Thèses sur le sujet « ICONA »

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of French and Italian, 2008.
Title from home page (viewed on May 7, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-07, Section: A, page: 2707. Adviser: Harry W. Storey.

La present tesi és de naturalesa experimental i explica diferents processos pictòrics, dels quals se n'extreu un cos teòric capaç de convertir-se en transmissor de coneixement. Per tant, és una tesi proveïda d'un marcat caràcter pedagògic. La tesi està molt implicada en el projecte artístic propi, tant, que en darrera instància ho ha dirigit vertebrant-ho. En un primer moment la tesi versava sobre com procedir per pintar “a la manera Flamenca”, manera pictòrica que es caracteritza per treballar el color i la llum de manera indirecta i acumulativa. A mesura que el coneixement sobre la tècnica pictòrica repercutia en la sofisticació amb la qual s'aplicava, malgrat i tota la millorança en l'aplicació de la tècnica, o fins i tot, a causa d'ella i de sa consegüent ampliació en les possibilitats figuratives i expressives, un aspecte essencial romania irresolt. L’aspecte era com procedir amb les eventuals alteracions de la imatge que implica el desenvolupament del fet pictòric. De fet, a mesura que s’avançava en el coneixement pictòric, més es dubtava de la possibilitat del canvi en si mateix, qüestionant fins a quin punt el pintor que utilitza un sistema pictòric indirecte és lliure d'alterar el seu pla d’imatge una vegada assentades les bases de dibuix. Aquest assumpte va acabar sent el nus de la tesi, es podria resumir en una pregunta: Es licit fer alteracions del dibuix inicial si es pinta per sostres pictórics determinants? El fet d'haver desenvolupat la manera pictòrica “a la Flamenca”, desvinculada de tota tradició viva i de manera pràcticament solitària, feia que en alguns moments es tengués por d’estar construint castells de sorra; per tant es necessitava un punt de suport sòlid i irrefutable des d’on poder revisar el sistema, i poder sentenciar sobre les alteracions. Aquest punt em va atreure, i la pintura bizantina va entrar en la meva vida. Primerament vaig aprendre la tècnica de pintura de les Icones a Xipre, successivament vaig desenvolupar una activitat paral•lela a la meva obra personal com iconògraf amb (òbvia) influència recíproca; i finalment, entre la tardor i l'hivern de 2009-10, vaig realitzar un estudi exhaustiu, sistemàtic i documental de la pintura bizantina grega per tal d’extrapolar, pel que fa a alteracions, a “la manera Flamenca”. Cal tenir present que la pintura bizantina crea les seves imatges mitjançant l'acumulació determinant de capes de llum-color, de manera altament organitzada. L'única diferència bàsica entre la pintura bizantina i el sistema pictòric “a la Flamenca” és que aquest darrer segrega en accions separades la llum del color. Les dues metodologies són en definitiva fàcilment equiparables, per tant, exportables en les seves constants processuals. A més, vist i considerat que la pintura bizantina és un sistema viu i que es va practicant ininterrompudament des dels dies en què el Cristianisme era la religió oficial de l'imperi Romà, els anteriors temors solipsistes desapareixen. La pràctica bizantina s'il•lustra —prèvia una breu introducció històrica al tema—, amb l'elaboració documentada de tres exemples d'Icona. Tot tres elaborats en la més estricta tradició bizantina grega escola de Creta, des de la construcció del suport inclús. Juntament amb les Icones, s'hi inclou l'elaboració documental d'una Tixografia o pintura mural bizantina. Amb la finalitat d'ampliar i reafirmar el que dels quatre exemples pràctics es desprèn, la secció bizantina es complementa amb una llarga visualització de la multipossibilitat d'opcions estètiques que intervenen en la creació d'una obra bizantina, a priori tan aparentment fitada i inamovible. L'estudi de les possibilitats en la praxi bizantina aconsegueix en no donar res per assegut, aguditzar la seva percepció i multiplicar-les fins a l'infinit; deixant ben palès fins que punt una obra pictòrica elaborada per capes és complexa en la seva manufactura, necessitada per tant de gran previsió projectual. Del bloc bizantí se n'extreu les següents conclusions: 1- En la pintura bizantina no es donen pràcticament alteracions de la imatge representada. Per corregir errors importants es tapa o s’esborra l'àrea afectada i es comença de bell nou el protocol pictòric. 2- Gràcies a utilitzar com a punt de partida, referent i guia del protocol creatiu una versió completament acabada de la mateixa Icona que s'està gestant, és possible pintar-la de manera unidireccional sense por a equivocar-se. 3- Si es volgués gestar una Icona des de l'escena mateixa, és a dir, generar un prototip, seria necessària una maqueta a escala 1:1 des d'on construir-la. Allà figurarien tots els aspectes de la nova imatge de manera detallada, alhora que el cromatisme i la seva ruta a seguir. Aquesta maqueta és coneguda com a cartró. El cartró que utilitzen regularment els pintors d’Icones contemporanis, és la fotocòpia d'una versió prèvia de la Icona que es pretén pintar. En no existir aquesta possibilitat al proveïment d'un prototip, solament quedarà l'opció de, mitjançant els estudis de dibuix que siguin necessaris, tancar el projecte per endavant. Llavors, a la pregunta de com d’acabat hauria de ser el dibuix preparatori per a un prototip, la resposta seria que hauria d'estar tan acabat com l'obra final. De manera que es podria afirmar que: Dibuix preparatori=resultat pictòric Totes aquestes consideracions es tracten i cristal•litzen en una definició precisa i útil del cartró perfecte per al treball pictòric per capes. Sobre la base del coneixement adquirit amb la pràctica bizantina, i aplicant les consideracions del capítol just acabat d'esmentar, es desenvolupen i s'il•lustren documentalment tres exemples de prototip d'obra pictòrica per capes”a la Flamenca”. Els dos primers exemples se sustenten en un cartró correcte, però solament correcte. En el primer d'ells es té sort en el seu desenvolupament, podent completar la peça sense problemes. En el segon exemple, en canvi, el procés es complica, havent d'improvisar sobre la marxa unes modificacions parcials que tampoc aconseguiran satisfer les necessitats de la imatge. Com a única solució, solament quedarà ampliar en estudis de dibuix a banda, la preparació de la imatge primer, i després incorporar-la a l'obra final, seguint el sistema bizantí correctiu, que és com ja s'ha dit, tapar i recomençar des de l'inici la part afectada. El tercer exemple es construeix sobre la base d'un cartró no correcte com en els dos casos anteriors, sinó perfecte, obtenint un desenvolupament pictòric a