Intersemiotic translation and transformational creativity

In this article we approach a case of intersemiotic translation as a paradigmatic example of Boden’s ‘transformational creativity’ category. To develop our argument, we consider Boden’s fundamental notion of ‘conceptual space’ as a regular pattern of semiotic action, or ‘habit’ (sensu Peirce). We exemplify with Gertrude Stein’s intersemiotic translation of Cézanne and Picasso’s proto-cubist and cubist paintings. The results of Stein’s IT transform the conceptual space of modern literature, constraining it towards new patterns of semiosis. Our association of Boden’s framework to describe a cognitive creative phenomenon with a philosophically robust theory of meaning results in a cognitive semiotic account of IT

High-fidelity quantum control by polychromatic pulse trains

We introduce a quantum control technique using polychromatic pulse sequences (PPS), consisting of pulses with different carrier frequencies, i.e. different detunings with respect to the qubit transition frequency. We derive numerous PPS, which generate broadband, narrowband, and passband excitation profiles for different target transition probabilities. This makes it possible to create high-fidelity excitation profiles which are either (i) robust to deviations in the experimental parameters, which is attractive for quantum computing, or (ii) more sensitive to such variations, which is attractive for cross talk elimination and quantum sensing. The method is demonstrated experimentally using one of IBM's superconducting quantum processors, in a very good agreement between theory and experiment. These results demonstrate both the excellent coherence properties of the IBM qubits and the accuracy, robustness and flexibility of the proposed quantum control technique. They also show that the detuning is as efficient control parameter as the pulse phase that is commonly used in composite pulses. Hence the method opens a variety of perspectives for quantum control in areas where phase manipulation is difficult or inaccurate.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

'Light Dial 1' – an investigation into collaborative creative methodologies with musicians/composers 'Collectress', dancer/ choreographer Miguel Altunaga and Rambert Contemporary Dance and artists Chris Rutter and Evelyn Bennett

'Light Dial 1' was part of the 'Rambert New Choreography Platform 2016' and was an exploration of the collaborative creative processes of musicians/composers 'Collectress', dancer/choreographer Miguel Altunaga from Rambert and artistic duo Rutter and Bennett. Through improvisation and workshop driven practices, musical compositions and choreography were developed for a new performance that explored the disciplinary boundaries of musician, dancer/performer, choreographer and artist. The project tested the limits and constraints of the body as a continuously ‘live’ object, in order to explore improvisation (and ‘liveness’) against inherent restrictions of bodily movement, form and sound in relation to pattern. The group worked with a number of approaches to develop the project: using play and experimental doing as a form of making and thinking (i.e. a practice-based approach); sharing ways of improvising and finding collaboration in approaches to improvisation. exploring ways of creating motifs within dance, sound and image; sharing methodologies inherent to each discipline that relate to the bodies physicality; testing and expanding on ways of presenting experiments through dance, performance, composition, sound, object, pattern and costume. Wearable sculptural costumes were developed for the 5 members of Collectress and 2 Rambert dancers. These were informed by ideas about the nature of individuality and 'collectiveness' among the performers and how this might reflect the conflicting requirements for cohesion and discipline as well as the spontaneity and improvisation required of the performers in the development and performance of the work. Imagery from drawing and activity sessions at the Rambert building were used as the basis for the textile design. The construction process of the pieces also reflected an improvisational and reactive approach to making 3d forms. The piece was performed on 2 nights at the Rambert Building as part of their experimental programme. A blog was created tracking the development process of the costumes and collaboration process. A second version, 'Light Dial 2', was performed at the 2017 UCA conference 'Digital/Material: Developments in Printed Textiles' incorporating film projections, an adapted score and choreography and audience participation in the creation of new imagery for textile designs using overhead projectors in real time

"This a different angle": Dancing at the Louvre

In the wake of the global Black Lives Matter protests and the statue-toppling that marked the summer of 2020, this article reappraises the idea of dance in the museum as a form of “radical archaeology”. It presents dance in the museum as a radical historiography for those bodies of colour previously rendered invisible, or only partially visible, by an oppressive curating of history. From a dance scholarship perspective, the article examines a central case study, Beyoncé and Jay-Z Carter’s music video APESHIT (2018), filmed in the Musée du Louvre (France), offering a close analysis of its complex choreographies of movement and stillness to argue for dance in the museum as a metaphorical form of statue-toppling, one that can powerfully challenge the art historical status quo.In the wake of the global Black Lives Matter protests and the statue-toppling that marked the summer of 2020, this article reappraises the idea of dance in the museum as a form of “radical archaeology”. It presents dance in the museum as a radical historiography for those bodies of colour previously rendered invisible, or only partially visible, by an oppressive curating of history. From a dance scholarship perspective, the article examines a central case study, Beyoncé and Jay-Z Carter’s music video APESHIT (2018), filmed in the Musée du Louvre (France), offering a close analysis of its complex choreographies of movement and stillness to argue for dance in the museum as a metaphorical form of statue-toppling, one that can powerfully challenge the art historical status quo.Sulla scia delle proteste globali che hanno segnato l’estate del 2020, come quelle di Black Lives Matter e dell’abbattimento delle statue negli Stati Uniti, questo contributo ripropone l’idea della danza nei musei come forma di “archeologia radicale”. Essa è presentata come una storiografia radicale per quei corpi di colore che, in precedenza, sono stati resi invisibili, o solo parzialmente visibili, dall’opprimente autorità della storia. L’articolo esamina un caso centrale dal punto di vista degli studi accademici sulla danza, il video musicale APESHIT (2018) di Beyoncé e Jay-Z Carter, girato al Louvre, e ne offre un’attenta analisi coreografica tra movimento e immobilità, al fine di sostenere la danza nei musei come forma metaforica di “abbattimento di statue”, una forma che può sfidare con forza lo status quo della storia dell’arte

