Visual Arts

One might naturally suppose that philosophers of art would take a strong interest in the idea of creation in the context of art. In fact, this has often not been the case. In analytic aesthetics, the issue tends to dwell on the sidelines and in continental aesthetics a shadow has sometimes been cast over the topic by the notion of the “death of the author” and by the claim, as Roland Barthes put it, that the author is only ever able (...) to “imitate a gesture that is always anterior, never original”. This paper explains the understanding of artistic creation developed by the French art theorist André Malraux in his well-known book The Voices of Silence. Malraux argues that the true artist is involved in a creative act in the full sense of the term – creation ex nihilo – despite the debt he or she often owes to other artists. The paper also comments briefly on possible reasons why traditional post-Enlightenment aesthetics has said so little about the topic in question. (shrink)

The question of whether or not art is essentially a representation of reality has long been a bone of contention among philosophers of art – especially in the major branch of that discipline called the analytic philosophy of art, or analytic aesthetics. This paper argues that art - visual art, literature or music - is never essentially representation. The argument is based on the thinking of André Malraux in "The Voices of Silence".

Between medieval sapienza and the duty of silence...because it can be harmfull for other, takes care to transmit and inform in a cultural way.

Abstract: The purpose of this essay is to explore the nature and role of art as a human phenomenon from a broadly cognitive perspective. Like science and religion, art serves to mediate the unknown, at once to embrace and to defend against the fundamental mystery of existence. Thus, it may challenge the status quo while generally serving to maintain it. Art tracks the individuation of subjectivity, serving the pleasure principle, yet is appropriated by the collective’s commitment to the reality principle. (...) While science and religion close in on serious answers to fundamental questions, art opens up possibilities toward playfulness, uselessness, imagination, and arbitrary whim. Though art has no unifying definition, meaning, or intent through time and across cultures, it remains important to people, both to do and to enjoy. It serves to counterbalance the naive realism of science, the “rationality” of modern society, and the literalism of text-based religion. While its allegiance is divided, its most worthy intent is to aid us to confront and negotiate the great mystery revealed to us in consciousness. (shrink)

-/- Letter to a friend : Creative Thinking and Intuition Letter to a friend about creative thinking and intuition (art, writing, philosophy, science, etc ) .

Carel Fabritius left behind few but important works of art. We are concerned here with the View in Delft, and attempt to make two points about it. The first is that this small painting manages to break away from the classical perception of perspective, an endeavor informed mostly by new findings in the field of optics of the time. The second point, theoretically related to the first, stresses compositional elements that would bring View in Delft closer to a meditation on (...) the fleetingness of life, making it a "town-scape" vanitas. (shrink)

Review of “The Mad Square: Modernity in German Art 1910-37”, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, November 25, 2011-March 4, 2012. A version of this essay appeared in the Appendices of Gavin Keeney, Not-I/Thou: The Other Subject of Art and Architecture (CSP, 2014), pp. 153-57.

An essay on non-discursive forms of knowledge that inhabit art photography. A version of this essay appeared in Gavin Keeney, "Else-where": Essays in Art, Architecture, and Cultural Production 2002-2011 (CSP, 2011), pp. 209-26.

Essay on the modern artistic ego as sponsored by the exhibition, "Gustav Courbet," February 27-May 18, 2008, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA. A version of this essay appeared in Gavin Keeney, "Else-where": Essays on Art, Architecture, and Cultural Production 2002-2011 (CSP, 2011), pp. 191-98.

Diaristic, mixed notes on: John Ruskin's The Poetry of Architecture (1837) and Modern Painters (1885); Caravaggio, Victorian Aesthetes, G.K. Chesterton, and Tacita Dean; Jay Fellows' Ruskin’s Maze: Mastery and Madness in His Art (1981); Slavoj Žižek at Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, New York, USA, April 23, 2009, “Architectural Parallax: Spandrels and Other Phenomena of Class Struggle”; “Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice”, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, March 15-August 16, 2009; Janet Harbord, Chris Marker: La Jetée (...) (2009); The Politics of the Envelope, Princeton Envelope Group (PEG), ARC504, Princeton School of Architecture, Princeton, New Jersey, USA, Friday, May 8, 2009; Rhode Island School of Design, Degree Project Reviews, Division of Architecture & Design, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, May 16, 2009; etc. (shrink)

