Art and Presence: Llubljana, May 2016

– Presence in art as something that is not there by itself: the affect potencies in the act of composition between bodies 1 – This text presents an approach to the artist presence as a relation by offering a perspective about the body, and also the shift of presence as a non prior assignment from the artist, which allows us to bring attention to what emerges in the encounter between bodies in the here and now. The audience is considered an active partner and the artist is understood as the one that ceases starring to compose (add-with) the viewer, becoming a porous invitation-presence by an accurate perception practice of the environment settings. This combination of art, philosophy, anthropology and cognitive sciences references allows that the differences between an imposing presence and shared presence become apparent. Keywords: Invitation-presence. Body. Affect. Relation. Co(m)position. RÉSUMÉ – La Présence ne se fait pas tout Seule: la puissance de l'affect dans l'acte de composition en-tre les corps – Cet article présente une approche à la présence de l'artiste comme une relation en offrant un regard sur le corps et le déplacement de la notion de présence en tant que attribution antérieure de l'artiste, ce qui permet l'attention sur ce qui émerge dans la rencontre entre les corps dans l'ici et le maintenant. Cette étude prend en considération le public comme un interlocuteur actif, et l'artiste ne serait plus le protagoniste de la composition (position avec) le spectateur, L'artiste est une présence-invitation, poreux, au moyen d'une écoute attentive de ce qui apparaît dans l'expérience. Une combinaison de références de l'art, de la philosophie, de l'anthropologie et de les sciences cognitives met en évidence les différences entre la présence imposante et la présence partagée. Mots-clés: Présence-invitation. Corps. Affect. Relation. Composition. RESUMO – Presença que não se Faz Só: potências de afeto no ato de com-por entre corpos – Este texto apresenta uma abordagem da presença do artista como relação, propondo um olhar sobre o corpo e sobre o des-locamento da noção de presença como uma atribuição prévia do artista, possibilitando a atenção ao que emerge no encontro entre corpos, no aqui e agora. O público é considerado como interlocutor ativo e o artista como aquele que deixa de protagonizar para com-por (por-se com) o espectador, como uma presença-convite, porosa, por meio de uma escuta apurada às configurações do ambiente. Uma articulação entre referências da arte, da filo-sofia, da antropologia e das ciências cognitivas permite que as diferenças entre presença impositiva e presença parti-lhada se evidenciem. Palavras-chave: Presença-convite. Corpo. Afeto. Relação. Com-posição.

Lost art. It was, it is and it will be. International Art Sympozjum, vol. 3, Wrocław 2019, pp. 146-169., 2019

The concept of lost art evokes various associations. The first of them concerns the point of VieW characteristic of art history and brings to mind works of art lost or destroyed during war conflicts. Famous past cases of works lost by cultures that are the legal heirs of their ancient predecessors include the works of the so-called Napoleon Museum, i,e. part of the Louvre's collection of war booty, including in particular the Egyptian campaign of 1798-'180'l.

By introducing term 'Liminal Space' into theory and philosophy of architecture (referring to the spatial category necessary for the understanding and complete experience of the spectator facing the work of art or the artistic/performative event) we raise questions of needs, typologies and functions of concrete physical means used as a framework of its constitution. The idea of this research is also to emphasize the importance of a rather complex approach in presentation, perception and reception of the work of art or the artistic/performative event through a comprehensive way of merging of these activities, perceived mainly as separate components until now. Therefore the famous triad of questions from domain of architectural design: what (do we design?), with which means and in which ways?, and for whom?, applied onto understanding of the work of art or the artistic/performative event, offers a completely new answer -the artistic vision's placement through an overall scene design, with the use of the ephemeral architecture means, represents a basis for the creation of the spectator's own Liminal Space, through which he develops his own individual experience and interpretation. This paper aims at defining a new terminology considering proposed claim, partly through the existing theoretical framework, but also through the analysis of the exemplary work of Árpád Schilling and Krétakör production for the Prague Quadrennial 2011 (which took place at the abandoned and devastated printing hall complex in Prague, once the central spot of the Communist regime). Highlighting the reuse of the forgotten industrial heritage, this research points at qualities of these places and their potentials to become the new homes for the art.

Art History, 2002

Book reviews are always late. Rushing for the deadline, you are already behind time ± the book was conceived, written, designed, printed and published long before you reached it and whatever you write follows on, belatedly. Mieke Bal's Quoting Caravaggio first appeared in hardback in 1999 and so this review is particularly belated in one sense. Yet perhaps this is strangely fitting for a volume which counters any sense of self-assured linear chronology through a sustained engagement with time, quotation, duration and art. If, as Martin Davies argued, the end of the twentieth century was marked by a tragic, selfimposed lateness, a perpetual sense of coming after the event and being left in its wake, 1 Bal's volume provides a strategy for moving beyond belatedness towards a material encounter with history and cultural memory which thinks of temporality as the entanglement of subject and object. Reading this book, you are invited to participate in histories, to make present connections with the past, in and of the spatial and bodily movement of time. What is especially significant for art historians in this encounter is the fact that Quoting Caravaggio enables its readers to engage in its arguments by taking art, history and the histories of art seriously. Quoting Caravaggio focuses on the work of art, attending closely to what art does, rather than what it is. This subtle shift of emphasis has far-reaching ramifications both within the book and beyond its borders. For instance, Bal's volume is beautifully illustrated, yet it is not an illustrated history, if what is meant by that is a text-based thesis on space, time, subjects and objects, lavishly`decorated' by pictures, themselves reduced to texts and`read' in support of abstract arguments. Neither Bal's emphasis upon semiotics, nor her careful visual analysis, suggest that art might be subsumed by text; her argument is far more compelling, pointing towards a position beyond the binary logic which sets word and image apart, and calling for a fuller recognition of the knowledges which are produced by the materiality of art. This stronger position is mapped early in the work, when Bal argues that art works need to be understood as`theoretical objects':`I wish to suggest that such works can be construed as theoretical objects that``theorize'' cultural history. This theorizing makes them such instances of cultural philosophy that they deserve the name theoretical objects.' (p. 5) Quoting Caravaggio unfolds over eight chapters, each tackling a complex conceptual problem around histories, time and the meanings materialized by art. Throughout the volume, art works ± in the stronger sense of the term. Art is never the mute hand-maiden of theory, awaiting the voice of an empowered interpreter to bring it to life; in every configuration of ideas, images and texts, the material call to the sensory, corporeal roots of subjectivity and cognition are brought to bear upon the structure of the argument. Conceived as a theoretical object, art is demonstrated to have an extraordinary capacity to make ideas, and make them. Thinking through and with art renegotiates the parameters of meaning so that spatial embodiment in the world can be seen as a critical precondition of knowledge and the communication of ideas. As Bal writes in the fourth chapter of the volume, meaningful spatiality is intimately entwined with corporeality and location; the embodied subject of history and knowledge does not exist in an empty space, but in a meaningful world: REVIEWS

