Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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This written and visual research project sets out to consider how the notion of opacity marks photographs of environmental despoliation. It argues that opacity can be a critically potent framework...Show moreThis written and visual research project sets out to consider how the notion of opacity marks photographs of environmental despoliation. It argues that opacity can be a critically potent framework in photographic practices that engage with the ecological crisis by means of its construction of more affective modes of communicating a phenomenon that is itself often marked by incomprehensibility. In doing so, it conducts a comparative visual analysis of two photographic series: Anthropocene by Edward Burtynsky and Oil and Moss by Igor Tereshkov. It concludes that Burtynsky’s series constructs an awesome visuality that pursues a revelatory approach but, in actuality, ends up reasserting a set of beliefs that are already widely known, consequently not inciting new, critical modes of contemplating the ecological crisis. Tereshkov’s work, on the other hand, works to recombine the aesthetic with the critical; focusing on the interactions between the images’ visuality and their tactility, this thesis argues that Oil and Moss’ critical potency is established by means of its destabilising, disruptive aesthetics of the opaque. The ecological crisis is also a crisis of imagination: as humans, we struggle to grasp and make sense of the scale and severity of the devastation that appears to be creeping closer and closer. As such, we are in need of new, innovative modes of imagining our physical environments and how we relate to them. Photography, in its simultaneous ability to remember the past, to contemplate the future, and to imagine alternative iterations of the present, is one itinerary through which that may be achieved.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
open access
Neoliberalism has altered the way in which the subject consumes and subsequently reflects upon media. A popular media genre on the internet nowadays is instruction videos, which can be consumed for...Show moreNeoliberalism has altered the way in which the subject consumes and subsequently reflects upon media. A popular media genre on the internet nowadays is instruction videos, which can be consumed for various reasons, but usually rely on the notion of conveying to the viewer a certain set of skills. Since these media are therefore consumed for a specific purpose intended, the viewer already pre-establishes a certain attitude and understanding, and furthermore gains a reflective understanding of this phenomenon itself. This thesis aims to reconsider the notion of spectatorship through a lens of phenomenology, in order to reevaluate the idea of a spectator's own understanding of their experience of a medium, which this thesis names "cognitive spectatorship," and shows how the genre of instruction videos and this new viewing attitude play into the Neoliberal ideology.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
under embargo until 2024-08-31
2024-08-31T00:00:00Z
The topic I discuss in this work is that of the practices of collecting and exhibiting of Orientalia at the turn of the Early-Modern period in Europe. In particular, I focus on the setting up of...Show moreThe topic I discuss in this work is that of the practices of collecting and exhibiting of Orientalia at the turn of the Early-Modern period in Europe. In particular, I focus on the setting up of rooms dedicated to the showcasing of goods coming from the Orient and analyse how the exhibiting practices altered the perception of the Orient in the European societies of that period. The main research question upon which this whole work is hinged is: how did the collecting and exhibiting practices of Orientalia change in Western society during the Early-Modern period, to what degree can the evolution of these practices be seen as a way for Westerners to familiarise with the Orient, and with what consequences for the understanding of the Orient in European Early-Modern society? In order to find an answer to this question, the analysis I propose here is devoted to the study of several objects, spaces and practices, not only from a historical but also theoretical perspective. The central case study of this work is the Rijksmuseum Lacquer Room (assembled in Leeuwarden at the end of the 17th century). However, this study takes its steps from an analysis of the way Orientalia were treated during the Middle Age and Late Renaissance and surveys the shift which took place during the Early-Modern period and the reasons behind it. Such a historical analysis takes place in the first two chapters of this work, where I first focus on Europe in general and then specifically to the case of the Early-Modern Netherlands. The last two chapters of this work are instead dedicated to a discussion linked to the theoretical aspects regarding the collections of Orientalia and their showcasing in Oriental-style Rooms. In particular, I focus on the concepts of domestication and on the agency of objects, and later on issues related to Orientalism and that of collecting as a gendered practice. Starting from this analysis I propose further insights on the conception of the Orient in the context of Early-Modern Netherlands and suggest new prompts for future research.