative strategy towards research, environmental awareness and art. Therefore, Plan Acalote ultimately demonstrated the potential of a shift in cosmovision through art as a viable approach to furthering ecological goals.Show less
The present environmental crisis has put the public war between current right-wing authoritarian governs and whoever in the world is concerned about the environment in the international spotlight....Show moreThe present environmental crisis has put the public war between current right-wing authoritarian governs and whoever in the world is concerned about the environment in the international spotlight. Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, on June 1, 2017 and the recent refusal of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro to stop the exploitation of Amazon illustrate the emergence of a situation in which the notions of territory and nation-state no longer sustain the reality of our shared planet. The more climate change, global warming and the environmental degradation haunt the Earth’s inhabitants, the more it seems that we break apart the world as if boundaries of exclusion could prevent what is inside from perishing. In this thesis, I argue that, in the core of this issue, dwell precisely our ‘notions’ and ‘concepts’—enclosed in the huge monolith of Western modern thinking. To confront the planetary crisis, one needs a new strategy to access these problems—that would not consist in simply applying a dialectical method of discussion, but instead deploying a multidimensional approach, capable of penetrating that Western bloc from all sides. By taking on the notion of networks—whether informatic, political and biological—I critically analyse this concept and introduce the framework of the ‘swarm’ that I used in my own artistic practice as a way to allow a multiplicity of viewpoints. The art project Game of Swarms, which explores mainly the fact that the individuals of swarms work together without a locus of control, provokes the audience to rethink our current political structures and use the narrative of the game to imagine new forms of making politics and a new way to think our relation to the world. The biological self-organised model of swarms comes as a tool to create new narratives to face today’s planetary crisis and foster a more sustainable way of thinking.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
closed access
‘The Making of Modern Art’ is a long-term exhibition at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven that ostensibly presents the story of modern art. This thesis explores the significances and implications of...Show more‘The Making of Modern Art’ is a long-term exhibition at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven that ostensibly presents the story of modern art. This thesis explores the significances and implications of this: how does presenting modern art history as a story, and specifically one that is ‘made’ in the present tense, challenge dominant forms of history that claim to be singular and objective, and how does an exhibition such as this implicate the art historian whose methodologies of writing and representation similarly tend to obscure their own historical position? ‘The Making of Modern Art’ uses copies of paintings, of exhibition form, and of modes of history-writing. These copies, I suggest, function as translations. By engaging with these copies as translations, I explore how originality, authorship and subject-object relationships might be conceived of differently in contemporaneous art historical practices. The contemporary is a historical position, and contemporaneous artistic practices that address or re-imagine modern art history might, or indeed should, have implications on how we continue to write and reinforce particular forms of history.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
open access
Abstract The German exhibition documenta is inarguably one of the most well-known perennial exhibitions worldwide and takes part every four to five years in Kassel (Germany). The topic discussed in...Show moreAbstract The German exhibition documenta is inarguably one of the most well-known perennial exhibitions worldwide and takes part every four to five years in Kassel (Germany). The topic discussed in this MA thesis, is the 14th edition of documenta and its partial re-location to Athens (Greece) in 2017. This thesis is a critical examination of stereotypical assumptions about Greece’s past that were included in the discourse of the exhibition, and manifested through the public program Exercises of Freedom and the artwork The Parthenon of Books by Marta Minujín. Additionally, these case studies were analyzed based on their common participatory factor using theories of spectatorship by Claire Bishop and Jacques Rancière. This research demonstrates that the documenta14, in the cases of these artworks, conceptualized greek past through the dominant Eurocentric framework.Show less