l'una. La demostració de la tesi es veu coronada amb la incorporació de dos exemples d'inestimable vàlua, pel definitori en el seu plantejo i desenvolupament. Els exemples estan meticulosament documentats, però amb la seva presència en el llibre final destil•lada, a fi de no fer-los immanejables o incomprensibles. El primer exemple documenta l'elaboració d'una obra complexa sustentada en un cartró premeditadament obert a les hipotètiques variables que el procés pictòric pugui suggerir a la imatge. El resultat pictòric és poc menys que un gran fracàs, una obra densament embafadora, que a més, va exigir un treball exagerat, demostrant els postulats de la tesi. El segon exemple té la particularitat d'utilitzar dos tipus de resolució diferents en el cartró per a sengles àrees diferenciades de l'obra. Un d'ells és correcte, l'altre és perfecte. El resultat pictòric final demostra que com millor sigui el cartró per a una obra pictòrica per capes, millor invariablement serà aquesta. Amb la intenció d'il•lustrar el procés de destil•lació d'una imatge preparatòria, tres exemples més d'obra personal completen la tesi. Els dos primers exemples recullen raonadament els esbossos per a obra de petit format, sobre paper i a l'aquarel•la. El tercer exemple, bastant més ambiciós, comprèn el material preparatori per a una futura obra pictòrica de gran envergadura, encara en procés de gestació. La tesi, arribant al final dels sistemes pictòrics per capes, afirma el següent: 1- En el dibuix preparatori s'ha d'experimentar l'èxtasi creatiu de la futura peça. És a dir, el nus de l'obra es resol en el cartró, restant el treball pictòric en el suport últim com una activitat dirigida i programada des del primer, desproveïda sobretot de suspens i incògnites. 2- Qualsevol alteració en l'obra pictòrica concebuda per capes s’haurà de considerar com quelcom precari, per tant, les correccions no formen part del procés natural creatiu, sinó que en són una tara. 3- No solament el dibuix preliminar o cartró ha d'estar detallat fins al màxim, sinó que aquest s'haurà de transcendir de manera precisa en bolcar-ho al suport últim, ja que el treball pictòric es desenvolupa sempre de particular a general i no a l'inrevés com podria semblar en un principi.
The thesis “Icon & Reality: Cartoon as an essential element in paint layers” deals with the problem of preparatory work in paint layers. It should emphasize on strong experimental nature of research, which is mainly focused on practical and pedagogical application. The thesis is based on the idea of developing and analyzing the old Flemish painting technique, nowadays abandoned, but in a natural and necessary way it flowed until got focused on one of its specific aspects, the apparent lack of technique’s capacity for corrections, while the image is pictorially constructed. Therefore, the key question that summarizes the thesis is: Relevant changes are or are not possible in an image while this is pictorially constructed by an indirect method, as might be the Flemish. The initial work to study the subject interweaves with other similar spiritual subject – Byzantine painting – an artistic form with regular practice in large parts of Europe still today. By comparing both working ways, circumstantial aspects tend to fade and then is easier to get clear and understand the essence of the image constructed by addition of paint layers. The author creates, search and collects a generous number of examples in both mentioned above pictorial techniques. The examples are extended in two more types of paintings, one using third painting technique also imbued with similar problems, and another getting focused in exclusively drawings’ aspects. Of all the experimental material, a number of conclusions regarding the preparatory, general and procedural implementation work are extracted in the following summary. The ecstasy of the creative work should be experienced through preparatory drawings. That is, the climax of the painting must be developed on the cartoon reminding the consequent pictorial work in the strict support as a drawing’s programmed and directed task. No suspense or unknown activity must be in the specifically painting work. Any correction in painting of the original projected drawn image should be considered as something precarious, as a tare. The preliminary drawing or cartoon should be detailed to the max, and, be transferred accurately in its complexity to the ultimate format.
La tesis “Icono y Realidad: El Cartón como elemento esencial a la pintura por capas” versa sobre la problemática preparatoria de la pintura por capas determinante. Cabe destacar del trabajo de investigación su marcado carácter experimental, orientado sobre todo a la aplicación práctica y pedagógica. La tesis, partiendo en un principio de la idea de desarrollar a la práctica una técnica pictórica en desuso hoy, como es la Flamenca, acaba centrándose de manera natural y necesaria en uno de sus aspectos concretos; su hipotética falta de capacidad aparente para obrar correcciones mientras se construye el cuerpo pictórico. La pregunta clave que resume la Tesis sería la siguiente: ¿Son posibles las alteraciones relevantes de la imagen que se construya utilizando a una metodología pictórica indirecta, como podría ser la Flamenca? El trabajo inicial sujeto a estudio se imbrica con otra de talante semejante, la pintura Bizantina, cuya praxis regular aún pervive en amplias zonas de Europa. El motivo es conseguir —mediante la comparación— borrar lo circunstancial y llegar a la esencia de las imágenes construidas por adicción de estratos pictóricos. El propio autor realiza y recoge testimonio documental de una generosa cantidad de ejemplos en las dos técnicas pictóricas ya mencionadas. Ejemplos que se extienden en dos tipologías mas; unos elaborados desde una tercera técnica pictórica imbuida de problemática similar, y otros centrándose exclusivamente en los aspectos de dibujo. De todo el material experimental se extrae una serie de conclusiones respecto al trabajo preparatorio, genéricas y de aplicación procesual que en resumen son las siguientes: 1- En el dibujo preparatorio debe experimentarse el extasis creativo de la futura obra. Es decir, el nudo de la obra se desarrolla sobre el carton; siendo el consiguiente trabajo pictorico en el soporte último una actividad dirigida y programada desde el primero, sin suspense ni incognitas. 2- Cualquier corrección de la imagen original de la pieza pictorica por capas se deberá considerar como algo precario, como una tara. 3- El dibujo preliminar o cartón debe estar detallado al máximo, y ser traspasado al formato último de manera precisa y preciosista, so pena de perder todo lo estudiado en el primero.

