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Item Open Access The climate change-urban planning nexus in a mountain environment: the case of the Eastern Free State Region of South Africa(University of the Free State, 2023) Shezi, Ntombizodumo; Mukwada, Geofrey; Adagbasa, Efosa G.Thabo Mofutsanyana District is a rugged and mountainous area located in the eastern part of the Free State Province, South Africa. The area owes its ruggedness to the Drakensberg and Maloti Mountains. Mountain areas have been reported to be more sensitive and vulnerable to climate change, making it necessary to assess climate change in such areas and the surrounding urban areas. This study aimed to identify the negative impacts of climate change in the Thabo Mofutsanyana District and assess how urban planners responded to these impacts. This study used mixed-research methods, including climate data collected from the Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut (KNMI) Climate Earth Explorer analysed using Microsoft Excel. It used social data from formal interviews with local urban planners and survey questionnaires distributed to urban residents. The social data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel. Lastly, the study used spatial data from Google Earth Explorer, and PlanetScope analysed using ArcGIS (ArcMap 10.7.1). The results revealed a statistically significant increase in monthly mean temperature (from 1990 to 2020) experienced in Thabo Mofutsanyana District towns, while the decrease in annual total precipitation (from 1990 to 2020) was not statistically significant. This implies that the increase in temperature results from climate change, while the decrease in precipitation is only climate variability. The results further revealed that the urban planners’ strategies implemented to alleviate the impact of climate change were ineffective due to the magnitude of the effects of climate change, especially flooding during heavy rains and extreme temperatures. Furthermore, it was discovered that the exclusion of climate change during urban planning led to a decline in the protection of Green and Blue Urban Ecological Infrastructure (UEI). The increasing Grey UEI is not sustainable as the blocking of drainage systems and the limited porosity of roads do not reduce the effects of climate change, such as flooding. If not effectively maintained, the Green and Blue UEI will continue to decrease in Thabo Mofutsanyana District, affecting the area’s sustainability. The study concluded that sustainable urban planning could mitigate the effects of climate change in cities and small towns, and help communities adapt to these effects effectively. Incorporating climate change during urban planning is necessary.Item Open Access Roots, rhizomes and radicles: critical reflections on memories and the voyage of becoming(University of the Free State, 2019-05) Maartens-Van Vuuren, Cecilia Hendrina; Allen-Spies, J.; Van den Berg, D. J.; Botma, B.A critical reflection on childhood memories and time unfolds into a labyrinthine journey involving fluctuating emotions, but also a voyage of creativity and new beginnings. In this M.A. Fine Arts project, comprising a dissertation, an exhibition of painting, embroidery and installation, and an exhibition catalogue, I endeavour to share my lived experiences on such a life journey. The objective is to raise awareness of the dynamics of inner life and the existence of the past in the present, which influence behaviour and future endeavours. Childhood memories of railroads and trains, motivated an exploration of the experience of the flow of time. In our planetary existence, we are consciously responding to a sensorium charged with impressions, the continuous passing of time and the irrevocability of the past. Not only a pressing awareness of the potential creative impact of one’s past experiences on current perceptions of life is raised, but also how humans impact each other and the environment. Henri Bergson’s philosophy of life, embodying the revitalising of past lived experience in the present through the process of duration (Fr. durée réelle), underpins the research. The past's actualising in the present as something new implies inner movement and change alongside invention, which is realised as a spiritual becoming – an outcome of the evolution of time, as conceived in Bergson's concept, vital impetus (Fr. élan vital). Hence, Bergsonian envitalised life as perpetual becoming serves as the determining conceptual frame in the discursive ordering of the dissertation, mainly because he emphasises the emergence of something new from the reconfiguration of past experiences through the method of intuition or inner perceiving. Bergson's evolutionary time, relative to contemporary thought, is explicated through the relationship between the plant-based metaphorical concepts of roots, rhizomes and radicles, to explore memory, time and the life journey. Throughout the project, the rhizome, due to its peculiar mode of growth, becomes a metaphor to express the relationship of memories, thoughts, feelings and lived experience. Temporality and life as a journey through time, is explored by analysing a selected group of artworks. Prevalent figures of time, exemplified by life as