Foto-assemblage

FOTO-ASSEMBLAGE consiste em nomenclatura sugestionada para definir os trabalhos que tenho produzido a partir da junção de fotografias digitais. As elaborações e fundamentações desses trabalhos representam também o cerne das pesquisas que resultaram na presente dissertação. Em princípio, o termo foto-assemblage haveria de referir-se a questões técnicas ou formais dessa prática. Contudo, ao desenvolver as pesquisas alguns procedimentos acabaram por determinar certas nuances que revelaram aspectos comuns também em seus e conteúdos. Como resultado de construções artísticas juntando fotografias desde 2009, cheguei às composições sintéticas aqui apresentadas, construídas a partir de duas fotografias. Aventei o nome foto-assemblage por observar nas imagens resultantes ressalvas que as distinguiriam de certas convenções atribuídas à ideia de fotografia. Ao mesmo tempo, as referidas imagens proporiam um possível desdobramento ao entendimento de assemblage enquanto técnica artística. Ainda que não seja uma regra, fotografias revelam imagens de momentos. Em sua relação com a compreensão humana de tempo ou espaço, fotografias quase sempre contêm instâncias mínimas. Fotografias, contudo, podem ser também compreendidas como uma contração de um percurso de tempo. Toda imagem fotográfica pode ser assimilada como resultante de determinados acontecimentos anteriores e mesmo tida como elemento gerador de conseqüências futuras. Seguindo esse entendimento, o que proponho com a foto-assemblage é que essa lide com segmentos de tempo ou de espaço contidos numa mesma imagem. Essas fotografias originárias ganhariam uma nova atribuição, sendo retiradas de seu contexto original, serviriam de balizas do percurso de tempo ou espaço suprimido e subjetivado entre elas. Poeticamente, eventos ocorridos entre as fotografias originárias estariam contidos nas imagens produzidas. O termo assemblage foi incorporado às artes a partir de 1953, por Jean Dubuffet, para descrever trabalhos que seriam algo mais do que simples colagem. A ideia de assemblage se baseia no princípio de que todo e qualquer material ou objeto colhido de nosso mundo cotidiano pode ser incorporado a uma obra de arte, criando um novo conjunto, sem que perca seu sentido original. Esse objeto é arrancado de seu uso habitual e inserido num novo contexto, tecendo laços de relação com os demais elementos, construindo narrativas num novo ambiente, o da obra. Na ideia da foto-assemblage, entretanto, é sugerido uso das imagens fotográficas originárias não como objetos que estariam em um mundo cotidiano, mas sim como imagem na concepção do que seria uma entidade mental. Adoto como que uma visão mágica onde as imagens originárias e básicas estariam numa outra dimensão, num plano bidimensional, não manipulável por nós habitantes da tridimensionalidade. Nesse ambiente imaginário ou não, as fotografias são assentadas consolidando a foto-assemblage. Quando a foto-assemblage se concretiza, se corporifica numa mídia, sendo impressa para uma contemplação, ai então, passaria a integrar nosso mundo tridimensional. O resultado poderia ser admitido como um híbrido, uma terceira coisa, a partir de duas que já não se dissociam mais no ensejo de uma compreensão estética. Ao final da dissertação, apresento experiências práticas que resultaram em quatro séries de imagens em foto-assemblage. Cada série enfatiza aspectos peculiares do que denomino paisagem expandida, representando percursos de tempo, espaço ou trajetos entre o mundo concreto e mundos do inconsciente.

Season- and depth-dependent variability of a demersal fish assemblage in a large fjord estuary (Puget Sound, Washington)

