This research explores the conflict that emerges when applying registration practices into performance art. As the ephemerality of performance art is perceived as essential for this art genre,...Show moreThis research explores the conflict that emerges when applying registration practices into performance art. As the ephemerality of performance art is perceived as essential for this art genre, professionals (and sometimes artists) are not always in favor of its total disappearance. Documentation processes have the purpose of partially archiving the memory of these artworks, however, the forms of producing this type of information are not standardized because of the various forms that this art manifestation can have. Some of the strategies museums have been applying were explored during this research to enable enquiring about their compatibility with the nature of performance art. While documentation processes preserve traces of performances’ poetic, the form of perceiving and collecting this artwork as manifestations should not be attached to temporality, but as concepts that can be reinterpreted and have several versions throughout time.Show less
This thesis examines the visual language of the 'Mouvement National de Liberation de l’Azawad' and how Azawad aims to visually legitimize itself as a nation. Its multi-ethnic demographics show how...Show moreThis thesis examines the visual language of the 'Mouvement National de Liberation de l’Azawad' and how Azawad aims to visually legitimize itself as a nation. Its multi-ethnic demographics show how a public can assume its own agency through visual works created in a group setting. While the interstice is determined to be a space where communication outside of the norm can take place, the use of ‘banal nationalism’ as described by Michael Billig shows that, if anything, the location of this interstice is difficult to determine. The group agency does not translate to the presentation of the works outside of the region as is shown in the work Jonas Staal presented in Utrecht at Basis Aktuele Kunst in 2012. Instead, the works have been re-appropriated to fit within Staal’s concept of a ‘stateless state’. Bourriaud’s theory on relational aesthetics along with Ernesto Laclau’s description of emancipatory dimensions allow for a discussion on the public’s involvement in the creation of the ‘self’ in relation to the ‘other’. Michael Billig’s concepts on nationalism create an interdisciplinary approach in this thesis and show that this legitimization is partly achieved through the use of the language of banal nationalism.Show less
In an assessment of Michael MacGarry's work 'Race of Man' I research the element of violence related to whiteness in the light of Galtung's theory about violence, Mbembe's theory of the post-colony...Show moreIn an assessment of Michael MacGarry's work 'Race of Man' I research the element of violence related to whiteness in the light of Galtung's theory about violence, Mbembe's theory of the post-colony, and in comparison to two other works that deal with violence: Mohau Modisakeng's 'Ke Kgamo ya moshate' as related to violence and blackness, and Jane Alexander's 'Butcher Boys' as related to history and apartheid.Show less
This thesis deals with the satirical appropriation of stereotypes and cultural cliches in the works "Les Trois Femmes Noires" and "Courbet 3(Sleep)" by Mickalene Thomas and "The End of Uncle Tom"...Show moreThis thesis deals with the satirical appropriation of stereotypes and cultural cliches in the works "Les Trois Femmes Noires" and "Courbet 3(Sleep)" by Mickalene Thomas and "The End of Uncle Tom" and "A Subtlety" by Kara Walker, as a strategic tool for self-empowerment in their visualization of black female sexuality.Show less
This thesis examines the appropriative strategy of the Saudi Arabian artist Ayman Yossri, as he takes print screens from Spike Lee's film Malcolm X (1992). The resulting prints depict frozen...Show moreThis thesis examines the appropriative strategy of the Saudi Arabian artist Ayman Yossri, as he takes print screens from Spike Lee's film Malcolm X (1992). The resulting prints depict frozen cinematic images overlaid by Arabic subtitles which, taken out of the linear narrative of the film, produce meaning in alternative ways, depending on the new cultural contexts in which they are placed, and the interpretive mind of the viewer. Recognizing the ability of appropriations to temporally continue existing narratives, and to spatially disseminate them across cultures, this thesis examines what current significance Yossri's work establishes for the historical personality Malcolm X, and the intercultural implications of his story traveling from the Unites States to Saudi Arabia. The first question is explored through the theoretical lenses of art and agency (Alfred Gell) and art as counter-hegemonic intervention (Chantal Mouffe), in order to recontextualize Malcolm X's legacy of political activism in the contemporary world, and to examine how it uses this legacy in order to critique current political orders. The second question approaches Yossri's works as artefacts created from intercultural processes, and exhibited in multicultural contexts. Drawing from ongoing debates concerning intercultural dialogue and the postcolonial discourse of otherness, Yossri's appropriations of Malcolm X's story are understood as forums, examining their possibilities and limitations in mediating intercultural understanding. Additionally, studies of the Arabic language and grammar are referenced throughout the thesis, in order to understand the concepts conveyed by the Arabic subtitles in Yossri's work, and the way these relate to the images with which they are juxtaposed.Show less
The last couple of years it has been evident that street art has become more widely accepted in the art world. This thesis seeks to explain how this acceptance of street art, leading to the...Show moreThe last couple of years it has been evident that street art has become more widely accepted in the art world. This thesis seeks to explain how this acceptance of street art, leading to the institutionalization of the art movement, has affected the experience of street art. The difference between street art in the outdoor context and the indoor context is discussed through this new development. Since the 80s the institutionalization has started with the professionalization of graffiti and eventually street art. Galleries initiated legal commissions which stimulated the artists to create artworks indoors but also reconsidered the definition of street art. It was only after the so-called Banksy Effect however, that the acceptance of street art in the art world was brought up. Since the 2000s this acceptance has changed the notion of street art with fundamental developments as a result. More institutions are concerned with street art and initiate street art exhibitions, some examples mentioned are Art in the Streets in the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Street Art in the Tate Modern, City Lights in the Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art and the not yet opened Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art. The effects of the recontextualization within institutional spaces for the experience of street art is discussed through these examples. It is because of Banksy's popularity that these exhibitions were presented in the past, and his popularity today is still able to initiate exhibitions on his artworks. In 2016-2017 two exhibitions on Banksy were presented during the same time in the Dutch capital Amsterdam. Banksy: Laugh Now was exhibited by the Modern Contemporary Museum Amsterdam, an initiative by the two gallery owners Logchies and presented the most famous artworks made by Banksy. The travelling collection The Art of Banksy was exhibited in the Beurs van Berlage and was initiated and curated by his former agent Steve Lazarides. These two exhibitions and competitors each presented Banksy's artworks but had fundamental differences in their presentations. The experience of the artworks is what made the distinction between these two exhibitions. While Banksy: Laugh Now was more concerned with the amount of artworks and the presentation of the artworks within their institution, the exhibition The Art of Banksy focused on the experience of the recipients. Through these examples of street art exhibitions it has become clear that the institutionalization of street art has fundamental effects on the experience of street art. Because of this a reconsideration of the institution, in this case the museum space, is necessary to fully appreciate and exhibit street art works within the context of an institution without neglecting the experience of street art.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
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
