Artist's novel: the novel as a medium in the visual arts

Enquiring into the conditions under which it is possible to begin to write, Roland Barthes (2010) associates the desire to write with the formation of a fantasy: ‘Me producing a “literary object,” that is to say, writing it (here, as always, the fantasy erases the difficulties, the failures). … It could be a poem, a play, a novel (note that I’m saying: fantasy of a poem, fantasy of a novel)’ (p. 10, italics in the original). Since the mid-1990s there has been a proliferation of visual artists who create novels as part of their art projects. They do so not with the ambition to write a literary work, but in order to address artistic issues by means of novelistic devices, favouring a sort of art predicated on process and subjectivity, introducing notions such as fiction, imagination, narrative, and identification. In this sense, it is possible to speak of a new medium in the visual arts. This thesis is structured in two parts: the essay, A New Medium, is a theoretical approach to four key case studies that examines the different ways in which artists use the artist’s novel. The interview is a prime research method; extensive conversations with artists, curators, and editors are instrumental in unravelling the aspirations that the artist’s novel is called on to fulfil, whilst critically contrasting them with its actual existence in the world. In the second, practice-led part of the thesis, writing becomes methodological – it is writing as research, blurring the boundaries between style and content, theory and fiction, art practice and research. The Fantasy of the Novel is a narrative account of the creative process of an artist’s novel, from the initial fantasy to the final publication. By accompanying its trajectory, the research engages with informal aspects that are usually not visible to the public, namely intersubjective relationships and events that, although not formally measurable, decisively affect the art project’s end result. Why do artists write novels? What does the artist’s novel do to the visual arts? How should it be experienced? This thesis aims to elucidate the pressing questions posed by the emergence of a new artistic medium. The intention is not to set in stone a definition of what the artist’s novel is, but to situate it in the field of the visual arts, sparking a much-needed discussion about a practice that has been long ignored by the main critical strands in the art world

Thrombocytopenia-associated mutations in Ser/Thr kinase MASTL deregulate actin cytoskeleton dynamics in platelets

MASTL, a Ser/Thr kinase that inhibits PP2A-B55 complexes during mitosis, is mutated in autosomal dominant thrombocytopenia. However, the connections between the cell cycle machinery and this human disease remain unexplored. We report here that, whereas Mastl ablation in megakaryocytes prevented proper maturation of these cells, mice carrying the thrombocytopenia-associated mutation developed thrombocytopenia as a consequence of aberrant activation and survival of platelets. Activation of mutant platelets was characterized by hyper-stabilized pseudopods mimicking the effect of PP2A inhibition and actin polymerization defects. These aberrations were accompanied by abnormal hyper-phosphorylation of multiple components of the actin cytoskeleton and were rescued both in vitro and in vivo by inhibiting upstream kinases such as PKA, PKC, or AMPK. These data reveal an unexpected role of Mastl in actin cytoskeleton dynamics in postmitotic cells, and suggest that the thrombocytopenia-associated mutation in MASTL is a pathogenic dominant mutation that mimics decreased PP2A activity resulting in altered phosphorylation of cytoskeletal regulatory pathways.We thank Peter Storz (Mayo Clinic; Jacksonville, FL) for sharin g reagents and Sheila Rueda for her support with the management of the mouse colony. B.H. and R.S.-M. were supported by the Juan de la Cierva Programme from the Spanish M inistry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO). M.T. was supported by Foundation La Caixa. A.E.B. was supported by the Programa de Empleo Juvenil, Comunidad de M adrid. M.A.-F. received a young investigator g rant from MINECO (SAF2014-60442- JIN; co-financed by FEDER funds). P.G.dF. was supported by Fundació la Marató de TV3 (project 080121 and project 20153031). J.M. was supported by the Ramon y Cajal programme (MINECO; RYC-2012-10651). M.M. lab. is supported by grants from the MINE CO (SAF2015- 69920-R), Programa iLUNG from the Comunidad de Madrid (B2017/BM D-3884), and Worldwide Cancer Research (15-0278). CNIO is a Severo Ochoa Cen ter of Excellence (MINECO awards SEV-2015-0510)S