being predestined, the progressive life stages, the transience of life, and the decay of matter were revealed in the process. The impact of changing environments related to catastrophic events (wars and industrialisation), culminated in the epoch of the Anthropocene. With the élan vital concept at hand, the Anthropocene is reflected upon to compel human beings to confront and counteract the trajectory of earthly destruction. Conceptual metaphors of memory in the folds of time and place are analysed by means of historical and contemporary artworks, including some of my own, in order to grasp the nature and impact of memory and place in the flow of time. These metaphors are the engram, which is investigated as the imprint of experience, the palimpsest revealing fragments of layered memory and the rhizome by which the flow and connection of memories are interpreted, and how this relates to the actual physical brain. My reflection on memories is informed by Boym’s (2001: 41) rendering of reflective nostalgia as a way to characterise one’s relationship with the past and one’s own self-perception. My position is that of a reflective nostalgic who cherishes memories of the past, especially those of childhood, as a rich source of information that could serve as encouragement, better understanding of the self and of perceiving the present and the future within my own cultural existence. Therefore the act of looking back as conducive to the spectator's spiritual becoming is discussed, as well as the way in which intense emotions, thoughts and conceptualisations are expressed. Thus the complex reality of the labyrinthine life journey unrolls towards maturation, encompassing movement, change, creativity and invention. In the dissertation's coda, time's persistence in the present and future is reviewed by means of T. S. Elliot’s “The Dry Salvages” (1941). Elliot conceptualises the transference of tradition with Bergson’s evolutionary time conceived in durée réelle, as time unfolds in memory and place. What is eventually revealed is that the reconfiguration of past lived experiences potentially impact my present perceptions and behaviour, as well as views on the future. My belief in the significant impact of music and colours on emotional expression subconsciously conditioned my studio practice and selected artworks in this research.Item Open Access The design and implementation of an in-service training programme for art and crafts teachers in Lesotho(University of the Free State, 2002-11) Ofori-Asara, Samuel Kwasi; Allen-Spies, Janine; Botma, BenThe central focus of the study was to investigate the problems of teaching Art and Crafts in the Lesotho primary schools. Furthermore, the study seeks to investigate the extent that in-service training could be utilised to enhance the knowledge, appreciation, skill and attitude of teachers in the subject (Art and Crafts) In conducting the study, the following objectives were set and achieved: • To investigate the mode of in-service Art and Crafts training programme which can serve as a catalyst to improve the ability and morale of teachers in the teaching of Art and Crafts. • To find out the type of approach towards lesson plans, art materials and teaching methods as well as reference materials which will improve the quality of teachers' knowledge. • To find out the impact of follow up workshop on the teachers' teaching performance in the districts. • To design an in-service Art and Crafts curriculum for a Distance Teacher Education Programme (DTEP) for the NTTC (a programme to be implemented to replace the existing general in-service training programme in 2002). • To make recommendations which can improve the teaching and learning of Art and Crafts in the Lesotho primary schools. The action originated when the research became aware that Art and Crafts is now a core subject in the Lesotho primary schools and that the subject was going to be assessed at standard seven level (Grade 8) by the end of2001 but teachers lacked the qualifications. To this time, the MOE has still not implemented it. The researcher adopted the action research design for the study. An incidental sampling approach was utilised for selecting the sample. Invitation for the in-service training workshop was sent out to 520 unqualified teachers across the 10 districts of the Kingdom ofLesotho. However, only 498 teachers responded to the first call. A workshop was organised for the purpose of introducing teachers to the basics of Art and Crafts in the primary schools. The first workshop was followed by a Follow-up workshop after one month, where teachers exhibited their pupils' art works brought with them from their schools (Evaluation forms discussed and informal assessment of pupils' works displayed, indicated that teachers understood what was learnt in the first workshop and they had disseminated the information and skills gained to their pupils). 