Presence and absence artist statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Presence and absence artist statement - Essay Example However this duality in the nature does not imply an absence of harmony. Embedding the impressions of presence and absence, my creations stand at the culmination of the Environment, the Viewer and the Artwork. â€Å"It is futile for an artist to try to create an environment because you have an environment around you all the time. Any living organism has an environment, the only people who don’t have an environment are dead† said Carl Andre1, the American minimalist artist. Building up on this proposition, my creations embrace three elements of the environment – Atmospheric(s), Nature and the Response. Atomospheric(s) are installations that engender an ambience within the viewer’s perception; Nature is the surrounding environment that supports and informs the artwork; and the Response are ways of knowing how the audience reacts to my work. The second piece, the Viewer is a central participant in my works. Art brings out feelings and emotions in the viewer t hat transcend him/her to his/her own experiences by arousing nostalgia or connections with the past. These nostalgic feelings range from a beautiful landscape to even a television program. Expending these nostalgic moments, I attempt to create a sensational view of everyday life with my installations. The nature of Nostalgia has intrigued many artists and intellectuals in the past. Roberta Rubenstein called Nostalgia as something that â€Å"never actually existed, or never could have existed, in the form in which it is ‘remembered’† while photographer Hollis Frampton connected nostalgia with identity and culture formation2. Finally, the third piece of my creation is the artwork itself, a channel to connect the other two (environment and the viewer). In this exhibition I present a sculptural video installation that includes the nostalgic association to the contemporary notion of an urban place and a corresponding sculpture piece that is made of soil and plant, mir roring the idea of nostalgic discrepancy between the natural setting and a still inescapable urban context in which it is installed. Nostalgic discrepancy suggests presence and absence. The impressions of portraying presence and absence in art can be extensively seen in works of artists such as Sooja Kim, Olafur Eliasson, Popolotti Rist and Jaye Rhee, who have deeply inspired my style. Sooja Kim examines the balance between presence and absence through her performance of harmonized settings between nature and herself. Likewise, I am using nature and its movement as stimulus elements to balance between presence and absence of the nostalgic notion of people’s ideas of nature and urban landscape of places. Swiss artist Popolotti Rist liberally uses atmospheric installations in his artwork to arouse viewer’s emotions. At his exhibition at Moma, he cultivated a lounge-like atmosphere covering the floor with chocolate color carpet, a donut shaped sofa in the center of the ro om and accompanying music. Pour Your Body was a relaxingly inviting video installation. However, unlike Popolotti Rist’s work, I invite the viewer to respond to their feelings in a much more guided way. My projection strengthens the sense of enforcement and the individual loss that we encounter from nature’s needs. Perhaps my intention is closer to Olafur Eliasson’s creations in Multiple shadow house. His work explores boundaries between inside and outside, experimenting by positioning the viewer in his

Course project part 1 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Course project part 1 - Coursework Example Selling and administrative expense rose proportionately more than the sales growth (55 percent). This was compounded by the 185 percent increase in interest expense which significantly eroded these gains. Otherwise, all other cost elements were under control. The net income thus went up by only 28 per cent, and because of the issuance of new shares during the period, earnings per share increased by only 9 percent. Net profit margin in the second year relative to sales dipped slightly compared to the year before despite the the growth in sales. While operating profit margin was better than the previous level by two percentage points, the near three-fold increase in interest expense was the main reason why net profit return on sales did not improve. Total assets nearly doubled during the period due to the 113 percent increase in net plant and equipment. Accounts receivable, due to the drive to increase sales, more than doubled. There was an increase in cash and cash equivalents of 40 per cent. The increases in fixed assets and receivables were financed mainly from short-term and long-term debt which together caused total liabilities to rise by 134 percent (more than $600,000). The issuance of new shares and retained earnings accounted for the balance of almost $300,000 increase in total assets. Profitability. The 44 per cent increase in sales did not effectively translate into an improved return on total assets because of the purchase of additional plant and equipment during the year. A corrected return on assets can be obtained by averaging the year 1 and year 2 assets in the computation. With an average asset of $1,447,000, the return on sales would be 8.29 percent instead of 6.33 percent but it is still lower than the previous years level. The growth in net profit margin markedly failed to keep pace with the growth in sales. The return on stockholders equity was slightly lower than the previous years. Judged against the industrys

