Recens��o: Peter Goldie e Elisabeth Schellekens, Who���s Afraid of Conceptual Art?

Recens��o de: Peter Goldie e Elisabeth Schellekens, Who���s Afraid of Conceptual Art?, Londres e Nova Iorque: Routledge, 2010

Incoherences of the Art World

Funda����o para a Ci��ncia e a Tecnologia (FCT), Funda����o Millennium bcp

The names of things: terminology and the practice of art history

This paper aims to explore the ways in which standard art history terminology shapes the practice of art history by conditioning the interpretation of specific works of art and, in certain cases, the definition of a research subject (especially where questions of genre and periodization are concerned). Taking as a case study a painting by Georges de La Tour, the Peasant Couple Eating, I will argue that terms such as realism, realistic, naturalistic etc. used for its description and/or interpretation, far from constituting objective stylistic characterizations, shape our perception of the work in question. Bringing the question of social class to the center of the discourse on realism, I propose to show how the social divide between the painter and his subject matter (in this case, the peasants) is internalized in the painting���s style and meaning, and how it is fundamental for the understanding of its intentionality and function.

The perfect paint in modern art conservation: a comparative study of 21st century vinyl emulsions

Contemporary painting places, and will continue to place, several questions about its meaning, its chemical nature, its durability and the best way to preserve it. This research aims at putting together comprehensive data on vinyl based paints, including their components, their properties, their aging behavior and their response to selected cleaning products. In this project degradation mechanisms of vinyl binders and formulations used in the 20th and 21st century were studied. Stability over time of selected vinyl polymers was assessed through natural indoor and artificially aging. The objective was to enhance knowledge and understanding of vinyl emulsion formulations and their performance over time. Overall conservation state of pictorial layers namely, adhesion, cohesion and discoloration of selected case studies from the Portuguese artist Juli��o Sarmento (b.1948) was correlated with the observed molecular level changes studied in laboratory experiments. Sarmento���s paintings were chosen due to conservation concerns (discoloration) on some of his works from the 90���s. Besides, research was carried out to start increasing the knowledge of what can be expected of PVAc based paints in terms of response to conservation treatments namely, surface cleaning. Artificial aging showed that the most recent formulations which are based on a poly(vinyl acetate), poly(vinyl chloride) and polyethylene terpolymer are less stable when compared to some homopolymer formulations. From the four pigments studied, titanium dioxide rutile and a carbon based black proved to be stabilizers for both types of polymer. The mixture lithopone plus calcium carbonate has showed to have a photocatalytic effect on the binders. The studied paintings showed to be in an overall good state of conservation except for the paintings created in the 90���s with white glue and a mixture of white lithoponeand calcium carbonate. Discoloration of this white paint seems to be irreversible and ongoing and is still a major concern. The disapearance of the plasticizer was the only change detected. The current works created by Sarmento are expected to be more stable as they were painted using the rutile titanium dioxide. Immersion/cleaning tests showed that vinyl based paints can be susceptible to water and organic solvents like ethanol as some evidences point to the removal/diffusion of additives from the paint. The observations made point to the need to further proceed in this research field.

History of Art and Art Criticism: A System in Crisis

This article aims to reconstruct the critical debate regarding the examination of the crisis in the disciplines of art history and criticism with a particular focus on the proposal formulated by U.S. theorists who contributed to October journal. The discrediting of many modernist critical methods, particularly that of Clement Greenberg ��� the formalist diktat ��� marked the birth of the journal and gave rise to proposals set forth by critics committed to a new approach. Their divergent positions, nonetheless, have contributed to undermining the traditional concepts of the autonomy of art and criticism. The proposals discussed over the course of publication were the result of a reappraisal of the disciplinary instruments of art history and criticism pursuant to the crucial cultural changes which took place in the 1980s.

Recens��o: Claire Bishop, "Radical Museology: or What���s ���Contemporary��� In Museums of Contemporary Art?"