Through the study of the artistic creation process, we can observe a close relationship between artistic production and its context, which performs the functions of perception, memory, imagination, creativity and expression. The development of creative activities, and the learning context where they are developed, is considered crucial for an analysis of the artistic research process. This paper seeks to address some of these themes found in José Paiva’s (2009) PhD thesis, which are revisited in my doctoral research entitled, The Biennial of Cerveira (1978-2007) – memory and uniqueness, developed at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Oporto in Portugal. The subject of my investigation is an analysis of procedures and methods of work of participating artists in the Bienal de Cerveira ateliers, workshops and symposia and their interaction with the visitors in Vila Nova de Cerveira to determine the added-value for the community as a stimulus for new knowledge in this context. My analysis will also focus on the most striking facts of the activity of the Cultural Association, PROJECTO-BIENAL DE CERVEIRA, as a resource for investigative artistic research. My methodological approach – narrative inquiry between Paiva’s reflection on experiences and the context of his activities – has allowed me to inquire into the aspects of developing artistic knowledge in interaction with others. Through the ethnographic approach, topics of knowledge become more alive, more sensory and more contextualized than abstract issues, because the former are more active and more attractive, as they are full of elements gathered throughout the observation of the artistic process. This research aims to contribute to an understanding of the added-value and importance of artistic actions managed through a private cultural organization in the community.

Routledge, 2012

An edited work exploring presence, co-presence, memory, liveness, identity, documentation and archive through performance and archaeological theory. Gabriella Giannachi, Nick Kaye, and Michael Shanks (eds), Archaeologies of presence: Art, performance and the persistence of being, Routledge 2012.

The Secret Lives of Art works: Exploring the borders between art and life. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2013

Art as experience of the living body, an East/West experience, 2023

This book analyses the dynamic relationship between art and subjective consciousness, following a phenomenological, pragmatist and enactive approach. It brings out a new approach to the role of the body in art, not as a speculative object or symbolic material but as the living source of the imaginary. It contains theoretical contributions and case studies taken from various artistic practices (visual art, theatre, literature and music), Western and Eastern, the latter concerning China, India and Japan. These contributions allow us to nourish the debate on embodied cognition and aesthetics, using theoryphilosophy, art history, neuroscience-and the authors' personal experience as artists or spectators. According to the Husserlian method of "reduction" and pragmatist introspection, they postulate that listening to bodily sensations-cramps, heartbeats, impulsive movements, eye orientation-can unravel the thread of subconscious experience, both active and affective, that emerge in the encounter between a subject and an artwork, an encounter which, following John Dewey, we deem to be a case study for life in general. Ce livre analyse la relation dynamique entre l'art et la conscience subjective, selon une approche phénoménologique, pragmatiste et enactive. Il vise à faire émerger une nouvelle approche du rôle du corps dans l'art, non pas comme objet spéculatif ou matériau symbolique, mais comme source vivante de l'imaginaire. Les contributions théoriques et les études de cas sont prises à diverses pratiques artistiques (arts visuels, théâtre, littérature et musique), occidentales et orientales, ces dernières concernant la Chine, l'Inde et le Japon. Selon la méthode husserlienne de « réduction », en écho à l'introspection pragmatiste, les textes témoignent que l'écoute des sensations corporelles-crampes, battements de coeur, mouvements pulsionnels, orientation des yeux-mises en jeu par l'oeuvre, permet de dénouer le fil de l'expérience inconsciente, à la fois kinesthésique et affective, qui émerge dans la rencontre entre un sujet et une oeuvre d'art, une rencontre comprise, à la manière de Dewey, comme un cas d'école de la vie en général. Christine Vial Kayser (PhD, HDR) is an art historian and museum curator (emeritus). She is an Associate researcher with Héritages (CYU) and a member of the Doctoral School 628-AHSS. Her research relates to the capacity of art to transform representations within an individual and in the collective mind, through embodied, mnemonic, and affective processes, in a global, comparative (East/west context). She works at the crossroads of art theory, anthropology, and neuroaesthetics. Christine Vial Kayser (PhD, HDR) est historienne de l'art et conservatrice de musée (émérite). Elle est chercheur associé à Héritages (CYU) et membre de l'ED 628-AHSS. Ses recherches portent sur la capacité de l'art à transformer les représentations au sein d'un individu et dans le cadre collectif, à travers des processus incarnés, mémoriels et affectifs, dans un contexte global et comparatif (Est/Ouest). Elle travaille au croisement de la théorie de l'art, de l'anthropologie et de la neuroesthétique.