Date of Award

Spring 5-19-2017

Author's School

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

Author Department/Program

Graduate School of Art

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art

Degree Type

Restricted Access Thesis

Abstract

The discourse of liberal humanism set up a classical paradigm that understands a human subject as a consistent, inherent, integral, independent, and unique entity. By revealing the cultural and historical context that legitimized this paradigm, this thesis rejects the universality and permanency of this classical model of human subject. Within the new context sustained by information technology, late capitalism, cybernetics, and post-structuralist theories, this thesis understands the self as a dynamic shaped by various forces, which are generalized as heterogenization and homogenization. The former highlights an individual’s uniqueness and independence—diversifying the community—while the latter facilitates a collective unity and obscures noisy multiplicities. As the power of homogenization grows exponentially with the advancement of information technology in late capitalism, this thesis predicts a techno-capitalist singularity where heterogeneity will be largely erased and such models as individual, subject, and ego will become almost meaningless. Since this thesis is in partial fulfillment of the author’s degree of Master of Fine Arts, the mentioned content will be correlatively discussed with the author’s artwork.

Language

English (en)

Program Director

Patricia Olynyk

Program Director's Department

Graduate School of Art

Thesis Advisor

Richard Krueger

Committee Member

Zlatko Cosic

Committee Member

Zlatko Cosic

Committee Member

Jonathan Hanahan

Committee Member

Buzz Spector

Artist's Statement

Permanent URL: https://doi.org/10.7936/K7HT2MR7

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