/library/oar/handle/123456789/49291 2025-11-10T11:52:10Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/82165 Title: Making space : a practical and theoretical investigation into the construction of spatial illusion in painting Abstract: This study is a practical and theoretical investigation into the construction of spatial illusion in painting. It looks into one of the fundamental paradoxes of painting – the question of how an object can also function as a space. Different solutions to this dilemma are discussed within a framework which sets up three spaces of painting: an ‘inside’ (the first space), a ’boundary’ (the second space) and an ‘outside’ (the third space). Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia is proposed as a possible analogy for this three-space structure. An overview of the spatial paradigms of the Renaissance, Modernism and post-Modernism is presented, with formal analysis of a number of key case-studies. The nature and function of the picture plane within each of these is examined, in particular with regard to its relative transparency or opacity and how this relates to negotiations between the three spaces of painting. An alternative spatial model to the transparent window, the opaque surface, and the flat-bed pictureplane is sought and found in the methodologies of collage and contemporary collage-painting, and in the conceptual and perceptual mechanics of trompe l’oeil painting. It is observed that both of these painting strategies open up the possibility of a picture plane which is neither transparent nor opaque, but both simultaneously. This sets in motion a perceptual and conceptual oscillation between paintingas-object and painting-as-space. Also, it is discovered that both collage-painting and trompe l‘oeil painting employ devices which construct spatial illusion that is projective instead of, or as well as, recessive. Because of this, it is proposed that the picture plane may be conceived of as a screen, or as a device used both for displaying and concealing. This allows for space to be created both behind and in front of it. The formal spatial possibilities and the metaphoric resonance of this concept are explored in a series of paintings which are built up in layers using a combination of digital tools and traditional painting techniques. Description: M.F.A. (Melit.) 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/49366 Title: The work of art in the age of global culture : theory and practice Authors: Grech, John Abstract: This Thesis looks at two films by Wim Wenders with a view of examining how they represent the 'global city.' This thesis is not an examination of the films representation of 'the city' per se, but a consideration of the process of engagement between the films and the individual. The objective is to examine how viewers of the films engage with the cinematic process so as to enhance their awareness of and participation in the formation of the global city. By considering the role the films play in this process. I speculate on the continuing role of the work of art in the age of global culture. The scope of this Thesis is provided by two films about Berlin by Wenders. The Thesis explicates how these films aid their viewer to participate in the global city. The Thesis extrapolates three different levels of abstraction in its analysis: 1) at an empirical level by analysing the films; 2) at an historical and social level by analysing the city and citizenship; and 3) at a cultural level by analysing the role art can play in society today. 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/49312 Title: Living with the dead : Sharkfeed and the extending ontologies of new media Authors: Grech, John Abstract: This article examines how new media are helping to actualise new forms of “being” and “knowing” by mixing realities of the virtual and the real. The blending of archival and contemporary material in a Web installation called Sharkfeed provides a context for this discussion. Themes such as death, memory, past and present, and mind and body provide the critical fissures through which to move beyond older theoretical paradigms and examine the emerging possibilities of the social particularities and cultural practices engendered in the interconnected time spaces of a digital era. 2002-08-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/49304 Title: Empty space and the city : the reoccupation of Berlin Authors: Grech, John Abstract: Individuals of foreign origins, the migrant and the tourist are considered, alongside that of a citizen in an analytical synthesis to examine how people occupy space in the city these days. It aims at displacing fixed notions of time-space, here-there, past-present, in-out as part of a larger, ongoing search for a sense of belonging. 2002-05-13T00:00:00Z