Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Pilgrims Of Beauty: Art And Inspiration In 19th Century Italy, Crawford Alexander Mann Iii

Journals

Exhibition Notes, Number 38, Spring 2012. In the 19th century Italy was the most desirable destination for travelers from every corner of Europe and beyond. Thousands crossed mountains, even oceans, to go there, leaving their "barbarous” homelands to study and admire Italy’s unsurpassed aesthetic and cultural riches. A poem in the New England Magazine in 1831 described the goals and ideals of visiting Italy on a European Grand Tour, calling those who did so "pilgrims of beauty.” Like religious pilgrims of centuries past, these lovers of art participated in a ritual journey, a powerful shared experience of Italy’s magnificent landscape, …

Painting Air: Spencer Finch, Spencer Finch, Judith Tannenbaum

Journals

Exhibition Notes, Number 39, Winter 2012. Spencer Finch, an artist known internationally for artwork that captures fleeting or intangible natural phenomena and sensory experiences, received his MFA in Sculpture from RISD in 1989. In the two decades since, Finch has created drawings, watercolors, photography, and video as well as sculpture and installations—selecting mediums and methods that seem best suited to conveying his fascination with light, color, and atmosphere. His focus of attention ranges from a speck of dust seen in a shaft of light in his studio to grand glaciers in New Zealand.

As a graduate student Finch worked in …

Diptych With Scenes Of The Nativity, The Crucifixion, And The Last Judgement, Risd Museum, Robert Brinkerhoff

Channel

This diptych was intended for private devotional viewing by privileged members of the French court and the Roman Catholic Church. Composed of four arcaded compartments once embellished with gold leaf and colored pigments, it narrates Mary’s role as mother and intercessor. The Annunciation and the Nativity of Christ at lower left face the presentation of the Infant Jesus to gift-bearing Magi. Above, Mary swoons at the Crucifixion, then reappears enthroned to be crowned by Christ. In the final panel at the upper right she kneels beside Christ on Judgment Day as souls arise from tiny sepulchers below. 1275-1325

This Is An Emergency! : A Reproductive Rights + Gender Justice Portfolio, Meredith Stern, Judy Kashoff, Special Collections, Fleet Library

Printmaking

1 portfolio : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 47 cm. Colophon page title. This portfolio contains a hand sewn 'zine' with text by Meredith Stern and Judy Kashoff, a colophon page, and a collection of 17 prints. Horizonal and vertical red bands surround the colophon, text, and 17 prints. "Seventeen artists created a print for this project. Third Termite Press in Pittsburgh printed the colophon and Ladyfingers Letterpress printed the covers. The participants are: several members of the Justseeds Cooperative including: Melanie Cervantes, Thea Gahr, Bec Young, Favianna Rodriguez, Mary Tremonte, Molly Fair, and myself (Meredith Stern). Also participating are: Ian …

Annual Report Of The Risd Fleet Library 2011-2012, Fleet Library, Carol Terry

Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Risd Fact Book 2012, Institutional Research

RISD Fact Books

The Office of Institutional Research is pleased to present the Rhode Island School of Design Fact Book, 2012; a paperless, accessible, consistent source of information about the RISD community, its resources, and its operations. It is a summary of institutional data gathered from many areas of the College, compiled to capture the 2012 Fiscal and Academic Year. Where appropriate, multiple years of data are provided for historical perspective. While not all-encompassing, the Fact Book does provide pertinent facts and figures and is made available as reference to administrators, faculty, staff, and students.

A Second History, Zhang Dali, Special Collections, Fleet Library

Artists' Books

1 volume, 136 pages. "In his book A Second History, Beijing-based artist, Zhang Dali, examines the widespread use of photographic manipulation carried out by the Chinese government during the regime of Mao Tse-tung (1949-76). Using a compare and contrast format this artist book presents a chronological sequence of original, unmodified images together with their doctored doppelgängers which were manipulated in party-run, photo labs in the 50s, 60s and 70s for the Chinese propaganda market." -- From www.bywaterbros.com.

Hot Emotions: Dissolving The Paradox Of Fiction, Katherine Tullman

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

This essay critiques two of the main theories in the philosophy of emotions, the pure-cognitive theory and the neo-Jamesian theory, through the paradox of fiction. After explaining the different kinds of emotions we experience when engaging with fictions, I argue that a middle-ground, hybrid theory more adequately accounts for current scientific research and the paradox of fiction than either of the previous two. I propose a “HOT” theory of emotions (higher-order thought) specifically to explain complex emotions about fictions.