No hi ha cap dubte que un dels camps que mes avança als últims anys, és el de la història cultural, el qual s’està convertint en un element de matis i complement a la història política. Paral·lelament a aquests interessos de investigació s’han trobat un punt d’equilibri metodològic entre el tractament del impacte de les propostes culturals, ideològiques i polítiques en les masses, i el paper de les individualitats, de manera que tot allò ha revertit en una nova mirada cap a la dimensió dels treballs biogràfics. La tesi que presenta el Dr. Victoriano Durán parteix d’aquests pressuposts, ja que pretén avançar en l’estudi de la dimensió cultural en el franquisme a partir de l’estudi de les complicitats i xarxes culturals en les que va participar el destacat metge barcelonès. Certament, la figura del doctor Agustí Pedro i Pons es sobradament coneguda al mon de la medicina, ja que va marcar una decisiva petjada tant per les seves investigacions com per la seva tasca de docent i mestre de metges. No obstant, si limitem el seu paper en aquest sentit estricte oblidem part de la seva activitat. I es que sabem que en molts casos els professionals (metges, advocats, arquitectes, ...) han sigut un sector d’enorme dinamisme mes enllà del seu entorn laboral estricte, i que individualment o a través de les seves escoles professionals van desenvolupar una important tasca cultural que transcendia el seu treball diari. El busseig previ de Victoriano Durán en l’arxiu del doctor Pedro i Pons, permet plantejar una investigació que va a donar llum precisament a aquesta tasca de dinamitzador cultural, molt relacionada amb la seva visió del mon universitari. Gracies a aquest ric arxiu, aquesta investigació podrà analitzar moltes de les xarxes culturals de l’època, algunes formals, però d’altres mes difícils de percebre, i podrà indicar relacions mes fluides del que normalment es sosté entre la cultura oficial i altres iniciatives independents. El professor doctor Agustí Pedro i Pons (1898-1971) va ser catedràtic de patologia i clínica mèdica de la Facultat de Medicina de la Universitat de Barcelona. Va destacar àmpliament per treballs com el “Tratado de Patologia i Clínica Médicas”, i per la creació de l’ escola de medicina mes reputada de l’estat espanyol i la projecció dels seus deixebles dins les especialitats mèdiques. Considerat el metge consultor mes important, la seva fama va traspassar fronteres, i va obrir nous camins a la medicina contemporània dins l’època de l’Espanya franquista. Gran bibliòfil i amant de les arts i la cultura catalana, va destacar com un gran mecenes i protector de les arts. Un gran home de negocis, i una persona amb gran sensibilitat humanística. Faceta desconeguda fins ara. La investigació dona a conèixer un personatge des de la faceta social i cultural, per ara poc estudiada i posa en valor aquesta gran figura amb molta transcendència històrica dins la medicina i sobre tot social i culturalment, on des de l’ombra va destacar molt àmpliament en la protecció de la cultura catalana amb una implicació molt forta. Per tant amb la tesi es posen uns fonaments molt sòlids en el que es la recuperació i reivindicació de la figura del metge i obre la porta a la recuperació de personatges íntimament lligats amb el catalanisme però amb vincles al franquisme.
Professor Dr. Agustin and Pedro Pons (1898-1971) was professor of pathology and medical clinic of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona. He highlighted work extensively as the "Treaty of Pathology and Medical Clinic" and the creation of the most reputable medical school in Spain and the screening of his disciples within the medical specialties. Considered the most important medical consultant, his fame transcended borders and opened new paths in contemporary medicine in the time of Franco's Spain. Great bibliophile and lover of the arts and culture Catalan, noted as a great protector and patron of the arts. A great businessman and a person with humanistic sensitivity. Hitherto unknown facet. The research unveils a character from the social and cultural aspect, so far little studied and highlights this great figure with great historical significance in medicine and especially socially and culturally, from where the shade was widely noted the protection of Catalan culture with a strong involvement. So with the thesis put very solid foundations on which the recovery and claim the figure of the doctor and opens the door to the recovery of people closely linked with the Catalan but with ties to the regime.

