The chapter offers preliminary notes towards an analysis of the forms of sensing and making sense that emerge at the interface of the organic and the technological� I argue that these forms have... Show moreThe chapter offers preliminary notes towards an analysis of the forms of sensing and making sense that emerge at the interface of the organic and the technological� I argue that these forms have the capacity to productively challenge and expand our understanding of the key notions of aesthetics – aesthetic experience and aesthetic judgment – and with that, to rethink the pre- vailing anthropocentrism of aesthetic tradition, shifting attention to the phenomenon that was at the roots of the aesthetic project, namely aisthesis, or sense-perception� One useful context for such an inquiry is a media ecological approach, with its emphasis on relations between different agencies and the shifted role of subjectivity� The questions then include: How can the aesthetic perspective complement the existing theories of forms of cognition within biolog- ical and technical systems? What are the best terms for the analysis of the qualitative aspects latent within the interpretative procedures that happen in living and nonliving matter? And vice versa, how can the “microperformances” and sensorial acts at the cellular and molecular levels affect how we conceive of human perception? Looking at the operations of relating at either human or nonhuman levels through the prism of a medium that underlies them helps to ground this discussion in a particular way� The chapter features particularly the aesthetic strategies exercised by a number of contemporary artists that bring to the fore the mediatic operations as sensory events and exemplify ways of engaging with the broader ecology of media sensorium, still to be discovered and cognized�Keywords: media ecology, sense act, sensing, aesthesis, microperformativity, performative epistemology, art Show less
In this conversation between trans scholar Eliza Steinbock and visual artist Cassils, they discuss the current state of culture wars against transgender rights, and how citizen artists can respond... Show moreIn this conversation between trans scholar Eliza Steinbock and visual artist Cassils, they discuss the current state of culture wars against transgender rights, and how citizen artists can respond to the waves of hate and violence. Cassils shares in detail how their performance and visual art methods pay homage to political artists who've come before, and how they incorporate resilience into their artmaking practice. Show less
Many seventeenth-century Antwerp collections contained coral, both natural and crafted. Also, coral was a pictorial motif depicted by Antwerp artists on mythological scenes, still lifes, gallery... Show moreMany seventeenth-century Antwerp collections contained coral, both natural and crafted. Also, coral was a pictorial motif depicted by Antwerp artists on mythological scenes, still lifes, gallery pictures, and allegories. Coral was many things at the same time: a commodity crafted into jewellery and objets d’art, a popular collectable in its natural shape, a motif for Antwerp painters, an essential commodity in the European-Indian trade network, a naturalia associated with classical mythology as well as with the Blood of Christ, and a problematic naturalia that raised questions about classification, origins and natural processes. This paper provides an itinerary of coral in early seventeenth-century Antwerp. It is argued that collecting in general and collected coral in particular were related to new understandings of matter and material transformation. Coral functioned in the collection as: first, a place of appreciation for artisanal work - or ‘process appreciation’; second, as a conversation piece; and third, as a visual motif related to the understanding of matter and material transformation, the process of petrifaction in particular. Added up, this explains the value attached to this ‘unusual excrescence of nature’. Show less
El trabajo de Cecilia Noriega-Bozovich está vinculado de manera muy directa con la sociedad peruana, a la cual convierte al mismo tiempo en su tema principal. Esta mirada encaja en lo que pudiera... Show moreEl trabajo de Cecilia Noriega-Bozovich está vinculado de manera muy directa con la sociedad peruana, a la cual convierte al mismo tiempo en su tema principal. Esta mirada encaja en lo que pudiera ser una ‘escuela latinoamericana’, donde la producción artística va acompañada de un registro o comentario social o político a lo largo del siglo XX. De tal forma, en esta obra los fetiches del poder, en particular vistos desde una óptica mexicana, forman parte de una dinámica regional que adquiere expresiones similares. Existe una intimidad cultural compartida, una identidad que se nutre de la experiencia común del colonialismo español, la formación de nuevos estados nacionales inspirados por el imperialismo del siglo XIX, las revoluciones sociales, y hoy en día la transición a la “democracia” y la “modernidad” neoliberal. En esa línea, el análisis que aquí se presenta ensaya relaciones y paralelos entre ciertas creaciones de Noriega-Bozovich y referentes culturales de México, para de esa manera sugerir la productividad de miradas en paralelo sobre el arte surgido de un contexto latinoamericano compartido. Show less
