Vanuit het kunstwerk 'The Beguiling of Merlin' van Britse kunstenaar Edward Burne-Jones wordt gekeken naar de representatie van het vrouwelijk figuur in het werk, met betrekking op de thema's van...Show moreVanuit het kunstwerk 'The Beguiling of Merlin' van Britse kunstenaar Edward Burne-Jones wordt gekeken naar de representatie van het vrouwelijk figuur in het werk, met betrekking op de thema's van vrouwelijkheid in 19e-eeuws Engeland, de invloed van de middeleeuwen, en de fin-de-siècle femme fatale.Show less
This study analyzes the relation between avant-garde and the autonomy of art. Although the phenomenon of avant-garde is widely discussed, there is no agreement about this concept. The central...Show moreThis study analyzes the relation between avant-garde and the autonomy of art. Although the phenomenon of avant-garde is widely discussed, there is no agreement about this concept. The central disagreement seems to be based on the understanding of art as autonomous versus an interpretation of art as an instrument for advancement in society, as exemplified by the theories of Clement Greenberg and Peter Bürger. This study proceeds then to analyze a more original understanding of autonomy, as described by Immanuel Kant, followed by a more recent understanding of autonomy.Show less
Ever since the foundation of the online video platform YouTube in 2006 and the online social media platforms Facebook (2004) and Twitter (2006), the mass spreading of the animal rights...Show moreEver since the foundation of the online video platform YouTube in 2006 and the online social media platforms Facebook (2004) and Twitter (2006), the mass spreading of the animal rights organisations’ undercover footage over the Internet has caused a lot of controversy and has resulted in for example the dismissal of certain animal products by major companies under the pressure of the media. Evidently, these photographs and videos do affect people. This observation was the starting point of my research and lead me to the main research question: Which characteristics of the media photography and film are exploited in three approaches to footage shot in factory farms by undercover investigators of animal rights organisations?Show less
My interest in the field of work which I will be discussing in this thesis has also been very important in my own photographic work. Before I had even been reading about phototherapy, I was using...Show moreMy interest in the field of work which I will be discussing in this thesis has also been very important in my own photographic work. Before I had even been reading about phototherapy, I was using my own photographs in this kind of context. For me personally photography has been helpful in order to cope with the challenges that I have faced moving between countries for the last ten years. Thus, I began to be more intrigued in actual phototherapy and therapeutic photography. Since it seemed that there was some confusion over the terms I wanted my thesis to draw a distinction between these two. What came to be even more important in the end was to reveal how phototherapy was developed. In order to find the answer, I began to explore the 19th century paintings and medical drawings in the hope that they could reveal some connections to phototherapy. From there I explored how photography came to be invented and how its therapeutic potential came to be discovered within psychiatry. Here the influence of psychoanalysis had to be taken into account as well as the rise of feminism in 1960s-1970s. Thus chapter one is devoted to the question of how phototherapy was developed and what came to influence this development. In order to understand better the therapeutic value of photographs, I will also look at how ordinary people have used photographs in a therapeutic way which is the main focus of chapter two. Post-mortem photography will be discussed in this context as a practice which brought comfort to people who were grieving over the death of a loved one. I am also intrigued in analysing what kind of role Kodak, the company that created snapshot photography played in the construction of ideas of how people should use their cameras and how they should represent themselves. This will lead into a discussion of feminist subversion and Jo Spence who could be considered as one of the pioneers of phototherapy or more preciously re-enactment phototherapy. Analysing the therapeutic use of photographs amongst ordinary people will also add more understanding of the actual development of phototherapy which is my main focus in this thesis. The last chapter is devoted to the question of how photography has been used in a therapeutic way in arts. The American photographer Nan Goldin is my key artist here as she has found photography’s power as a medium to visually explore her own identity as well as that of others. I will be looking at her work in comparison to paintings created by Vincent Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo and Egon Schiele, much in a similar way as I was trying to find the traces of phototherapy in the 19th century paintings. In this context mirrors will also be discussed in relation to Lacan and Jung as part of explaining the human need for the search of wholeness within themselves. Furthermore I am intrigued in finding out whether Goldin has used photography only for her own personal healing or has it been also aimed to help others? Through this I will hopefully be able to find connections between her practice and that of Jo Spence’s. After carrying out this research, I am able to answer the question of how phototherapy came to develop and how the therapeutic value of photographs have been cherished previously by its different practitioners.Show less