The Characteristics and Development of RFID - Radio frequency identification Essay Example for Free

The Characteristics and Development of RFID Radio frequency identification Essay Wal-Mart, the world leading retailer, announced it will expand its rollout of radio frequency identification (RFID) to a total of 300 suppliers by 2006, following meeting with its top vendors. The retailers top 100 suppliers have already agreed to implement RFID by January 2005. Wal-Mart plans to have the inventory tracking system, which uses radio frequency technology, in six distribution centers and 250 Wal-Mart stores and Sams Club stores by next June. By October of next year, the program will include up to 13 distribution centers and up to 600 Wal-Mart and Sams Club stores. By the start of 2006, Wal-Marts next top 200 suppliers will begin tagging cased and pallets, bringing the total to 300 vendors. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has been in commercial use since the early 1980s. It has been employed, for instance, on highway and bridge tolls, in tracking livestock movements, in tracking airfreight and in motorcar manufacturing, but until recently, the technology has been too expensive and too limited for mass commercial applications. However, retailers are now starting to drive the introduction of RFID and it would seem to have the potential to revolutionize efficiency, effectiveness and security throughout supply chain. By definition, RFID is a technology process starts with a tag that is made up of a microchip with an form a magnetic field when they join with the antenna on the RFID tag (FRiDa. com). Its one of the most powerful IT strategic assets in use in retailing industry. According to Michalisim (1997), he pointed out that strategic asset are simultaneously valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and nonsubstitutable. RFID technology has been commonly recognized as the key source to enterprise resource management system as well as warehouse management systems and enables retailers to gain competitive edges over rivals. RFID is the generic name for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify items. There are several methods of identifying items using RFID but most systems consist of a tag, which is made up of a microchip with a coiled antenna, and an interrogator or reader with an antenna. The reader sends out electromagnetic waves that form a magnetic field when they couple with the antenna on the RFID tag. The tag draws power from the magnetic field and uses it to power the microchips circuits. The chip then modulates the waves that the tag sends back to the reader and the reader converts the new waves into digital data. The data transmitted by the tag may provide identification or location details and/or specific information about the product such as price, colour and date of purchase. The tags are very flexible in that microchips measuring less than a third of a millimeter wide can now store a wide range of unique product information, they can be read from a distance and through a variety of obstacles. RFID technology can also allow some, but not all, the data held on a tag to be read and the tags can be updated after the original data has been loaded. The tags also offer security in that they can be made virtually tamper free. The technology has been too expensive and too limited for widespread mass commercial applications, but as the price of tags, tag readers and the associated equipment continues to fall so a growing number of retailers have begun to explore the introduction of RFID and this in turn seems likely to bring the technology into everyday consumer use. Wal-Mart is making this revolutionary technology (i. e. RFID) a reality in distribution centers today. Its expected that Wal-Marts top 100 suppliers must be RFID-ready by January 2005 and the retailer then put its large foot forward in April of this year by launching the first phase of RFID implementation at the case and pallet level in Fort Worth marketplace. Apparently, the retailing industry is slowly moving toward a re-engineered supply chain with enhanced efficiencies. RFID represents the most sweeping supply-chain advancement since June 1974, initiated by Wm. Wrigley Company by adopting the worlds first, official grocery-store barcode on a pack of chewing gum. Since then, it changes to the way the supply chain operation becomes more efficient. It is evident to note that RFID helps manufactories virtually eliminate manual data entry and manual business process transactions in such ways: first and foremost, order fulfillment speed is dramatically increased; second, the order accuracy is improved; third, the on-going operating costs of order fulfillment are reduced; the performance of warehouse management system investment can be enhanced; last but not least, hidden warehouse management costs become visible. Moreover, efficiency gains can be measured in picking and put away errors, acceleration of handling for return and restocking, and elimination of physical counts. In addition, RFID enables manufactories to make the most use of data as it becomes available for real-time demand signals when product moves through the supply chain. Furthermore, RFID contributes to the improvements of data accessibility and quality of which having a positive impact on demand forecast accuracy (Smith Offodile, 2002). Consequently, it helps manufactories to gain real-time visibility into customer purchase decisions throughout the value chain, which prepare firms to react and influence the marketplace. Cited from Rose (1996), An inspection of technological changes in terms of supply chain management over the last 20 years has illustrated that there have been tremendous changes in the area of physical distribution or supply chain management systems through global business. Information technology and RFID have changed payables, receivables, and the asset side of inventory. Typically, RFID use modern wireless technologies to provide manufactories with unique solutions to difficult logistical tracking of inventory. The technology is largely feature in its stability, with open architectures becoming increasingly available.