384 teachers responded for the second workshop. Finally, the researcher designed a proposed Art Curriculum for Distance Teacher Education Programme (DTEP) for the in-service division at NTIC. The focus was to provide unqualified teachers in other districts as well as remote areas with the opportunity to obtain a Diploma Certificate while still working as teachers (Refer to Appendix L). The researcher recommends, among others that: • The NCDC should supply syllabi to all primary schools in order to assist teachers in teaching Art and Crafts. • The initial in-service training course that has started by the NTIC is not satisfactory enough. Several types of in-service programmes must be evolved to increase teachers' knowledge and to boost their motivation. The researcher believes that teachers will be capable of teaching Art and Crafts in the primary schools after completion of the inservice training workshop. • Workshops could also be held in the district centres for pupils and the community at large where they could become active producers and share ideas on visual and cultural aspects of the environment. • Inspectors from the MOE should make follow-up workshops to schools in order to check if teachers are performing up to standard in art teaching. It was concluded that practical experience in primary school art gained during the first and the second workshops have increased confidence of the teachers. Also the quality of knowledge, appreciation, skills and attitude for teachers in Art and Crafts was boosted. Finally, the proposed Art curriculum for in-service training by Distance Learning for primary teachers will help all teachers who are interested to gain guidance and support on school art.Item Open Access Die kunsmedia en herinnering: verlewendiging van die verlede(University of the Free State, 2007-12) De Beer, Carolina Davidina; Allen-Spies, J.; Human, E. S.English: This dissertation is closely related to my studio research, the product of which is an installation in the Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery. The focus of my research is the ruptures that occur in the continuity of family memories. Seeing that my grandmother suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, the preservation of private memories is extremely important to me. According to postmodern thought, history is not regarded as a single, uninterrupted timeline. Different versions or narratives are equally important in the compilation of history. Micro-histories and private experiences become meaningful to history and so is the preservation of these common documents in archives. Thus the apparent divide between private and public history is blurred. As a result of South Africa’s difficult political history and the particular part played by the Afrikaners, the experience of memory is complicated. “Remembering” and “forgetting” are eminent in the relationship with history – the wilful forgetting of incidents in the past, as well as the “excessive remembering” thereof (Ricoeur 2004: 452 – 453). Afrikaners are not allowed to forget certain past political events. The internalisation of the past is an attempt to suppress it, so that it may only be experienced in the public sphere of history. This suppression can, however, still be observed beneath the surface of private histories, as well as in art works that seem to focus solely on private experiences. The different art media that are investigated in this research (i.e. painting, photography, gum prints, artists books, wax casts and installation art) address aspects of the preservation of memory that deal with estrangement, anonymity, absence and mortality. The interplay between light and dark, exposure and concealment, are metaphors used to examine the discontinuities in history and memory in the private and public spheres. The structure of this paper is presented in various layers: layers of history, art history, private history, and art media. A group of art works have been carefully selected to further the argument and visually realise the mutual interplay of nuances. Each chapter focuses on a specific art medium that is used in the Nagedagtenis installation, as well as on questions concerning history, art history and private history.Item Open Access Representing the sublime: interactions between spatial representation in new media and idyllic and mystic traditions in painting(University of the Free State, 2005-11) Raubenheimer, Landi; Van den Berg, D. J.; Allen-Spies, Janine; Human, E. S.English: The major image investigated in this study, is a cibachrome print entitled Pureland by Japanese artist Mariko Mori. The print is a still image from one of her 3D installations titled Nirvana. Throughout the text I refer to Pureland not as a pure image but as one appearing in different media, since the varied visual manifestations and reproductions of the image contribute to diverse aspects of the argument. The image is found in calendars and books, is exhibited as a large print and certain of Mori’s prints are even exhibited on lightboxes. This renders the prints a glowing computer or television screen quality, and suggests the notion of an advertising billboard. The “screen” qualities of the image are investigated throughout. The appearance of the image is pleasant, pink, even pretty, and this “eye-candy” could allude to the affirmative character of mass media images describing beautiful natural scenery. Sentimental images appear in Japanese manga and anime, but also in Western popular media such as Hollywood films. Furthermore Pureland seems reminiscent of landscape traditions that relate to idyllic