METROPOLITAN ENCHANTMENT AND DISENCHANTMENT. METROPOLITAN ANTHROPOLOGY FOR THE CONTEMPORARY LIVING MAP CONSTRUCTION

We can no longer interpret the contemporary metropolis as we did in the last century. The thought of civil economy regarding the contemporary Metropolis conflicts more or less radically with the merely acquisitive dimension of the behaviour of its citizens. What is needed is therefore a new capacity for imagining the economic-productive future of the city: hybrid social enterprises, economically sustainable, structured and capable of using technologies, could be a solution for producing value and distributing it fairly and inclusively. Metropolitan Urbanity is another issue to establish. Metropolis needs new spaces where inclusion can occur, and where a repository of the imagery can be recreated. What is the ontology behind the technique of metropolitan planning and management, its vision and its symbols? Competitiveness, speed, and meritocracy are political words, not technical ones. Metropolitan Urbanity is the characteristic of a polis that expresses itself in its public places. Today, however, public places are private ones that are destined for public use. The Common Good has always had a space of representation in the city, which was the public space. Today, the Green-Grey Infrastructure is the metropolitan city's monument that communicates a value for future generations and must therefore be recognised and imagined; it is the production of the metropolitan symbolic imagery, the new magic of the city

Parafiction as Matter and Method

The thesis examines the different ways in which artists have engaged with parafiction in the twentieth and twenty-first century. Parafiction – a fiction experienced as fact - has become an important mode of practice within contemporary art, with this shift concurrent to the exponential growth of digital technology. The term contemporary art is applied here in an expanded sense to acknowledge the effect of digital processes and matter on art and to include practices that use technology as form or subject or a combination of the two. Parafiction appears in various materialities, both digital and physical, and could be described as having neomateriality. Parafiction as Matter and Method inevitably locates the research within the context of the digital. The research investigates how the usage of parafiction has changed since 1989 with the rapid advancement of technology and widespread access to the internet. Changes in the social and political landscape have also affected the function of parafiction in contemporary society. These conditions are not necessarily time bound or linear. Drawing upon and extending Carrie Lambert-Beatty’s concept of parafictions (2009), the research is rooted in art history and contemporary art for its theoretical frameworks. The research engages deeply with art history and contemporary art in an expanded sense to contextualise and analyse parafictions, whilst utilising an interdisciplinary approach. To augment this deep context the research has combined the following fields: artistic practice, digital cultures, media studies, performance art, philosophy and politics. By synthesising this broad range of fields the research is original and complex in its approach aiming to consider the topic at a planetary scale within the bounds of the possible. As an overarching method, this research applies fiction as a method to produce new knowledge. The research uses primary and secondary methods including the production of a body of artwork and diagrammatic reasoning to augment the theoretical proposal. The art practice is employed as a method to synthesise the theory with practice and to apply the knowledge learnt outside of its text-based constraints. The practice appears as interludes interspersed throughout the thesis, that produce a duo-linear narrative with the aim of the thesis becoming an artwork in its own right. Primary data collection included interviews with relevant artists, attending and speaking at international conferences and research visits to exhibitions. This thesis has evolved through the attendance at international conferences as speaker and audience member, peer-reviewed publication, interaction with academic peers and research visits to exhibitions. This thesis evaluates how parafiction renegotiates physical and digital spatio-temporal parameters to offer alternatives for the present, pasts and futures, for both human and nonhuman users of those spaces. As parafiction becomes matter it has the ability to converge the digital and the physical to extend the lives of artworks beyond their initial existence. It is argued that fictioning methods have the most impact within contemporary art in its most expanded sense. The research advocates for parafiction as a vital method, found within artistic practice in the twentieth and twenty-first century, which produces new information and perspectives. This thesis uniquely concludes that parafiction is matter, as material that intersects and interacts with the modularity of digital technologies. Significantly, the research has found that parafiction acts as an additional module that connects physical and digital spatio-temporal with alternative potential for pasts, presents, and futures

Sonic heritage: listening to the past

History is so often told through objects, images and photographs, but the potential of sounds to reveal place and space is often neglected. Our research project ‘Sonic Palimpsest’1 explores the potential of sound to evoke impressions and new understandings of the past, to embrace the sonic as a tool to understand what was, in a way that can complement and add to our predominant visual understandings. Our work includes the expansion of the Oral History archives held at Chatham Dockyard to include women’s voices and experiences, and the creation of sonic works to engage the public with their heritage. Our research highlights the social and cultural value of oral history and field recordings in the transmission of knowledge to both researchers and the public. Together these recordings document how buildings and spaces within the dockyard were used and experienced by those who worked there. We can begin to understand the social and cultural roles of these buildings within the community, both past and present