Onderzoek naar de wisselwerking tussen film en kunst, in het bijzonder tussen de film Vertigo (1958) van Alfred Hitchcock en de multimedia-installatie Judy's Bedroom (1992) van de Amerikaanse...Show moreOnderzoek naar de wisselwerking tussen film en kunst, in het bijzonder tussen de film Vertigo (1958) van Alfred Hitchcock en de multimedia-installatie Judy's Bedroom (1992) van de Amerikaanse kunstenaar David Reed (1946).Show less
In dit werkstuk wordt uit boeken opgebouwde kunst vergeleken met andere vormen van kunst waarbij het materiaal een geschiedenis als een zelfstandig medium heeft. Eerst zal de juiste terminologie...Show moreIn dit werkstuk wordt uit boeken opgebouwde kunst vergeleken met andere vormen van kunst waarbij het materiaal een geschiedenis als een zelfstandig medium heeft. Eerst zal de juiste terminologie worden vastgesteld, daarna worden de onderzoeksobjecten (Wentworths False Ceiling, Lehmanns The Scribe's house en Dettmers Tower 1 (Britannica) vergeleken met collagekunst en daarna met assemblage art en appropriation art, aan de hand van de vraag "hoe verhouden deze vormen van kunst zich tot elkaar en wat leert ons dit over de boekkunst?"Show less
The topic of this thesis is Richard Mosse’s colour infrared photography. He documents the ongoing conflict in the DR Congo, but in a way that confuses the spectator: his pictures are beautiful and...Show moreThe topic of this thesis is Richard Mosse’s colour infrared photography. He documents the ongoing conflict in the DR Congo, but in a way that confuses the spectator: his pictures are beautiful and pink. The main question is what the images in the projects Infra and The Enclave can address and what they can mean, and in more concrete terms how they relate to notions of truth and reality as used in photography at large and documentary, journalistic and art photography in specific, and what role the infrared film emulsion has in this relation. The first chapter explains that Mosse’s images turn pink because of using colour infrared, a film once designed for the US Air Forces to make the invisible enemy visible. Mosse uses it as a metaphor for making the invisible visible; the conflict in Congo is neglected, hard to grasp and invisible. Colour infrared also has a history of anti-military sentiments, because it was later appropriated by hippie musicians for album artwork. Mosse counters the seriousness and literalness of regular journalistic and documentary photography by using cross processed infrared film, which connotes kitsch and experiment. Mosse’s photography is a turn away from photojournalism as decisive moment and a dissociation from superficial videojournalism, technically by returning to an analogue, slow medium and conceptually by focusing on the aftermath rather than the event. The second chapter shows how Mosse’s images relate to the realism and truth claims of documentary and journalism, on the basis of indexicality and iconicity. Mosse counters the conventions of realism and supposed indexicality by taking the documentary subject out of its context of ‘truth’, both literally by taking it from the press into the museum, and figuratively by employing a totally different, and overt style. His open, ambiguous images are overtly staged, larded with a seemingly constructed beautiful pinkness, and show a distanced, still world, with neutral looking, hard to typify subjects. Mosse forwards how subtly deceitful the ‘truth claim’ of photography is, and contrasts it by openly showing beautiful pink lies. No image, whether indexical and seemingly objective or not, cannot convey anything ‘truthful’ about the abstract nature of war and the complexity of human experience. He draws attention to the iconic elements openly, which may render his images more ‘truthful’. The pinkness of the photos looks iconic, but is inherently indexical. It appears that it is hard to define ‘truth’ on the basis of indexicality, because it is apparently hard to make a clear distinction between indexical and iconic elements. Chapter 3 discusses truth from a meta-perspective. As an answer to the crisis of representation in war photography Mosse opts for more conceptual modes of representation. He deconstructs the possibility to objectively and immediately represent reality by drawing attention to the constructedness of the photographic surface: he makes us aware of the fallacy of photographic representation. The ambiguous and indeterminate meaning of the photographs leaves room for the viewer’s imagination and complicates the possibility to understand. This way, he does justice to the idea of truth, while actually deconstructing it. Mosse’s images carry a risk of losing touch with reality. Their deconstruction and estrangement may destroy any link to the real world ‘out there’ in Congo. The reversal between surface and horrible subject may be amplified by the extreme beauty of the surface, but it may also cause the viewer trouble to see or imagine past it. The viewer’s sense of surprise and puzzledness when seeing Infra and The Enclave derives exactly from the function of a photograph as an ‘image of reality’. Mosse’s images amaze because they give such a new, beautiful, different image of war.Show less