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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This thesis investigates various self-portraits by women artists that stand in relation to the structures of the art historical canon: Autoritratto (1969), a book posing as a self-portrait,...Show moreThis thesis investigates various self-portraits by women artists that stand in relation to the structures of the art historical canon: Autoritratto (1969), a book posing as a self-portrait, composed by art critic and radical feminist Carla Lonzi (1931-1982); the painting Self-portrait as Tahitian (1937), made by Indian-Hungarian artist Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941) in Paris, and the photograph Lady in Moonlight (2004) by contemporary Indian artist Pushpamala N. (b. 1956) in collaboration with British photographer Clare Arni (b. 1962); and the interpretations and translations of self-portraits of Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) or “mythic Frida”. These case studies occupy different places on the axes of art historical canonicity: ranging from how a self-portrait attempts to deconstruct canonical structures (Autoritratto), to how citations can show the stage of production of the canonical (Self-portrait as Tahitian and Lady in Moonlight), to how canonical structures approach the most famous self-portraits by a woman artist (mythic Frida). I stage a conversation between these diverging practices of self-portraiture and the dynamics of canonisation they elucidate, and ask how positionings of Self and Other, inside and outside, guide this relationship. Ultimately I argue that the shifting positions of Self and Other are emphasised and mobilised to shape the relations between these self-portraits by women artists and the canon. These positions are assembled in order to reach varying effects: 1) to deconstruct hierarchical art discourse by shaping the Self through Others in order to generate horizontality, and by positioning the art critic inside to attempt a move outside of the canon (Autoritratto); 2) to bodily perform the canon’s gendered structures through a double bind position in which the artist is placed simultaneously in- and out-side the canon, and positing not only the Self as Other, inherent to any self-portraiture, but also the Other as Self (Self-portrait as Tahitian and Lady in Moonlight); 3) to prevent ‘Others’ to the canon from becoming canonical in a universal sense, as when self-portraits by a woman artist enter inside the canon the Self and the private sphere are overemphasised (mythic Frida).Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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The colossal statue of Fridtjov the Bold, donated to the Norwegian people by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1913, can be described as excessive in many ways - from an art historical perspective, because of...Show moreThe colossal statue of Fridtjov the Bold, donated to the Norwegian people by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1913, can be described as excessive in many ways - from an art historical perspective, because of its melodramatic stance, and from the perspective of anthropology because of its transgression of gifting norms. The statue also raises the question of the power of the German discourse of the North, which, I claim, had similarities with the Foucaultian discourse described by Said in Orientalism. In this thesis all these forms of excess are explored and an answer is attempted at the question why the Kaiser created the statue.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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This thesis investigates the art movement Arte Povera through the lens of the Grotesque as an approach to openness. The Arte Povera movement is scrutinized first by a close-reading of the texts and...Show moreThis thesis investigates the art movement Arte Povera through the lens of the Grotesque as an approach to openness. The Arte Povera movement is scrutinized first by a close-reading of the texts and exhibitions by art critic and founding father of the movement Germano Celant, after which the thesis turns to the Grotesque as analytical tool to understand Arte Povera’s inherent contradictions as a form of social anarchy. The Grotesque is proposed as a way to openness, a notion taken from Umberto Eco’s study Opera Aperta. As such, this thesis presents new readings of Arte Povera; of the artworks and actions as well as the critical and curatorial endeavors of Celant that have informed these.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis explores how a portable DNA lab (Bento Lab) can affect social ties between humans and objects. How do we perceive DNA research outside of the institutional realm? With script analysis...Show moreThis thesis explores how a portable DNA lab (Bento Lab) can affect social ties between humans and objects. How do we perceive DNA research outside of the institutional realm? With script analysis as the research method, I study the inscribed, subscribed and exhibited capacities of the Bento Lab and how each of these contexts affects the social. The social being the people and objects that are gathered in the momentum in which DNA research is used, or discussed. Throughout the study, it becomes clear that one object can have a large impact on how we, as humans, perceive DNA research and all of its ethical implications.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
