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Aesthetics of Urban Culture: Corporeal Experience of Copenhagen

Sjöberg, Mikaela LU (2022) KOVM12 20221
Division of Art History and Visual Studies
Abstract
This thesis explores the visual culture of the streets; images and sensory experiences that shape our sense of space and ideas of identity and belonging. The atmospheres of cities, partly constructed by planners and partly lived by those who inhabit its spaces, produce audio-visual material that affect the atmosphere of the city, influencing dynamics of hierarchal structures in society. Nørrebro, a central area of the Danish capital Copenhagen, is known for its urban culture and sense of community, while also permeating a sense of non-conformity and anti-commercial ideologies. Yet, Nørrebro is, conflictingly, commercially dense, treading a frail line of small scale and home-grown in a global, capital neighborhood.

Departing from a... (More)
This thesis explores the visual culture of the streets; images and sensory experiences that shape our sense of space and ideas of identity and belonging. The atmospheres of cities, partly constructed by planners and partly lived by those who inhabit its spaces, produce audio-visual material that affect the atmosphere of the city, influencing dynamics of hierarchal structures in society. Nørrebro, a central area of the Danish capital Copenhagen, is known for its urban culture and sense of community, while also permeating a sense of non-conformity and anti-commercial ideologies. Yet, Nørrebro is, conflictingly, commercially dense, treading a frail line of small scale and home-grown in a global, capital neighborhood.

Departing from a phenomenological understanding of the relationship between body and city, with influences of auto-ethnography, psycho-geography and semiotics, I examine how everyday aesthetics is permeated by its sociocultural environment; its history, norms, and contemporary ideologies—each integral parts in building mythologies, or mediated notions that project urban identities as objective truths. Consequently, commercial investments are transforming the urban landscape. Field observations are performed in well-known Nørrebro locations to study how a seemingly diverse and interchangeable environment of images co-exist and by extension creates a more or less unified sense of space. These tensions of interchangeability will be studied through the internalized approach, taking into account emotive sensations and putting them in contrast to established scholarly framework. (Less)
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author
Sjöberg, Mikaela LU
supervisor
organization
course
KOVM12 20221
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Aesthetics, Atmosphere, Commerce, Globalization, Identity, Mythology, Urbanity
language
English
id
9094814
date added to LUP
2022-08-15 10:55:47
date last changed
2022-08-15 10:55:47
@misc{9094814,
  abstract     = {{This thesis explores the visual culture of the streets; images and sensory experiences that shape our sense of space and ideas of identity and belonging. The atmospheres of cities, partly constructed by planners and partly lived by those who inhabit its spaces, produce audio-visual material that affect the atmosphere of the city, influencing dynamics of hierarchal structures in society. Nørrebro, a central area of the Danish capital Copenhagen, is known for its urban culture and sense of community, while also permeating a sense of non-conformity and anti-commercial ideologies. Yet, Nørrebro is, conflictingly, commercially dense, treading a frail line of small scale and home-grown in a global, capital neighborhood. 

Departing from a phenomenological understanding of the relationship between body and city, with influences of auto-ethnography, psycho-geography and semiotics, I examine how everyday aesthetics is permeated by its sociocultural environment; its history, norms, and contemporary ideologies—each integral parts in building mythologies, or mediated notions that project urban identities as objective truths. Consequently, commercial investments are transforming the urban landscape. Field observations are performed in well-known Nørrebro locations to study how a seemingly diverse and interchangeable environment of images co-exist and by extension creates a more or less unified sense of space. These tensions of interchangeability will be studied through the internalized approach, taking into account emotive sensations and putting them in contrast to established scholarly framework.}},
  author       = {{Sjöberg, Mikaela}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Aesthetics of Urban Culture: Corporeal Experience of Copenhagen}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}