Recens��o de: Claire Bishop, "Radical Museology: or What���s ���Contemporary��� In Museums of Contemporary Art?", Londres: Koenig Books, 2013

Metodologias Participativas: Os media e a educa����o

Este livro re��ne experi��ncias e reflex��es de acad��micos e n��o acad��micos sobre as potencialidades dos media para envolver e capacitar comunidades. Ao longo destas p��ginas, encontram-se textos que documentam propostas educativas e c��vicas em torno dos media ou refletem sobre as capacidades dos media para trabalhar no seio das comunidades, incluindo as esferas da inf��ncia/juventude e/ou dos adultos e seniores. As metodologias participativas t��m uma grande tradi����o em pa��ses da Am��rica Latina, de ��frica e da ��sia e est��o agora a ser mais usadas na Europa, particularmente, em Portugal. Esta inspira����o reflete-se nas diferentes geografias que podem ser encontradas nesta obra, desde Reino Unido, Alemanha ou Brasil, at�� ao Qu��nia. Este livro est�� dividido em quatro partes. Uma primeira foca-se no projeto que deu mote ao livro, o RadioActive Europe, dando conta das suas pr��ticas em Portugal e noutros pa��ses europeus. De seguida, juntamos experi��ncias comunit��rias e participativas nacionais e internacionais e, por fim, expomos v��rios caminhos de reflex��o em torno da literacia e dos media.

Cultural journalism in a digital environment : new models, practices and possibilities

Both culture coverage and digital journalism are contemporary phenomena that have undergone several transformations within a short period of time. Whenever the media enters a period of uncertainty such as the present one, there is an attempt to innovate in order to seek sustainability, skip the crisis or find a new public. This indicates that there are new trends to be understood and explored, i.e., how are media innovating in a digital environment? Not only does the professional debate about the future of journalism justify the need to explore the issue, but so do the academic approaches to cultural journalism. However, none of the studies so far have considered innovation as a motto or driver and tried to explain how the media are covering culture, achieving sustainability and engaging with the readers in a digital environment. This research examines how European media which specialize in culture or have an important cultural section are innovating in a digital environment. Specifically, we see how these innovation strategies are being taken in relation to the approach to culture and dominant cultural areas, editorial models, the use of digital tools for telling stories, overall brand positioning and extensions, engagement with the public and business models. We conducted a mixed methods study combining case studies of four media projects, which integrates qualitative web features and content analysis, with quantitative web content analysis. Two major general-interest journalistic brands which started as physical newspapers ��� The Guardian (London, UK) and P��blico (Lisbon, Portugal) ��� a magazine specialized in international affairs, culture and design ��� Monocle (London, UK) ��� and a native digital media project that was launched by a cultural organization ��� Notodo, by La F��brica ��� were the four case studies chosen. Findings suggest, on one hand, that we are witnessing a paradigm shift in culture coverage in a digital environment, challenging traditional boundaries related to cultural themes and scope, angles, genres, content format and delivery, engagement and business models. Innovation in the four case studies lies especially along the product dimensions (format and content), brand positioning and process (business model and ways to engage with users). On the other hand, there are still perennial values that are crucial to innovation and sustainability, such as commitment to journalism, consistency (to the reader, to brand extensions and to the advertiser), intelligent differentiation and the capability of knowing what innovation means and how it can be applied, since this thesis also confirms that one formula doesn��t suit all. Changing minds, exceeding cultural inertia and optimizing the memory of the websites, looking at them as living, organic bodies, which continuously interact with the readers in many different ways, and not as a closed collection of articles, are still the main challenges for some media.

Entre a plasticidade do corpo e da imagem : contributos para uma viagem interactiva pelos territ��rios incertos da arte contempor��nea

