The Serbian artist Ivana Bašić (b. 1987) believes that her free-standing and humanoid sculptures which bear resemblances with a corpse are real, meaning alive and human. From an anthropocentric...Show moreThe Serbian artist Ivana Bašić (b. 1987) believes that her free-standing and humanoid sculptures which bear resemblances with a corpse are real, meaning alive and human. From an anthropocentric view, such a conviction may initially pose as difficult for the viewers of her work to agree with. The reason for that lies in the perception that certain power dynamics, which occur when a viewer encounters a statue, necessarily reduce the sculpture to a mere object. However, this hierarchy may also be challenged, particularly in the two aspects of materiality and visual qualities. This paper analyses Bašić’s sculptural work I will lull and rock my ailing light in my marble arms #1 and #2 (2017) through a posthumanist lens, using theories on materiality, the uncanny, and the abject. The focus therein lies in expanding the default notion on sculptures being “dead objects” by introducing a possible reality wherein they can be perceived to exist in a realm “in-between” being alive and dead.Show less
This research considers the manners in which the social value of two photographs can be understood in relation to their placement as part of an album in 1905 and part of the Nederlands Nationaal...Show moreThis research considers the manners in which the social value of two photographs can be understood in relation to their placement as part of an album in 1905 and part of the Nederlands Nationaal Archief in 2021. Through a varied conceptual framework, visual analysis of the photographs, historical research, and archival research, different uses, presentations and spheres of circulation are shown to have influence on the way these photographs are valued. The study concludes with a critical reflection of these photographs as objects of historical study and leaves an open ended conclusion for the dispute and addition of further research.Show less
Since the late 1950s, analog technology began to be replaced by digital technology, leading to the start of the digital age. Although we are presently living in the digital age and most of our...Show moreSince the late 1950s, analog technology began to be replaced by digital technology, leading to the start of the digital age. Although we are presently living in the digital age and most of our forms of technology and communication are correspondingly digital, there has been a conspicuous proliferation and return to analog technologies in the arts and culture. With an increasing fetishization of retro and analog, photographers raised during the digital age still make use of analog photography. This thesis investigates this fetishization by examining the potentials of instant and film photography that attract digital photographers and how they approach them. The aesthetics of nostalgia and analog are construed to assess how they can be applied to the digital and to consider how they are marketed. Materiality as a potential of instant photography is subsequently considered along with how it has been used by female artists as a self-empowering tool. Further, the potential of cinematic gaze in film photography and how it applies the quirky sensibility is considered, which leads to the study of how the cinematic gaze is equally used to redefine how the female body is viewed. Thus, this thesis seeks to comprehend several potentials of analog photography such as nostalgic value, materiality and cinematic use and how they have been appropriated by society, the market and artists.Show less
This thesis focuses on vernacular photographs that have been altered by artists stitching various forms of embroidery directly into the photographic paper, creating an interplay of thread, paper,...Show moreThis thesis focuses on vernacular photographs that have been altered by artists stitching various forms of embroidery directly into the photographic paper, creating an interplay of thread, paper, and image. The combination of these opposing traits into a single work subverts the viewer’s assumptions about both mediums, and constitutes a specific spectator experience. I utilise theories from film, photography, painting, and digital media that deal with materiality and embodiment in order to examine what is at work in an embodied spectator experience with specific works from four artists using varied approaches. My hope is to provide insight into potential avenues and outcomes for embodiment with both these objects in particular and embroidered photographs more broadly.Show less
This thesis demonstrates the value of using everyday material culture in producing exhibition narratives. This is done by an in depth analysis of one particular case study, “Sour Sweet Bitter Spicy...Show moreThis thesis demonstrates the value of using everyday material culture in producing exhibition narratives. This is done by an in depth analysis of one particular case study, “Sour Sweet Bitter Spicy: Stories of Chinese Food and Identity in America” by the Museum of Chinese in America (NY). The exhibition aimed at representing the multiplicity of Chinese cuisine in the States, as well as the discussions regarding the definition of authenticity in cuisine and more generally culture. The thesis interprets food first as a frame to identity, an example of Derriderean parergon: food both shapes and is shaped by cultural identity. Statements by chefs and home cooks who were interviewed for the exhibition are analysed in order to support this perspective. In a second moment, the thesis considers the materiality of food as the element which enables the visitor to establish, through synaesthesia, an empathic connection with the stories narrated in the museum. Overall, this thesis aims at enhancing the power of material culture in creating exhibitions which combine the theoretical and abstract with the physical reality which we perceive through our senses and bear great impact on our lives and our perception of the world.Show less