Discourse Analysis Politeness In Ionescos The Lesson English Language Essay

Discourse Analysis Politeness In Ionescos The Lesson English Language Essay This article is concentrating on the linguistic strategies of politeness presented in drama text. The text chosen for analysis is Ionescos The Lesson, a play which would virtually demand a politeness analysis. the discourse model which has been selected for the analysis is one which should enable me to explore ,in a systematic way, the relation between language use and the social relation of the speakers. The present study will examine literary text from a discourse oriented perspective because the subject of the analysis is the drama dialogue. The choice of the dialogues is further justified when one notice that the drama dialogue selected for analysis represents a particular kind of discourse situation ;a lesson. a discourse stylistic analysis should examine the interaction between the fictional characters in the play as well as encompassing the interaction between writer/playwright and reader /audience. This echoes the embedded nature of drama discourse. Generally a discourse styl istic analysis should highlight the role of the writer and reader as conversationalists in realtime speech events, pointing particularly the formers ability to exploit the conversations of language use for stylistic effect and latters ability to recognize these exploitations and motivations behind it. Politeness and Interactions Much of what we say and a greater deal of what we communicate is determined by our social relationships. A linguistic interaction is necessarily a social interaction. In order to make sense of what is said in an interaction we have to look at various factors which relate to social distance and closeness. Some of these factors are external ,they involve the relative status of the participants ,based on social values, such as age and power. However here are also internal factors such as amount of imposition and degree of friendliness. It might accord with what Foucault talked about power and relation. He said that power is not something to be seized it is exercised from different points of an interplay in a mobile non-egalitarian relation. Both types of factors have an influence over not only what we say but on how we are interpreted. In order to understand the meaning of politeness in an interaction we need the concept of face. As a technical term, face means the public self-image of a person .it refers to emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and expects the others to recognize it .politeness in an interaction can then be defined as the means employed to show awareness of another persons face. Within their everyday social infraction people generally behave as if their expectation concerning their public self-image, or their face wants, will be respected. If a speaker say something that represents a threat to another individuals expectations regarding self-image, it is described as a face threatening act ..Alternatively given the possibility that some action might be interpreted as a threat to anothers face, the speaker can say something to lesson the possible threat. This is called a face saving act. We also have negative and positive face. a persons negative face is the need to be independent, to have freedom of action ,and not to be imposed on by others. The word negative here doesnt mean bad it s just the opposite pole of positive. a persons p ositive face is the need to be accepted ,even liked ,by others ,to be treated as the member of the same group, and to know that his and her wants are shared by the others. In short negative face is the need to be independent and positive face is the need to be connected. There are also various forms of face threatening act. Depending on the social relationship of the speakers and the amount of imposition which the face threatening act entails. For example if you say closed the door it is a face threatening act that has been done baldly, without redress. In fact a bald non redressive act is one that adheres to four conversational maxim introduced by a philosopher called Grice. It is maximally efficient in so far as it is non-spurious (quality maxim), it does not say more or less than is required ( quantity),it is relevant(relation) and it avoids ambiguity and obscurity (manner). There are a number of alternatives to perform face threatening act. If you say your request not directly and the other partner can also behave as if the statement has not been heard, this is technically described as being off record. In general ,linguistic realization of off-record strategies include metaphor and irony, rhetorical questions ,understatement ,tautologies and all kinds of indirect hints .but if you directly address the other partner as a means of expressing your need like the example above this is described as being on-record .in the face saving act we have positive politeness and negative politeness. Positive politeness is like being on-record more risky. This can be used in more