Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Encountering The Other: Aesthetics, Race And Relationality, Mickaella Perina

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

This essay examines the links between aesthetics and race through the lenses of accepted distinctions between Western and non-Western, colonial and postcolonial, national and transnational aesthetics, and questions the validity of the claim that there is an inherent and incommensurable difficulty in translating non-Western aesthetic thought into Western aesthetic thought. First, I argue that Manichean models are insufficient to understand the dynamics of the encounter between Western and non-Western aesthetics. Second, I illustrate the complexity of non-Western and Western aesthetics relations through the example of the encounter between Aimé Césaire’s Negritude and André Breton’s surrealism. I argue that this encounter …

The Divine Geometry Of Chocolate: Artist's Essay, Mariángeles Soto-Díaz

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

The artist discusses her series of paintings, The Divine Geometry of Chocolate, using a reappraised notion of the universal in the context of contemporary Latin American abstraction.

Notices

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Recent Publications

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Art, Terrorism And The Negative Sublime, Arnold Berleant

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

The range of the aesthetic has expanded to cover not only a wider range of objects and situations of daily life but also to encompass the negative. This includes terrorism, whose aesthetic impact is central to its use as a political tactic. The complex of positive and negative aesthetic values in terrorism are explored, introducing the concept of the sublime as a negative category to illuminate the analysis and the distinctive aesthetic of terrorism.

Davidson On Rorty's Postmetaphysical Critique Of Intentionalism, Kalle Puolakka

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

In this article I shall address the standing of intentionalist theories of interpretation through Richard Rorty’s critique. Rorty’s criticism arises from the position literature holds in the post metaphysical, liberal culture Rorty sketches As a counterbalance to Rorty’s critique, I shall develop an intentionalist theory of interpretation drawing on Donald Davidson’s late philosophy of language and his view of literary interpretation that have sadly not been taken into proper consideration in the on-going debate in analytic aesthetics on the role of authorial intentions in interpretation. The prospects of Davidson’s intentionalism for meeting Rorty’s criticism are related to the position of …

Integrative And Disintegrative Art, Ossi Naukkarinen

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

This article compares and analyzes two seemingly opposite approaches to visual arts that can be called integrative and disintegrative. They are usually seen to be contradictory, and the latter is often favored in contemporary art discourse. The article suggests, however, that the integrative approach can still be quite as favorable to art as the disintegrative one. Both views are useful for certain purposes and in the context of individual art works they are often actually intertwining. Especially from the perspective of art education, it is easy to understand the different implications of these views. This is because in that context …

On Hanging Laundry: The Place Of Beauty In Managing Everyday Life, Pauliina Rautio

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

The data of my empirical research in the field of education discussed in this paper consist of letters produced through correspondence. I asked the participants to write about beauty in their everyday lives, giving substance to the concept as freely as they could. In this paper it is only the letters of one participant, Laura, which I limit my attention to. The aim is to find out what kind of place beauty, as defined and used by herself, holds in the managing of her everyday life. The concept of beauty is virtually missing from educational research or is misguidedly restricted …

Performance Hero, Craig Derksen, Darren Hudson Hick

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

The Guitar Hero series of video games and their spin-offs have provided millions with a new way to interact with music. These games are not only culturally significant but also philosophically significant. Based on the way that these games allow people to interact with music we must decide that either playing a song in one of these games can be a legitimate performance of that song or that our current accounts of performance are inadequate.

Thinking, The Unconscious And Film, John Carvalho

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

In this essay, we explore a non-standard model of the unconscious, what Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari call the “productive unconscious,” to correct the too-often reductive tendencies of psychoanalysis and film. This introduces the image of a form of thinking we may find in our encounters with film that aims more at pleasure-taking than problem-solving and that, in so doing, really gets us to think. Drawing on this productive unconscious, we come to a richer appreciation of classic Hollywood cinema, a new understanding of classic, nouveau vague and neo-realist films, and we enjoy the chance to ignore the rules and …

2009 Yearbook, Risd Archives, Center For Student Involvement (Csi)

RISD Yearbooks

No abstract provided.

Muffin Fall 2008, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives

All Student Newspapers

Muffin was a newsletter produced in the early aughts by RISD’s Queer Student Union as a student guide to queer culture. The 2008 issue features creative writing, a book review of "The Gay Girl's Guide to Dating, Sex, and Romance," an "Ask Madame Muffin" column, a gay celebrity gossip column, screenshots of a thread on homosexuality from Yahoo! Answers, an article on sexual morality and autonomy, and a page of queer resources.

After You're Gone: An Installation By Beth Lipman, Judith Tannenbaum, Beth Lipman

Journals

Exhibition Notes, Number 33, Fall 2008. In July 2006, RISD Museum director Hope Alswang and curator Judith Tannenbaum encountered Beth Lipman’s 2o-foot-long glass tableau entitled Bancketje (Banquet), then on exhibit at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington. This tour de force, created in 2003 (now in the permanent collection of the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.), inspired The RISD Museum to invite the artist to visit its galleries, as well as collections in storage, in order to create an exhibition here. In October 2007, Lipman visited the Museum and was particularly excited by its American period …

From Dürer To Van Gogh: Gifts From Eliza Greene Radeke And Helen Metcalf Danforth, Emily J. Peters

Journals

Exhibition Notes, Number 30, Summer 2008.The Museum of Art was founded simultaneously with the Rhode Island School of Design in 1877 by a group of women led by Eliza Radeke's mother, Helen Adelia Rowe (Mrs. Jesse) Metcalf. RISD’s stated purpose was to educate artists in drawing, painting, modeling, and design for the benefit of industry and art, and to educate the public so that they could appreciate and support art and design. The creation of a museum collection was inseparable from these objectives. Both Eliza Radeke and Helen Danforth, as heirs to those aspirations, made extraordinary individual gifts to …

Designing Traditions: Student Explorations In The Asian Textile Collection, Kate Irvin, Laurie Anne Brewer, Anais Missakian

Journals

Exhibition Notes, Number 32,Summer 2008. RISD’s newest generation of textile designers source the RISD Museum’s vast Asian textile collection in this popular collaborative project and biennial exhibition. Traditional craftsmanship sparks contemporary creativity as objects inspire innovative new textiles and garments.

