Regenerating the Body: Modern Art, Neo-Darwinism and the Fitness Imperative. Drawing upon histories of art, popular culture, medicine, science and sport, this project proposes that a reconceptualization and reimaging of the human body occurred in Western art and culture, from the end of the nineteenth century, through fitness becoming a Neo-Darwinist imperative. By demonstrating how regeneration facilitated the normalization and 'subjectification? of the body for procreative sexuality, technol ....Regenerating the Body: Modern Art, Neo-Darwinism and the Fitness Imperative. Drawing upon histories of art, popular culture, medicine, science and sport, this project proposes that a reconceptualization and reimaging of the human body occurred in Western art and culture, from the end of the nineteenth century, through fitness becoming a Neo-Darwinist imperative. By demonstrating how regeneration facilitated the normalization and 'subjectification? of the body for procreative sexuality, technologized industry and modern warfare, it substantially revises Michel Foucault's ?biopolitical? theories. In identifying how beauty became inscribed upon the regenerated body and abjection upon the degenerate ?other?, it reveals that the quest for biogenetics emerged long before it became a reality in Nazi Germany.Read moreRead less
Aesthetic Strategies in Neo-Conceptual Art, 1980s-1990s. The decline of formalist aesthetics figured prominently in Neo-Conceptual art and postmodern theory of the 1980s. In the 1990s, this trend began to reverse, and revisionist aesthetic theory re-emerged as a salient force in contemporary art scholarship. Using the perspective of revisionist aesthetic theory, this study will show evidence of aesthetic strategies in Neo-Conceptual art that have been neglected in post modern, anti-aesthetic int ....Aesthetic Strategies in Neo-Conceptual Art, 1980s-1990s. The decline of formalist aesthetics figured prominently in Neo-Conceptual art and postmodern theory of the 1980s. In the 1990s, this trend began to reverse, and revisionist aesthetic theory re-emerged as a salient force in contemporary art scholarship. Using the perspective of revisionist aesthetic theory, this study will show evidence of aesthetic strategies in Neo-Conceptual art that have been neglected in post modern, anti-aesthetic interpretations. As the first systematic analysis of how aesthetic and conceptual operations interact in Neo-Conceptual art, the study will change how conceptualist art is understood within both post modern art discourse and revisionist aesthetic theory.Read moreRead less
Ethical Globalism: Changing Strategies of Political Critique and Intervention in Art and Curatorial Practice after 1989. This project identifies and analyses changing strategies of political critique and intervention in the international artworld over the last fifteen years. The first comprehensive study of the impact of globalisation on both art making and international survey exhibitions, it identifies new forms of "transnational" art and curatorial practice that engage affective techniques to ....Ethical Globalism: Changing Strategies of Political Critique and Intervention in Art and Curatorial Practice after 1989. This project identifies and analyses changing strategies of political critique and intervention in the international artworld over the last fifteen years. The first comprehensive study of the impact of globalisation on both art making and international survey exhibitions, it identifies new forms of "transnational" art and curatorial practice that engage affective techniques to achieve political effects. By drawing on theories of globalisation and developing an analysis of affectivity in art, it demonstrates the distinctive contribution of visual imagery to an understanding of issues such as racism, economic globalisation, violence and conflict, refugees and displacement.
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Dynamic media: innovative social and artistic developments in new media in Australia, Britain, Canada and Scandinavia since 1990. This study will foreground strengths and remedy weaknesses in Australian new media arts and innovative social uses of new media. By studying the international strategies for social use of dynamic media, this study will provide information for Australians to more extensively implement dynamic media within a social context. It will highlight the innovation of Australian ....Dynamic media: innovative social and artistic developments in new media in Australia, Britain, Canada and Scandinavia since 1990. This study will foreground strengths and remedy weaknesses in Australian new media arts and innovative social uses of new media. By studying the international strategies for social use of dynamic media, this study will provide information for Australians to more extensively implement dynamic media within a social context. It will highlight the innovation of Australian artists and researchers in the development of dynamic media and position these internationally. A major long-term benefit of this study will be an online database that will both profile and be accessible to Australian artists, arts organizations, new media researchers and social innovators. Read moreRead less
Affect and Expression in Women's Art in Art Movements of the 1960s and 70s. Through a study of four artists, this project will constitute a major revision of the way art history understands the key art movements of the 1960s and 70s. The study will focus on four women artists?each representing a key movement of the period: Hesse (minimalism), Clark (conceptualism), Cha (conceptualism), Mendieta (land art)?and will demonstrate that their approach to affective expression is the key to understandin ....Affect and Expression in Women's Art in Art Movements of the 1960s and 70s. Through a study of four artists, this project will constitute a major revision of the way art history understands the key art movements of the 1960s and 70s. The study will focus on four women artists?each representing a key movement of the period: Hesse (minimalism), Clark (conceptualism), Cha (conceptualism), Mendieta (land art)?and will demonstrate that their approach to affective expression is the key to understanding their contribution to the development of late-modern art. In the process it will reveal the shortcomings of existing art historical interpretations that see these movements as aiming to eliminate expression and subjectivity.Read moreRead less