Essays and documents in support of the works of Gaialight - DOCUMENTS: The Passion of Jeanne d’Art (2007) - Letter to Gaia (2007) - “Art as Such”: This is Not Pop ... (2008) - Writing Toward Darkness (2009) - Scarlett Words: Light America (2009) - The Darklight Elaboration (2010) - The Darklight Elaboration: Zeitgeist or Episteme? (2010) - Cam Girls (2011) - Brooklyn Buzz (2011) - Brooklyn Buzz: The Semi-divine Metropolis (2011) - Reconnaissance: Light War, Mass Surveillance, Video Games (2011) (...) - First Cause (2011) - Met Ladies (2011) - When Cam Girls Met Ladies (2011) / OUTTAKES (2007): 15 Questions About Editioned Art Photography (2007) - A Few Awkward Questions for Francesca Woodman (2007) - October Revolution (2007) . (shrink)

Since the stone age humankind has created masterworks which possess a mysterious quality of solidity and grandeur or monumentality. A Paleolithic Venus and a still life by Cezanne both share this monumentality. Michelangelo likened monumentality to sculptural relief, Braque called monumentality 'space', and Hans Hoffman, himself one of the masters, called monumentality 'pictorial depth.' The masters agreed on the import of monumentality, but none of them left a clear explanation of it. In 1943 Earl Loran published his classic book on (...) Cezanne's pictorial structure but, as I demonstrate, his explanation was misleading. This book provide a clear explanation, as did an earlier book by Robert Casper. This book also traces some history of monumentality with reproductions. It also explains how some painters achieved monumentality and how a student can attempt it. Pictorial space is created in the tension between pairs of opposing planes. Opposing planes pull against each other, each containing the other, paradoxically, within the flat surface of the canvas. Sculpture also can be 'plastic': opposing masses pull against each other, each containing the other and creating tension in the space which lies between them. Painting has other aspects like subject matter, expression, style and technique but pictorial space does not depend on these. Monumentality moves us profoundly and apparently has done so since the Paleolith. Using patients' vignettes, I show that there are profound parallels between the structure of a monumental work of art and the structure of an evolving personality. In Winnicott's words, such a personality has 'depth ... an interior space to put beliefs in ... an inside ... a space where things can be held ... the capacity to accept paradox [to contain opposites] ... room and strength ... and originality and the acceptance of tradition as the basis for invention'. A monumental painting also meets this description. I argue that monumental art provides a visual portrait of an evolving personality just as myth, as Freud and Jung both showed, provides a narrative portrait of an evolving personality. An evolving personality is perhaps humankind's most important creation; an underlying purpose of both myth and art is to help us achieve it. I demonstrate in this book that monumental art represented the evolving personality since at least 35,000 BC. Thus to understand monumentality is to better understand the personality and its history. (shrink)

Recentes estudos em história da ciência têm apresentado indícios de que é impossível estabelecer uma clara distinção entre estudos de óptica e de perspectiva linear quando nos referimos aos séculos XVI e XVII. Embora a perspectiva linear lidasse com a representação geométrica do espaço numa superfície bidimensional, estava, entretanto, estreitamente ligada a questões relativas à natureza da visão humana. Devemos considerar que, naquela época, o termo perspectiva era a tradução latina da palavra grega optikè, denotando a visão direta e distinta (...) que, para os gregos, revelava as coisas. Seu significado coexistiu com outros que designavam a técnica pictórica e, para distingui-los, era comum opor a perspectiva "comum” ou “natural” à perspectiva artificialis dos pintores. Essas diferentes expressões de perspetiva relacionaram-se de diferentes maneiras, cobrindo um largo espectro de possibilidades. Contudo, à medida em que se encerrou o século XVI, essas duas expressões de conhecimento passaram, gradativamente, a se referir a diferentes disciplinas. Parte desse processo esteve ligado às novas práticas matemáticas em que a óptica, a geometria e as artes buscaram redefinir seus campos de investigação, considerando questões de ordem teórica ligadas à visualização e à representação do espaço. Neste artigo, apresentamos alguns aspectos da estreita conexão entre perspectiva naturalis e artificialis, tendo por base um conjunto de documentos relativos à óptica e à perspectiva linear publicado nos séculos XVI e XVII. (shrink)