Fjord estuaries are common along the northeast Pacific coastline, but little information is available on fish assemblage structure and its spatiotemporal variability. Here, we examined changes in diversity metrics, species biomasses, and biomass spectra (the distribution of biomass across body size classes) over three seasons (fall, winter, summer) and at multiple depths (20 to 160 m) in Puget Sound, Washington, a deep and highly urbanized fjord estuary on the U.S. west coast. Our results indicate that this fish assemblage is dominated by cartilaginous species (spotted ratfish [Hydrolagus colliei] and spiny dogfish [Squalus acanthias]) and therefore differs fundamentally from fish assemblages found in shallower estuaries in the northeast Pacific. Diversity was greatest in shallow waters (<40 m), where the assemblage was composed primarily of flatfishes and sculpins, and lowest in deep waters (>80 m) that are more common in Puget Sound and that are dominated by spotted ratf ish and seasonally (fall and summer) by spiny dogfish. Strong depth-dependent variation in the demersal fish assemblage may be a general feature of deep fjord estuaries and indicates pronounced spatial variability in the food web. Future comparisons with less impacted fjords may offer insight into whether cartilaginous species naturally dominate these systems or only do so under conditions related to human-caused ecosystem degradation. Information on species distributions is critical for marine spatial planning and for modeling energy flows in coastal food webs. The data presented here will aid these endeavors and highlight areas for future research in this important yet understudied system.

Seasonal variability in ichthyoplankton abundance and assemblage composition in the northern Gulf of Mexico off Alabama

Multiyear ichthyoplankton surveys used to monitor larval fish seasonality, abundance, and assemblage structure can provide early indicators of regional ecosystem changes. Numerous ichthyoplankton surveys have been conducted in the northern Gulf of Mexico, but few have had high levels of temporal resolution and sample replication. In this study, ichthyoplankton samples were collected monthly (October 2004–October 2006) at a single station off the coast of Alabama as part of a long-term biological survey. Four seasonal periods were identified from observed and historic water temperatures, including a relatively long (June–October) “summer” period (water temperature >26°C). Fish egg abundance, total larval abundance, and larval taxonomic diversity were significantly related to water temperature (but not salinity), with peaks in the spring, spring–summer, and summer periods, respectively. Larvae collected during the survey represented 58 different families, of which engraulids, sciaenids, carangids, and clupeids were the most prominent. The most abundant taxa collected were unidentified engraulids (50%), sand seatrout (Cynoscion arenarius, 7.5%), Atlantic bumper (Chloroscombrus chrysurus, 5.4%), Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus, 4.4%), Gulf menhaden (Brevoortia patronus, 3.8%), and unidentified gobiids (3.6%). Larval concentrations for dominant taxa were highly variable between years, but the timing of seasonal occurrence for these taxa was relatively consistent. Documented increases in sea surface temperature on the Alabama shelf may have various implications for larval fish dynamics, as indicated by the presence of tropical larval forms (e.g., fistularids, labrids, scarids, and acanthurids) in our ichthyoplankton collections and in recent juvenile surveys of Alabama and northern Gulf of Mexico seagrass habitats.

Temporal Changes in a Tropical Nekton Assemblage and Performance of a Prawn Selective Gear

The temporal variation of components of a moderately diverse (H=1.46) tropical estuarine fish assemblage (long. 146°30'E, lat. 8°45'S) was directed by salinities that had been determined by local oceanographic and probably topographic conditions. For this assemblage, two types of intrayear component profiles are predicted. Pooled data (1988-91) reveal a large component of regular/resident species (43%) in an assemblage which has been under a narrow temperature regime «5T). These results facilitate a discussion on the relevance and usefulness of three hypotheses often cited in studies concerning species diversity and component characteristics of the subtropical/tropical coastal nonreef fish assemblages. Manifestations of the assemblage are reflected in catch composition and weights of 39 trials conducted for a selective prawning gear whose performance in bycatch reduction, mainly for finfishes, is judged by an index, E, we have previously proposed. This gear is capable of harvesting the prawn while conserving the demersal fish. Behavioral responses to netting of the prawns and the finfishes, especially the nearshore surface schoolers such as leiognathids, are discussed from several points of view. An adaptation in terms of group selection for leiognathids of their locking mechanism of median fin spines has been interpreted. For the purpose of bycatch reduction or E enhancement, suggestions for improvements in net design and trawl configuration by considering the behavioral features of fish are made. Our original formula of E is modified for general use. Bycatch problems in the regional prawn fisheries and their possible impacts on fishery planning and development in Papua New Guinea as a developing country are discussed. The gear tested may offer enormous ecological and economic benefits. The gear is multipurpose, extremely simple, and can also be used as a biological sampler.