Office Of Multicultural Affairs (Oma) Annual Report 2007-2008, Intercultural Student Engagement Office, Anthony Johnson

Intercultural Student Engagement (ISE) Annual Reports

The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) Annual Report 2007-2008 is a year in review containing a message from the director, staff updates, community programs, statistics and general report of the work of this office. Our Mission: People from all backgrounds bring value to the art and human conversations held at RISD. The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) assists the RISD community-at-large in shaping a culturally inclusive and supportive environment that enables all its members the opportunity to fully contribute to and benefit from the total RISD experience. OMA coordinates enriching opportunities for cultural awareness, dialogue, and interaction. The office services …

Oral History Transcript | Interview With Barbara (Bunny) Harvey, May 16, 2008, Barbara (Bunny) Harvey, Andrew Martinez, Risd Archives

RISD Oral History Project Transcripts

No abstract provided.

Oral History Transcript | Interview With Thomas (Tom) Lyon Mills, May 5, 2008, Thomas (Tom) Lyon Mills, Andrew Martinez, Risd Archives, Peter O'Neill

RISD Oral History Project Transcripts

No abstract provided.

Oral History Transcript | Interview With Roger Mandle, April 1, 2008, Roger Mandle, Ann Hudner, Risd Archives, Andrew Martinez, Josh Backer

RISD Oral History Project Transcripts

No abstract provided.

Styrofoam: From Industrial Invention To Artistic Transformation, Judith Tannenbaum, Amy Pickworth, Editor

Journals

Exhibition Notes, Number 29, Spring 2008. Ubiquitous in our culture, styrofoam is used to insulate buildings, package computers and other consumer products, and produce picnic coolers and containers for fast food and take-out. For decades, artists have employed styrofoam in the making of models and molds for casting. Today, however, more and more artists are exploring it as a primary material or a subject in its own right, using it in new and ingenious ways to create sculpture, paintings, and installations.

Evolution/Revolution: The Arts And Crafts In Contemporary Fashion And Textiles, Joanne Dolan Ingersoll, Amy Pickworth, Editor

Journals

Exhibition Notes, Number 28, Spring 2008. Evolution/Revolution brings together the textile work of designers from the U.S., Britain, Europe, South and Central America, and Japan, and draws philosophical parallels between these contemporary artists and those of the Arts and Crafts Movement of 19th-century Britain.The exhibition is organized around the themes of Storytelling, Experimentation and Materials, Collaboration, and Art and Life—key ideas that spring from the Arts and Crafts spirit.

One of the most widely influential art and design movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Arts and Crafts Movement was an aesthetic and political response to a world stripped …

Eliza Buffington And The Early Years Of The Library, Carol Terry

Infinite Radius: Founding Rhode Island School of Design

No abstract provided.

A History Of Risd's Histories: Happy Indeed Is The Audience That Has No Random Historian, Andrew Martinez

Infinite Radius: Founding Rhode Island School of Design

No abstract provided.

Papermaking At Hayle Mill, Maureen Green, Ellen Dorn Levitt, Claire Van Vliet, C. Andrew Miller-Brown, Audrey Holden

Printmaking

65 pages, 1 unnumbered leaf of plates : illustrations, samples, 1 folded map. "Includes a book, Papermaking at Hayle Mill, 1808-1987 by Maureen Green; a map, The Loose Valley, 1856 with the mills on Loose Stream; Mill photographs; Sample papers; and 12 proof sheets for the book; all issued in a box. Printed in black, red, and blue. Contents printed inside the box: Hayle Mill book -- Loose Valley map -- Mill photographs -- Sample papers. ""Printed on Finale, the last paper made at Hayle Mill. ... The portrait of Samuel Green was prepared and printed on Epson Archival paper …

Definition Of Videogames, Grant Tavinor

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Can videogames be defined? The new field of games studies has generated three somewhat competing models of videogaming that characterize games as new forms of gaming, narratives, and interactive fictions. When treated as necessary and sufficient condition definitions, however, each of the three approaches fails to pick out all and only videogames. In this paper I argue that looking more closely at the formal qualities of definition helps to set out the range of definitional options open to the games theorist. A disjunctive definition of videogaming seems the most appropriate of these definitional options. The disjunctive definition I offer here …

Editorial

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

The Aesthetics Of Trademarks, Peter H. Karlen

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Trademarks are not just property, they are aesthetic creations that pervade everyday experience. One estimate is that the average person encounters more than 1,000 trademarks per day, many of which influence purchases and product use.

As pervasive aesthetic creations having literary, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, and musical content, trademarks deserve aesthetic analysis. The article discusses the origins, strength, appeal, and effectiveness of trademarks within the context of aesthetic considerations such as meaning, intention, authorship, and mode of creation. Also reviewed are morphemic and phonemic analysis of trademarks, semantic positioning, the dichotomy between creation and discovery of trademarks, and the differences between …

2008-2009 Risd Course Announcement, Risd Registrar's Office, Risd Archives

RISD Course Catalogs / Announcements

No abstract provided.

Preface, Dawn Barrett, Andrew Martinez

Infinite Radius: Founding Rhode Island School of Design

No abstract provided.

Notices

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.