friendly and close relations. In negative politeness the request is most typically performed via a question like may I ask you †¦.? Or could you lend me your pen?.the tendency to use positive politeness forms ,emphasizing closeness between speaker and hearer ,can be seen as solidarity strategy. Such a strategy will include personal information, use of nicknames even use of abusive terms. The tendency to use negative politeness forms, emphasizing the hearers right to freedom, can be seen as a deference strategy. This strategy can be performed through using hedges, indicating deference, minimizing the imposition, indicating pessimism, apologizing, impersonalizing , etc†¦ The Analysis In The Lesson the central event is a private lesson involving an ageing professor and an eighteen year old pupil. The specific aim of the lesson is never made clear ;the pupil, it seems ,wishes to undertake all the doctorate ,yet the professor directs most of his pedagogical energy toward ridiculously elementary arithmetic .at the start of the play the professor is nervous and difficult while the pupil is vivacious and dynamic .the professor gradually loses his timidity ,becoming increasingly domineering and aggressive, whereas the pupil grows more and more passive. finally in the storm of verbal abuse the professor murders the pupil with what can only be described as an imaginary knife. The play concludes with the revelation that not only is this the professors fortieth victim of the play but also he had planned subsequent lesson of a similar nature. The professors transition from diffidence to dominance, and the pupils decline into passivity is a gradual and almost imperceptible pr ocess. the shift in the interactive roles of the two characters is reflected by subtle changes in their linguistic behavior. To account for this three short extracts have been taken from key stages in the play development. The opening encounter between the professor and the pupil; Professor; Good morning, good morning †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.you are†¦..err†¦..I suppose you are really†¦.err†¦.the new pupil? (The pupil turns round briskly and easily, very much the young lady; she gets up and goes toward the professor ,holding out her hand) Pupil; yes ,sir. Good morning, sir. You see I came at the right time . i didnt want to be late. Professor Good .yes , thats very good. Thank you. But you shouldnt have hurried too much ,you know dont know quite how to apologize to you for having you kept waiting†¦.. I was just finishing†¦.you understand ,I was just†¦err†¦..i do beg your pardon †¦..i hope you will forgive me†¦ Pupil; oh, but you mustnt sir its perfectly all right, sir. Professor; my apologies†¦.. the professors first remarks are clearly phatic.it is noticeable that he repeats the phrase good morning, possibly this repetition revealing some anxiety in the early stage of the encounter. Then the professor goes on to make the first threatening act of the interaction he requires information concerning the identity of his interlocutor..first he begins with a declarative sentence which will function as a request for confirmation from the pupil .this is followed by a hedging particle. In addition to the particle err hedges are achieved by the phrases I suppose and really .the use of I suppose makes more tentative assumption in the professors request, while really functions to weaken the force of the request. Actually the professors opening gambit is a good example of negative politeness phenomena. The pupils use of the honorific sir communicates deference, her linguistic strategy conveys confidence and self- determination. She is eager to play merit for her punctuality, not letting this possible feature of her behavior escape her interlocutor. She also response to the professors earlier phatic initiation in a calm and equanimous. The pupils non verbal behavior here is also significant and displays considerable confidence on her part. The professors second speech begins with some positive feedback concerning the pupils punctuality, but then he moves into an extraordinary sequence of negative politeness. It should be noted here that the professor has kept the pupil waiting for no more that a few seconds. It is completely clear that he considers himself to have made some immense imposition on her interlocutor. He declares his inability to apologies this first indicates his deference .secondly ,he draws on the apologize strategy , or rather claims his inability to apologize. He supplements this by utilizing a specific sub strategy of apologize; he admits the impingement , by explicitly referring to the imposition caused to the addressee. After some hesitation he proceeds with more negative politeness, he attempts to state the overwhelming reasons which lead him to perform the face threatening act. Then after this and he attempts a more hedge version of the same sub strategy, with a complete lack of success. Then he moves to beg forgiveness strategy, which also incorporates the pessimistic strategy in its use of I