A pretending-to-be paper, a logbook with some notes for a future, more elaborate, interpretation of one of the most complex and stratified cinemas out there. 8 1/2 by Fellini has been read, seen and enjoyed in many different ways, yet I believe there is something else that dwells within it and that awaits to be theoretically explored. Nevertheless, this is the path that, in the future, I would like to develop: 8 1/2 accounts for the incessant and contradictory flow of (...) existence, and the subject's desperate attempt to bring order to it; but perhaps the answer is to let the confused roller roll its way, accepting the incomprehensible vortex of existence. (shrink)

Le film est un drame psychologique se déroulant à bord d'une station spatiale en orbite autour de la planète Solaris. Les trois membres de l'équipage ont des problèmes psychologiques. Le psychologue Kris Kelvin est envoyé là pour évaluer la situation, mais il fait face aux mêmes phénomènes mystérieux que les autres. Pour Tarkovsky, le conflit existentiel exposé par Lem n'était que le point de départ du développement de la vie intérieure des personnages. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.11405.49129.

Tarkovsky recognizes these differences, saying that there is a contradiction with Lem's initial idea, because he was interested in the problems of inner life, spiritual problems, so to speak, and Lem was interested in the collision between man and Cosmos. In an ontological sense of the word, in the sense of the problem of knowing and the limits of this knowledge - it is about that. Lem even said that mankind was in danger, that there was a crisis of knowledge (...) when man did not feels ... This crisis is growing, a snowball, takes the form of various human tragedies, including scientists. (shrink)

Anemia, the syntoms of a great disease in the heart of society.

nevrosity for the dense social relations in urban context.

actor progressing social life and scale on screen.

from sensation to imposition of media tought.

Science fiction and futuristic reality beyond the Self.

One after Other, Legionella and Covid have marked everyday life on Portugal and on the world in the last two-there years, creating a kind of vão (bay), rebaixamento, in the moeur of society and individuals.

semiology of social and global transformations on public relations and, by consequence, of human intimacy.

for a better literature, to understand literary tradition in Portugal.

Among the extant masterworks of Roman art, there is probably none that has generated more scholarly debate than the Portland Vase over the interpretation of its elegant frieze. No fewer than forty-four different theories attempting to interpret the scenes on the vase have appeared in the last 400 years. In the main, the theories fall into two categories, those relating the frieze to Greek myth, and those linking the figures to Roman personages. Moreover, there is no consensus whether the frieze (...) is two separate scenes or one continuous story. The obstacle to interpreting the frieze is that all but one of the figures lack identifying attributes. This paper will demonstrate (1) that in lieu of standard iconography, a synthesis of visual and literary tropes in the form of hidden letters, that is, cryptograms, tells the viewer how to read the frieze; (2) that scene A of the frieze illustrates specifically lines 26-30 of Catullus 64 by visually rendering the epithets and tropes used in those lines; (3) that visual reproductions of other tropes in Catullus 64 further substantiate the relationship between frieze and poem; (4) that scene B of the frieze is an intentional aberration from the poem; (5) that there is a complex and unfinished interaction between scenes A and B which the viewer must complete; and (6) that in the final analysis, the frieze duplicates both the theme and central structure of Catullus 64.10 . (shrink)

All interpretations of the Portland Vase frieze to date have failed to see, much less explain, a crucial figural attribute in the frieze, one that proves to be both explicit and explicatory, and whose location and appearance secures the identification of not one but, indeed, three figures. Furthermore, the attribute lies at the heart of a distinct schema of figural grouping and arrangement which has also gone unheeded in previous treatments of the Portland Vase frieze. By dint of this previously (...) unknown attribute, one can straightforwardly read the opening scene of the frieze using the attributes therein provided, but the opening scene only. To complete the task, a second methodology–that which I laid out in Arion in 1992–is a categorical sine qua non. One can, as I have already shown, successfully navigate the entire frieze using the second methodology alone but, as so many others have shown, not contrariwise. These new findings–the attribute and figural plan–are clear proof that the artistic vision of the Portland Vase was purposefully executed in a two-part program. (shrink)

Đêm nay thu sang cùng heo may. Đêm nay sương lam mờ chân mây. Thuyền ai lờ lững trôi xuôi dòng. Như nhớ thương ai chùng tơ lòng.

