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

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

Copyright © 2022 Giulia Gelmi, Anastasia Kozachenko-Stravinsky, Andrea Nalesso. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.