hope. This elaborate display of politeness strategy is in reality a relatively trivial imposition the professor minimally impinged on the negative face of the addressee ,on the other hand he persist with a gratuitous build up of repair strategy ,there is in fact a kind of pragmatic mismatch here .so this shows that the politeness strategies he uses are vastly out of proportion to the actual imposition he makes on the hearer. The pupils injection is well timed, what is more significant is that the pupil grants the forgiveness requested by the professor with her remark its perfectly all right sir .indeed on the basis of this exchange ,it seems as if it is the pupil not the professor who is more powerful of the interaction. The pupils persistent use of the honorific sir is incongruous. The second extract is taken from the middle of the play; Professor; what is four? Greater or smaller that three? Pupil; smaller †¦.. no greater. Professor; excellent answer. How many units are missing between three and four? †¦.. or between four and three if youd rather? Pupil; there arent any units sir, between three and four. Four comes immediately after three; there is nothing at all between three and four! Professor; I cant have made myself understood properly .its doubtless my own fault .i havent been clear enough. Pupil ; oh no sir the fault is entirely mine . Professor; listen .here are three matches .and here is another one . that makes four. Now watch carefully†¦. In this conversation the characters are competing with one another in their use of negative politeness strategies .the trade in deference phenomena would suggest that a more symmetrical power relation exists between the two characters at this point in the play .these face threatening act ,which impose upon the negative face of the addressee by demanding a particular service ,have been done baldly. They are impolite , in fact these bald non repressive face threatening act are the first suggestion that the professor is becoming not only more powerful but less concerned with being polite to his interlocutor.. it is also noticeable that nowhere in this extract the professor used his hedging particle err which was used so frequently in the first conversation..There is generally a change in professors linguistic behavior..There are signs that the professor is beginning to assume a position of high relative power. The third extract is taken from near the end of the play .it occurs shortly before the professor murders the pupil with the invisible knife. This act can be considered the ultimate face threatening act. Professor; every language mademoiselle- note this carefully and remember it till the day you die Pupil; oh !yes sir till the day I die †¦. Yes sir †¦ Professor ; †¦ and again , this is another fundamental principle , every language is in fact only a manner of speaking , which inevitably implies that it is a made up of sounds , or †¦ Pupil; phonemes †¦. Professor; I was just about to say so . Dont show off , airing your knowledge !youd better just listen . Pupil ; very well sir .yes sir . Professor; sounds mademoiselle, should be caught in flight by their wings so that they do not fall on deaf ears..consequently when you have made up your mind to articulate ,you are recommended , in so far as possible ,to stretch your neck and your chin well up , and stand righty on the tips of your toes ,look now ,like this ,you see †¦.. Pupil; yes, sir. Professor; be quite. dont interrupt †¦. the conversation here has changed to an extended nonsensical monologue from the professor .considering the professors opening speech ,which is the beginning of a disoriented proclamation of language .it is not only a bald ,non-repressive face threatening demanding careful attention from the pupil but there is a sinister threatening quality to this face threatening act. .the pupils reaction on the other hand is a display of genuine deference. Here the use of the honorific sir is not incongruous but it is a term of address used by an inferior to a superior .when the pupil is eager to participate in the interaction this draws admonition from the professor in the form of another threatening ,bald, non -redressive face threatening act. At last the professor gives three unmitigated command which illustrate how the professors politeness strategies have completely vanished . it is also significant that one of these face threatening acts is intended to restrict the physical movement of the addressee .thus the pupil who was able to move confidently in the first extract ,is now confined powerless to her chair. In three passages from the lesson , when compared to one another ,show a marked reversal in the interactive relation of the two characters ,during the course of the play the reversal is gradually achieved and it is difficult to isolate a specific point at which a character gains or loses power .one thing that is clear is that the transition in interactive roles is signaled by the subtle variations in the linguistic strategies which these characters use to one another .

