Art As A Narrative Of Alterity Part 1 Prolegomenon Appendices And Bibliography Part 2 Books

There is a close relationship between art and philosophy. From time totime, philosophy attempts to make art its theme. Invariably it has toacknowledge the very qualities of art that it seeks to explain - art?selusiveness and its indeterminateness. On the other hand, it is the natureof art to philosophise within itself, about itself, and about the world. Inthis sense it operates as tacit philosophy. The language of art and the language of philosophy differ in form; butrecent turns in philosophy have led to the expression of its truth in termsthat transcend language and question its own epistemic structure. At thesame time, art has always acknowledged its approach to?truth? and?knowledge? as being?other? to that epistemology. This?otherness? to traditional ways of knowing is recognised inphilosophical discourse as?alterity?. The thesis posits that in art alterityhas always been, and remains, tacit and integral to art?s being. Thus, byexploring the ways in which? through alterity? art and philosophyintersect and interweave, the thesis aims to reveal a new kind ofknowledge that transcends the rational and the empirical but isnonetheless not only valid, but of the very highest integrity. Thatknowledge is transmitted through a particular critical and creativeapproach to philosophy and to art that opens the possibility of the?event?of Alterity. The thesis uses a discourse of philosophy and critical theory to revealAlterity in philosophy, principally through the work of Derrida, Heidegger, Adorno, and Levinas; Alterity in art through the works of FraAngelico, Pollock, Fantin-Latour, Malevich, Vermeer, and Saitowitz; andAlterity in my own art practice through a set of six sculptures.

There is a close relationship between art and philosophy. From time to time, philosophy attempts to make art its theme. Invariably it has to acknowledge the very qualities of art that it seeks to explain - art's elusiveness and its indeterminateness. On the other hand, it is the nature of art to philosophise within itself, about itself, and about the world. In this sense it operates as tacit philosophy. The language of art and the language of philosophy differ in form; but recent turns in philosophy have led to the expression of its truth in terms that transcend language and question its own epistemic structure. At the same time, art has always acknowledged its approach to 'truth' and 'knowledge' as being 'other' to that epistemology. This 'otherness' to traditional ways of knowing is recognised in philosophical discourse as 'alterity'. The thesis posits that in art alterity has always been, and remains, tacit and integral to art's being. Thus, by exploring the ways in which - through alterity - art and philosophy intersect and interweave, the thesis aims to reveal a new kind of knowledge that transcends the rational and the empirical but is nonetheless not only valid, but of the very highest integrity. That knowledge is transmitted through a particular critical and creative approach to philosophy and to art that opens the possibility of the 'event' of Alterity. The thesis uses a discourse of philosophy and critical theory to reveal Alterity in philosophy, principally through the work of Derrida, Heidegger, Adorno, and Levinas; Alterity in art through the works of Fra Angelico, Pollock, Fantin-Latour, Malevich, Vermeer, and Saitowitz; and Alterity in my own art practice through a set of six sculptures.

Michel de Certeau considers the uses to which social representation and modes of social behavior are put by individuals and groups, describing the tactics available to the common man for reclaiming his own autonomy from the all-pervasive forces of commerce, politics, and culture. In exploring the public meaning of ingeniously defended private meanings, de Certeau draws on an immense theoretical literature in analytic philosophy, linguistics, sociology, semiology, and anthropology--to speak of an apposite use of imaginative literature.

According to a longstanding interpretation, book religions are agents of textuality and logocentrism. This volume inverts the traditional perspective: its focus is on the strong dependency between scripture and aesthetics, holy books and material artworks, sacred texts and ritual performances. The contributions, written by a group of international specialists in Western, Byzantine, Islamic and Jewish Art, are committed to a comparative and transcultural approach. The authors reflect upon the different strategies of »clothing« sacred texts with precious materials and elaborate forms. They show how the pretypographic cultures of the Middle Ages used book ornaments as media for building a close relation between the divine words and their human audience. By exploring how art shapes the religious practice of books, and how the religious use of books shapes the evolution of artistic practices this book contributes to a new understanding of the deep nexus between sacred scripture and art.