yearning or nostalgia. This leads to the following question: is the pastoral tradition in its established conventions pertinent to the idyllic tendencies in mass media? What seems problematic in my view is that it appears as if something is omitted from the image on account of its pleasing character. This may indicate that what is not depicted (something extremely un-pleasant?) may also be relevant. This “un-pleasant” is investigated as a possible allusion to the digital sublime lurking beneath the smooth appearance of the image, only to manifest in brief moments of “suddenness”. The sublime is discussed in the context of the mystic landscape tradition and especially the work of artists such as Caspar David Friedrich in the mystic tradition, and, as it develops into the Abstract Expressionist movement in the work of Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and even the avant-garde art of Yves Klein. The mystic tradition is based on a negative stance grounded in the notion of kenosis, which is an emptying out resulting in transcendence. This tradition is fundamentally opposed to affirmative (idyllic) tendencies in both art and popular culture. The co-existence of the conflicting idyllic and mystic strands in the image is investigated throughout as an uneasy relationship which may result in a rupturing of the smooth pleasant appearance of the image, revealing the digital sublime. The “digital sublime” is derived from Jean-Francois Lyotard’s understanding of the sublime. It may manifest in cyberspace, virtual reality and other digital media that evoke virtual space, through seeming vastness and threatening character. Understanding the operations of viewing and representation implied by the computer and television screen is thus important in grasping the dynamic of the digital sublime. Do representations of space on the screen differ from perspectival representations of space and landscape in the fixed images of Western painting traditions? On the screen overlay and geometric principles are combined, urging the observer to penetrate and explore the layers, virtually or imaginatively entering the layered virtual environment. The notion of virtual depth as non-illusory depth may be comparable to Japanese viewing traditions and the diverse concepts of śūnyatā and “superflat”. The application of overlay and śūnyatā to contemporary painting is investigated in chapter three. I suspect that Pureland is a hybrid image, not only digitally composited from existing visual material, but also comprised of traces of disparate visual traditions and conventions. This is dicussed in conclusion.Item Open Access Die visioenêre verbeelding en die animering van die inheemse landskap(University of the Free State, 2016-02) Kruger, Louis Lodewyk; Allen-Spies, J.; Human, E. S.English: This study deals with the incomprehensible visionary experience and the possible relationships it may have with the indigenous landscape. It was motivated by artistic research (in the form of video art and digital photomontages) into the visionary potential that may be imbedded in the outstretched Northern Cape landscape. The problem regarding the representation of the visionary experience is firstly explored through the analyses of relevant image traditions in the history of art. These image traditions include: the mystical, the sublime, the apocalyptical, and the mythological. The diverse visual strategies, which are at work in these image traditions, reveal the various ways that the image of the landscape can suggestively act as a medium of visionary insights. Some of these revelations include: the use of the circle and saturated colours to suggest mystical power in the image and to sometimes facilitate a visionary revelation; the use of paradox, negation (like sombre light and obscurity) and synaesthetic combinations in images as a means to overcome the complexity and incomprehensibility of the visionary phenomenon; and the use of figures in the landscape to suggest the presence or expectancy of an active, chaotic eruption of visionary power in the landscape. The ability of the image of the outstretched landscape (specifically the desert that evokes allusions to eternity) to awaken a visionary eruption in the imagination is suggested through the implementation of the abovementioned visual strategies. In such cases it seems as if the image of the landscape jumps foreword, as though animated. Aby Warburg‟s notion of image animation is analysed to examine the image‟s ability to awaken a cultural memory of the landscape through the imagination. The ways in which the use of some visual motifs in images of the landscape is capable of promoting the animation process, is explored. These visual motifs include: the form of the vortex as visual and landscape motif, in the appearance of whirlwinds and whirlpools. The capacity of the vortex‟s features of constant movement, transformation, and instability to animate images of the landscape, is evaluated in association with the fascination with the vortex form in the history of the visionary phenomenon. For example it is a well-known motif that is experienced during hallucinations and near-death experiences. The use of other landscape motifs such as rocks, earth, lightning, clouds and