Partendo da alcuni concetti chiave nell’analisi del culto della personalità, la seguente tesi analizza l’evoluzione del culto di Mao Zedong: dai germogli al consolidamento, fino al raggiungimento dell’apice nel decennio della Rivoluzione Culturale e il suo perdurare post mortem. La principale reseach question è: in che modo l’evoluzione del culto di Mao ha influito sui cambiamenti avvenuti in ambito sociale, religioso ed artistico? Nella tesi dimostro come questa “religione politica” oltre all’esaltazione della figura di Mao portò anche alla deumanizzazione dei cosiddetti “nemici di classe”. Se da un lato alcuni considerarono Mao un dittatore, dall’altro vi fu chi – per sincera devozione o per paura – lo esaltò per il suo carisma. Il culto si affermò e si impose attraverso canali di propaganda e attraverso un processo di brainwashing che portò all’annullamento del “pensiero indipendente”. Il clima di ansia e paura portò ad una situazione in cui i capricci di una persona divennero una politica ufficiale che gettò le premesse per esperimenti ingiustificati, estremismi e instabilità. La tesi affronta anche come è cambiata nel tempo la percezione che i cinesi hanno di Mao e dimostra come nonostante l’ubiquità della figura di Mao in Cina permanga tutt’oggi e il culto della personalità continui ad esistere nel cuore di qualche nostalgico, tuttavia esso sia destinato ad indebolirsi gradualmente sotto l’influenza del capitalismo e della globalizzazione.

The icon represents a great part of the heritage of Christian arts in Egypt. In this thesis the early stages of iconic art are studied to find out the influential factors leading to the formation of the icon as it is now. The Coptic icon in particular is studied, both the icon itself and how it differs from the Byzantine icon. The religious factor is focussed on as an effective and modelling element in defining the icon, and the symbols are studied in order to go back to their historical roots. This study also aims at tracing the phenomenon of iconic art, by studying its characteristics and the works themselves and by clarifiying the iconic symbols as part of the cultural and creative activity. The important artworks in iconic art are analysed, and the effect of iconic art on human and social life is shown

Information Technology is an essential part of the National Curriculum in the UK, yet despite the growth of IT in schools that this has generated, there is evidence that children are not to be taken into consideration enough when designing aspects of educational software. The functionality available in education software packages tends to be made available through static icons, yet there are problems with their implementation as they can at times cause confusion for the user in terms of the functionality that they are aiming to represent. In order to make icons in educational software more effective, and to meet the needs of children, of the use of animated icons has been suggested. Animating the function of the icon aims to provide a clarification of its meaning and demonstrate its capabilities, as well as explaining to the user the method of use. However, there is little information available on how to support the design of effective animated icons. Focusing on a target age group of 11 to 12 year olds, this thesis argues that some form of support mechanism should be developed for the design of animated icons to ensure that consideration is being given to the types of object that children find useful and accessible. A set of dimensions where guidance on visual aspects of the icon may be useful are developed through analysis of relevant literature and it is highlighted that they do not provide any insight into what types of object may be helpful in designing the animated icons. This thesis then argues that animated icon design can be usefully informed by psychological theories of learning and that using such theories as a base may provide an understanding of how children identify icon functionality. The thesis introduces and critiques Piaget’s Genetic Epistemology theory, Vygotsky’s Sociocultural theory and Leontjev’s Activity Theory, identifying aspects of the theories which may be of relevance to the design of animated icons. By investigating the relationships between the dimensions of animated icons and the concepts from the theories of learning, insights are developed into the impact of visual factors on a child’s identification and understanding of icon functionality. The thesis goes on to report a practical study where the sample is a group of 11 to 12 year old children. The practical study consists of three phases. The first phase gathers data related to the children’s familiarity with computers and the types of software packages that they use. The second phase looks at their use and recognition of static icon functionality. The last phase involves using the findings from phases 1 and 2 to create and evaluate a set of animated icons, the development of which is based on the relationships between the concepts from theories of learning and the identified dimensions of animated icons. The analysis of the evidence from the practical study leads to a small set of design principles being proposed that are aimed to provide advice/guidance on how to design animated icons effectively for this target age group, with an emphasis on the types of object that might be used. The principles are underpinned by the concepts from the theories of learning and presented in a manner that aims to be understandable by, and accessible to, designers.

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras/Inglês e Literatura Correspondente.
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A presente tese investiga o discurso de anúncios de bonecas sob uma perspectiva comparativa. Através da análise de dez anúncios extraídos do website da boneca brasileira Susi e dez anúncios extraídos do website das bonecas norte-americanas The Bratz - campeãs em vendas nos dois países de origem, respectivamente - a pesquisa investiga seus aspectos visuais, contextuais e lexicogramaticais de transitividade, a fim de observar como as práticas sociais dos dois países são refletidas e como estas reforçam determinadas estruturas sociais, tais como as referentes a questões de gênero. O arcabouço teórico adotado visa situar os dados obtidos em sua dimensão contextual, valendo-se de estudos em Sociologia da Infância e Estudos da Criança, bem como da gramática sistêmico-funcional de Halliday (1978;1994) e do trabalho de Kress & van Leeuwen (1996) em semiótica visual. Os resultados da análise verbal e visual dos dados apontam para a representação da figura feminina em posições predominantemente passivas, as quais reforçam a imagem da mulher enquanto objeto de atribuições estéticas e perpetuam as práticas sociais e distinções de gênero à medida que representam o universo feminino em seu compromisso de combinar papéis da esfera pública e da privada. This dissertation investigates the discourse of doll advertisements in a comparative manner. Through the examination of ten Brazilian and ten North-American doll advertisements available on the websites of best-selling dolls Susi and The Bratz, it looks at how the verbal and the visual choices of these advertisements reverberate the social practices of Brazil and the United States and how they reinforce the 'status quo' of existing social structures, such as the ones related to gender issues. The theoretical framework provides the means to connect the contextual with the textual features of the data. For the macro, contextual dimension, it draws on studies on The Sociology of Childhood and Children's Studies as well as on Halliday's (1978; 1994) system of transitivity in order to account for the lexicogrammatical aspects of the advertisements and Kress & van Leeuwen's (1996) work on the interplay between verbal and visual language analysis. The verbal and visual analyses of the advertisements have pointed to the portrait of the female figure in predominantly passive, objectified positions which reinforces women's image as repositories of aesthetic attributes and perpetuates social practices and gender distinctions in representing the female universe in its compromise between the public and private sphere.