The Other Orient. Reinterpreting Orientalist Art by studying the priorities of Ottoman painters and patrons in Constantinople, 1839-1909. My aim is to produce a new understanding of Orientalism through intensive research into the role of Ottoman elites in the development of art in nineteenth-century Constantinople. This will be the first comprehensive study of the complex web of cross-cultural interactions in the capital of the Ottoman Empire in this period, including the major art exhibitions, ....The Other Orient. Reinterpreting Orientalist Art by studying the priorities of Ottoman painters and patrons in Constantinople, 1839-1909. My aim is to produce a new understanding of Orientalism through intensive research into the role of Ottoman elites in the development of art in nineteenth-century Constantinople. This will be the first comprehensive study of the complex web of cross-cultural interactions in the capital of the Ottoman Empire in this period, including the major art exhibitions, the Sultan's patronage and the unique collaborations between European and Ottoman women artists and patrons. The result will be a major innovation within post-colonial and feminist art histories through the inclusion of indigenous perspectives on the production and reception of Orientalist art. The outcome will be two refereed journal articles and a book entitled, The Other Orient.Read moreRead less
A Playful Aesthetic: Reinterpreting Rococo visual culture by studying the serious pursuits of its themes, forms and processes of interactive engagement. My aim is to produce a new understanding of the role of amusement within the visual culture of eighteenth-century Europe. This will be the first comprehensive study to reconnect the diverting forms of Rococo art, architecture and garden design with the aesthetic theories of the period. The project will provide original critical perspectives on t ....A Playful Aesthetic: Reinterpreting Rococo visual culture by studying the serious pursuits of its themes, forms and processes of interactive engagement. My aim is to produce a new understanding of the role of amusement within the visual culture of eighteenth-century Europe. This will be the first comprehensive study to reconnect the diverting forms of Rococo art, architecture and garden design with the aesthetic theories of the period. The project will provide original critical perspectives on the play of forms and emblems in western art. It will also offer an innovative model for recovering processes of reception to indicate how visual experiences contribute to the production of culture.Read moreRead less
The Business of Art: Corporate Interventions into the Production, Display, and Reception of the Visual Arts. The corporate presence in the Australian art world has increased exponentially over the past decade, resulting in a redefinition of the arts as an industry not to be subsidised but marketed. This project's analysis of the art historical implications of this corporate presence and an assessment of the aesthetic impact of increased corporate interventions into the production and display of ....The Business of Art: Corporate Interventions into the Production, Display, and Reception of the Visual Arts. The corporate presence in the Australian art world has increased exponentially over the past decade, resulting in a redefinition of the arts as an industry not to be subsidised but marketed. This project's analysis of the art historical implications of this corporate presence and an assessment of the aesthetic impact of increased corporate interventions into the production and display of art is of vital significance to the future of Australia, not only in terms of the quality and type of art that is produced by Australian artists, but also to the way that Australians understand the role of the visual arts in their society.Read moreRead less
Jack Lindsay: critic, writer, socialist. The national benefits of this project are two-fold. Firstly, it aims to describe the process by which people are able to move beyond conventional ways of thinking and working and to be both creative and innovative, where innovation refers to the ways in which this new creative thought is put into practice as a new product or technology. The other benefit of the project is that it describes the landmark work of an Australian artist and intellectual who is ....Jack Lindsay: critic, writer, socialist. The national benefits of this project are two-fold. Firstly, it aims to describe the process by which people are able to move beyond conventional ways of thinking and working and to be both creative and innovative, where innovation refers to the ways in which this new creative thought is put into practice as a new product or technology. The other benefit of the project is that it describes the landmark work of an Australian artist and intellectual who is not as well-known as he should be, Jack Lindsay, oldest son of Norman Lindsay. It will provide access to Jack Lindsay's ideas and writing, both analytical and creative, to show how these can contribute to our current need for new and creative ways of working and thinking.Read moreRead less
Continental Theory in the Wake of Cognitive Literary Studies. In an era that is plainly 'post-theoretical', the recent pioneering attempts to bridge the gap between literary studies and the cognitive neurosciences have far-reaching consequences for the study of English literature. This project will address those consequences by implementing a comparative critical study of continental theory and cognitive poetics, and through this comparison enlarge and refine urgent debates about the future of t ....Continental Theory in the Wake of Cognitive Literary Studies. In an era that is plainly 'post-theoretical', the recent pioneering attempts to bridge the gap between literary studies and the cognitive neurosciences have far-reaching consequences for the study of English literature. This project will address those consequences by implementing a comparative critical study of continental theory and cognitive poetics, and through this comparison enlarge and refine urgent debates about the future of the humanities and the kinds of teaching practices carried out therein. The project will therefore provide important groundwork for future research carried out at the frontier of literature, critical theory and cognitive science.Read moreRead less