Essay --

Heraclitus Heraclitus was born approximately at 540 B.C, He is one of the aristocratic families of Ephesus, near Colophon. Heraclitus had a reputation as a deliberately obscure thinker. Heraclitus often referred as â€Å"The Dark† due to the darkness of his writings. Even though there is no adequate English translation of the term â€Å"Logos† based on the writing, it can be seen that the logos was interpreted by Heraclitus as â€Å"The word of God† â€Å"Unity in Oppositeness†. Due to the fact that it is the controlling, magnificent force within nature, Heraclitus could simply classify it (Logos) as the mind of God. The fundamental dogma of Heraclitus’s orderliness is the allegation that there is a balanced structure of the solar system and that this structure establishes and maintain the stability of the universe. In order to understand what is â€Å"Logos† one should have a soul (Seeing, Hearing, Perception). It is said by Heraclitus that God is always better than men. Unity in Opposites could be interpreted as even though there are things which are the total opposites of each other, they are still able to unite in one unity. For example, Sea could be considered as two things, Sea could be the most pure water for fishes, yet sea water could be the most polluted water for men. For fishes it is drinkable and sanitary, while for men it is undrinkable and deleterious. (Fr. 61) Moreover, looking further on Heraclitus â€Å"Logos† we can say that he thinks that antithesis/opposites make unity. For example, God is day night, winter summer, war peace, satiety hunger (Fr. 67). In this writing, it is safe to say that Heraclitus considered fire as the most fundamental and important element in this world. Heraclitus strongly believes that fire is the most essential com... ...equilibrium is a place where everything is constantly changing. Hence, the idea of fire. Based on this paradigm now we could possibly understand why in the first place Heraclitus uses fire as the most suitable metaphor for the logos as fire never stays in one form, it is always changing. It is probably based on the same reason why Heraclitus likes the nature of river as the river is always changing, new water will continuously flows through replacing the old one, and it will remains the same for a very long period, probably forever. Moreover, still in the coverage of the previous theory, Heraclitus expanded Anaximander’s idea of the interaction of opposites. Heraclitus views that the animosity between all the opposites’ things in this world is actually universal; it never end. In fact, animosity might be the reason behind why we could have justice and equilibrium.

Wedding Speech Delivered by the Bride :: Wedding Toasts Roasts Speeches

Cory and I feel privileged to be sharing our day with all of our fiends and families who have been important to us during our lives. Many of you traveled from afar, Canada, Seattle, Illinois, Colorado and Arizona. Thanks to all of you for the efforts and sacrifices you have made to be with us today. I want to thank the most wonderful parents a child could ever have. Not only for the love, support and guidance over the years, but also for everything you’ve done towards today. Your massive contribution has been priceless and without you both we would have never managed and today would not have been possible or so special. Thank you Mom and Dad from the bottom of our hearts. And thank you Virginia for having such a wonderful son. I would also like to say thank you to my beautiful bridesmaids. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done and for being the greatest friends ever. Suzy, my maid of honor, you have been a lifesaver. You truly are the definition of a best friend and sister. Thank you for dealing with all my indecisiveness and always being her for me. I want to thank Cory for making my life complete.

Slavery Today

Slavery in the 21st Century Sex trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion. While this happens all over the world, it occurs much more frequently in the United States than one would think. Sex traffickers use a variety of methods to â€Å"condition† their victims including starvation, confinement, beatings, physical abuse, rape, gang rape, threats of violence to the victims and the victims’ families, and forced drug use. In modern day slavery, human beings are literally bought and sold as property on the market, for amounts ranging from $80 to $5,000. Like in the 1800s, victims might even be sold at auctions where they have been kidnapped or sold into slavery by their families or friends whom they believed they could trust. They have no control over their lives: where they live, what work they do, their sexuality, or their health. Escaping is nearly impossible as victims are often constantly drugged, and they fear being abused or even killed. This is very similar to slavery in the 1700s and 1800s. Right now there are many problems and issues being brought up about the United States, however sex trafficking has failed to be acknowledged by most as one of those issues. We should care more about sex trafficking since it is believed to be the 21st century’s version of slavery. In the 1800s slavery was abolished and ended with the Civil War, but now it has arisen once again in a different way. We should pay more attention to these issues in providing education on the topic by reporting on the statistics and effects of sex trafficking in the media. I don’t know if we can truly abolish slavery in every form, but we should try as history has shown the effects slavery has on the individual, as well as, society.