The observation of evolutionary processes in cultural expression and art can be traced back to antiquity and has played an important role in historiography and the human sciences in general for...Show moreThe observation of evolutionary processes in cultural expression and art can be traced back to antiquity and has played an important role in historiography and the human sciences in general for centuries. However, over time the notion of directed cultural development towards a point of hypothetical perfection, as well as the corresponding belief in cultural developmental stages, came to be considered out-dated and suspect.The 20th-century abandonment of evolutionist art history is mainly due to the insight that one cannot establish what constitutes ‘improvement’ or ‘increasing complexity’ in the visual arts. Up until the Modern period a sense of directed progress was seen in the perceived improvement in mimetic quality of the artworks. The famous 20th-century art historian Ernst Gombrich in particular strongly believed in an ascending line towards ever-increasing realism. The present thesis concerns the uses of the metaphor of Darwinian evolution for the study of art history. How did evolutionism, before and after Darwin, develop in art historical writing? And how can a renewed analysis of the resemblances between biological evolution and art history resolve earlier problems with evolutionism and result in a reappraisal of the metaphor? The structure of the thesis is twofold. Firstly, we will look at the role of evolutionism in art history, both with respect to a pre-Darwinian, general sense of evolution and to a Darwinian, specifically biological sense. This historical overview will describe the general tendency to read art history as a process of gradual development towards ‘improvement’ and the role biological evolution has played in this perspective. Secondly, this thesis proposes a new role for the metaphor of biological evolution within the field of art history.Show less
The shy and mysterious YouTube-star Magibon provides unsettling perspectives on the social- and visual impact of reality television. Being subjected to the gaze of the unknown viewer, Magibon’s...Show moreThe shy and mysterious YouTube-star Magibon provides unsettling perspectives on the social- and visual impact of reality television. Being subjected to the gaze of the unknown viewer, Magibon’s case serves to investigate concepts of representation and consequently visual appropriation linked to the contemporary phenomena of online voyeurism.Show less
Mede door mijn stage bij DutchCulture (TransArtists heb ik mij afgevraagd welke visies er op de leerervaring en ontwikkeling van jonge kunstenaars bestaan in de wereld van de artist in residences...Show moreMede door mijn stage bij DutchCulture (TransArtists heb ik mij afgevraagd welke visies er op de leerervaring en ontwikkeling van jonge kunstenaars bestaan in de wereld van de artist in residences en hoe (Nederlandse) artist in residence programma’s zich verhouden tot de ontwikkeling van jong kunstenaarschap in vergelijking met Nederlands kunstonderwijs. Met deze bachelor scriptie wil ik de aard van de mogelijke bijdrage van Nederlandse artist in residence programma’s aan de ontwikkeling van jong kunstenaarschap onderzoeken en hun doelstellingen hiervoor vergelijken met verschillende visies op de beroepsvoorbereiding in het kunstonderwijs in Nederland.)Show less
Om te voorkomen dat de inherent subjectieve ervaring van Minimal Art slechts omschreven wordt met persoonlijke en dus mogelijk arbitraire gevoelsoordelen, is voor dit onderzoek uitgegaan van het...Show moreOm te voorkomen dat de inherent subjectieve ervaring van Minimal Art slechts omschreven wordt met persoonlijke en dus mogelijk arbitraire gevoelsoordelen, is voor dit onderzoek uitgegaan van het soort ervaring dat tot stand komt door enkele concrete aspecten van het toeschouwerschap, zoals beweging, tijd en waarneming. Deze condities, allen extern aan het object, dienden als houvast om tot enkele concrete ijkmeters te komen waarmee de ervaring van Minimal Art te objectiveren valt. Ongeacht de focus op de ruimte, op het lichaam of op een groepering kunstwerken bij elkaar, blijken enkele aspecten ontegenzeggelijk van toepassing in een analyse van de ervaring. De verstreken tijd, de vereiste of gemaakte beweging en enkele formele aspecten blijken ontegenzeggelijk van belang in de ervaring van Minimal Art en zouden zodoende niet mogen ontbreken in een objectivering van de complexe ervaring van deze verder zo eenvoudige vormen.Show less
This thesis intends to follow Walker in her quest of opening up discussions toward a renegotiation of history; its pasts and presents; ambiguities and openendedness. The main question of this...Show moreThis thesis intends to follow Walker in her quest of opening up discussions toward a renegotiation of history; its pasts and presents; ambiguities and openendedness. The main question of this thesis is how Walker's book rendition of After the Deluge connects discussions on racial inequalities and the visualization of narratives with a reworking of the divide between the socio-cultural and natural realm through the use of 'muck'. One of the most important aspects of Walker’s work is an interrogation - through art - of the ways in which we tell and visualize our histories; stories which are entanglements of fact and fiction, of desire and shame. In After the Deluge specifically, this is combined with a renegotiation of how we look at the divide between the socio-cultural and the natural realm. In witnessing a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, it becomes apparent that there is no such divide. The messiness of life as both social, cultural and natural, is explored in Kara Walker’s work in ways that also rematerialize notions such as race, sexuality and history.Show less
Lucio Fontana schreef een brief in 1965 aan een jongere collega waarin hij in het kort uiteenzette hoe hij tegen de kunst van dat moment aankeek. Hij schreef onder meer dat de kunst zijn sociale...Show moreLucio Fontana schreef een brief in 1965 aan een jongere collega waarin hij in het kort uiteenzette hoe hij tegen de kunst van dat moment aankeek. Hij schreef onder meer dat de kunst zijn sociale functie verloren had en hij voorspelde einde van de kunst. Is er een relatie tussen die uitspraken en het werk dat Fontana in die tijd maakte?Show less