This thesis proposes research findings that run parallel to my own practice. At the heart of the concepts discussed there is a notion of invention and the transmutation of materials. Attempting to find clear ways of making something with the legitimacy of an artwork. Artists considered along side my practice include Alberto Giacometti, Manfred Pernice, Mike Nelson and Ryan Trecartin. As a result of my academic inquiry, my ideas start to move towards the informational as a way to understand how information and invented symbolism may be inscribed or instilled into something. This may be through constellational choices in joining, script writing or by embracing technological ways to mediate the world and the artwork, extending its quiddity or “thingness” by embracing editing and manipulation. The studio work extends on my previous installation practice:sculptures in a variety of sizes and materials. Sculptures that suggest function in an ambiguous way, mimesis in an uncanny way and have an unclear classification as support, artwork, relic or invention. Amid this ambivalent environment I use constellational choices, inscription into materials and proximity relationships to communicate a fictional language or signs of what may appear to have come from an extraterrestrial culture, in, around and on the sculptures. Some materials appear as “repurposed” through the unusual joining of everyday components. Other materials may have been reduced to mere “matter” by altering them to near unrecognisable states. The sculptures and installation elements have a second mediated form by appearing in still and moving images.

All'interno del territorio veneziano vi è la città di Chioggia. Essa conserva un'importante collezione di ex voto, sia dipinti che oggettuali. All'interno dell'elaborato verranno analizzati tutto gli aspetti della tematica, l'ambito religioso, antropologico, etnografico e storico-artistico di questi specifici oggetti votivo, con puntuale riferimento alla collezione clodiense.

Denna undersökning syftar till att undersöka vilka attribut som ska tas hänsyn till vid skapande av ikoner. Undersökningen utgår från en taiwanesisk undersökning där attribut har identifierats och undersökts med hjälp av grafiska designers. Som grund för ikonförståelse appliceras semiotik och Charles Sanders Peirces triadiska modell på ikoner. Intervjuer och enkäter har utförts för att rangordna attribut, samt diskutera dess relevans vid ikonskapande. Resultatet visar att kontext (kultur, ikonens placering, medium etc.) och målgrupp har mycket stor betydelse vid ikonskapande och respondenterna uppvisade därför svårigheter med att rangordna attributen.
This study aims to investigate what attributes to take into consideration when designing computer icons. The study is based on a Taiwanese study where attributes are identified and investigated by Taiwanese graphic designers. The theoretical basis is semiotics, Charles Sanders Peirces triad model in particular, applied on icons. Interviews and surveys has been executed to rate attributes as well as discussing their relevance to icon design. The results shows that context (culture, the placement of the icon, medium etc.) and target group is a high priority when creating icons and the respondents showed difficulties with rating the attributes.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2013.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-89).
The image of the modern workplace in the American suburb has long been a contentious topic of discussion among academics, planning and development professionals, and the public. Today, the critics of office parks in the low-density neighborhoods are applauding the idea of reverse migration back to the city. It is no doubt a trend for large competitive corporations and one that this thesis will explore. But in their day, the suburban corporate centers represented the epitome of advanced thinking about corporate organization, productivity, innovation, marketing, and architecture. This thesis will focus on how these large centers came into being, how they functioned and their continuing legacy. The principal cases and relevant examples discussed were designed by renowned 20th century architects and are of an iconic architectural value. The classic examples examined include: General Motors Technical Center, Deere and Company, PepsiCo, and Union Carbide. The hypothesis is that the day of suburban corporate centers is not over, that despite the changes in corporate culture and work-life, the lure of the isolated center in the landscape is so powerful that it will continue to be valuable to companies - but in new ways: as amenity locations for workers, and with new kinds of uses and activities incorporated into the centers.
by Viktorija Abolina.
M.C.P.

