Unit:
Department of Communication and Media StudiesLibrary of the Faculties of Political Science and Public Administration, Communication and Mass Media Studies, Turkish and Modern Asian Studies, Sociology
Author:
Gryntaki Evangelia
Dissertation committee:
Καλλιόπη Ρηγοπούλου, Ομότιμη Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Επικοινωνίας και Μέσων Μαζικής Ενημέρωσης, ΕΚΠΑ
Κώστας Γαβρόγλου, Ομότιμος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Μεθοδολογίας, Ιστορίας και Θεωρίας της Επιστήμης, ΕΚΠΑ
Γιώργος Χαρβαλιάς, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Εικαστικών Τεχνών, Ανωτάτη Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών Αθήνας
Λουίζα Αυγήτα, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Εικαστικών και Εφαρμοσμένων Τεχνών, Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης
Γιώργος Διβάρης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Εικαστικών και Εφαρμοσμένων Τεχνών, Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης
Έλλη Φιλοκύπρου, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Επικοινωνίας και Μέσων Μαζικής Ενημέρωσης, ΕΚΠΑ
Πάνος Χαραλάμπους, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Εικαστικών Τεχνών, Ανωτάτη Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών Αθήνας
Original Title:
Μεταμορφώσεις της εντροπίας στη σύγχρονη τέχνη. Από την αταξία στην πληροφορία.
Translated title:
Transformations of entropy in contemporary art. From disorder to information.
Summary:
The first and most common approach of the term entropy is its definition as the spontaneous inclination of nature to move towards disorder. However, it’s much more than that. Entropy and the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics -which defines it in Physics- apart from the disorder are also related with the gradual and inevitable degradation of the total cosmic energy -that results to the heat death of the universe-, with the one-dimensional time and finally with information. In this thesis, I tried to designate the impact that had in the western art its contact with entropy’s cosmological consequences through the research of artists whose work interprets, features, applies metaphorically or translates basic expressions of entropy, either as a direct inspiration or through relations with systems of thought or artistic creation that assimilate or investigate the thermodynamic model. Basic methodological tools of the research are the theory of Ilia Prigogine and Isabelle Stengers on thermodynamic systems far from equilibrium and the Mathematical theory of communication by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver. Based on the characteristics of entropy that emerge through those theories I investigate the phenomenon in the cultural landscapes of the last 60 years, that is the period within which arose and took shape what we now call postmodernism. Throughout the presentation of 17 indicative artists of this period, a first systematic recording of artistic practises and theoretical approaches of entropy is formed, as well as a suggestion for a new way of approaching the ominous and rather dark entropy cosmological perspectives.
Firstly, as a phenomenon dynamic and creative, as it has occurred through the interpretative spectrum of Prigogine-Stengers and Shannon-Weaver theories and secondly, as a phenomenon, whose appearance and development were inseparably connected with postmodern thought.
Main subject category:
Social, Political and Economic sciences
Other subject categories:
Fine arts - Entertainment
Keywords:
Contemporary art, Physics, Entropy, Prigogine, Shannon, Information, John Cage, Robert Smithson, Chance, Heat death, Thermodynamics, Time, Time's arrow, Clinamen, swerve, Lucretius, Pataphysics, interdisciplinary
Number of references:
495