astral constellations is evaluated in both mythological and Christian contexts, for example in the visions of Saint Jerome in the desert and in the practice of shamanism implied in the rock art of the Khoisan of Bushman people. Through this research of the vortex and other landscape motifs various manifestations are revealed: artificial marks in the landscape, which can suggest possible thresholds, and movements of upward and downward directionality, which are suggested over the landscape. The artist‟s discerning choice and use of the medium through which he/she aims to visualise the abovementioned motifs and underlying visual strategies, is also researched. Two factors that influence the medium‟s contribution to the animation of the image come to the fore – light and multi-layering. Light in the medium animates the image in the following ways: the discriminating use of light/lighting in installations can create immersive, deceptive places that stimulate the participant‟s imaginative flight to another reality or can refer to something absent or remote; and in the digital, video and film image light refers to the ignored mechanical aspects at work to create and exhibit images. Multi-layering in installations, digital photomontages and collages awaken visionary associations of imaginary flight through multi-layered spheres in the cultural memory of the landscape, while the discovery of hidden layers of meaning in the image also enables animation. Lastly, the capacity of relevant locations involved in the creation and exhibition of artworks to facilitate the visionary imagination is examined. For example, the studio of the artist can function in the same manner as the remote landscape in which the prophet finds refuge – it encourages a person to cast a visionary gaze over the world. Furthermore it seems as if the sensitive placement and lighting of the artwork in the gallery is capable of evoking a visionary experience in the spirit of the participant as a result of image animation and the productive imagination‟s ability to create a new reality.Item Open Access 'n Kritiese ondersoek na museologiese tegnieke(University of the Free State, 1977) De la Harpe, Mariana Erna; Teurlinckx, A. A. F.Afrikaans: Weens die verskeidenheid van voorwerpe wat in musea tentoongestel word en as gevolg van die feit dat elke voorwerp of groep voorwerpe hul eie vereistes stel met betrekking tot tentoonstelling, opvoedkundige aanbieding, die ideale gebou, administratiewe organisasie, konservering en restourasie, word daar slegs gepoog om breë riglyne van die verskillende museumfunksies aan te stip. In hierdie verhandeling word gepoog om 'n redelike volledige oorsig van die verskillende museologiese tegnieke en verwerkings te gee. Spesiale aandag word gegee aan die tentoonstellingsaspek in die museum aangesien die outeur dit tesame met konserveringas die hooffunksies van die museum beskou. Die konservering v an die museum-voorwerp word deurlopend beklemtoon omdat die behoud van die voorwerp van essensiële belang vir die museuminrigting is. Die verhandeling word benader vanuit die oogpunt van die kurator. Om dié rede word eerder 'n algemene oorsig as 'n gedetailleerde bespreking van die verskillende museumpraktyke gegee. Die ideale museumgebou word bespreek aan die hand van die nuwe vereistes wat aan die moderne museum gestel word. Dit word as ideaal gestel dat 'n gebou so ontwerp sal word dat dit by die versameling sal aanpas. Die tegniese en finansiële eise wat dit sou meebring, word egter besef en daarom word die aanpassing van bestaande geboue om as museumgeboue te dien, in die verhandeling bespreek. Wat administrasie betref, probeer die outeur die noodsaaklike administratiewe verwerkings, praktiese wenke aangaande hierdie verwerkings asook bykomstige verwerkings wat met min ekstra moeite 'n massiewe hoeveelheid inligting beskikbaar sal stel, aantoon. Ook hier is daar baie moontlikhede, maar die outeur wil dit duidelik stel dat enige verwerking of tegniek wetenskaplik, eenvoudig en prakties moet wees. Al hierdie verwerkings is beproef deur die jare maar die outeur voel dat die toepassing daarvan so moet wees dat dit soos nodig by nuwe behoeftes kan aanpas en nie persoonlike inisiatief moet demp nie. Die aanbieding van museumvoorwerpe is die spil waarom die museumorganisasie draai en om hierdie rede geniet die tentoonstelling spesiale aandag in hierdie verhandeling. Die wyse waarvolgens 'n tentoonstelling aangebied word, word deur elke versameling afsonderlik bepaal na sy eie aard. Daar kan dus nie 'n ideale metode voorgestel word nie, maar slegs breë riglyne. 