This thesis explores the framing of graphical qualities of the passenger train and the city of Roanoke, Virginia. A passenger train station frames these icons and brings people directly to the train. This framing creates a new icon for the city. An area on the train tracks is revitalized and creates a permeable threshold into and out of the city.
Master of Architecture

Humans today rely heavily on navigational aids on their smartphones to find their way. These aids have shown to be decreasing our ability to learn routes since the interaction with the environment is minimal. Technology assisting indoor navigation is getting more common, and the same approach, which has shown to impair spatial ability, is used, and will most likely result in the same problems. In the current study an application was developed that uses landmarks represented as icons to guide the users. The application was tested in a wayfinding task and compared to a control group using text instructions. Time for completing the route, wayfinding errors and route knowledge were measured and compared between groups. The results show that the text group had a faster walking time, but no significant difference was found in the other measurement. The route knowledge test turned out to be too difficult for the participants. The conclusion of the study is that icon based indoor navigation works but more research needs to be done to test if it facilitates spatial learning

A Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, el Che, se le considera un idealista, revolucionario y líder político; nacido en Argentina, célebre en Cuba y muerto en Bolivia, uno de los iconos revolucionarios reconocido a nivel mundial; no es sólo el Che, fue su vida, ideología y muerte al ser fusilado en manos del ejército Boliviano, lo que le otorgó el título de mártir político. A un año de su deceso, izquierdistas en Europa, Europa Occidental, Estados Unidos y América Latina, tomaron su rostro como estandarte de sus movimientos sociales y estudiantiles, reproduciendo una de las dos imágenes que Alberto Korda (fotógrafo de cabecera de Fidel Castro) obtuvo con sólo dos disparos; una de ellas fue llamada “Guerrillero Heroico”, es una foto que logró captar el misticismo del Comandante Guevara. Una foto de archivo que se desempolvó, pasó de índice a icono e inició su transformación en símbolo después de ocho años de haber sido capturada o a un año de haber sucedido el asesinato de Ernesto Guevara; con el tiempo ha resultado también una de las imágenes más reproducidas a nivel mundial. Al Che se le encuentra en los nichos reservados para iconos culturales, los movimientos sociales y el venir del día a día, porque su huella se impregnó además de en la política, en la cultura, porque el Che resurge, ya no solamente con guerrillas revolucionarias, también lo hace en la cotidianidad de la vida. Esta fotografía ha sido manipulada en cuantiosas ocasiones, ha sido trasladada de movimientos sociales y estudiantiles a rebeldías individuales, colocada en playeras y paredes, en las defensas de los autos o en productos que se venden en los centros comerciales, donde 9 probablemente ha “perdido” o incluso por qué no “renovado” el tono revolucionario al que incitaba en sus inicios. Es una imagen que por sus características se presta a ser modificada y al mismo tiempo reapropiada y resignificada, que deja la pauta para convertirla en una irreverencia o en un enaltecimiento según se le mire, hay que echar un vistazo a lo que se ha hecho con el “Guerrillero Heroico”: por ejemplo fusionarlo con las orejas del ratón más famoso y vendido del mundo, Mickey Mouse; se puede mirar la forma en cómo se convierte en Chepillín al matizar su nariz con tinta roja y pintarle el rostro como suele hacerlo el payaso que hace algunos ayeres fuera el más famoso de la cultura mexicana, Cepillín; o la manera en cómo Pedro Meyer se toma el tiempo para plasmar al guerrillero en un billete de cinco dólares americanos; o como en España han logrado fusionarlo con el ahora expresidente, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero; en pocas palabras este documento ha sido modificado tanto por grandes como anónimos artistas. Son muchas las razones que me llevan a estudiar la imagen del “Guerrillero Heroico”, pero una y quizá la más importante de todas es que esta “simple fotografía” (y tal vez hasta casual) ha pasado de ser un icono revolucionario, para convertirse en un símbolo y terminar siendo un “nomás”, después de más de cinco décadas de haber sido fotografiado el rostro de Ernesto Guevara tiene más de un significado y éste no está necesariamente relacionado con la palabras “revolución” o “socialismo”.

This dissertation examines how the modern dinosaur—fully mounted, freestanding assemblages of vertebrate fossils such as we are accustomed to seeing at the natural history museum—came into being during the late 19th and early 20th century, focusing especially on the United States. But it is not just, or even primarily a history of vertebrate paleontology. Rather, I use dinosaurs as an opportunity to explore how science was embedded in broader changes that were happening at the time. In particular, I am interested in tracing how the culture of modern capitalism—the ideals, norms, and practices that governed matters of value and exchange—manifested itself in the way fossils were collected, studied, and put on display. During the second half of the 19th century, America experienced an extended period of remarkable economic growth. By the eve of WWI, it had emerged as the world’s largest producer of goods and services. At the same time, paleontologists were unearthing the fossil remains of marvelous creatures the likes of which no one had ever dreamed in the American west. The discovery of dinosaurs like Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, and Triceratops prompted the nation’s wealthy elite to begin cultivating an intense interest in vertebrate paleontology. In part, this is because dinosaurs meshed well with a conventional narrative that celebrated American exceptionalism. Dinosaurs from the United States were widely heralded as having been larger, fiercer, and more abundant than their European counterparts. Not only that, but their origins in the deep past meant that dinosaurs were associated with evolutionary theory, including the conventional notion that struggle was at the root of progress. Finally, it did not hurt that America’s best fossils hailed from places like Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. This is precisely where most of the raw materials consumed by factories could also be found. As they coalesced into a coherent social class, American capitalists began to patronize a number of elite cultural institutions. Just as Gilded Age entrepreneurs invested considerable resources in the acquisition of artworks, so too did they invest in natural history. However, whereas the acquisition of artworks functioned as a display of refined aesthetic sensibilities, the collection of natural history specimens primarily represented another form of social distinction, one that combined epistemic virtues like objectivity with older notions of good stewardship and civic munificence. Capitalists who had grown rich off of the exploitation of America’s natural resources turned to dinosaur paleontology as a form of cultural resource extraction.
History of Science

