Nothing Is Set In Stone - Performativity, Space, and the Abstract Body
Abstract
This is a performative text. It is written in two distinct and intertwining voices. The first is a lyrical and reflective description of my interaction with the process of creation, materials, imagination, and experience of time. The second is an appropriated permutation of the scientific method of enquiry analyzing the process of the work unfolding and the ultimate presentation of the project in relation to the application of several founding concepts. Each analysis is followed by observations stemming from the application of theoretical elements to the process of creation.
Two main reference points to my thesis practice have been Caillois’ diagonal science and the development of the concept affect, specifically here through the text of Simon O’Sullivan. The use of the scientific method through a semi-parody of its steps forms the basis of my approach for the presentation of the concepts of space, affect, performance, and materiality.
The text examines the relationship between the choice of materials, stones, wood, and plastic, and their signifying potential. It specifically considers the moment of interaction between the viewer and the work itself as a site for a network of possibilities of relation. It states that the actions and movements of the artist in the process of creation of the work form an object-trace that continues to inform the conditions of the future-present, the actual passage of time through experience. It speaks to the stages of transformation: of the materials, the action of viewing, and ultimately the work itself. In conclusion, the text reflects on the environment within which it is shown and the problems of determinative presupposition. It finishes with a desire to use aesthetics as a transformative tool in the creation of meaning in art.