Master of Arts

thesisThe recent performance work of Ernesto Pujol complicates the notion of site-specific art, extending into the tension of what--or who--constitutes a site. This project considers Pujol's April 2010 site-specific performance entitled Awaiting as a case study in the decidedly complicated relationship between the discursive or fluid nature of the body and the constructed notion of place. Awaiting used performance to call attention to what Pujol identified as an unspoken but omnipresent "culture of waiting" in Utah. However, rituals of shared dress, gesture, and extended rhythms punctuated by spatial and temporal gaps simultaneously invoked and transformed the cultural, historical, and social landscape in which Awaiting was situated. Looking to the various uses of gesture and mapping within Awaiting, I argue that Pujol's invocation of "site" prevented him from creating a space that matched his intention to transcend the constructed nature of site. Rather, the embodied representations of Salt Lake's local identity infiltrated and transformed Awaiting. Consequently, I use Pujol's intentionality in Awaiting as a foil to examine the possibilities and limitations of site-specific performance. I conclude that Awaiting's site-specificity originates not only in its allusion to a culture of waiting, but rather in its resemblance to a ritualistic history characteristic of Utah starting with the definitive utterance of "this is the place.

Mediated Physicality: Inducing Illusory Physicality of Virtual Humans via Their Interactions with Physical Objects

The term virtual human (VH) generally refers to a human-like entity comprised of computer graphics and/or physical body. In the associated research literature, a VH can be further classified as an avatar - a human-controlled VH, or an agent - a computer-controlled VH. Because of the resemblance with humans, people naturally distinguish them from non-human objects, and often treat them in ways similar to real humans. Sometimes people develop a sense of co-presence or social presence with the VH - a phenomenon that is often exploited for training simulations where the VH assumes the role of a human. Prior research associated with VHs has primarily focused on the realism of various visual traits, e.g., appearance, shape, and gestures. However, our sense of the presence of other humans is also affected by other physical sensations conveyed through nearby space or physical objects. For example, we humans can perceive the presence of other individuals via the sound or tactile sensation of approaching footsteps, or by the presence of complementary or opposing forces when carrying a physical box with another person. In my research, I exploit the fact that these sensations, when correlated with events in the shared space, affect one\u27s feeling of social/co-presence with another person. In this dissertation, I introduce novel methods for utilizing direct and indirect physical-virtual interactions with VHs to increase the sense of social/co-presence with the VHs - an approach I refer to as mediated physicality. I present results from controlled user studies, in various virtual environment settings, that support the idea that mediated physicality can increase a user\u27s sense of social/co-presence with the VH, and/or induced realistic social behavior. I discuss relationships to prior research, possible explanations for my findings, and areas for future research

Tangible user interfaces : past, present and future directions

In the last two decades, Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds. Drawing upon users' knowledge and skills of interaction with the real non-digital world, TUIs show a potential to enhance the way in which people interact with and leverage digital information. However, TUI research is still in its infancy and extensive research is required in or- der to fully understand the implications of tangible user interfaces, to develop technologies that further bridge the digital and the physical, and to guide TUI design with empirical knowledge. This paper examines the existing body of work on Tangible User In- terfaces. We start by sketching the history of tangible user interfaces, examining the intellectual origins of this field. We then present TUIs in a broader context, survey application domains, and review frame- works and taxonomies. We also discuss conceptual foundations of TUIs including perspectives from cognitive sciences, phycology, and philoso- phy. Methods and technologies for designing, building, and evaluating TUIs are also addressed. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limita- tions of TUIs and chart directions for future research

Turn It This Way: Remote Gesturing in Video-Mediated Communication

Collaborative physical tasks are working tasks characterised by workers 'in-the-field' who manipulate task artefacts under the guidance of a remote expert. Examples of such interactions include paramedics requiring field-surgery consults from hospital surgeons, soldiers requiring support from distant bomb-disposal experts, technicians inspecting and repairing machinery under the guidance of a chief engineer or scientists examining artefacts with distributed colleagues. This thesis considers the design of technology to support such forms of distributed working. Early research in video-mediated communication (VMC) which sought to support such interactions presumed video links between remote spaces would improve collaboration. The results of these studies however, demonstrated that in such tasks audio-video links alone were unlikely to improve performance beyond that achievable by simpler audio-only links. In explanation of these observations a reading of studies of situated collaborative working practices suggests that to support distributed object-focussed interactions it is beneficial to not only provide visual access to remote spaces but also to present within the task-space the gestural actions of remote collaborators. Remote Gestural Simulacra are advanced video-mediated communication tools that enable remote collaborators to both see and observably point at and gesture around and towards shared task artefacts located at another site. Technologies developed to support such activities have been critiqued; their design often fractures the interaction between the collaborating parties, restricting access to aspects of communication which are commonly used in co-present situations to coordinate interaction and ground understanding. This thesis specifically explores the design of remote gesture tools, seeking to understand how remote representations of gesture can be used during collaborative physical tasks. In a series of lab-based studies, the utility of remote gesturing is investigated, both qualitatively, examining its collaborative function and quantitatively exploring its impact on both facets of task performance and collaborative language. The thesis also discusses how the configuration of remote gesture tools impacts on their usability, empirically comparing various gesture tool designs. The thesis constructs and examines an argument that remote gesture tools should be designed from a 'mixed ecologies' perspective (theoretically alleviating the problems engendered by 'fractured ecologies' in which collaborating partners are given access to the most salient and relevant features of communicative action that are utilised in face-to-face interaction, namely mutual and reciprocal awareness of commonly understood object-focussed actions (hand-based gestures) and mutual and reciprocal awareness of task-space perspectives. The thesis demonstrates experimental support for this position and concludes by presenting discussion of how the findings generated from the thesis research can be used to guide the design of future iterations of remote gesture tools, and presents directions for areas of further research

