Are Videogames Art?

My dissertation defends a positive answer to the question: “Can a videogame be a work of art? ” To achieve this goal I develop definitions of several concepts, primarily ‘art’, ‘games’, and ‘videogames’, and offer arguments about the compatibility of these notions. In Part One, I defend a definition of art from amongst several contemporary and historical accounts. This definition, the Intentional-Historical account, requires, among other things, that an artwork have the right kind of creative intentions behind it, in short that the work be intended to be regarded in a particular manner. This is a leading account that has faced several recent objections that I address, particular the buck-passing theory, the objection against non-failure theories of art, and the simultaneous creation response to the ur-art problem, while arguing that it is superior to other theories in its ability to answer the question of videogames’ art status. Part Two examines whether games can exhibit the art-making kind of creative intention. Recent literature has suggested that they can. To verify this a definition of games is needed. I review and develop the most promising account of games in the literature, the over-looked account from Bernard Suits. I propose and defend a modified version of this definition against other accounts. Interestingly, this account entails that games cannot be successfully intended to be works of art because games are goal-directed activities that require a voluntary selection of inefficient means and that is incompatible with the proper manner of regarding that is necessary for something to be an artwork. While the conclusions of Part One and Part Two may appear to suggest that videogames cannot be works of art, Part Three proposes and defends a new account of videogames that, contrary to first appearances, implies that not all videogames are games. This Intentional-Historical Formalist account allows for non-game videogames to be created with an art-making intention, though not every non-ludic videogame will have an art-making intention behind it. I then discuss examples of videogames that are good candidates for being works of art. I conclude that a videogame can be a work of art, but that not all videogames are works of art. The thesis is significant in several respects. It is a continuation of academic work that has focused on the definition and art status of videogames. It clarifies the current debate and provides a positive account of the central issues that has so far been lacking. It also defines videogames in a way that corresponds better with the actual practice of videogame making and playing than other definitions in the literature. It offers further evidence in defense of certain theories of art over others, providing a close examination of videogames as a new case study for potential art objects and for aesthetic and artistic theory in general. Finally, it provides a compelling answer to the question of whether videogames can be art. This project also provides the groundwork for new evaluative, critical, and appreciative tools for engagement with videogames as they develop as a medium. As videogames mature, more people, both inside and outside academia, have increasing interest in what they are and how to understand them. One place many have looked is to the practice of art appreciation. My project helps make sense of which appreciative and art-critical tools and methods are applicable to videogames.

The feasibility of torrefaction for the co-firing of wood in pulverised-fuel boilers

Torrefaction is the partial pyrolysis of wood characterised by thermal degradation of predominantly hemicellulose under inert atmosphere. Torrefaction can be likened to coffee roasting but with wood in place of beans. This relatively new process concept makes wood more like coal. Torrefaction has attracted interest because it potentially enables higher rates of co-firing in existing pulverised-coal power plants and hence greater net CO2 emission reductions. Academic and entrepreneurial interest in torrefaction has sky rocketed in the last decade. Research output has focused on the many aspects of torrefaction – from detailed chemical changes in feedstock to globally-optimised production and supply scenarios with which to sustain EU emission-cutting directives. However, despite its seemingly simple concept, torrefaction has retained a somewhat mysterious standing. Why hasn’t torrefied pellet production become fully commercialised? The question is one of feasibility. This thesis addresses this question. Herein, the feasibility of torrefaction in co-firing applications is approached from three directions. Firstly, the natural limitations imposed by the structure of wood are assessed. Secondly, the environmental impact of production and use of torrefied fuel is evaluated and thirdly, economic feasibility is assessed based on the state of the art of pellet making. The conclusions reached in these domains are as follows. Modification of wood’s chemical structure is limited by its naturally existing constituents. Consequently, key properties of wood with regards to its potential as a co-firing fuel have a finite range. The most ideal benefits gained from wood torrefaction cannot all be realised simultaneously in a single process or product. Although torrefaction at elevated pressure may enhance some properties of torrefied wood, high-energy torrefaction yields are achieved at the expense of other key properties such as heating value, grindability, equilibrium moisture content and the ability to pelletise torrefied wood. Moreover, pelletisation of even moderately torrefied fuels is challenging and achieving a standard level of pellet durability, as required by international standards, is not trivial. Despite a reduced moisture content, brief exposure of torrefied pellets to water from rainfall or emersion results in a high level of moisture retention. Based on the above findings, torrefied pellets are an optimised product. Assessment of energy and CO2-equivalent emission balance indicates that there is no environmental barrier to production and use of torrefied pellets in co-firing. A long product transport distance, however, is necessary in order for emission benefits to exceed those of conventional pellets. Substantial CO2 emission reductions appear possible with this fuel if laboratory milling results carry over to industrial scales for direct co-firing. From demonstrated state-of-the-art pellet properties, however, the economic feasibility of torrefied pellet production falls short of conventional pellets primarily due to the larger capital investment required for production. If the capital investment for torrefied pellet production can be reduced significantly or if the pellet-making issues can be resolved, the two production processes could be economically comparable. In this scenario, however, transatlantic shipping distances and a dry fuel are likely necessary for production to be viable. Based on demonstrated pellet properties to date, environmental aspects and production economics, it is concluded that torrefied pellets do not warrant investment at this time. However, from the presented results, the course of future research in this field is clear.

