Quaderni di Venezia Arti

Space Oddity: Exercises in Art and Philosophy

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Abstract

The volume includes papers presented at the 4th Postgraduate International Conference of the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Venice, 5-7 October 2022). Our understanding of reality is filtered through myriad media, and we have the ability – and power – to gather, ignore, tweak, and explore the information needed to define what we mean by ‘reality’. The concept of ‘space’ – in its broadest sense – plays an essential role in an individual’s explanation of reality, and we must deal with a plurality of models and concepts of it. As elaborated in the text Space and Time in Art, the Russian theologian, philosopher, and art theorist Pavel Florensky states: “all culture can be interpreted as the activity of organising space”. Starting from this culturological reading, Florensky identifies three spatial “dimensions” and three corresponding genres of activity: (1) The space of our strong relations and the activity of ‘Technique’; (2) The mental space and its organisation and the activities of ‘Science’ or ‘Philosophy’; (3) The space between the previous two, and the activity of ‘Art’. Ultimately, all have the same aim: to change reality to reconstruct space. According to leading scholars and critics, the late 1980s saw a “spatial turn” take place in literary, social, and cultural studies. In 1991 Fredric Jameson theorised a shift from the paradigm of time to the paradigm of space, from modernism to postmodernism. The pandemic era has refocused investigation on the present paradigm, where Florensky’s spaces have been concentrated through cyberspace almost overnight. Through the notion of the ‘semiosphere’ – as elaborated by Juri Lotman 100 years ago – we collectively pondered the question: “should we reconsider the concept of space as a cultural category altogether?”.

Keywords Museum • Performance installation • Visual identity • Skill • Isa Genzken • John of the Cross • Drawing • National Pavilion • Non-human • Visual culture • Technology • Late Middle Ages • Scrapbooking • Crucifixion • Visual studies • Exhibition theory • Kommunalka • Home • Public space • Malafouris • Space • Artist • Igor Stravinsky • Elise Storsveen • Cultural discourse • Body • Material culture • Cultural space • Transición • Inflatables • Stravinsky’s family • Ontology • Consumption • Analogue photography • Philosophy • Ephemera • Bird’s-eye View • Hauntology • Room • Russian style • Ritual • Enunciation • Ethnomusicology • Blind man’s stick • Hypercomfort • The Tupikov House • Archival spaces • National image • Art • Early Modern Age • Ship models • Chile • Architecture • Cultural decolonialism • Louis Marin • Field • Displaying • Absence • Ancient Stoicism • Organism • Eline Mugaas • Archival turn • Photography • Void • Conspicuous • Modernity • Krzysztof Wodiczko • Architecture exhibition • Sound and audiovisual archives • Visibility • Architecture representations • Presence • Communal apartments • Hudinilson Jr • Dwelling • Landscape • Coloniality • Conflagration • Transparency • Fyodor Stravinsky • Knapping • Folklore • Mies van der Rohe • Historiography • Power • Place • Image Theory • Arts and crafts • Incorporeals • Opacity • Curatorial theory • Visual semiotics • Architectural design • Ephemeral architecture • Altar • Musical repatriation • Dance • Martha Rosler • Biennial Art • Architecture curation • Heidegger • Audience • History of art • Scrapbook • Nefs • Art history • Kustar • Orbit • Venice Biennale • Topology • Digital archives

Thema codes ABA • QDT • 1DST-IT-NVE

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-675-6 | e-ISBN 978-88-6969-675-6 | Published Dec. 21, 2022 | Language en