A selection of documents, texts, and archival records, with links, summarizing a sustained critical engagement with the art world and academia, through essays, reviews, etc., and inclusive of garden design, architecture, film, photography, fashion, performance art, music, and opera … They begin in New York, New York, in the early 2000s, and then become embedded in various aspects of PhD studies concerning visual agency, postdoctoral research projects concerned with a study of intellectual property rights, and, then, a second PhD focused (...) on works-based agency …. (shrink)

Preliminary research on the Edition of One (EO1) project, "W(h)ither the Avant-garde?" Includes a report on the art-world ca.2006-2010.

A review of Clive C. Nwonka & Anamik Saha (eds.), Black Film British Cinema II, London, Goldsmisths Press, 2021, by Frédéric Lefrançois.

While not considered the focus of Marx, aesthetics, and art have become a project of Marxism. But understanding art in a Marxist world requires taking Marx’s philosophy and understanding how art behaves in capitalism. I transplant the artwork to a Marxist analysis by investigating art as described by Heidegger, Dufrenne, and Merleau-Ponty, how art relates to the idea of the commodity in Marx, culture in Deleuze, and art in modern capitalism through Marcuse.

Throughout the past century, technology integration into the human body has experienced remarkable growth, finding its expression through specific artistic movements that have acted as catalysts for acceptance and societal transformation. This article delves into the examination of three paradigm shifts that underpin this profound evolution. The first shift marks a departure from curative treatments for disabilities, shifting towards a focus on augmentative improvements. Subsequently, the second shift propelled the enhancement of healthy bodies, driven by the visionary concept of posthumanism, (...) which envisions transcending the limits of our species through technology. Today, we find ourselves amidst the third paradigm shift, characterized by the practical cyborgization of society, made possible by the emergence of new cyborgs. By critically reflecting on the practices of these cyborgs, we gain valuable insights into the potential challenges and implications that technology may pose in the future. Crucially, this research highlights the indispensable role that art and aesthetics have played in shaping the social perception of technology integrated into the human body. Art, serving as a safer avenue for experimentation than scientific research, has become instrumental in presenting and normalizing these groundbreaking ideas within the public imagination. By exploring the intersections of art, technology, and human bodies, we can navigate the complex terrain of our ever-evolving relationship with technology and anticipate the profound implications it holds. (shrink)

Thepaperaimstoexplorethepotentialofresearchbydesigninarchi- tecture and visual arts. The main objective of the paper is to analyze the different models and epistemological positions advanced in the academic milieus as far as doctoral research by design is concerned, to explore the differences and similar- ities between research by design in the field of architecture and in the field of visual arts. Even though the research by design in the fields of architecture and visual arts is focused on the production of knowledge through visual, associative, (...) and experimental research, the models of research by design in visual arts differ from those prevailing in architectural programs. The paper focuses on a corpus of models of doctoral research by design carried out within different university pro- grams in schools of architecture and visual arts, and various multi-university and supra-disciplinary programs (architecture and visual arts) which share the inten- tion to develop their research projects through creative practice. Two questions to which this paper aims to respond are the following: Under which circumstances and conditions a work in the field of architecture (drawn, graphic, or con-structed) or its formulation (verbal or written) can be recognized as active in the constitution of knowledge? What are the modes of inquiry specific to architectural and artistic practices that make it possible to build knowledge that can be transmitted and shared? (shrink)

Il presente volume ibrida in modo originale il libro d’arte e il libro d’artista. I testi, ispirati da alcune parole presentate in forma aggettivale e pertanto più poetica e connotativa, non costituiscono un commento alle immagini create da Laura Pitingaro, ma sono chiavi interpretative che esplorano la varietà ambientale da prospettive culturali eterogenee (filosofiche, scientifiche, artistiche). Queste stesse parole costituiscono al contempo l’elemento seminale da cui germoglia la creatività immaginifica dell’artista. Da questa coesistenza e varietà di forme interpretative ed espressive (...) deriva la natura biodiversa del libro che trasforma concetti astratti in esperienze sensoriali, visive e linguistiche. Pertanto, il libro nasce con il proposito sperimentale di creare un mosaico di parole e immagini per una più profonda comprensione della biodiversità in chiave multidisciplinare e transdisciplinare. Tuttavia, il suo scopo va al di là della mera divulgazione di informazioni. Tra- smettendo non solo la conoscenza razionale, ma soprattutto la consapevolezza sensibile (dal greco aisthesis = sensazione) della biodiversità, questo libro d’arte aspira a suscitare emozioni, trasportando il lettore in un viaggio sensoriale attraverso cui idee e concetti complessi sono veicolati in modo accessibile e coinvolgente. Dunque, perché un libro d’arte per riflettere sull’ambiente? Perché è un’opera bella e preziosa come il suo contenuto, la biodiversità. (shrink)