Activity theory as a lens for managerial innovation in the Kuwaiti Amiri Guard

This research explores managerial innovation (MI) and its embeddedness in the characteristics of a public-sector military organisation. MI reflects novel organisational structures, administrative systems, management practices, processes, and techniques with value-creation potential for organisations. Moreover, it facilitates organisational development through the utilisation of new approaches so that resources can be utilised to their full potential. Innovation has primarily been associated with the private sector, where the concept and definitions were initially developed. Therefore, to investigate MI in the military, a less frequently explored domain, a systematic analysis of MI in the public- and private-sector contexts becomes necessary.This research focuses its lens on the manner in which MI is realised with respect to the organisational activities in a military setting. To achieve this, the activities were viewed within the context of the policies/rules/regulations and those individuals who perform their respective roles in carrying out the organisational activities. Furthermore, focus was placed on the tools utilised or necessary to successfully conduct the organisational activities. To understand the organisational setting in terms of the activities requiring MI implementation, activity theory was utilised to provide a basis to explore the organisational setting in view of three dimensions: the subjects, objects, and tools of MI. This researcher selected the Kuwaiti Amiri Guard as the case study for this investigation, which is responsible for military duties such as providing protection for the heads of state and the Royal Palaces. This case was selected since, to date, no investigation has been conducted to explore the military organisation, despite the Kuwait Vision 2035's focus on the need to develop a sustainable diversified economy, creative human capital, and progressive infrastructure. An in-depth systematic literature review was undertaken for consideration of the MI concepts that exist in the public sector. From this review, the conceptualisation of a framework was derived and inspired from activity theory, which led to the adoption of an activity system in order to facilitate understanding of how MI might evolve within certain public-sector military organisations. Qualitative data were then collected through semi-structured interviews with 25 key decision makers and leaders of the Kuwaiti Amiri Guard (i.e., the head of the organisation, heads of branch, and unit leaders), while the data analysis utilised template analysis and grounded theory.The data analysis found that the current MI practice within the organisation involves a certain degree of top-down directed innovation, with potential to shift this MI practice towards greater directed and undirected (bottom-up) innovation through innovative skills, leading to the creation of an organisational structure grounded in innovative practice. However, the investigation identified limited resources and capabilities available for MI implementation. Furthermore, the study found insufficient opportunities for MI development due to time pressures, the interactivity of human resources, and the technical capability. The need to integrate the tools of MI (e.g., information and communication technology, the internet of (military) things, and management information systems) at the organisation was found to be restricted by issues relating to non-inclusive decision-making, availability of funds, the rigid organisational structure, and the lack of dedicated MI professionals (talent) or an MI department. However, the case study identified a willingness to adopt MI practices and recognition of where these could benefit the activities of the organisation, thus presenting the Kuwaiti Amiri Guard as an MI-friendly organisation where MI implementation can prosper and help fulfil the organisation's obligations under the Kuwait Vision 2035 strategic development plan. A Kuwaiti Amiri Guard Theoretical MI Framework emerged from the data analysis, which can enable GCC-based military organisations, and public-sector organisations in other nations featuring similar contexts, to utilise the framework for the evaluation of their current MI usage and the scope to develop the full potential of the organisation through the transformation process. The internal and external validity of the resulting MI framework were determined in this study through its appraisal and the responses from three military organisations based in Kuwait. The developed framework will enable the assessment of the organisational subjects of MI (i.e., the processes, mechanisms, and systems of management), objects of MI (i.e., the leaders, management, and staff) and tools of MI (i.e., ICT advancement and integration) to realise the benefits of information accuracy, cost-savings, efficiencies, improved collaboration, and increased performance. Furthermore, this study presents a roadmap as an empirical resource for military organisations sharing similar characteristics to develop innovation adoption through the domains of management, leadership, technology, and environment.This research contributes to the paucity of literature in the domain of MI in the military field by extending our understanding of MI concepts in the research context of a military organisation in the Gulf region in general, and in Kuwait in particular. Moreover, the research contributes to knowledge through the development of the Kuwaiti Amiri Guard Theoretical MI Framework, which provides an opportunity for such military organisations to conduct an in-depth analysis of the existing MI pillars and to identify where improvements may be achieved. A further methodological contribution is made through the research methodology and case study coding approach, applied to investigate a military context in a GCC country, namely the Kuwaiti Amiri Guard. This study believes that the developed research methodology has potential for application more widely in military and public-sector organisations that share similarities with the case study in this investigation, thus highlighting the potential transferability of the research methodology

21st International Congress of Aesthetics, Possible Worlds of Contemporary Aesthetics Aesthetics Between History, Geography and Media, Book of Abstracts

The Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade and the Society for Aesthetics of Architecture and Visual Arts of Serbia (DEAVUS) are proud to be able to organize the 21st ICA Congress on “Possible Worlds of Contemporary Aesthetics: Aesthetics Between History, Geography and Media”. We are proud to announce that we received over 500 submissions from 56 countries, which makes this Congress the greatest gathering of aestheticians in this region in the last 40 years. The ICA 2019 Belgrade aims to map out contemporary aesthetics practices in a vivid dialogue of aestheticians, philosophers, art theorists, architecture theorists, culture theorists, media theorists, artists, media entrepreneurs, architects, cultural activists and researchers in the fields of humanities and social sciences. More precisely, the goal is to map the possible worlds of contemporary aesthetics in Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Australia. The idea is to show, interpret and map the unity and diverseness in aesthetic thought, expression, research, and philosophies on our shared planet. Our goal is to promote a dialogue concerning aesthetics in those parts of the world that have not been involved with the work of the International Association for Aesthetics to this day. Global dialogue, understanding and cooperation are what we aim to achieve. That said, the 21st ICA is the first Congress to highlight the aesthetic issues of marginalised regions that have not been fully involved in the work of the IAA. This will be accomplished, among others, via thematic round tables discussing contemporary aesthetics in East Africa and South America. Today, aesthetics is recognized as an important philosophical, theoretical and even scientific discipline that aims at interpreting the complexity of phenomena in our contemporary world. People rather talk about possible worlds or possible aesthetic regimes rather than a unique and consistent philosophical, scientific or theoretical discipline