A representação do feio na arte: um breve estudo sobre quatro gravuras de Francisco Goya

Pós-graduação em Artes - IA

Ação relacional: ação como experiência de interação sob a perpectiva do agente implicado pelo sensível

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A poética do corpo não-verbal: um olhar para a comicidade em cena

Throughout our history as an actor, director and teacher, we appreciate comedic performances they proposed a dialogue with the public through the body language of the performers whose performances abdicate the use of speech of the actors. This way of representing, in the silence of the stage, caught our attention and sparked our curiosity about the subject, which is directly related to the poetic constructions of the body on the scene. Before initial readings on the subject, we begin to understand that for a long time in human history, especially in the West, understanding body was constructed from various epistemological looks disregarded the body as a unit, an incarnation of the subject in all . This kind of thinking, reflecting the philosophy of modernity, reverberated strongly about the aesthetic issues of art making, here specifically in Theatre. For several centuries the theatrical make up molded from various aesthetic elements, but ignoring the potential of embodiment of the artist, ie the theatrical text, for example, was considered for a long time, as the main element of the scene and gave little emphasis on dramaturgy elaborate body. With the emergence of reflections on the subject, brought especially from the early twentieth century, the perception of the body as a creative element and creator, also began to gain ground. Over time artistic practices began to glimpse the creative possibilities of the body, including rethinking its relationship with the text written with the spoken word. And as part of these new reflections on the body in the creation process, we proposed this research, we have entitled "A poetics of non-verbal body: a look at the comic on the scene." In our research on this subject, also seek to understand how the corporeality of the actor may give us clues to realize / build nonverbal body and comical scene. From this perspective we can analyze how could the construction of a comical and non-verbal dramaturgy from the phenomenology of laughter. And with that look, we want to point out some aspects and procedures, arising from reflections on corporeality and comedy, that constitute, among other possible, non-verbal construction methodology scenic.

The Essay as Art Form

Beginning with Montaigne’s essayistic dictum Que sais je? — ‘What do I know?’ — this PhD thesis examines the literary history, formal qualities, and theoretical underpinnings of the personal essay to both investigate and to practice its relevance as an approach to writing about art. The thesis proposes the essay as intrinsically linked to research, critical writing, and art making; it is a literary method that embodies the real experience of attempting to answer a question. The essay is a processual and reflexive mode of enquiry: a form that conveys not just the essayist’s thought, but the sense and texture of its movement as it attempts to understand its object. It is often invoked, across disciplines, in reference to the possibility of a more liberal sense of creative practice — one that conceptually and stylistically privileges collage, fragmentation, hybridity, chance, open-endedness, and the meander. Within this question of the essay as form, the thesis contains two distinct and parallel strands of analysis — subject matter and essay writing as research. At the core of the study lie two close-readings: Ana Mendieta’s Labyrinth of Venus (1982) and Le Couvent de la Tourette (1959) by Le Corbusier and Iannis Xenakis. In each case, the writing draws, in its tone and texture, on a range of literary influences, weaving together different voices, discussions, and approaches to enquiry. The practice of essay writing is presented alongside, part and party to, research: a method of interrogation that embraces risk and uncertainty, and simultaneously enacts its own findings as a critical-creative mode of study-via-form, and form-via-study. The thesis is presented as a book-length essay, in which the art in question is equal and intimately connected to the writing used to address it. Method and form are designed to respond to the oft-cited challenge of the essay as fundamentally unmethodical, ranging, and diverse. Research, critical study, writerly description, and storytelling are combined to elucidate and expose each other based not on surface continuity, but on a deep interconnection among ideas that, through language, cohere and become related — imbued with an affinity for one another. The consummate product is the argument, as it works across genres, disciplines, descriptive and critical models, to challenge the narrative structure and language used within contemporary writing about art.

