Ten American Painters was een bijzondere groep onafhankelijke Amerikaanse kunstenaars die zich in 1898 afscheidde van de Society of American Artists, deze laatstgenoemde organisatie zou te...Show moreTen American Painters was een bijzondere groep onafhankelijke Amerikaanse kunstenaars die zich in 1898 afscheidde van de Society of American Artists, deze laatstgenoemde organisatie zou te conservatief en commercieel zijn geworden. Ten bleef twintig jaar bestaan. De Society was twintig jaar hiervoor om soortgelijke redenen opgericht uit de National Academy of Design. De leden van Ten besloten om elk jaar een groepstentoonstelling te houden. De afscheiding begon bescheiden, zonder manifest of verklaringen maar verliep niet onopgemerkt en publiciteit was onvermijdelijk. Deze publiciteit in de vorm van krantenartikelen uit kranten als de New York Times en recensies in kunsttijdschriften zijn de hoofdbronnen voor de scriptie. Deze primaire bronnen verschaffen voldoende informatie om een helder beeld te scheppen van de receptiegeschiedenis en hoe deze veranderde door de jaren waarin de groep bestond en de jaarlijkse exposities hield. Om de kunstkritiek in context te plaatsen, zijn ook de beschikbare catalogi van de tentoonstellingen gebruikt. Deze contemporaine documenten vormen de belangrijkste bronnen voor dit onderzoek.Show less
When looking at the photobook as medium, it becomes apparent that the photobook has mostly been discussed as a presentation and storage tool but not as a medium of its own. Approaching the...Show moreWhen looking at the photobook as medium, it becomes apparent that the photobook has mostly been discussed as a presentation and storage tool but not as a medium of its own. Approaching the photobook as a medium from a historical perspective, it is interesting that the photobook, when discussed in an academic framework, has been theorized in matter of style and substance, looking at the evolution of the design and content of the photobook, but not in audience experience. At first glance, walking as a physical act and the reader-like walking through a photobook share the superficial characteristic of the possibility of freedom, as both the chosen path through the photobook and through walking is steered by the reader-spectator’s unique personality and life experience, which is not completely controlled by the author-artist and as such can have an unpredictable outcome. In this thesis, I aim to substantiate this claim. The reader-spectator’s hand turning the photobook’s pages are reminiscent of the wanderer’s feet exploring a path. To underline this argument, the act of walking is interpreted as metaphor. Where in an installation or exhibition space the spectator approached the artworks literally through their feet, now the reader-spectator approaches the photobook with their hands. In approaching the reader-spectator experience from this perspective, this research becomes also an investigation of the medium of the photobook.Show less
The thesis looks closer at vernacular photography, a record of the everyday created by common people, as one of the most common ways in which photographic images are created. By using the specific...Show moreThe thesis looks closer at vernacular photography, a record of the everyday created by common people, as one of the most common ways in which photographic images are created. By using the specific example of the family photographic collection of John “Zbyszek” Jagla, a Polish refugee born in Uganda, the thesis examines different dimensions of photographic meaning. The analysis draws on research from within the field of photographic theory and applies those theories and approaches to demonstrate the ways in which photographs carry their own meaning, both as images and as objects, and how that meaning changes not just over time but also depending on their context and who is viewing them and why.Show less
De hedendaagse kunstenaar Ronald Ophuis draagt met zijn schilderijen bij aan het ethische debat omtrent de representatie van extreem geweld in verhouding tot de persfotografie en de beeldende kunst.
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
Depictive power of photography has to a great extent constrained people's perspectives on photography. Also, it is the reality that photography cannot dispense from depiction. However, the...Show moreDepictive power of photography has to a great extent constrained people's perspectives on photography. Also, it is the reality that photography cannot dispense from depiction. However, the depiction is not the only nature of photography, rather it is a kind of art that carries artists' intentions and ideas and a kind of medium that convey the ideas to audiences. It seems that the depictive power and the artist's intentions to some extent are contradictory. With Jeff Wall's constructed photography we may see how the contradiction is solved by a conceptual means. Jeff Wall's works exemplify that how a conceptual photograph could express the photographer's intentions and at the same time reflect the social reality. In such an artwork, there are both aesthetic value and fundamentally true social significance. It might not be able to depict how the world is, but reflect how the world could be, which provide more possibility for photography. At the same time, it provides more space for audiences to participate in the interpretative process of artworks.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