The nude painting Chloe, created in 1875 by French artist Jules Lefebvre, which has hung at Young and Jackson Hotel since 1909, is a much-loved Melbourne cultural icon. Chloe has been the subject of controversy and mythologising, particularly in relation to the Parisian model who sat for the painting. This production-based thesis, through a work of historical fiction and an exegesis, imaginatively renders and recontextualises Lefebvre’s Chloe to illustrate how these myths have, in part, contributed to reductive portrayals and interpretations of both the painting and its model. The manuscript “Capturing Chloe” is a fictional narrative tracing Chloe’s impact on an Australian family during World War One, and the volatile world of Jules Lefebvre’s Parisian model, as she and other proletarian women determine to challenge the social and political forces that oppress them in the aftermath of the Second French Empire and the Franco-Prussian War. The exegesis uses textual analysis and historical research to interrogate the origins of Chloe, and the source of myths that have variously constructed or constituted identities for the painting’s model. While exploring shifting ideas about the model’s identity since the painting’s debut in 1875, this analysis demonstrates the significance of textual artefacts in the ongoing process of reinterpreting and remaking Chloe. The exegesis explores an anecdote Lefebvre shared about his model, and a tale the Anglo-Irish writer George Moore wrote about “Lefebvre’s Chloe” in his memoirs. This work describes Moore’s student days in Paris, and his mythologising of a young woman who, I propose, may have been the model for Chloe. By recontextualising, reimagining and rewriting myths about Chloe’s model, and exploring the painting’s origins and its reception by Australian viewers throughout the decades, this thesis contributes new insights into and an original understanding of one of Australia’s most celebrated cultural icons.

Слобожанщина – історично та духовно багатий край. Тут збереглося чимало сакральних пам’яток культури, які дійшли до нас із глибин віків. Святині області багато років ваблять прочан різних християнських конфесій не лише з України, але й з-за кордону. Особливе місце серед святинь займають ікони. До них молилися, у них сподівалися знайти зцілення і допомогу в житті.

This research explores how news media reports construct representations of a business crisis through language. In an innovative approach to dealing with the vast pool of potentially relevant texts, media texts concerning the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill are gathered from three different time points: immediately after the explosion in 2010, one year later in 2011 and again in 2012. The three sets of 'BP texts' are investigated using discourse analysis and semi-quantitative methods within a semiotic framework that gives an account of language at the semiotic levels of sign, code, mythical meaning and ideology. The research finds in the texts three discourses of representation concerning the crisis that show a movement from the ostensibly representational to the symbolic and conventional: a discourse of 'objective factuality', a discourse of 'positioning' and a discourse of 'redeployment'. This progression can be shown to have useful parallels with Peirce's sign classes of Icon, Index and Symbol, with their implied movement from a clear motivation by the Object (in this case the disaster events), to an arbitrary, socially-agreed connection. However, the naturalisation of signs, whereby ideologies are encoded in ways of speaking and writing that present them as 'taken for granted' is at its most complete when it is least discernible. The findings suggest that media coverage is likely to move on from symbolic representation to a new kind of iconicity, through a fourth discourse of 'naturalisation'. Here the representation turns back towards ostensible factuality or iconicity, to become the 'naturalised icon'. This work adds to the study of media representation a heuristic for understanding how the meaning-making of a news story progresses. It offers a detailed account of what the stages of this progression 'look like' linguistically, and suggests scope for future research into both language characteristics of phases and different news-reported phenomena.

The Novgorod icon of Divine Wisdom is a great innovation of fifteenth-century Russian art. It represents the winged female Sophia flanked by the Theotokos and John the Baptist. Although the icon has a contemporaneous commentary and it exercised a profound influence on Russian cultural history (inspiring, among others, the sophiological theory of the turn of the twentieth century), its meaning, together with the dating and localisation of the first appearance of the iconography, has remained a great art-historical conundrum. This thesis sheds new light on this icon and explores the message, roots, function and historical context of the first, most emblematic and most enigmatic Russian allegorical iconography. In contrast to its recent interpretations as a Trinitarian image with Christ-Angel, it argues that the winged Sophia is the personification of the Orthodox Church. The Novgorod Wisdom icon represents the Church of Hagia Sophia, that is Orthodoxy, as it was perceived in fifteenth-century Rus’: the icon together with its commentary was a visual-textual response to the Florentine Union between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, signed in 1439 but rejected by the Russians in 1441. The thesis is based on detailed interdisciplinary research, utilising simultaneously the methodologies of philology, art history, theology and history. The combined analysis reveals that the great innovation of the Novgorod Sophia icon is that it amalgamates ecclesiological and sophiological iconographies in new ways. Hence the dissertation is also an innovative attempt to survey how Orthodoxy was perceived and visualized in medieval Rus’. It identifies the theological questions that constituted the basis of Russian Orthodox identity in the Middle Ages and reveals the significance of the polemics between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches for the history of Medieval Russian art.