'n Belangrike en moeilike plig van die tentoonstellingstegniek toegepas in 'n museum, is dat dit tot alle besoekers gerig moet wees. Dit moet dus sowel die algemene publiek as die belangstellende en die kenner bevredig en aan alle groepe die moontlikheid bied om verder te ontwikkel. Dit is duidelik dat die tentoonstellingsaktiwiteit van die museum 'n gespesialiseerde veld is en deeglike beplanning en organisasie vooraf vereis. Die outeur voel dat die tentoonstelling van so aard moet wees dat dit die besoeker wat deur die ingangsportaal van die museum gestap het se aandag moet trek en behou hetsy hy 'n gespesialiseerde student of belangstellende lid van die publiek is. Besoekers van heel verskillende kulturele agtergrond moet geïnspireer en geprikkel word tot verdere selfstudie. Om dit te kan doen, moet die aanbieding lewendig, verstaanbaar en logies ontplooi word. Weereens is deeglike beplanning en voorbereiding 'n absolute vereiste. Die outeur is die mening toegedaan dat die trefkrag van outentieke museumvoorwerpe meer is as die van afdrukke, maar dat die gebruik van goeie afdrukke en replikas van uitstaande werke wel geregverdig is, veral in gevalle waar die begroting beperk is. By die aanbieding van opvoedkundige materiaal moet die gevaar van vooroordeel en die intellektuele eerlikheid van die personeel voortdurent aandag geniet om te voorkom dat die museum sy doelstelling mis. Die konservering en restourasie van museumvoorwerpe word bespreek met die doel om die belangrikheid daarvan in die museumorganisasie aan te toon. Die aanwesigheid van so 'n afdeling in die museum word nog nie algemeen aanvaar nie en dit is ee nvan die redes waarom veral aandag aan dié afdeling gegee word. Dit moet weer genoem word dat die toepassing van goeie konserveringmetodes, restourasie tot 'n groot mate verminder. Sekere restourasietegnieke bespreek, vereis gespesialiseerde apparaat en dit is duidelik dat die klein musea nie die mas sal opkom nie. Dit word dus aanbeveel dat hulle met groot inrigtings sal saamwerk of dat 'n paar kleiner musea sal saamstaan. Dieselfde geld vir die indiensname van 'n gekwalifiseerde restourateur. Daar is egter heelwat restourasietegnieke wat wel deur die kleiner museum toegepas kan word. Ten slotte moet dit weer beklemtoon word dat alles ingrepe met betrekking tot restourasie tot 'n minimum beperk moet word. Indien daar enige twyfel bestaan ten opsigte van restourasie, moet 'n tweede opinie ingeroep word; selfs 'n derde opinie sou nie verkeerd wees nie. Die outeur voel ook baie sterk dat wat oorspronklik aan 'n voorwerp is, sover as moontlik behoue moet bly en indien dit nie moontlik is nie, moet retoesjering en ander toevoegings van so 'n aard wees dat die oorspronklike altyd weer teruggebring kan word. Dit is dus duidelik dat daar baie hoë eise aan die integriteit van die restourateur gestel word.Item Open Access Artistieke visualisering van konnektiwiteit(University of the Free State, 2005-11) Mellet-Pretorius, Louisa J.; Allen-Spies, J.; Van den Berg, D. J.English: Connectivity is expanded through technological deve lopments converting the world into a global and interactive connectivity field. Each individual finds him- or herself to be a link in this network of connectivity. Using certain visual projects as an example, this particular project argues that man has, on the one hand, become entrapped in this network through technological developments, and is liberated by them, on the other, through the global mobility they facilitate. The applicability of “connectivity,” the mathematical loanword, to the visual arts is explored and depicted through art projects. In this project, representations of illustrations, paintings, photographs, installations and video art are employed as a form of artistic visualization of the experience of connectivity in post- modern society. Technological phenomena as extensions of the human body and central nervous system, and the implications of this for visual culture and the society of connectivity are explored. The spatial expansiveness of the network is visualized in the texture of Jackson Pollock’s paintings, which in this project are referred to as a metaphor for connectivity. The series of photographs by Danwen Xing, “disCONNEXION,” are described as the antithesis of connectivity, where computer parts are arranged separately from one another, eliciting the notion of a living organism. In representations of connectivity the symbiotic relationship between man and machine is brought to the fore. The mutual dependency of man and machine are symbolized in Eduardo Kac’s Teleporting an unknown state. Herein an attempt is made to foster a critical consciousness which sufficiently takes into consideration the man- made nature of the new media. Man builds technological information systems which creep across the earth, enfolding it in a web. In the photographic and installation-type depictions of Frank Thiel, Dan Graham and Peter Weibel, the omnipresence of the surveillance camera is fore grounded. It surrounds, captures and reads man into databases, forming a categorized, typified data image of the individual. In a more positive light, the media of connectivity creates an immediate though virtual presence through mobilization, where man is an absent presence who is simultaneously here and at the site of communication. Connectivity enables the immediate connections between individuals who are physically separated from one another, and is visualized in Draadwerk, where the implied communicator is overwhelmed and drawn in by the scale and mass of tin can telephone wires. Man is simultaneously here, physically, and, in thought, in the conversational space (i.e. cyberspace), where communication takes place through technological communication media. The greatest liberation of technological means is facilitated by the virtuality it creates. James Turrell’s light installations visualize illusory virtual spaces where the