Masters Thesis

Paper movies in the development of an ecological aesthetic

In this first phase of a larger project--developing an aesthetics of ecology--I recount the process by which two paper movies were produced and present their texts without images, along with arguments for the form and the subject-ecology. I then explore three areas related to increasing the capability of the form: 1) the notion of what we see when engaged in scientific activity 2) translating from data to visualizations and 3) a discussion of Chinese and Japanese scroll paintings, as examples of an elaborately beautiful way to illustrate stories while communicating knowledge. In making of paper movies (scrolled images with a narrative) on the subject of environmental and ecological matters I found my approach too limited to adequately serve an ecological view (science of natural communities). Peter Schuman, of the Bread and Puppet Theatre, many years ago introduced "crankier" into his story-telling epics. Could this device now be used for more scientific narratives capable of providing deeper insights, more information, even scientific data in an artistic presentation?

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