The paradox of uncertainty
| dc.contributor.advisor | Siopis, Penny | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | MacKenny, Virginia | |
| dc.contributor.author | Shaer, Nicole | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-07-23T11:40:08Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2018-07-23T11:40:08Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2016 | |
| dc.description.abstract | This work represents my engagement with uncertainty, as I have defined and contained it. As an artist, my research strategy has been to work with uncertainty in a felt sense, using my hands as a way to access a different sort of thinking. To this end, I have allowed, created, sustained and magnified the presence of uncertainty in my studio, as a focused, experiential study within the practice of making art. Uncertainty might be understood in many ways, so I will begin with the common definition as that which is ‘not able to be relied on; not known or definite’ (OED, 2016). Psychology professor Michael Smithson characterises the Western perception of uncertainty as a predominantly negative anticipation of what cannot be known (Bammer and Smithson, 2008: 18).Such a perception of uncertainty as a threat, may encourage the use of control as a means to contain the unknown. Smithson’s description reflects the prevailing attitude of my upbringing and this project represents the exploration of a different paradigm. The Paradox of Uncertainty alludes to the coexistence of two apparently opposing views of uncertainty, which I have sought to integrate through my art practice. My interest in uncertainty originates in years of effort to overcome anxiety, which I understand as the physiological manifestation of a fearful relationship with uncertainty that results in a habitual psychological struggle to out-plan the future. In contrast with the prevailing medical conception of anxiety as a form of mentalillness, philosopher Martin Heidegger considers anxiety to be an ‘irreducible, existential state of being[...] aris[ing] from the self-reflexive awareness of our own“potentiality-for-being”’ (Gordon, 2013: 106). The existential psychologist, Rollo May (1977: 38) offers a functional link between uncertainty and anxiety, noting that ‘whenever possibility is visualised by an individual, anxiety is potentially present in the same experience.’ Developing May’s concept of anxiety as a normal part of lived experience, psychologist Kerry Gordon (2013: 107) expands on the relationship between anxiety and creativity, saying: Creativity, authenticity, uncertainty, anxiety—these cannot be separated. To live a creative existence means to live with uncertainty. To live an authentic existence means to live with anxiety. | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.apacitation | Shaer, N. (2016). <i>The paradox of uncertainty</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Michaelis School of Fine Art. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28321 | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.chicagocitation | Shaer, Nicole. <i>"The paradox of uncertainty."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Michaelis School of Fine Art, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28321 | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.citation | Shaer, N. 2016. The paradox of uncertainty {Masters Thesis]. Michaelis School of Fine Art: University of Cape Town. | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.ris | TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Shaer, Nicole AB - This work represents my engagement with uncertainty, as I have defined and contained it. As an artist, my research strategy has been to work with uncertainty in a felt sense, using my hands as a way to access a different sort of thinking. To this end, I have allowed, created, sustained and magnified the presence of uncertainty in my studio, as a focused, experiential study within the practice of making art. Uncertainty might be understood in many ways, so I will begin with the common definition as that which is ‘not able to be relied on; not known or definite’ (OED, 2016). Psychology professor Michael Smithson characterises the Western perception of uncertainty as a predominantly negative anticipation of what cannot be known (Bammer and Smithson, 2008: 18).Such a perception of uncertainty as a threat, may encourage the use of control as a means to contain the unknown. Smithson’s description reflects the prevailing attitude of my upbringing and this project represents the exploration of a different paradigm. The Paradox of Uncertainty alludes to the coexistence of two apparently opposing views of uncertainty, which I have sought to integrate through my art practice. My interest in uncertainty originates in years of effort to overcome anxiety, which I understand as the physiological manifestation of a fearful relationship with uncertainty that results in a habitual psychological struggle to out-plan the future. In contrast with the prevailing medical conception of anxiety as a form of mentalillness, philosopher Martin Heidegger considers anxiety to be an ‘irreducible, existential state of being[...] aris[ing] from the self-reflexive awareness of our own“potentiality-for-being”’ (Gordon, 2013: 106). The existential psychologist, Rollo May (1977: 38) offers a functional link between uncertainty and anxiety, noting that ‘whenever possibility is visualised by an individual, anxiety is potentially present in the same experience.’ Developing May’s concept of anxiety as a normal part of lived experience, psychologist Kerry Gordon (2013: 107) expands on the relationship between anxiety and creativity, saying: Creativity, authenticity, uncertainty, anxiety—these cannot be separated. To live a creative existence means to live with uncertainty. To live an authentic existence means to live with anxiety. DA - 2016 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2016 T1 - The paradox of uncertainty TI - The paradox of uncertainty UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28321 ER - | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28321 | |
| dc.identifier.vancouvercitation | Shaer N. The paradox of uncertainty. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Michaelis School of Fine Art, 2016 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28321 | en_ZA |
| dc.language | eng | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher.department | Michaelis School of Fine Art | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher.faculty | Faculty of Humanities | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher.institution | University of Cape Town | |
| dc.publisher.institution | University if Cape Town | |
| dc.title | The paradox of uncertainty | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Master Thesis | |
| dc.type.qualificationlevel | Masters | |
| dc.type.qualificationname | MFA degree | en_ZA |
| uct.type.filetype | Text | |
| uct.type.filetype | Image | |
| uct.type.publication | Research | en_ZA |
| uct.type.resource | Thesis | en_ZA |
| uct.type.resource | Theses |