Este trabalho de investiga����o come��ou por ser estruturado em torno de quatro grandes cap��tulos (quatro grandes linhas de orienta����o tem��tica), todos eles amplamente desenvolvidos no sentido de podermos cartografar alguns dos principais territ��rios e sintomas da arte contempor��nea, sendo certo tamb��m, que cada um deles assenta precisamente nos princ��pios de uma estrutura male��vel que, para todos os efeitos, se encontra em processo de constru����o (work in progress), neste caso, gra��as �� plasticidade do corpo, do espa��o, da imagem e do uso criativo das tecnologias digitais, no ��mbito das quais, ali��s, tudo se parece produzir, transformar e disseminar hoje em dia �� nossa volta (quase como se de uma aut��ntica viagem interactiva se tratasse). Por isso, a partir daqui, todo o esfor��o que se segue procurar�� ensaiar uma hip��tese de trabalho (desenvolver uma investiga����o) que, porventura, nos permita desbravar alguns caminhos em direc����o aos intermin��veis t��neis do futuro, sempre na expectativa de podermos dar forma, fun����o e sentido a um desejo irreprim��vel de liberdade criativa, pois, a arte contempor��nea tem essa extraordin��ria capacidade de nos transportar para muitos outros lugares do mundo, t��o reais e imagin��rios como a nossa pr��pria vida. Assim sendo, h�� que sumariar algumas das principais etapas a desenvolver ao longo desta investiga����o. Ora, num primeiro momento, come��aremos por reflectir sobre o conceito alargado de ��crise�� (a crise da modernidade), para logo de seguida podermos abordar a quest��o da crise das antigas categorias est��ticas, questionando assim, para todos os efeitos, quer o conceito de ��belo�� (Plat��o) e de ��gosto�� (Kant), quer ainda o conceito de ��forma�� (Foccilon), n��o s�� no sentido de tentarmos compreender algumas das principais raz��es que ter��o estado na origem do chamado ��fim da arte�� (Hegel), mas tamb��m algumas daquelas que ter��o conduzido �� estetiza����o generalizada da experi��ncia contempor��nea e �� sua respectiva dissemina����o pelas mais variadas plataformas digitais. Num segundo momento, procuraremos reflectir sobre alguns dos principais problemas da inquietante hist��ria das imagens, nomeadamente para tentarmos perceber como �� que todas estas transforma����es t��cnicas (ligadas ao aparecimento da fotografia, do cinema, do v��deo, do computador e da internet) ter��o contribu��do para o processo de instaura����o e respectivo alargamento daquilo que todos n��s ficar��amos a conhecer como a nova ��era da imagem��, ou a imagem na ��era da sua pr��pria reprodutibilidade t��cnica�� (Benjamin), pois, s�� assim �� que conseguiremos interrogar este impar��vel processo de movimenta����o, fragmenta����o, dissemina����o, simula����o e interac����o das mais variadas ��formas de vida�� (Nietzsche, Agamben). Entretanto, chegados ao terceiro grande momento, interessa-nos percepcionar a arte contempor��nea como uma esp��cie de plataforma interactiva que, por sua vez, nos levar�� a interpelar alguns dos principais dispositivos metaf��ricos e experimentais da viagem, neste caso, da viagem enquanto linha facilitadora de acesso �� arte, �� cultura e �� vida contempor��nea em geral, ou seja, todo um processo de reflex��o que nos incitar�� a cartografar alguns dos mais atractivos sintomas provenientes da est��tica do fl��neur (na perspectiva de Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Long e Benjamin) e, consequentemente, a convocar algumas das principais sensa����es decorrentes da experi��ncia altamente sedutora daqueles que vivem mergulhados na ��rbita interactiva do ciberespa��o (na condi����o de ciberfl��neurs), quase como se o mundo inteiro, agora, fosse t��o somente um espa��o po��tico ��inteiramente naveg��vel�� (Manovich). Por fim, no quarto e ��ltimo momento, procuraremos fazer uma profunda reflex��o sobre a inquietante hist��ria do corpo, principalmente com o objectivo de refor��ar a ideia de que apesar das suas in��meras fragilidades biol��gicas (um ser que adoece e morre), o corpo continua a ser uma das ��categorias mais persistentes de toda a cultura ocidental�� (Ieda Tucherman), n��o s�� porque ele resistiu a todas as transforma����es que lhe foram impostas historicamente, mas tamb��m porque ele se soube reinventar e readaptar pacientemente face a todas essas transforma����es hist��ricas. Sinal evidente de que a sua plasticidade lhe iria conferir, principalmente a partir do s��culo XX (��o s��culo do corpo��) um estatuto te��rico e performativo verdadeiramente especial. T��o especial, ali��s, que basta termos uma no����o, mesmo que breve, da sua inquietante hist��ria para percebermos imediatamente a extraordin��ria import��ncia dalgumas das suas mais variadas transforma����es, atrac����es, liga����es e exibi����es ao longo das ��ltimas d��cadas, nomeadamente sob o efeito criativo das tecnologias digitais (no ��mbito das quais se processam algumas das mais interessantes opera����es de dinamiza����o cultural e art��stica do nosso tempo). Em suma, esperamos sinceramente que este trabalho de investiga����o possa vir a contribuir para o processo de alargamento das fronteiras cada vez mais incertas, din��micas e interactivas do conhecimento daquilo que parece constituir, hoje em dia, o jogo fundamental da nossa contemporaneidade.