Well-known art historians from Europe and the Americas discuss the influence of conceptualism on art since the 1970s. Art After Conceptual Art tracks the various legacies of conceptualist practice over the past three decades. This collection of essays by art historians from Europe and the Americas introduces and develops the idea that conceptual art generated several different, and even contradictory, forms of art practice. Some of these contested commonplace assumptions of what art is; others served to buttress those assumptions. The bulk of the volume features newly written and highly innovative essays challenging standard interpretations of the legacy of conceptualism and discussing the influence of conceptualism's varied practices on art since the 1970s. The essays explore topics as diverse as the interrelationships between conceptualism and institutional critique, neoexpressionist painting and conceptualist paradigms, conceptual art's often-ignored complicity with design and commodity culture, the specific forms of identity politics taken up by the reception of conceptual art, and conceptualism's North/South and East/West dynamics. A few texts that continue to be crucial for critical debates within the fields of conceptual and postconceptual art practice, history, and theory have been reprinted in order to convey the vibrant and ongoing discussion on the status of art after conceptual art. Taken together, the essays will inspire an exploration of the relationship between postconceptualist practices and the beginnings of contemporary art. Distributed for the Generali Foundation, Vienna.

In this bold interdisciplinary work, Geoffrey Galt Harpham argues that asceticism has played a major role in shaping Western ideas of the body, writing, ethics, and aesthetics. He suggests that we consider the ascetic as "the 'cultural' element in culture," and presents a close analysis of works by Athanasius, Augustine, Matthias, Grünewald, Nietzsche, Foucault, and other thinkers as proof of the extent of asceticism's resources. Harpham demonstrates the usefulness of his findings by deriving from asceticism a "discourse of resistance," a code of interpretation ultimately more generous and humane than those currently available to us.

In Benjamin’s Library, Jane O. Newman offers, for the first time in any language, a reading of Walter Benjamin’s notoriously opaque work, Origin of the German Tragic Drama that systematically attends to its place in discussions of the Baroque in Benjamin’s day. Taking into account the literary and cultural contexts of Benjamin’s work, Newman recovers Benjamin’s relationship to the ideologically loaded readings of the literature and political theory of the seventeenth-century Baroque that abounded in Germany during the political and economic crises of the Weimar years. To date, the significance of the Baroque for Origin of the German Tragic Drama has been glossed over by students of Benjamin, most of whom have neither read it in this context nor engaged with the often incongruous debates about the period that filled both academic and popular texts in the years leading up to and following World War I. Armed with extraordinary historical, bibliographical, philological, and orthographic research, Newman shows the extent to which Benjamin participated in these debates by reconstructing the literal and figurative history of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century books that Benjamin analyzes and the literary, art historical and art theoretical, and political theological discussions of the Baroque with which he was familiar. In so doing, she challenges the exceptionalist, even hagiographic, approaches that have become common in Benjamin studies. The result is a deeply learned book that will infuse much-needed life into the study of one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century.

In this original and eye-opening study, Stefan Morawski sheds light on the often confused debate about postmodernism, postmodernity and human values. Drawing upon a wide range of evidence from the experience of everyday life in the sciences, religion, visual arts, literature, film, television and contemporary music, The Troubles with Postmodernism is an indispensable guide to our understanding and evaluation of contemporary literature.

Stories are everywhere, from fiction across media to politics and personal identity. Handbook of Narrative Analysis sorts out both traditional and recent narrative theories, providing the necessary skills to interpret any story. In addition to discussing classical theorists, such as Gérard Genette, Mieke Bal, and Seymour Chatman, Handbook of Narrative Analysis presents precursors (such as E. M. Forster), related theorists (Franz Stanzel, Dorrit Cohn), and a large variety of postclassical critics. Among the latter particular attention is paid to rhetorical, cognitive, and cultural approaches; intermediality; storyworlds; gender theory; and natural and unnatural narratology. Not content to consider theory as an end in itself, Luc Herman and Bart Vervaeck use two short stories and a graphic narrative by contemporary authors as touchstones to illustrate each approach to narrative. In doing so they illuminate the practical implications of theoretical preferences and the ideological leanings underlying them. Marginal glosses guide the reader through discussions of theoretical issues, and an extensive bibliography points readers to the most current publications in the field. Written in an accessible style, this handbook combines a comprehensive treatment of its subject with a user-friendly format appropriate for specialists and nonspecialists alike. Handbook of Narrative Analysis is the go-to book for understanding and interpreting narrative. This new edition revises and extends the first edition to describe and apply the last fifteen years of cutting-edge scholarship in the field of narrative theory.