open access
At the beginning of the early twentieth century, various photographic societies were established such as the Brotherhood of the Linked Ring in England and de Nederlandse Club voor FotoKunst in the...Show moreAt the beginning of the early twentieth century, various photographic societies were established such as the Brotherhood of the Linked Ring in England and de Nederlandse Club voor FotoKunst in the Netherlands, who profiled themselves as artists and promoted photography as a fine art. It is often argued that they solely produced images to evoke emotions or atmosphere, and that they exclusively looked back at painting styles to reach for the ultimate goal of including photography as a fine art. Moreover, the photographs are mainly described on the basis of art historical categories, techniques, or the biographies of the photographers. I argue that these perspectives neglect the crucial fact that the photographs are photographs, and that new perspectives are needed. Therefore, this research will take a more theoretical approach, by focussing on early Dutch photography from 1913-1927, the medium of photography, and the photo-theoretical concepts of light, straight and composed photography, and time. In this research, the focus will specifically be on two seemingly different photographs: a photograph which looks like a seventeenth-century genre painting by Richard Polak and a cameraless photogram by Henri Berssenbrugge. In this analysis, the attention will be aimed on the fact that these photographs are photographs, by moving to the heart of the medium, and eventually highlighting that within this core, the boundaries are blurred. By combining the earliest theories of photography, with more modern and contemporary arguments considering the medium, new perspectives on the two photographs will be provided, which gives revived attention to the neglected or forgotten early Dutch photography. By taking a different perspective, it is shown that the photographs are more than the reproduction of paintings, or more than just another painterly technique for creating figurative and abstract painting.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis offers an iconographic analysis of the architectural language with which the round church in the Ideal City of Urbino (unknown artist, c. 1480-1495) is depicted. With new insights on...Show moreThis thesis offers an iconographic analysis of the architectural language with which the round church in the Ideal City of Urbino (unknown artist, c. 1480-1495) is depicted. With new insights on the artist's most likely architectural as well as theological sources of inspiration for the round church's building structure and stylistic language, this research contributes to filling a gap in the vast literature on this Renaissance painting.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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Deze scriptie presenteert een geschiedenis van het beleid van het Gemeentemuseum Den Haag op het gebied van toegepaste kunst en vormgeving, in de periode 1980-2010. Tevens onderzoekt deze thesis in...Show moreDeze scriptie presenteert een geschiedenis van het beleid van het Gemeentemuseum Den Haag op het gebied van toegepaste kunst en vormgeving, in de periode 1980-2010. Tevens onderzoekt deze thesis in hoeverre meer inzicht wordt verkregen wanneer deze museale kroniek wordt getoetst aan de gelijktijdige ontwikkeling van een academische discipline. Twee vragen staan in dit onderzoek dus centraal. Met wat voor ideeën is toegepaste kunst en vormgeving in de periode 1980-2010 in het Gemeentemuseum verzameld en gepresenteerd? En hoe waardevol is het om deze geschiedenis te toetsen aan de gelijktijdige ontwikkeling van designgeschiedenis als wetenschappelijke discipline?Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis analyzes the art performance The Modern Procession, organized by the Museum of Modern Art in collaboration with Belgium-Mexican artist Francis Alÿs (1959), and performed on June 23,...Show moreThis thesis analyzes the art performance The Modern Procession, organized by the Museum of Modern Art in collaboration with Belgium-Mexican artist Francis Alÿs (1959), and performed on June 23, 2002, in New York City. By using interdisciplinary literary research and comparative media research, this unique performance is first studied from an art performance perspective, with a focus on art performances held on the streets. Secondly the performance is placed in the context of definitions of religious processions, and in the third chapter, the Modern Procession is analyzed from an anthropological and social-geographical standpoint. This thorough analysis does not only reveal the many layers of the Modern Procession, but also what happens when art is taken out of the museum and presented in a new context. By presenting the collection of the MoMA on the streets of New York, the connection between collections and museums is made clear: it is namely art that forms the real heart of a museum, not the building where it is displayed.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
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‘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