Los tesoros ocultos del Museo del Prado

Looking at the Madonna by Antonello of Messina in the Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo, we are faced with (at least) three questions. Is the Virgin of the Annunciation, the Immaculate Mother of God who is about to receive the news that she is going to carry the Son of God in her womb? Or is it a portrait, perhaps of a person we know or could know? But does it matter? No. What matters is that we respond to her as if she were a human being, not a divine or transcendent being, as if she were someone we could meet, even in our wildest dreams. What matters is that almost instantly it arouses our interest, that with the right hand it seems to force us to stop, that we are drawn to the face, beautiful and mysterious, and that we recognize in it someone whose feelings we thought we might understand, someone whose emotional state we could access. Immediately, as soon as we set our sights on it, we feel involved; immediately we notice the shadow that crosses the forehead and the left eye, as well as, in the right half of the face, the slight pout of the mouth, sensual but at the same time enigmatic.' What does all this mean? You have been reading; is raising his hand right now, as if requesting a pause, reflecting, no doubt, on something he has just seen

Utilisation of microwave energy for CO₂ desorption in postcombustion carbon capture using solid sorbents

AbstractOne of the most promising technologies for CO2 capture is adsorption using solid sorbents, with the most important advantage being the energy penalty reduction during capture and regeneration of the material compared to liquid absorption. Nevertheless, the challenge in this application remains the same, namely to intensify the production of a high purity CO2 stream in terms of adsorption/desorption rates and energy use while preserving the textural characteristics of the sorbents. Towards this target, a new adsorption system is proposed in this research, namely Microwave Swing Adsorption (MSA), which takes advantage of the different heating procedure that electromagnetic energy can provide. Results showed that microwaves are able to enhance the rate of CO2 desorption from the sorbent, contributing to a four times faster overall desorption process, compared to conventional heating desorption. It was also proved that the solid sorbent's CO2 adsorption capacity is also well preserved, without any significant reduction even after 20 adsorption/desorption cycles

CO2 desorption via microwave heating for post-combustion carbon capture

In this work, a comparison of CO2 desorption rates of microporous activated carbon (AC) using Microwave Swing Desorption (MSD) and Temperature Swing Desorption (TSD) is reported. For the purposes of this study, a modified microwave oven and a conventional oven were used, heating the AC packed bed to two different temperatures (70°C and 130°C). Results showed that microwaves are able to enhance the rate of CO2 desorption from the AC, contributing to a four times faster overall desorption process, compared to conventional heating desorption

Risk score for cardiac surgery in active left-sided infective endocarditis

International audienceObjective To develop and validate a calculator to predict the risk of in-hospital mortality in patients with active infective endocarditis (IE) undergoing cardiac surgery. Methods Thousand two hundred and ninety-nine consecutive patients with IE were prospectively recruited (1996-2014) and retrospectively analysed. Left-sided patients who underwent cardiac surgery (n=671) form our study population and were randomised into development (n=424) and validation (n=247) samples. Variables statistically significant to predict in-mortality were integrated in a multivariable prediction model, the Risk-Endocarditis Score (RISK-E). The predictive performance of the score and four existing surgical scores (European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) I and II), Prosthesis, Age >= 70, Large Intracardiac Destruction, Staphylococcus, Urgent Surgery, Sex (Female) (PALSUSE), EuroSCORE >= 10) and Society of Thoracic Surgeons's Infective endocarditis score (STS-IE)) were assessed and compared in our cohort. Finally, an external validation of the RISK-E in a separate population was done. Results Variables included in the final model were age, prosthetic infection, periannular complications, Staphylococcus aureus or fungi infection, acute renal failure, septic shock, cardiogenic shock and thrombocytopaenia. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve in the validation sample was 0.82 (95% CI 0.75 to 0.88). The accuracy of the other surgical scores when compared with the RISK-E was inferior (p=0.010). Our score also obtained a good predictive performance, area under the curve 0.76 (95% CI 0.64 to 0.88), in the external validation. Conclusions IE-specific factors (microorganisms, periannular complications and sepsis) beside classical variables in heart surgery (age, haemodynamic condition and renal failure) independently predicted perioperative mortality in IE. The RISK-E had better ability to predict surgical mortality in patients with IE when compared with other surgical scores