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