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