Il presente volume ibrida in modo originale il libro d’arte e il libro d’artista. I testi, ispirati da alcune parole presentate in forma aggettivale e pertanto più poetica e connotativa, non costituiscono un commento alle immagini create da Laura Pitingaro, ma sono chiavi interpretative che esplorano la varietà ambientale da prospettive culturali eterogenee (filosofiche, scientifiche, artistiche). Queste stesse parole costituiscono al contempo l’elemento seminale da cui germoglia la creatività immaginifica dell’artista. Da questa coesistenza e varietà di forme interpretative ed espressive (...) deriva la natura biodiversa del libro che trasforma concetti astratti in esperienze sensoriali, visive e linguistiche. Pertanto, il libro nasce con il proposito sperimentale di creare un mosaico di parole e immagini per una più profonda comprensione della biodiversità in chiave multidisciplinare e transdisciplinare. Tuttavia, il suo scopo va al di là della mera divulgazione di informazioni. Tra- smettendo non solo la conoscenza razionale, ma soprattutto la consapevolezza sensibile (dal greco aisthesis = sensazione) della biodiversità, questo libro d’arte aspira a suscitare emozioni, trasportando il lettore in un viaggio sensoriale attraverso cui idee e concetti complessi sono veicolati in modo accessibile e coinvolgente. Dunque, perché un libro d’arte per riflettere sull’ambiente? Perché è un’opera bella e preziosa come il suo contenuto, la biodiversità. (shrink)

Dieser Text beinhaltet nichts Neues. Nur hinlänglich Bekanntes, Erinnerungen an Gelesenes und Reflektiertes, vor allem zur Philosophie der Kunst mit ihrer zentrale Frage, was Kunst ist. Und eng damit verknüpft die Frage, was ein Kunstwerk ist und was einen Künstler und eine Künstlerin auszeichnet. In diesem Essay wird es aber nicht um die Kunst im Allgemeinen gehen, sondern um die abstrakte Kunst und die abstrakte Malerei im Besonderen. Was zeichnet sie aus und was ist ihr Wesen? Ist es die Freiheit?

What is the form of that which can hold, size, and measure what is happening? Are there some gestures that can, in some sense, size what is occurring in absolute fragility? We trace forms that, suddenly, sometimes, can grasp in a vanishing present what cannot be grasped by any other means. Certain art practices can sustain and give shelter, for a while, to an echo of that multiple and unending past. These practices inexist. These inexistences compose artistic configurations, of which (...) the artworks referred to in this book are outstanding examples. The axiomatic declaration of the inexistence of art operates as an act of flight, a subtraction. Undomiciled artistic practices are multiple, infinite, and emancipatory. From these practices, we can find the sub-stance for an infrapolitical anarchitecture that works in constructing a future yet to be imagined. Another world is possible, of course. We must continue to whisper that other worlds are possible because we are already participants in that memory to come. On Gestural Apparatuses works as a mechanism of delay that aims to indicate an operative movement within artistic thinking. (shrink)

The paper presents an analysis of David Cronenberg’s 2022 film Crimes of the Future, dedicated to the transformation of human nature amidst technological progress. Drawing inspiration from leading contemporary thinkers like Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, Maurice Merleau Ponty, Michel Foucault, Donna Haraway, and Timothy Morton, the research extends to Cronenberg’s other films to provide a deeper comprehension of his creative vision. Central to the discussion are the humanitarian issues posed by these movies, namely the metamorphosis of human corporeality, the blurring (...) boundaries between the natural and artificial, and the ethical dilemmas arising from biotechnological interventions in human physiology. The key themes in Crimes of the Future are contextualized within modern frameworks of dark ecology and posthumanism and interpreted through the lens of Deleuze and Guattari’s body without organs, Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, and Foucault’s biopolitics. Crimes of the Future offers a multifaceted reflection on humanity’s future amidst profound transformations of both physiology and environment. Through an in-depth analysis of the film and Cronenberg’s oeuvre at large, new topics emerge for interdisciplinary research at the intersection of philosophy, bioethics, sociology, and psychology, exploring how human nature and identity evolve in an era of dynamic technological advancement. (shrink)

