729 research outputs found
Beyond the aestheticization of modern ruins: the case of Incompiuto Siciliano
The modern Italian landscape includes a large number of public construction projects begun over the past 50 years but abandoned before completionâa testament to the misuse of public funds through political corruption and the influence of the Mafia. Since 2007, a group of artists named Alterazioni Video has been developing the project Incompiuto Siciliano, through which they have sought to counter the negative perception of these ruins by considering them as an aestheticized architectural style. The groupâs approach is significant because visual arts, and especially photography, have in recent years been accused of pursuing a merely romanticizing objective that ignores the political, economic and social contexts in which modern ruins arise. Embedding the current paper within this discussion makes it possible to align Incompiuto Siciliano with literatures on contemporary archaeology that regard the aestheticization of ruins as a first step to a critical comprehension of the reasons behind their originationâwhich ultimately leads to their re-valorization and eventual re-activation
Numismatic and archaeological collecting in northern Sicily during the first half of the nineteenth century
This research examines the archaeological protection system and antiquarian collecting in northern Sicily, in particular in the coastal strip from Palermo to Messina during the first half of the nineteenth century. Substantially, the most represented historical period is the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1814-1861). The strength of the research, which is relevant to the history of Sicilian coin collecting and archaeology, is a substantial set of materials, discovered at the State Archive of Palermo and Fondazione Mandralisca of CefalĂč. It comprises 141 archival records, which have been transcribed, ordered and studied thoroughly. Chapter 1 contains a general introduction about Sicilian archaeological protection systems and antiquarianism from the end of the eighteenth century to the post-Unification period. Chapter 2, based mainly on archival records, focuses on Palermo, the most important city of the Bourbon Sicily, where authorities managed and protected island antiquities. Sections describe the collections of Tommaso Gandolfo and Antonino Astuto, acquired by the Museum of the University, and the discovery of coins at Giarre in 1832. Enrico Pirajno's activities at CefalĂč and Lipari are also examined in this chapter - he is considered one of the most skilful Sicilian antiquarians during the first half of the nineteenth century. The last section reports a significant numismatic discovery in the CefalĂč Valley in 1824. Chapter 4 describes Tindari, where the Sciacca della Scala family led antiquarian research from the late eighteenth century until the late nineteenth century. Their collection of finds, kept in a private museum at the Castle of Scala di Patti is now lost. Chapter 5 discusses Giuseppe Grosso Cacopardo, the well-known coin collector from Messina (including the recent discovery of a special 'export' of ancient coins, found in Messina in 1845, to the King of Bavaria. The work's conclusion offers a final historical reconstruction of the numismatic and archaeological collecting in northern Sicily, according to new and substantial records. Five appendices report archival documentation, arranged in thematic sections
MAC design for WiFi infrastructure networks: a game-theoretic approach
In WiFi networks, mobile nodes compete for accessing a shared channel by
means of a random access protocol called Distributed Coordination Function
(DCF). Although this protocol is in principle fair, since all the stations have
the same probability to transmit on the channel, it has been shown that unfair
behaviors may emerge in actual networking scenarios because of non-standard
configurations of the nodes. Due to the proliferation of open source drivers
and programmable cards, enabling an easy customization of the channel access
policies, we propose a game-theoretic analysis of random access schemes.
Assuming that each node is rational and implements a best response strategy, we
show that efficient equilibria conditions can be reached when stations are
interested in both uploading and downloading traffic. More interesting, these
equilibria are reached when all the stations play the same strategy, thus
guaranteeing a fair resource sharing. When stations are interested in upload
traffic only, we also propose a mechanism design, based on an artificial
dropping of layer-2 acknowledgments, to force desired equilibria. Finally, we
propose and evaluate some simple DCF extensions for practically implementing
our theoretical findings.Comment: under review on IEEE Transaction on wireless communication
Consensus for switched networks with unknown but bounded disturbances
We consider stationary consensus protocols for networks of dynamic agents
with switching topologies. The measure of the neighbors' state is affected by
Unknown But Bounded disturbances. Here the main contribution is the formulation
and solution of what we call the -consensus problem, where the states
are required to converge in a tube of ray asymptotically or in
finite time.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures. The manuscript has been submitted for the
Special issue on Control and optimization in Cooperative Networks. Submitted
to SIAM SICO
The paradox of âIncompiuto Siciliano Archaeological Parkâ or how to mock heritage to make heritage
During the last 50 years, and due to the dilapidation of public funds, hundreds of unfinished public works have been erected Italy. In 2007, the group of artists Alterazioni Video declared these ruins a formal architectural style â âIncompiuto Sicilianoâ â and, in doing so, their aim is to change the buildingsâ dark side and turn it into something positive. One of the tangible outcomes within the artistsâ proposal is the eventual creation of the âIncompiuto Siciliano Archaeological Parkâ in Giarre, a Sicilian medium-sized village that has the highest density of unfinished public works in Italy. This article analyses how such a provocative project contains serious implications in terms of heritage. It is stated that, in order to forge a positivized âunfinished heritageâ, Incompiuto Siciliano Archaeological Park builds bridges between aspects that, in principle, seem to be the opposite of each other. This opens the possibility of putting traditional heritage assumptions in question through the production of a critical heritage whose novelty lies in the constructive use of irony, sarcasm and double meaning
Reimagining unfinished architectures: ruin perspectives between art and heritage
For the past five decades, hundreds of unfinished public works have been erected in Italy as the result of inconsistent planning and the presence of corruption and organised crime. A third of these constructions are located in Sicily alone, and so, in 2007, a group of artists labelled this phenomenon an architectural style: âIncompiuto Sicilianoâ. Through this creative approach, the artistsâ objective is to put incompletion back on the agenda by viewing it from a heritage perspective. This article reviews the different approaches that the artists have envisaged to handle unfinished public works; whether to finish them, demolish them, leave them as they are or opt for an âactiveâ arrested decay. The critical implications of these strategies are analysed in order to, ultimately, conclude that incompletion is such a vast and complex issue that it will surely have more than one single solution; but rather a combination of these four. This is important because it opens up a debate on the broad spectrum of possibilities to tackle incompletion â establishing this as one of the key contemporary urban themes not only in Italy but also in those countries affected by unfinished geographies after the 2008 financial crisis
The Potential of Blogs for Higher Degree Supervision.
This article discusses the potential of the use of blog technology in supporting research students at the university, and encourages its wider use. Individual blogs open only to student and supervisors can focus and structure dialogue and discussion, helping students to develop their argument and âvoiceâ. The general blog âLearn, Live, Thriveâ models the development of a reflexive research diary so that students can develop their
own. It also encourages students to begin the process of theorization by sharing reading and ideas, and modelling theory. By being open and available to all students, general
blogs add to the breadth, depth, effectiveness and efficiency of the supervision process, informing tutorials on the studentâs particular topic
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