"Giants against Gods" (regarding the plastic nature of sculpture and theater by the example of the exhibition and installation of the Pergamon altar in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts)

The article analyses the project exhibition "Giants against Gods" that presents reconstruction of the famous monumental sculpture of the Hellenistic era of the Pergamon altar interpreted by the contemporary German artist, photographer, and artist Aleksander A. The author’s vision mythological and poetic nature, which combines historism and theatrical metaphor, is studied. The compositional and semantic correspondence of original lost fragments to restored ones by the author in a luminous board is considered. There is an idea of complex view, system approach to specifics in a work of art. The major subject matter of the paper is antiquity, Greek mythology and modern plastic installation, and also performance synthesized in a single art image.peer-reviewe

System Attraction of Visual and Iconographic Material as a Development Thrustof Modern Ballet Theater

The article deals with the issues of artwork impact on ballet artists’ and ballet masters’ creativity – creation of choreographic works based on artworks. Facts (examples) demonstrating such borrowing are involved, but more significantly, the range of potential opportunities, which may enrich modern ballet theater, is outlined. The matter of figurative material takes on particular importance, i.e. the issue to what extent a choreographic work reflects the essence of an artwork accurately, deeply, and adequately. The article considers the connection and mutual benefit of the processes of creative interpenetration of graphics, art, sculpture, arts and crafts, and ballet theater. Different techniques of figurative sources are studied: illustration, statement, demonstration, comparison, event localization, generalization, stylistic device, and their visualization by means of choreographic dynamics. It’s concluded the synthetic nature of ballet theatergives rise to new polygenre structures that can intensify both expressive and semantic content of choreographic image, create original stage solutions

‘Donde sea que unos pocos se reúnan’: El Movimiento Litúrgico y el Vaticano II como fuente para la transformación arquitectónica de las iglesias en el contexto de la reutilización

Due to a process of secularization many parish communities need to redefine their church use, reducing the liturgical space and bringing in other functions. In this contribution, we elaborate on the process of adapting existing churches to this reality. We argue that the spatial concepts developed by the Liturgical Movement in the context of Vatican II can become sources of inspiration. First, we define the relevant characteristics of the reform, instigated by figures like theologian Romano Guardini and architect Rudolf Schwarz. Second, we show how these characteristics can be applied in the case study of the Magdalena church in Bruges (Belgium). Rather than restoring the 19th century Gothic Revival church, we tried to translate its typology and layered quality into a contemporary space for liturgy and community, while at the same time opening up the church to its environment.Debido a un proceso de secularización, muchas comunidades parroquiales necesitan redefinir el uso de su iglesia, reduciendo el espacio litúrgico e incorporando otras funciones. En esta contribución, elaboramos el proceso de adaptación de las iglesias existentes a esta realidad. Argumentamos que los conceptos espaciales desarrollados por el Movimiento Litúrgico en el contexto del Vaticano II pueden convertirse en fuentes de inspiración. Primero, definimos las características relevantes de la reforma, instigadas por figuras como el teólogo Romano Guardini y el arquitecto Rudolf Schwarz. En segundo lugar, mostramos cómo se pueden aplicar estas características en el caso de la iglesia de la Magdalena, en Brujas (Bélgica). En lugar de restaurar la iglesia neogótica del siglo XIX, tratamos de traducir su tipología y calidad contrastada en un espacio contemporáneo para la liturgia y la comunidad, al tiempo que abrimos la iglesia a su entorno

Decoupling of Magnetic Resonance Signals in Time and Frequency Domain

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was discovered in the first half of the 20th century. Today, neither analytical chemistry without NMR spectroscopy nor medical diagnostics without magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could be imagined. A magnetic resonance signal decays with a time constant T2, the transverse relaxation time. This parameter contains a great deal of information about structure and dynamics of the molecule, where the observed nuclear spin is located. A method to measure T2 is the so-called spin echo, discovered by Erwin Hahn in 1950. Usually, the spin echo can generate an exponential decay of the signal and T2 can be extracted. But if the indirect spin-spin interaction, the J -coupling, connects nuclear spins of the same isotope, the echo signal is modulated. The present work discusses novel methods to quench these echo modulations. This enables one, on the one hand, to measure the transverse relaxation in homonuclear spin systems. On the other hand, this decoupling technique can simplify NMR spectra by making splittings due to J-couplings disappear. These two processes can be seen to be equivalent, since the Fourier transform of a oscillating time signal corresponds to a line splitting of the frequency signal. To measure T2’s of protons (the nuclei of the most abundant hydrogen isotope 1H) or molecules isotopically enriched in carbon-13, we use a “train of echo pulses” with a moderate amplitude of the irradiated radio-frequency. To decouple various nuclear spins in a 1H NMR spectrum, we use a selective radio-frequency irradiation. These experiments are performed as Fourier transform spectroscopy, introduced by Ernst and Anderson in 1966. Based on the same pulse sequence, we measure so-called “spin tickling” experiments, described by Freeman and Anderson in 1962. All lines in the spectrum split that share a common energy-level with the irradiated resonance. “Tickling” and decoupling are complementary and belong both to the category of double resonance NMR experiments