El artículo presenta los resultados de un análisis de la película de David Cronenberg “Crímenes del futuro” (2022), que aborda la transfor mación de la naturaleza humana bajo la influencia del progreso tecnológico. Este estudio se basa en ideas de pensadores contemporáneos destacados como Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michel Foucault, Donna Haraway y Timothy Morton. La investigación también analiza otras películas de Cronenberg para proporcionar una comprensión más completa de su visión creativa. El autor identifica los principales temas (...) humanísticos que abordan estas películas, a saber, la transformación de la corporeidad humana, la difuminación de los límites entre lo natural y lo artificial, y los dilemas éticos que surgen de las modificaciones biotecnológicas del cuerpo humano. Las cuestiones clave en “Crímenes del futuro” también se exploran en el contexto de los conceptos modernos de “ecología oscura” y posthu manismo. El artículo analiza la interpretación de la corporeidad en la pelí cula a través del concepto de “Cuerpos sin Órganos” de Deleuze y Guattari, la fenomenología de Merleau-Ponty y la biopolítica de Foucault. “Crímenes del futuro” ofrece una reflexión multifacética sobre el futuro de la humanidad en medio de transformaciones radicales tanto del cuerpo como del entorno. El análisis de la película, y más ampliamente de toda la obra de Cronenberg, identifica nuevos temas prometedores para la investigación interdisciplinaria en la intersección de la filosofía, la bioética, la sociología y la psicología. Estos temas exploran cómo la naturaleza humana y la iden tidad se están transformando en una era de rápido avance tecnológico. (shrink)

Tranh màu nước, hoàn thành ngày 23-5-2017 (©Bùi Quang Khiêm).

The rejection of a “characterless” moral self is central to some of Bernard Williams’ most important contributions to philosophy. By the time of Truth and Truthfulness, he works instead with a model of the self constituted and stabilized out of more primitive materials through deliberation and in concert with others that takes inspiration from Diderot. Although this view of the self raises some difficult questions, it serves as a useful starting point for thinking about the process of developing an authentic (...) moral point of view in the context of contemporary living. In what follows, I begin to fill out and extend this picture of the self and its related notion of authenticity by exploring some of the “technologies of the self” at play in Rachel Cusk’s recent work (primarily, the Outline trilogy, Coventry, Second Place, and “The Stuntman”) that ask us to rethink the possibility and importance of stability; seek a way of constituting oneself and one’s values outside the confining structures of traditional narrative (focusing instead on a framework that might be provided by the visual arts); and give a different role to the sort of internalized other Williams sees as being at work in the mechanisms of shame. (shrink)

La prospettiva transdisciplinare è il tentativo di costruire un nuovo sapere umano. Transdisciplinare si dice di un metodo per lo studio di problemi complessi che rifiuta l’ottica riduzionista dell’approccio scientifico convenzionale. Al contrario, mira all’integrazione o unione di diverse branche di apprendimento o campi di competenza, solitamente separati, al fine di affrontare la complessità intrinseca di alcune questioni urgenti della situazione umana attuale. A differenza, quindi, della multidisciplinarità che giustappone distinti saperi o dell’interdisciplinarità che confronta molteplici visioni disciplinari su un (...) unico problema comune, un metodo transdisciplinare si preoccupa di proporre nuove prospettive, basandosi sulla necessità di trovare soluzioni alternative che uniscano metodologie plurali per crearne di totalmente inedite. In questo contesto, tuttavia, intendiamo transdisciplinare con un significato che si propone di andare oltre all’accezione comune: superando i confini dell’idea di identità tutta umana, transdisciplinare si può dire di un sapere integrato volto alla tutela delle molteplici vie di accesso al mondo e, quindi, non solo umane. Ma in che senso si può sostenere che questa nuova idea di transdisciplinare sia essenzialmente biodiversa? Come costruire un sapere che sia capace di rivoluzionare il nostro modo di vedere il mondo? (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to investigate the possibilities opened up by radical interventions in public space: is it possible to foster reflection and create a critical methodology for analysing the topic of Commons in the urban context? Presenting the project “Stente: Residual Zones” as an example, the aim is to explore these questions using Umeå as a case study. Through the creation of an art/architectural object, the project seeks to use artistic and architectural practices as tools to engage (...) city residents in an active dialogue about Common spaces. Starting with a theoretical framework for situating the critical potential of art and architectural objects in public spaces, in this paper the project is seen as an example of a temporary critical moving device, gathering and amplifying the voices of the inhabitants through the city: it aims to represent an open-ended invitation to reinterpret the boundaries between nature and the city, posing itself as a radical (from the latin radicalis) form of dissensus (Rancière 2010). The experiment was conducted at the Umeå School of Architecture between March and May 2024 as part of the “Designing the Contemporary City” research group at Umeå University. (shrink)