On 'Shock:' The Artistic Imagination Of Benjamin And Brecht, Mara Polgovsky Ezcurra

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

“Shock” is perhaps the central concept of modernist aesthetics and Walter Benjamin its best known theorist. It has been well documented that Benjamin’s long-lasting friendship with Bertolt Brecht and the latter’s dramatic theory had a profound influence on his thinking about this notion. Brecht's techniques of interruption and juxtaposition in the practice of epic theater were in close relationship with Benjamin’s use of montage as a mechanism to “liberate” meaning. Despite Theodor Adorno’s and Gershom Scholem’s attempt to situate Benjamin’s thought in a different aesthetic tradition, Brecht’s understanding of Verfremdung (estrangement) and Benjamin’s idea of “shock” are often deemed identical. …

A Cognitive Theory Of The Aesthetic Experience, Gianluca Consoli

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

This paper aims at naturalizing the aesthetic experience on the basis of cognitive sciences. In traditional philosophical aesthetics, the aesthetic experience requires a specific attitude and a characteristic work of imagination. Today, cognitive sciences offer a rich set of empirically corroborated concepts useful in explaining these notions in naturalistic terms. This paper extends these concepts to explain how the aesthetic experience is integrated and how it affords knowledge.

Artification And The Aesthetic Regime Of Art, Aleš Erjavec

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

The author discusses “artification” and attempts to ascertain whether some common features can be found between artification and Jacques Rancière’s aesthetics, especially his notion of the “aesthetic regime of art.” The author argues that Rancière’s project of “art become life” can be employed as a common denominator of both theoretical frameworks, that of artification and that of the aesthetic regime of art. Nonetheless, the art to which Rancière’s notion primarily applies is different from art in the traditional sense, which seems to form the empirical basis of the notion of artification.

When Is Artification?, Roberta Shapiro, Nathalie Heinich

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

How do people do or make things that come to be seen as works of art? In other words, when is there artification? The answer to this question is simultaneously symbolic, material, and contextual. It has to do with meanings, objects, interaction, and institutions. We seek to define not what art is nor how it should be considered, but how and under what circumstances it comes about by way of methodical observation and inquiry in a variety of fields. Circus acrobats, break-dancers, fashion designers, chefs, graffiti artists, printers, photographers, and jazz musicians are some of the examples we explore. This …

"... And I'D Look At My Hands And Think Of Lady Macbeth ...", Yrjänä Levanto

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

After resigning from the service of Sotheby's Auction House, Bruce Chatwin changed his views on art, the art world, and art history. He developed an approach that differed from established art-historical writing; he began to contextualize differently. He saw and understood the use of artistic means more widely than in traditional art-historical writing. From Chatwin's viewpoint, one possibility was to "smuggle" new material into the existing system. In this study, I take as my material Bruce Chatwin's enthusiasm and loyalty to Andre Malraux and his ideas about Le Musee Imaginaire. I also make use of Chatwin's interest in Heinrich Wolfflin's …

2012 Risd Wintersession Schedule Of Courses, Risd Registrar's Office, Risd Archives

RISD Course Catalogs / Announcements

No abstract provided.

2012-2013 Risd Course Announcement, Risd Registrar's Office, Risd Archives

RISD Course Catalogs / Announcements

No abstract provided.

Judgment, Justice, And Art Criticism, Jolanta Nowak

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

The purpose of this article is to expose a gap in the current academic discussion of visual art criticism: the lack of serious attention to the role of ethical judgment. Critics tend either to avoid discussing the judgment of art or they dismiss it as a contemporary impossibility. However, ethical criticism is nonetheless practiced, albeit only occasionally and in an under-theorized manner. This paper calls for a reconceptualization of ethical judgment in art criticism, a reconceptualization that brings art into explicit relation with ethics.

Recent Publications

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Editorial

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

From Environmental Aesthetics To Narratives Of Change, Nathalie Blanc

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Environmental aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that originated in the English-speaking world and is developing in France. It aims to take a new look at how relationships with the environment are constructed. Often addressed from a landscaping, technical or scientific angle, such relationships have remained largely unaddressed from a cultural perspective, i.e., one that includes a series of practices and values that represent a human group. In this article, I will address environmental aesthetics and how they point up tensions between fixed and static visual representations of the environment in the future and representations that can accommodate ordinary encounters, …

Flesh As Communication -- Body Art And Body Theory, Falk Heinrich

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

On the last pages of The Visible and the Invisible, Merleau-Ponty investigates “the bond between flesh and idea, and the internal armature which [it] manifests and which it conceals.” Flesh and idea are intertwined in that the body reflects on itself in the act of perception and, one could add, action. A correlative bond lies in communication theory as the operational difference between ego and alter-ego. This article investigates the non-semiotic intertwinement of ‘flesh’ in art perception and theory based on communication theory in performance art (body art). The thesis is that ‘flesh’ in performance art is presented as absolute …

Fragments In Libeskind And Wittgenstein, Rossen Ventzislavov

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

My paper explores the similar role that fragments play in Wittgenstein’s later philosophy and in Libeskind’s architecture. The fragment is an infraction of traditional linear approaches to architecture and philosophy and thus affords an alternative critical glimpse into the fabric of each respective field. The fact that some philosophy and architecture use this device and its critical stance bodes well not only for the futures of the two disciplines but also for the embattled connection between them. In my paper I try to show that the break with linearity Wittgenstein and Libeskind engage in effectively replaces the ivory towers of …