How different generations contact and search for brands on social media? Comparing gen X and Y

This research intends to examine if there were significant differences on the brand engagement and on the electronic word of mouth (e-WOM)1 referral intention through Facebook between Generation X and Generation Y (also called millennials). Also, this study intends to examine if there are differences in the motivations that drive these generations to interact with brands through Facebook. Results indicated that Generation Y members consumed more content on Facebook brands��� pages than Generation X. Also, they were more likely to have an e-WOM referral intention as well as being more driven by brand affiliation and opportunity seeking. Finally, currently employed individuals were found to contribute with more content than students. This study fills the gap in the literature by addressing how marketing professionals should market their brand and interact and engage with their customers, based on customers��� generational cohort.

Young adult Brazilian beauty consumers perception of Lanc��me and the effectiveness of social media relationhips with local celebrities on their purchase intention

The aim of this research is to evaluate if a premium beauty brand, in this case, Lanc��me, can influence positively the purchase intention from Brazilian young adults, between 18 and 29 years old, consumers of beauty products, by initiating a relationship with a local celebrity or ���it��� girl on social media. This hypothesis has not been tested, and this research is a first attempt of evaluating it. Additionally, the consumer behavior, brand preferences and social media activeness of this age segment in Brazil are further studied as important insights for beauty brands to conquer these consumers. Results did not confirm the positive influence of local celebrities on this age segment���s purchase intention but several suggestions are made for future research to revisit this topic. Furthermore, there is a significant brand love for M.A.C., an international Lanc��me competitor, amongst this target, as well as a probable price sensitivity facing premium beauty brands.

Arte e terrorismo: meta-representa����es da Arte

Tendo como ponto de partida os estudos da performance para a an��lise do terrorismo, a presente disserta����o teve como resultado a possibilidade de reflectir sobre t��cticas de incorpora����o, reperformance e meta-teatro, tr��s conceitos que permitem compreender de que forma a arte assimila e se compreende em rela����o com o terrorismo. Apresenta, por um lado, documentos oficiais que demonstram a exist��ncia de um conflito quanto �� defini����o de terrorismo, reflectindo sobre ���terrorismo de estado��� e ���contra-estado���. Por outro lado, a partir da an��lise dos Surveillence Camera Players e da performance Three Posters, ou de artistas como Hasan Elahy e Alyson Wyper, esta disserta����o defende que a arte reperforma ���t��ticas de representa����o��� e realiza����o medi��tica do terrorismo, nomeadamente, o teatro pan��ptico, a tortura como performance e os v��deo-testemunhos de m��rtires como retratos e v��deo-performances.

An interactive learning approach to accounting classes

This working paper explores the use of interactive learning tools, such as business simulations, to facilitate the active learning process in accounting classes. Although business simulations were firstly introduced in the United States in the 1950s, the vast majority of accounting professors still use traditional teaching methods, based in end-of-chapter exercises and written cases. Moreover, the current students��� generation brings new challenges to the classroom related with their video, game, internet and mobile culture. Thus, a survey and an experimentation were conducted to understand, on one hand, if accounting professors are willing to adjust their teaching methods with the adoption of interactive learning tools and, on the other hand, if the adoption of interactive learning tools in accounting classes yield better academic results and levels of satisfaction among students. Students using more interactive learning approaches scored significantly higher means than others that did not. Accounting professors are clearly willing to try, at least once, the use of an accounting simulator in classes.