Theoretically grounded in queer death studies and environmental humanities, this article has a twofold aim. Firstly, it explores the somatechnics of environmental violence in the context of Northern and Eastern Europe, while paying attention to ongoing ecocide inflicted by Russia on Ukraine, and to the post-WW2 chemical weapon dumps in the Baltic Sea. Secondly, the article examines the concept of eco-grief in its close relation to artistic narratives on ecocide. By bridging the discussion on environmental violence and artistic renderings of (...) eco-grief, the article hopes to contribute to a better understanding of the socio-cultural responses to more-than-human death and loss, and their accompanying ethical imaginaries and affordances. (shrink)

This is a short academic book based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth (original). The approach and procedure on writing critical answers of the play is authored on advanced thoughts of the Council for Indian School (XI and XII, ISC). This book can also be used by college students on preliminary understanding to analyse this Shakespearian play as The Prologue of Evil. .....In the play, Hecate is presented as a separate character from three witches who first appear in Act 1, Scene 1. Hecate's (...) role is primarily that of an observer and commentator on actions of Macbeth and the other characters. She serves as a counterpart to Lady Macbeth, as she rules the three witches and is drawn from the Greek goddess of feminine magic. Goethe's judgment of Lady Macbeth as a super witch is the most well-known evaluation of calling her a witch. This is used to describe evil forces she has that are more terrible than three witches in the play.” . (shrink)

On the 17th of May 2020, the Albanian National Theatre in Tirana was demolished overnight, in the days of the first major lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The theatre was built in 1939, when the Italian military occupation of the Albanian territory was officially established, after decades of increasing influence on the local economy by the fascist regime. That day was the climax of a two-year-long protest against its demolition by local associations, and international organisations. This event demonstrates the (...) importance of debating on the contested material and immaterial traces that the Italian presence in Albania left behind, culminating with a military occupation during WWII. This text surveys the exhibitions, curated or organised by Italian institutions, with the aim of tracing the evolution of the colonial narrative from fascist propaganda to contemporary initiatives. Starting in the 1920s, the Italian Ministero delle Colonie opened trade exhibitions, ethnographic displays, political and recreational events. During the occupation, Albania was featured in the Mostra Triennale delle Terre Italiane d'Oltremare (1940) and many other venues up to recent shows in Tirana. The first exhibitions were essential devices to support Italian territorial claims, built on the argument of an alleged Mediterranean tradition of the area, reunited once again under the “Roman” identity flag. The political-ideological nature of the artistic productions, the biased historical discourses around the myth of Roman origins, and the aesthetics employed in such events formed a strong narration that lasted much longer than the military presence on the territory. Taking this case as an example, we will see how exhibitions were instrumental to the authoritarian regime in the identity-building process; how contested narratives can be twisted in the contemporary political debate; and to what degree this heritage can be considered a shared legacy by both parties, the coloniser and the colonised. (shrink)