The Problem Of Cinematic Imagination, Rafe Mcgregor

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to identify the problem of cinematic imagination, and then to propose a satisfactory solution. In part one I analyze the respective claims of Dominic McIver Lopes and Roger Scruton, both of whom question the scope of imagination in film, when compared to other art forms, on the basis of its perceptual character. In order to address these concerns I develop a hybrid of Gregory Currie’s model of cinematic imagination and Kendall Walton’s theory of make-believe in section two. Section three offers a reply to Lopes and Scruton, examining the problem in terms of …

Beauty Or Bane: Advancing An Aesthetic Appreciation Of Wind Turbine Farms, Tyson-Lord J. Gray

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

I begin this paper by looking at declining wind turbine sales during the years 2007 to 2010. In an attempt to locate a reason for this decline, I evaluate two claims by wind farm opponents: 1) that wind farms reduce property value, and 2) that wind farms ruin the beauty of nature. The first claim I respond to by looking at three studies conducted on residential property sales located near wind farms. For the second claim, I engage in a comparison of Immanuel Kant’s and John Dewey’s aesthetics. I ultimately advance an aesthetic appreciation of wind farms that seeks to …

Artification Of Sport: The Case Of Distance Running, Matti Tainio

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

This article deals with the possibilities of artification in sport, using distance running as an example. Sport is viewed as one phenomenon in the history of physical cultures, with both predecessors and also the possibility of developing into something new. Sport was first defined primarily as a competitive activity but, by the end of the twentieth century, it had developed as part of the athletic trend towards exploring experience-seeking fitness sports. Through the developments of contemporary visual art, sport has also become a possible medium of art. These developments, both in sport and art, provide an opportunity to look for …

Pending On Art, Pauline Von Bonsdorff

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Artification is mostly approached from a contextualist perspective where “art” refers to objects that are presented and appreciated within socially recognized art institutions. Artification then means that the notion of art is extended to non-art areas. Yet it can be argued that contextualism is circular, since it starts with an unquestioned assumption about what art is. Another weakness of contextualism is that by privileging theory it tends to downplay the role of creative and appreciative practices. Alternative approaches are possible, and this article explores in a preliminary way what a naturalist approach could mean for how we see art and …

Introduction, Ossi Naukkarinen, Yuriko Saito

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Flows, Vortices, And Counterflows: Artification And Aesthetization In Chiasmatic Motion On A Mobius Ring, Yrjö Sepänmaa

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

My first question is the general orientation towards the aesthetic and artistic in our culture. Secondly, I deal with intentional and sought-for aestheticization and artification, which are driven particularly by art and aesthetic education. Thirdly, I concentrate on the effects of the change on people and culture, in general, and on art, in particular. The processes of art and the aesthetic have their counter-movements that create tension and dynamics. I characterize the flow pattern as chiasmatic motion taking place on a Möbius ring. Art and the aesthetic are a pair, the parts of which are related to each other through …

Aesthetization, Artification, And Aquariums, Thomas Leddy

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

‘Artification’ is a term recently coined and developed in Finnish aesthetic theory and proposed by Ossi Naukkarinen in this volume as the process of treating non-art objects as art. In this paper, I distinguish between a superficial sort of artification and a deep sort. The superficial sort is the one we need to worry about. In Part I, I consider various issues surrounding the definition of artification. In the process, I situate artification within the larger question of aestheticization. I understand aestheticization in terms of recent psychological work on supernormal stimuli and Virginia Postrel’s defense of style and surface in …

Everyday Aesthetics And Artification, Yuriko Saito

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Everyday aesthetics aims to illuminate the rich aesthetic dimensions of our lives that have been neglected in the modern Anglo-American art-centered aesthetic discourse. Artification, a new concept and practice, encourages us to experience various aspects of our lives normally not associated with art or aesthetics, such as business, education, and medical practice, from an artistic viewpoint. Both discourses are helpful in sharpening our aesthetic sensibility and enriching our aesthetic life. However, precisely because the aesthetic dimension of our lives exerts a considerable power in shaping our lives and the world, we need to cultivate aesthetic literacy and a vigilant attitude …

Projective Artistic Design Making And Thinking: The Artification Of Design Research, Stephen A.R. Scrivener, Su Zheng

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Artification concerns the introduction of artistic ways of thinking and doing into non-art domains, such as business, typically because the host domain recognizes that art has something of value to offer that it does not. However, it is by no means easy to establish exactly what it is that the art actually does offer. In this paper, we approach this question by examining problems encountered in what might be called the “researchification” of artistic design. Following an historical and experiential account of the problematic conjunction of artistic design and research, we conclude that the projective making and thinking strategies of …