Artistic freedom of expression has always been a hot topic both in the West and in the East. It is enough to think about the controversy of Richard Serra against the US government regarding the...Show moreArtistic freedom of expression has always been a hot topic both in the West and in the East. It is enough to think about the controversy of Richard Serra against the US government regarding the removal of Tilted Arc (1981) from the Federal Plaza in New York City in 1989 or the shutting down, in 2017, of the controversial Guggenheim “Art and China after 1989: Theatre of the World” exhibitions featuring abused animals. In the case of China, the issue becomes more complicated, because of what some perceive as the systematic censorship of everything that goes against the government’s narrative and criticizes it. But is this actually always the case? During my research, I encountered the book of a New York art journalist, Barbara Pollack, who for a ten-year long research focused on the Chinese contemporary art market. Here, she discussed the case of artist Wang Qingsong, arrested for pornography in 2006 and Chi Peng, an artist who made naked self-portraits having sexual intercourse in the same period but was reportedly never arrested. The author also reports of a conversation with former head of the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Feng Yuan, who specifies the “Four Nos” which would, according to him, always cause the censoring of art in China: “no pornography, no violence, no attacking the government or making fun of political leaders.” From this, a question spontaneously arises: “Why do some artist get censored and others do not, even while violating the Nos in similar ways?” In this research I focused on censored art in the period of the Harmonious Society Policy (2004-2014). Following from this, my research question is “Do censors’ and artists’ discourses from 2004 to 2014 suggest consistency and continuity in the enforcement of the Chinese art censorship or not?” This question’s answer will help define the state of art censorship in China in the abovementioned period, but also its development from the previous decades and into the current state. In order to research this issue, I will have to answer two sub-questions: “What elements of the artists’ and officials’ discourses could have caused the censorship?” This question is aimed at understanding what triggers censorship in controversial cases. The second one is “What elements of the artists’ and officials’ discourses could have helped them in avoiding censorship?” Thus, I will be discussing the possible triggering factors for censoring art works and the elements that saved other artworks from censorship by searching into primary and secondary documents. The case studies are censored and not censored artworks for each policy core concept exhibited in the period between 2004 and 2014. The case studies are solely regarding controversies (or the absence thereof) for artworks exhibited in Mainland China. The case studies are the following: Ren Hang’s Untitled (2012), Liu Wei’s It Looks Like a Landscape (2004) on the topic of pornography, Zhang Huan’s Giant no. 1-2-3 (2008), He Yunchang’s One Meter of Democracy (2010), for the topic of violence and Cao Fei’s RMB City: a Second Life City Planning (2007) and Zhang Dali’s Second History: Chairman Mao Reviews the Red Guards, 1966 (2005), regarding political criticism.Show less
The age of globalisation has determined the shrinking of geographical distances and the emergence of mass mobility. People from diverse cultures now cohabit the same geographical areas which often...Show moreThe age of globalisation has determined the shrinking of geographical distances and the emergence of mass mobility. People from diverse cultures now cohabit the same geographical areas which often leads to conflicts stemming from fear of cultural diversity. In this respect, the role of modern art museums and biennials concerning the staging of intercultural encounters leading to mutual understanding is key. In this research, Pratt's and Clifford's theories on the contact zone will be combined with Bennett's notion of the exhibitionary complex and Witcomb's theories on the importance of addressing shared human concerns in current curatorial practice to instill empathic responses in the audiences face the realisation that despite cultural diversities, humans worldwide also share similar traits. Curatorial practice focussed on equally highlighting cultural similarities and differences and being more inclusive of the world’s artistic production, it is argued, can lead to the establishment of what can be defined the ultimate contact zone - a space of fruitful intercultural encounters in which diverse communities meet on equal power relations, discover each other, and ultimately re-shape their preconceptions around the surrounding world and the people inhabiting it. Specifically, the ultimate contact zone theory will be here applied to the famous exhibition The Family of Man, held at the MoMA in 1955 and now permanently installed at Clervaux Castle in Luxembourg, and the more recent Self-Portrait as the Billy Goat and The End of Love, held at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. The discussion will then move to biennial curatorial practice with a focus on the 1989 3rd Havana Bienal Tradition and Contemporaneity and the 57th Venice Biennale Viva Arte Viva.Show less