Turn It This Way: Remote Gesturing in Video-Mediated Communication

Collaborative physical tasks are working tasks characterised by workers 'in-the-field' who manipulate task artefacts under the guidance of a remote expert. Examples of such interactions include paramedics requiring field-surgery consults from hospital surgeons, soldiers requiring support from distant bomb-disposal experts, technicians inspecting and repairing machinery under the guidance of a chief engineer or scientists examining artefacts with distributed colleagues. This thesis considers the design of technology to support such forms of distributed working. Early research in video-mediated communication (VMC) which sought to support such interactions presumed video links between remote spaces would improve collaboration. The results of these studies however, demonstrated that in such tasks audio-video links alone were unlikely to improve performance beyond that achievable by simpler audio-only links. In explanation of these observations a reading of studies of situated collaborative working practices suggests that to support distributed object-focussed interactions it is beneficial to not only provide visual access to remote spaces but also to present within the task-space the gestural actions of remote collaborators. Remote Gestural Simulacra are advanced video-mediated communication tools that enable remote collaborators to both see and observably point at and gesture around and towards shared task artefacts located at another site. Technologies developed to support such activities have been critiqued; their design often fractures the interaction between the collaborating parties, restricting access to aspects of communication which are commonly used in co-present situations to coordinate interaction and ground understanding. This thesis specifically explores the design of remote gesture tools, seeking to understand how remote representations of gesture can be used during collaborative physical tasks. In a series of lab-based studies, the utility of remote gesturing is investigated, both qualitatively, examining its collaborative function and quantitatively exploring its impact on both facets of task performance and collaborative language. The thesis also discusses how the configuration of remote gesture tools impacts on their usability, empirically comparing various gesture tool designs. The thesis constructs and examines an argument that remote gesture tools should be designed from a 'mixed ecologies' perspective (theoretically alleviating the problems engendered by 'fractured ecologies' in which collaborating partners are given access to the most salient and relevant features of communicative action that are utilised in face-to-face interaction, namely mutual and reciprocal awareness of commonly understood object-focussed actions (hand-based gestures) and mutual and reciprocal awareness of task-space perspectives. The thesis demonstrates experimental support for this position and concludes by presenting discussion of how the findings generated from the thesis research can be used to guide the design of future iterations of remote gesture tools, and presents directions for areas of further research

An Investigation of the Sculpture/Language Homology

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/691 on 03.04.2017 by CS (TIS)This research is concerned with the implications of reading sculpture as a mode of communication that is indicative of an art/language homology. An investigation of the inter-relationship of the functions of ‘Language’ and 'Conventions of Visual Communication' is viewed against contemporary redefinitions of the role of sculpture, its character of presentation and mode of engagement with respondents. Theoretical investigation examines models of communication and identifies corresponding systems in an art that is exemplified by the sculpture of Tony Cragg. Cragg's significantly organised collections of commonplace objects, presenting the visual assertiveness of the 'ready-made' prompt a reconsideration of the object as a semantic commodity that embodies narrative. The artifact itself is viewed as a visual reference that induces a sequence of complex associations. A reading of the sculpture's multi-layered mimetic, metaphorical and metonymic indices implies the acceptance of paradigmatic conventions of signification within a communication system frequently described as a 'language of sculpture'. The connotative and denotative nature of a materialised, but idealised, presentation of object imagery suggests that Cragg's sculpture is the vehicle of a dialectic process. It is the art of the 'bricoleur' that embodies a readily accessible lexical and semantic content constructed from the readily available signifiers 'to hand'. The exploratory and reflective investigations of the integral studio projects are concerned with the communication values of contiguous object-entities, in a visual process that links associations in the manner of rhetorical tropes. In a polysemic interaction of visual identities this semantic transposition of a sculptural aesthetic aims to expose relationships connecting expressive material form, image semiosis and object/word associations. The sculptural processes of making-to-reading reveal a systematic structuring of meaning, as the mechanisms of perception are directed by the conceptual modelling of cognitive thought patterns.Theoretical exploration of the notions of a `Language' of Sculpture, a Sculpture/Language homology and the relationship of language functions to visual systems of communication. A critical reading of Cragg's work and practice identifying modes of communication that function as language.A reflexive practical exploration of sculptural object-entities pared down to basic elements to expose the homologous `language' functions of a communicative content

The Man from the Future: Traces of Masculinity and Modernity from Hamilton in the 1960s.

