Research students exhibition catalogue 2011

The catalogue demonstrates the scope and vibrancy of current inquiries and pays tribute to the creative capacity and investment of UCA research students. It brings together contributions from students who are at different stages in their research ad/venture. Their explorations are connected by the centrality of contemporary material practices as focal point for the reconsideration of societal values, cultural symbols and rituals and their meaning, and the trans/formation of individual, collective and national identities The media and formats employed range from cloth, jewellery and ceramics to analogue film, the human voice and the representation of dress and fashionin virtual environments. Thematic interests span from explorations at the interface of art and medical science to an investigation of the role of art in contested spaces, or the role of metonymy in ‘how the arts think’ And whilst the projects are motivated by personal curiosity and passion, their outcomes transcend the boundaries of individual practice and offer new insights, under-standing and applications for the benefit of wider society. Prof. Kerstin Me

Resisting metaphors: a metonymic approach to the study of creativity and cognition in art analysis and practice

We know from Aristotle that metaphor is a cognitive process that enables a rich and rapid understanding of new ideas. Its cognitive partner metonymy, however, has received significantly less attention. This research addresses two fundamental elements of metonymy in thought: firstly its definition, and secondly its function in creativity. It is a first foray into non-verbal metonymic creative thought, taken from an art practice perspective. This viewpoint offers access to how metonymy functions in material processes, and how it draws meaning from proximal contexts. With reference to cognitive linguistics, art philosophy and complexity theory, it uses case-study analysis and art practice to consider where and how meaning is held within processes, materials, objects, language and context, and the relationship between metonymy, metaphor, literality, alience and novelty. It suggests a new, pragmatic definition of metonymy for use in non-verbal communication analysis, including visual art, sound art and music. It finds that metonymy is a highly dynamic domain-internal process of meaning expansion, which uses proximity and adjacency to draw in meaning

The Morphoregulatory Role of Thidiazuron: Metabolomics-Guided Hypothesis Generation for Mechanisms of Activity

Thidiazuron (TDZ) is a diphenylurea synthetic herbicide and plant growth regulator used to defoliate cotton crops and to induce regeneration of recalcitrant species in plant tissue culture. In vitro cultures of African violet thin petiole sections are an ideal model system for studies of TDZ-induced morphogenesis. TDZ induces de novo shoot organogenesis at low concentrations and somatic embryogenesis at higher concentrations of exposure. We used an untargeted metabolomics approach to identify metabolites in control and TDZ-treated tissues. Statistical analysis including metabolite clustering, pattern and pathway tools, logical algorithms, synthetic biotransformations and hormonomics identified TDZ-induced changes in metabolism. A total of 18,602 putative metabolites with extracted masses and predicted formulae were identified with 1412 features that were found only in TDZ-treated tissues and 312 that increased in response to TDZ. The monomer of TDZ was not detected intact in the tissues but putative oligomers were found in the database and we hypothesize that these may form by a Diels–Alder reaction. Accumulation oligomers in the tissue may act as a reservoir, slowly releasing the active TDZ monomer over time. Cleavage of the amide bridge released TDZ-metabolites into the tissues including organic nitrogen and sulfur containing compounds. Metabolomics data analysis generated six novel hypotheses that can be summarized as an overall increase in uptake of sugars from the culture media, increase in primary metabolism, redirection of terpene metabolism and mediation of stress metabolism via indoleamine and phenylpropanoid metabolism. Further research into the specific mechanisms hypothesized is likely to unravel the mode of action of TDZ and to provide new insights into the control of plant morphogenesis.Science, Faculty ofNon UBCChemistry, Department ofReviewedFacult