A Palliative Prognostic Score for Terminally Ill Children and Adolescents With Cancer

Background. The loss of a child is considered the hardest moment in a parent`s life. Studies addressing length of survival under pediatric palliative care are rare. The aim of this study was to improve a survival prediction model for children in palliative care, as accurate information positively impacts parent and child preparation for palliative care. Procedure. Sixty-five children referred to a pediatric palliative care team were followed from August 2003 until December 2006. Variables investigated (also included in previous studies) were: diagnosis, home care provider, presence of anemia, and performance status score given by the home care provider. Clinical variables such as symptom number were also used to test the score`s ability to pre-validated using the above variables. The number of symptoms at transition to palliative care does not improve the score`s predictive ability. The sum of the single scores gives an overall score for each patient, dividing the population into three groups by probability of 60-day survival: Group A 80.0%, Group B 38.0%, and Group C 28.5% (P < 0.001). Conclusion. A pediatric palliative care score based on easily accessible variables is statistically significant in multivariate analysis. Factors that increase accuracy of life expectancy prediction enable adequate information to be given to patients and families, contributing to therapeutic decision-making issues. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2010;55:1167-1171. (C) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Time – intangible tangible –

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Arte e Ciência do Vidro

Utopia Ltd

Utopia Ltd. explores the relationship between utopian ideas and commodification, bringing together artwork by Blaise Drummond, Brendan Earley, Pil and Galia Kollectiv, David Mabb, Lizi Sanchez and Mary-Ruth Walsh. The seven artists’ work opens up a debate on the utopian within painting, sculpture, architecture, design and video.The works in Utopia Ltd. represent modernist architecture and design in its various mutations within a spectacularised, commodified 20th century consumer society. In these works, the utopian dream seems to burst through again and again, despite rather than because of the permutations of commodity culture. By picturing the past, present and possible future, the works destabilize fixed linear time. By rescuing, reclaiming and re-picturing, Utopia Ltd. suggests that utopian ideas persist in contemporary art, making a provocative demand on the viewer’s capacity to produce utopian dreams of their own. The exhibition’s title Utopia Ltd. is a satirical echo of an operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan, Utopia (Limited) or, The Flowers of Progress (1893), in which a utopian colony is turned into a joint stock company.

The Institute of Psychoplasmics

ABSTRACT: The Institute of Psychoplasmics is a group exhibition dealing with cults, rituals and the metaphor of the body politic. A key interest of the project is the way in which cultic groupings challenge the integrity of the social body by producing another within it. The exhibition, book and events explore parallels between the operations of new religious movements in the context of neo-liberalism and the forms of collectivity posited by contemporary art. These issues were addressed through a gallery display, academic essays, discussion, adult and children focused workshops and live performance event. The exhibition design, which considered the gallery as a research institute, itself investigated strategies of collaboration and psycho-social manipulation. The show was curated by Pil and Galia Kollectiv and commissioned by the Pump House Gallery in London and supported by Outset, Arts Council England and the Henry Moore Foundation. The exhibition included work by a.a.s., Insectoid, Diann Bauer, Amanda Beech, Mikko Canini, Seth Coston, Rod Dickinson, Pil and Galia Kollectiv, Tai Shani, Francis Upritchard and Roman Vasseur. A publication edited by the curators, features writing by Suhail Malik, Amanda Beech, Pil and Galia Kollectiv, Gilad Elbom, Tom McCarthy, Emily McMehen and Travis Jeppesen.