This research offers a reading of the considerable change to the landscapes of cities, masculinities and bodies that occurred after the Second World War. With an emphasis on visual sources and methods, I consider how a distinctly modern post-war identity emerged out of the interaction between Hamilton's newly (re)built cityscape, human bodies and their gendered identities. In the 1960s, rapid urban growth in Hamilton produced a large number of buildings designed in the Modernist style. This concrete language rendered public structures, and the city at large, as distinctly 'Modern' and progressive. The existence of these buildings was essential to Hamilton's transition from a rural town to an urban centre. Meanwhile, the 1964 Centennial served as a convenient narrative of progress to (re)create the city as Modern while remaining youthful and vibrant. Images of the past and the future were regularly and publicly invoked. Colonial Pioneers and Men from the Future were rhetorically exhumed and conceived in order to (re)construct Hamilton. Material and discursive spaces of the cityscape were inhabited by images of a 'citified' Modern Man: the fabled Businessman and his derivatives. Images of masculine bodies offer an insight into constructions of gendered identity. Their 'suited' and impervious bodily boundaries reflect the rigid confines of 1960s masculinities and the firm geometric designs of Modernist buildings. Analysis of advertisements and photographs reveal bodily performances that maintain this identity while establishing an urban and masculine corporeality. A number of 'other' identities were excluded by dominant urban masculinity and offer areas for future research

A Specific Elsewhere: Locating Masculinity in Jack Kerouac's On The Road

In travelling across the postwar United States, Jack Kerouac hoped to revive what he perceived as the lost essence of America. Kerouac’s travels – many of which were shared with his friend Neal Cassady – represented a resistance to the postwar social ideal, an exchange in spatial systems that mobilised him beyond the confines of suburban conformity to experience the more marginalised aspects of American society. This dissertation offers an interpretative exploration of the ways in which Kerouac’s chronicling of his travels in On the Road: The Original Scroll presents images of, and the search for, a subjectively authentic experience of white American masculinity. Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources, I establish a chronology of American political and cultural responses to the American male self, offering examinations of relevant discourse from the Revolutionary period to the twentieth century. I explore the role of gender in the formation of the presented ideals and identity of the United States, and offer discussion of the entwining of masculinity with the ethos and protocols of the American Frontier, a theatre of experience on which Kerouac’s prose explicitly draws in its presentation of American masculinity. In exploring Kerouac’s work directly, I address the literary presentation of Neal Cassady as the personification of subjectively revered masculine archetypes, highlighting a range of paradoxes, contradictions, and purported binary distinctions that position the white American male outside of a definitive and sustained performance of masculinity in the text. My discussion examines Kerouac’s prose against concurrent social expectations of gender, considering the ways in which the intersection of Cold War tensions, wider literary and philosophical tradition, and American popular culture all come to bear on both his presentation of white American masculinity, and his own authorial voice

A Specific Elsewhere: Locating Masculinity in Jack Kerouac's On The Road

In travelling across the postwar United States, Jack Kerouac hoped to revive what he perceived as the lost essence of America. Kerouac’s travels – many of which were shared with his friend Neal Cassady – represented a resistance to the postwar social ideal, an exchange in spatial systems that mobilised him beyond the confines of suburban conformity to experience the more marginalised aspects of American society. This dissertation offers an interpretative exploration of the ways in which Kerouac’s chronicling of his travels in On the Road: The Original Scroll presents images of, and the search for, a subjectively authentic experience of white American masculinity. Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources, I establish a chronology of American political and cultural responses to the American male self, offering examinations of relevant discourse from the Revolutionary period to the twentieth century. I explore the role of gender in the formation of the presented ideals and identity of the United States, and offer discussion of the entwining of masculinity with the ethos and protocols of the American Frontier, a theatre of experience on which Kerouac’s prose explicitly draws in its presentation of American masculinity. In exploring Kerouac’s work directly, I address the literary presentation of Neal Cassady as the personification of subjectively revered masculine archetypes, highlighting a range of paradoxes, contradictions, and purported binary distinctions that position the white American male outside of a definitive and sustained performance of masculinity in the text. My discussion examines Kerouac’s prose against concurrent social expectations of gender, considering the ways in which the intersection of Cold War tensions, wider literary and philosophical tradition, and American popular culture all come to bear on both his presentation of white American masculinity, and his own authorial voice