viewer enters a light-drenched space and the actual boundaries of the space are faded. In my own installation, Immersie, a virtual space is entered which becomes a connective plane between top/bottom and inside/outside. Ties which limit and entrap man are left behind as the virtual space is entered, and man creates, through technological media, new spaces in which freedom or liberation may be experienced.Item Open Access Patroonmaakprosesse en die resente skilderkuns(University of the Free State, 2009-12) Human, Phyllis Marjorie; Allen-Spies, J.; Human, E. S.English: This dissertation is an extension of my studio research. In my studio research I use the processes usually associated with the making of decorative patterns as an integral part of my work as a painter. In my paintings and in my dissertation those actions of pattern making that create an interplay between surfaces charming to the eye, and the menacing hidden meanings of degeneration, destruction and underlying aggression is investigated. This research focuses on the manifestation of the visual impact of decorative patterns on formal as well as the semantic levels. The meaning of patterns and motifs in patterns emerges and changes constantly as a result of formal creative making processes. These processes are influenced by cultural forces. Thus the transformations in patterns and pattern motifs point to the dynamic cultural forces in current South Africa. Decorative patterns from popular South African culture, in which pattern-creating processes are linked to the creative processes involved in recent visual art by contemporary artists, Beatriz Milhazes, Ghada Amer, Bronwen Findlay and Leora Farber as well as to my own paintings are analyzed. The research focuses on the ways in which patterns change and in which meanings are assigned to them. The importance of purposeful exchange of ideas in order to bring about transformations in patterns, is stressed. Writers such as Alois Riegl and William H. Goodyear have seen the exchanges of motifs and meaning in patterns as an organic and orderly pocess. In reality the meanings of pattern fluctuate and is constantly being transferred in a chaotic way. It is also fundamental that it should be considered within a specific social and cultural context as done by Alfred Gell. The ongoing and dynamic cultural influences will then become clear. This dissertation is structured in three sections, in which patterns and pattern motifs which are prominent and meaningful in the popular South African culture of the day are investigated. The ‘Victorian Rose pattern’, the Springbok motif and ‘Ndebele patterns’ are discussed. In each of these three sections meanings and transformations of meaning in pattern motifs are closely scrutinized. The ‘Victorian Rose pattern’ underwent numerous transformations in South African culture. Yet, the strong associations with its British origins still cling to it. The Springbok motif, which became part of South African heraldry during the British colonial period, on the contrary, has transformed into a symbol of Afrikaner nationalism. The underlying aggressiveness which developed to the motif led to its degeneration and later a come-back as a kitsch motif in current popular culture. In the case of the visually powerful Ndebele patterns, 87 the ethnic connotations they carried led these patterns to become artificial constructions subject to political manipulation and power struggle.Item Open Access Visual transactions: image, theory, new media art and cross-cultural exchange(University of the Free State, 2009-01) De Jesus, Angela Vieira; Allen-Spies, J.; Human, E. S.Encounters between the Portuguese explorers of the fifteenth-century and the people living on the southern tip of Africa initiated interaction and trade between Europeans and Africans. My Portuguese heritage within a family of shopkeepers has provided me with a selective point of view from which to investigate the complexities involved in cross-cultural exchange, visual perception and image interpretation. The analysis of appropriated surveillance footage collected from CCTV cameras installed in the shop and the investigation of my own videos captured with hidden digital hand-held video camcorders, elucidates concerns related to intercultural interaction and exchange. In the shop the exchange of goods occurs, concomitantly with an exchange of vision and cross-cultural perception; the video camera surveys this exchange and translates it into images. It is argued that visual and intercultural processes have, with the aid of visual technologies and mediums (such as the panorama and digital video), become central to the ways in which cultures are perceived. This study proposes that interpreting images (for example in the photographs of Pieter Hugo and Zwelethu Mthethwa), like intercultural exchange, is paradoxical and ambiguous, as often these images evoke associations with conflicting meanings. It is argued that iconoclasm complicates image interpretation and visual perception further, as it is related both to destructive strategies and the vulnerability of the image. While the study argues that visual exchanges are by nature inconsistent and distorted, they still expose a common reciprocity and human vulnerability.