To date there appears to have been only one study that has examined time-of-day effects in icon interpretation. McFadden and Tepas (1997) found the time taken to respond to iconic stimuli to vary according to the time-of-day and found the exact time-of- day trend to vary according to the memory load involved in the task. This study was replicated, using slightly modified stimuli, and similar findings were obtained to McFadden and Tepas' earlier study. A series of experiments subsequently examined the effects that different icon characteristics and other changes in task demands had on the observed time-of-day trends. The first of this series, compared icons that were made up of a series of features (multi-feature) with those that were relatively wholistic (gestalts). Gestalt icons were found to markedly improve usability by dramatically reducing response times. Additionally, a trend was noted for the exact timing of peak performance to vary slightly according to icon type, with the multi-feature icons showing a slightly earlier peak in performance. The experiments that followed used icons that had been varied orthogonally in terms of their complexity and concreteness and examined other variations in task demands in terms of the semantic memory component required, the visual memory component involved, the difficulty of response required and the difficulty of icon discrimination. Results suggested that icon tasks requiring semantic memory were not susceptible to time-of-day effects. Similarly, neither differences in icon discrimination nor visual memory were critical in determining the diurnal trend observed. Surprisingly, it was difficulty of response that appeared to be a critical factor in consideration of the influence of exact task demands in icon search tasks. Interestingly however, it appeared that abstract, rather than concrete, icons may show more pronounced diurnal performance trends. It was proposed that the effects of different task demands on the observed timeof- day trends exerted their effects through their influence on working memory load, with higher memory load tasks showing an earlier performance peak relative to lower memory load tasks. A framework was proposed for the understanding, and development of, these time-of-day effects in icon usability.

This essay is an effort to write my thoughts and reflections on my art practice, focusing on the work to-be-realized for my solo show in March 2021 at Galleri Mejan in Stockholm. I’ve had the intention to complement and stabilize my imagined-artwork with my writing, only to realize such a task’s difficulty. Firstly, because language itself can be unstable. Secondly, fear of losing a quality in art that is unstable in its nature. The essay consists of three sections: In the first one, I tell how I think and feel through my art practice. I also propose making space for new knowledge: In my art practice, I lean on magical thinking to stimulate bodily movements.1 I think that we need to balance ourselves between rational thinking and other modes of thinking, and this in-between-space requires continuous negotiations of different kinds. In section two, I explain how I think of images and share how I process them through my work. Then I share stories of entangled images that I’m using as source images in my current work. In the third and last section, I delve into my deep desire to control images. I challenge told narratives and reflect on creative practices of destruction and reparation.
@ Galleri Mejan, Exercisplan 3, March 2021 Media: installation and a video projection. Materials: Clay, ceramic, plaster, linen, and mixed media.   The Making and Breaking of an Icon is a long-term project: I repeatedly destroy and repair a self-made ceramic sculpture. The faceless figure has multiple arms and hands that seem to be hugging or containing the body. At the moment of showing the work at Galleri Mejan, the sculpture was broken, and in process of reparation. Fragments of the sculpture were laying on the ground, I continued to glue them up during the show. A shelf placed up high in the same room displays 7 small plaster replicas of the same figure, but with the addition of a horned cap on their heads. one of the replicas is broken on the ground underneath the shelf. The mold reproducing the plaster pieces is shown by the corner and seems to be in the action of production.  By the entrance, a fetus-like ceramic sculpture is opening both arms. In the other room, the video work "Falling for the Narrative" is showing a performance I did earlier with the sculpture. In this performance, dressed in a self-made costume, I interact with the sculpture as a living thing: I project veneration and aggression on it. The costume that is made of linen, has carrier sacks sewed in the back, filled with rice and coins. the costume weighs around 4kgs. In the corner of the room, a pile of dust is formed on the ground.

The Second Council of Nicaea, in 787 AD, marked the end of iconoclasm, while in 843 the Treaty of Verdun laid the foundations of Europe. With these agreements, a sustained period of imageless iconolatry was initiated. However, the veneration of icons was based on the absolute worship of matter and form, which replaced the prime spiritual concept of ‘image and likeness’. Millennia of research and thought resulted in imageless representations of natural phenomena. Pushing aside the topology of the image and its sign, the intelligent man, from the Age of Reason and onward, considered himself as an auto-authorised and teleological-free entity. To this end, he maximised the intelligibility of his space by designing an all-inclusive Cartesian cocoon in which to secure his mass and form. Yet, there he found his pet (Schrodinger’s Cat) to be both dead and alive, and the apple, still forbidden, had become a bouncing ball, serving as evidence of gravity. Hence, this intelligent design, by default, carries the residual fear of Manichaean and Augustinian devils, and is deemed to have converted to a de-sign crisis. Relying on literature sources, this dissertation examines two dominant models that govern human cognition and the production of knowledge. Despite remarkable scientific achievements which resulted, the aftermath of human progress was, among others, the maximisation of residual fear, to such an extent that voracious black holes devour all matter. Inaugurating the transhumanist period, the human becomes a Manchurian Candidate, still an upgraded ape and a victim of his own nature in the Anthropocene. In an attempt to overcome this de-sign crisis, the research presented in this thesis aims to address the necessity of the restoration of icons, as evidenced by Byzantine art and philosophy but neglected in the name of human supremacy and imperialism. This thesis elucidates Classical and Late Antiquity manuscripts in an effort to set a new ‘restore point’, endeavouring to launch the image in the current organosilicon substances; examples from Scripture narratives as well as from visual arts contribute to this effort. The proposed concluding scheme is the Module of Theōria, which reflects the major transhumanistic elements such as transmutation, interaction and fluidity. Theōria functions through noetic mechanisms, using ‘image and likeness’ as the prime carriers of knowledge. The anticipated outcome is to reveal a human investment in a pro-nature incorruptibility with the advent of Theōria in the field of Τechnoetics, where one can administer ‘image and likeness’ to gain capital liquidity.

Представлені результати вивчення мистецьких якостей народних ікон ХІХ ст. у взаємозв’язку з внутрішнім архітектурним плануванням дерев’яних храмів Центрального та Лівобережного Полісся.
The article reviews study results of the XIX century folk icon art features coupled with the interior architecture of wooden churches in Central and Left Bank Polissia regions of Ukraine.