Since entering the international fine arts market in the 1970s, Indigenous Australian art has long contended with its positioning within a system that — until very recently — was ascribed to an...Show moreSince entering the international fine arts market in the 1970s, Indigenous Australian art has long contended with its positioning within a system that — until very recently — was ascribed to an exhibitionary method based on Western epistemology only. Debates surrounding the display of so-called ‘non-Western’ art and its place in modernity and the fine arts institution have produced several responses in the form of curatorial strategies. These strategies have emerged both in light of an increasing public awareness of the role of the curator in the representation of culture, and in the context of the museum as an inherently contentious space of knowledge construction. This thesis centres on the identification of these strategies, and its usage in four case studies. These case studies include the exhibitions fluent (1997), held at the 47th Venice Biennale, Theme Park (2008) at the Museum of Contemporary Aboriginal Art (AAMU), Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation (2015), held at the British Museum and Frontier Imaginaries (2015 - ongoing), a travelling exhibition. By evaluating the applications of these strategies, this thesis sheds light on the manner in which curatorial strategies have formed the display of contemporary Indigenous art, and further highlights potentially impactful developments in the field of contemporary curation.Show less
Although Japan started participating in the commercial international art world during its so-called ‘bubble period’ between 1986 and 1991, very few Japanese artists currently enjoy international...Show moreAlthough Japan started participating in the commercial international art world during its so-called ‘bubble period’ between 1986 and 1991, very few Japanese artists currently enjoy international art market visibility. Furthermore, Japan’s own art market and market actors remain understudied. This study aims to provide insight in Japan’s position in the international art world, focusing on contemporary art galleries, important gatekeepers of the art market. Through quantitative data analysis of Tokyo’s contemporary art galleries, this thesis identifies two factors to measure art galleries’ globalization: their ‘home bias’, which is the degree in which galleries represent artists from the country it is based in; and its participation in international art fairs. Although data for both factors show a relatively high national focus, Japan’s galleries’ home bias is especially large. Furthermore, Japan’s own art market stays underdeveloped and does not sufficiently succeed in attracting international art crowds. These factors pose difficulties for international participation and obtaining international relevance. On a larger scale, this study of Japan functions as a case study for drawing conclusions on globalization of art markets in general, and the validity of the concept of a ‘global art world’.Show less
This thesis seeks to outline the potential and relevance of socio-politically engaged art produced by contemporary artists for today’s globalised society. The focal point of my research is the...Show moreThis thesis seeks to outline the potential and relevance of socio-politically engaged art produced by contemporary artists for today’s globalised society. The focal point of my research is the artistic practice of artist duo Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson, who occupy a position in the international art world of today. In a highly commercialised socio-political reality where a one-sided and fragmented understanding of knowledge rules, the arena of art often threatens to be disregarded as insignificant and inefficient. By explaining Castro and Ólafsson’s approach towards the socio-political field and the relation that their work takes towards the audience, I will illustrate and emphasise that the artistic arena is a necessary component of a healthy democratic society. This thesis will map some of the unique qualities and achievements of the aesthetic sphere, that result from its singular position towards life and politics. Because art offers us the possibility to treat and consider the world around us in a non-verbal and in a different way than purely intellectual, it contains the potential to create agonisms that help us to perceive the world around us differently, giving free play to new meaning and alternatives towards reality to arise.Show less
Today, art from China is very different from that of the 1980s and 1990s. Contemporary Chinese urban art is critical of the modernization China has been experiencing the past decades. It is mostly...Show moreToday, art from China is very different from that of the 1980s and 1990s. Contemporary Chinese urban art is critical of the modernization China has been experiencing the past decades. It is mostly done in the media of photography, sculpture and installation art. Most obviously this criticism can be seen in the cityscape. This cityscape is most times a pastiche of construction, combining into a vast city. Many installation artists construct such a city by using real cities as model, and they often use consumer items as material. But also many photographers create cityscape montages; they use digital software to combine photographs of the urban space into one big collage. There are five themes that prominently express the artists’ concerns over China’s urbanization: futurism, globalization, negativity, sinification, and disconnection. Artists apply (often several of) these themes onto the urban space they depict.Show less