Arte, vida e formação de professores

Pós-graduação em Artes - IA

Modalizações da gaucherie em autores brasileiros e portugueses contemporâneos

Pós-graduação em Letras - IBILCE

A legitimidade da participação processual na tutela dos direitos difusos

A abordagem teórica da participação processual se encontra em um ponto de interseção entre uma teoria política e social e uma teoria do direito, pelo que, foi necessário iniciar pela teoria social de Habermas, para então transitar para sua teoria política e dela para a sua teoria sobre o direito. Nos termos de uma teoria discursiva, a correção da decisão judicial decorre não apenas da racionalidade da legislação, mas, também da reprodução, no âmbito do discurso jurídico, das condições do discurso racional, desde que observadas as limitações pragmáticas que incidem sobre o discurso jurídico, limitações essas que decorrem da especificidade do discurso jurídico, que, voltado para questões de decidibilidade, não pode se desenvolver sob os mesmos pressupostos da ética do discurso. Mesmo limitado pelas imposições pragmáticas do discurso jurídico, nele, assim como nos discursos práticos em geral, a argumentação é necessária à justificação racional e à correção da decisão judicial, e é neste aspecto que o discurso jurídico se conecta com a participação, essencial para a justificação racional e legitimidade da decisão judicial. Assim, a legislação processual deve ser submetida à crítica, para que se verifique se a participação processual prevista na legislação é capaz de garantir um procedimento legítimo. No caso da legislação nacional, há duas situações que não se justificam racionalmente, a primeira, referente ao procedimento judicial atual, calcado no paradigma individual, insuficiente para o processamento de lides formuladas em torno dos direitos difusos, pois impedem que a necessária discussão em torno dos paradigmas jurídicos que serão apresentados em juízo, e em torno da representação adequada, aconteçam. A segunda referente à restrição à participação individual na maioria das ações processuais voltadas à tutela dos direitos difusos que não se justifica racionalmente. Apesar de existir um indicativo de mudança, consistente em um anteprojeto de código de processo coletivo em que está prevista a ampliação da legitimação a qualquer membro da sociedade, esta ampliação não se estende a todas as ações que podem ser utilizadas para tutelar interesses e direitos difusos, pois ficaram de fora as ações de controle de constitucionalidade. Assim, a reflexão em torno do tema da participação processual não pode ser encerrada, nem mesmo quando o código de processo coletivo for promulgado, dada a essencialidade da participação de todos os interessados, ou de seus representantes legítimos, em qualquer procedimento judicial em que seus interesses ou direitos estejam sendo discutidos. De igual modo, apenas a continuidade da reflexão em torno da insuficiência do procedimento judicial pautado no paradigma liberal para a tutela de direitos difusos é capaz de criar uma discussão racional sobre o tema, cuja conclusão represente a vitória das melhores razões.

Fragmento d'alma

Fragmento D' Alma is an artistic research that part of a poetic tale through an initial charge of dawn one fantastic universe where words have life and willingly. The work includes sculptural works in order to interpret through the use of allegory situations of the tale in the form of sculptural compositions considering one or more characters in the story. In the sculptural work, I tried figuring the relations tale as my interpretations and poetic, so I sought theoretical studies of allegory after noting my affinity with the theme to contribute to the relationship text and image set in my work. I also sought to understand the relationships that the text played with sculptural work, so the chances that I could address this through dialogue between text and image. The studies collected through surveys pointed allegory by João Adolfo Hansen, as well as in various artistic and visual references present in my repertoire, such as the Baroque sculpture of Bernini, the performances of Berna Reale and literature of Neil Gaiman, contributed in this research to the development of my creative process during the preparation of this research work of art, making the complexity of the relationship between textual production and poetic sculptural three-dimensional, also became a concern and an integral theme of my work and my reflections presented here. Therefore, I conclude based on my own experience in this work, the artistic research inspired allegory might contribute to the development of my creative process during the preparation of this artwork, besides assigning relations between textual production and poetic dimensional sculpture

O ensino de redação em sites: diálogos em rede

We know that studies on reading and writing take place within the Linguistic for several decades and, with de computer, the language entered the network and this is opening a learning space for writing classes, no more reduced to a classroom but expanded to a universe that has no geographical boundaries, namely de Internet. Our research fits into this context and is part of the project The discourse on writing practices in contemporary Brazilian media: the art making, the pedagogical practice, and the production of meaning to develop discourse analysis on the practice of writing on sites dedicated to teaching and learning of this practice. The main objective of this research is to investigate the relationship between school attendance of redaction - made here as discourse gender, as you know Bakhtin - and the discourse of the sites that constitute our corpus. We set out the hypothesis that the sites are intended for the teaching/learning of writing seeking to create virtually teaching imaginarily conditions similar to those that exist in school attendance of the Portuguese language. We are interested in, therefore, observe, discursively, as the image is created of the interlocutors to which they are intended considering that the enunciators are not in front of those who occupy the place of real students, because they are virtual students. We, too, to know as the gender class manifested itself in those sites, as these sites dialogue with the face-to-face class in relation to ideology, the function of the teacher, the conception of language and writing. The constitution of the corpus was from search tools on the internet. The sites that we analyzed were: alunosonline.com.br, brasilescola.com.br, coladaweb.com.br, guiadoestudante.com.br, infoescola.com.br, mundoeducação.com.br, mundovestibular.com.br, português.com.br, professorjuscelino.com.br and redaçãodissertativa.com.br. The selection was qualitative, considering the...