Date of Award

2010

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Program

Visual Arts

Supervisor

Patrick Mahon

Abstract

This thesis applies theories of cultural translation to the realm of visual arts practice, with a specific focus on the translational activities that occur in the art practices of several culturally diverse contemporary artists within the context of Western society. Drawing on the theoretical framework in Walter Benjamin’s essay The Task of the Translator, and Homi Bhabha’s notion of the Third Space, it examines the installations of Xu Bing, Jamelie Hassan, and my own art practice. Based on the implementation of these theoretical approaches, the thesis explores the processes involved in cultural transfer and transformation. By doing so, it suggests that not only do the art practices of culturally diverse artists open up Bhabha’s “Third Space of enunciation,” but such practices can also produce the Third Space as an actual site, not merely as an abstract concept.

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