Rogier van der Weyden'in bu olağanüstü eseri, Yüce İsa'nın acılı veda anını derinlemesine işleyerek bize büyük bir ruhani derinlik sunuyor. Ressamın bu eseri hayata geçirirken duyduğu büyük acı ve ruhsal derinlik, onun sanatının kalbinde yatan insanlık ve inanç temasını güçlendiriyor. O dönemin zenginleri arasında büyük ün kazanmasının ardında yatan şey, bu eserin sanatın sınırlarını aşan etkileyici gücüdür. Ancak şüphesiz ki, bu eser insanlık için yaratılırken, hangi inançtan olursa olsun herkese dokunan bir acıyı da temsil ediyor. -/- Ressamın duygularını ve detayları (...) bu denli etkileyici bir şekilde aktarması, bu eserin günümüzde bile büyük bir hayranlıkla karşılanmasına yol açıyor. Van der Weyden'in tablosu, insanlık tarihinde derin izler bırakan evrensel bir sanat eseri olarak kabul ediliyor. Bu çeviriyi yaparken dönemin koşullarını ve sanatın gücünü daha iyi anladım. Vikipedi gibi kaynaklardan bilgi çevirirken, yabancı dillerdeki bilgilere olan erişimin önemini bir kez daha kavradım ve bu eseri Türkçe konuşanlarla buluşturmanın değerini anladım. -/- Umarım bu eser, okuyuculara van der Weyden'in sanatının derinliğini ve insanlık hikayesinin evrenselliğini anlatırken ilham verir ve onları düşündürür. Sanatın gücü ve insanın duygusal derinlikleri konusundaki bu yolculuk, hepimizi daha iyi bir anlayışa ve içsel bir zenginliğe yönlendirebilir. -/- --- -/- Rogier van der Weyden's extraordinary work offers us profound spiritual depth by delving deeply into the poignant farewell moment of Jesus Christ. The profound sorrow and spiritual depth felt by the painter while creating this work strengthen the theme of humanity and faith at the heart of his art. The impressive power of this work, which transcends the boundaries of art, lies behind the great fame it achieved among the elites of its time. However, unquestionably, this work also represents a universal sorrow that resonates with people of all beliefs. -/- The painter's ability to convey emotions and details in such a compelling manner has led to enduring admiration for this work even in contemporary times. Van der Weyden's painting is recognized as a universal masterpiece that has left deep imprints on the history of humanity. Translating this text has deepened my understanding of the conditions of the time and the power of art. It has also reinforced the importance of accessing information from sources like Wikipedia in foreign languages, and I have come to appreciate the value of bringing this work to Turkish-speaking audiences. -/- I hope this work inspires readers by revealing the depth of van der Weyden's art and the universality of the human story, prompting them to reflect. This journey into the power of art and the emotional depths of humanity can lead us all to greater understanding and inner richness. (shrink)

When does art history begin? Art historiographers typically point to the Renaissance (Vasari) or, alternatively, to Hellenism (Pliny the Elder). But such origin stories become increasingly disconnected from contemporary disciplinary practices, especially as the latter try to rise to the challenge of conducting art history in a more diversified and global way. This essay provides an alternative account of art history’s origin, one that does not try to alleviate the sense of disconnect, but rather develops a global, non-Eurocentric account. The (...) account focuses less on genealogy and more on what necessitates something like an art-historical awareness or attention in the first place. Relying on examples from ancient Mesopotamia, it argues that art-historical thought can be identified whenever and wherever material objects are attended to or produced for their potential to manifest visibly and over time their meaning. (shrink)

The Handbook of Antique Photographs is a short publication created by UCLan Associate Lecturer Brandon Reece Taylorian as part of his Dating Antique Photographs Project funded by UCLan's Institute of Creativity, Communities and Culture. The Handbook begins with a brief history of the origins of portrait photography followed by Taylorian's introduction of a step-by-step method for deconstructing and dating antique photographs ('antique' is defined in the Handbook as referring to any photograph that is more than 100 hundred years old). The (...) Handbook then goes on to provide details on each type of nineteenth-century photograph from the earliest type daguerreotypes to ambrotypes, tintypes, cartes de visite, cabinet cards and cartes postale with examples given for each. Each of the sections includes details on fashion and style of the period, the composition and settings for photographs and the items portrait subjects commonly held. The Handbook concludes by outlining the useful role that photographer logos and royal warrants can play in helping family historians to estimate when their nineteenth-century photographs were taken. (shrink)

This mixed methods case study employed Vygotsky’s theory to show how peer and teacher contingent support created individualized zones of proximal development for three students with learning differences in a high school makerspace class at a special education institution. Our results expand extant literature by highlighting the intra- and interpsychological potential of makerspace curricula, specifically for students with learning differences. We employ mixed methods analyses of self-reported responses related to emergent problem navigation, a narrative of class fieldnotes, and visuals of (...) whole class projects to describe full class and individual project-based learning activities. Aggregated results from three students showcase stability in design thinking perceptions through the course of weekly whole class design challenges involving TinkerCAD, Homestyler, and material fabrication techniques. A single student example articulates how similar self-reported perceptions were observed in the non-linear development of an individual project for an end-semester Arts Festival. (shrink)