Una Re-Evaluación Crítica Del Arte De Carolee Schneemann

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Una Re-Evaluación Crítica Del Arte De Carolee Schneemann Arte, cuerpo y narcisismo: una re-evaluación crítica del arte de Carolee Schneemann Tesis Doctoral María de Lourdes Javier Rivera Director Dr. Domingo Montero Aparicio Departamento Historia del Arte - Bellas Artes Salamanca, 2016 para mis padres, Juan Javier Candelario y Nilsa Rivera Pietri... Agradecimientos Al Profesor Dr. Domingo Montero Aparicio, por su paciencia y diligencia durante este proceso tan largo. Al Profesor Dr. Fernando González García por su disposición. A la Universidad de Salamanca y el Departamento de Historia del arte-Bellas Artes por la oportunidad de llevar a cabo esta tesis. Al equipo de trabajo de los centros donde realicé investigación: MoMA de Nueva York, el New York Public Library, Franklin Furnace, Tate Modern, Electronic Arts Intermix, entre otros. A todos mis colegas, amigos y familiares que de alguna manera u otra me han acompañado durante este proceso y sin los cuales este trabajo hubiese sido imposible. i Índice Agradecimientos ................................................................................................... i Índice ..................................................................................................................... ii Lista de reproducciones..................................................................................... vi Introducción ..........................................................................................................1 Carolee Schneemann y el goce del cuerpo ..........................................1 La performance y el arte de género: una contextualización del arte de Schneemann .................................................................................8 Capítulo I: Consideraciones metodológicas..................................................34 §1. Narcisimo .......................................................................................................34 1.1 El narcisismo psicoanalítico ...........................................................35 1.2 El narcisismo creativo de Lou Andreas-Salomé ........................46 1.2.1 La sublimación afirmativa ...........................................................56 1.2.2. Narcisismo y sublimación en el artista ....................................59 1.2.3 La sexualidad y el narcisismo creativo .....................................62 §2. El narcisismo perceptivo: la visión y el cuerpo .....................................65 2.1 El narcisismo fenomenológico de Maurice Merleau-Ponty ....66 2.2 La epistemofilia: visión, deseo y palabra....................................70 § 3. La performatividad del cuerpo, el lenguaje y la historia del arte ......76 3.1 El cuerpo como lenguaje en la performance ..............................76 ii 3.2 La relación del cuerpo y el lenguaje dentro de la performance ......................................................................................79 3.3 Narcisismo performativo...........................................................88 3.4 El arte apalabrado: el pensamiento y el lenguaje en relación a la experiencia estética .............................................................92 3.4.1 La historia del arte y sus performances ..................................96 Capítulo II: La artista, el cuerpo y el movimiento ..................................103 § 1. El arte como experiencia física ................................................................104 1.1 Cézanne: lo táctil en la plástica ..............................................104 1.1.2 El movimiento y el espacio real en la pintura .....................108 1.2 El ojo encarnado: lo táctil en la plástica ...............................110 1.2.2 El cuerpo vivido dentro del lienzo: el baile y los inicios de Schneemann con la performance ...........................................120 1.2.3 El sitio de Olympia: el desnudo se libera de su lienzo .....124 § 2. El narcisismo intercorporal en las performances de Carolee Schneemann .............................................................................................132 2.1 Meat Joy: la disolución del yo ................................................132 2.2 El cuerpo y su entorno ...........................................................141 § 3. Los límites de la piel y de la pintura .....................................................150 3.1 La performance como espacio interior exteriorizado.........150 3.2 El cuerpo de la artista y su espacio doméstico-artístico ....155 iii 3.3 Los trazos del desnudo en movimiento................................160 3.4. Los límites del cuerpo vivido y de la performance ............164 Capítulo III: Mujer, cuerpo y arte .................................................................170 § 1. Cézanne y las mujeres artistas: una concepción personal del arte y su historia ..............................................................................................170 1.1 Concepción de istoria: un intento de re-escribir la historia del arte.........................................................................177 § 2. El cuerpo habla: explorando el espacio corporal femenino ..............180 2.1 La palabra desde el cuerpo......................................................180 2.1.2 Escribir desde el cuerpo desnudo ..........................................184 2.2 El espacio vulvar y los espacios del arte: la arqueología istoriográfica de Schneemann ................................................201 2.3 Interior Scroll: “hablando” desde el cuerpo femenino......208 § 3. El retorno al cuerpo sexuado ...................................................................214 3.1. Fuses: permiso para “ver” ........................................................214 Capítulo IV: El cuerpo de la artista y narcisismo- la autobiografía artística ........................................................................................239 §1. Autobiografía vs. Autorretrato ................................................................241 1.1 Trilogía autobiográfica: fragmentos de una vida ...............249 1.1.1 Fuses: James Tenney .................................................................251 1.1.2 Plumb Line: Tom Molholm .....................................................254 iv 1.1.3 Kitch’s Last Meal: Anthony McCall ......................................259 § 2. Autobiografía y libro de artista: Narrativa histórica autobiográfica........................................................................................274 2.1. Libros de artista .............................................................................275 2.2 La autobiografía historiográfica ..................................................284 Conclusiones .....................................................................................................294 Imágenes ............................................................................................................315 Bibliografía ........................................................................................................364 v Lista de Imágenes Las reproducciones de fotografías y obras de arte han sido incluídas bajo las estipulaciones legales del uso justo (fair use) y son estrictamente para usos educativos. Figura 1: Carolee Schneemann. Eye Body: 36 Transformative Actions, Performance fotográfico/instalación, 1963.....................................................315 Figura 2: Carolee Schneemann. Eye Body, 1963 ............................................316 Figura 3: Carolee Schneemann. Eye Body, 1963.............................................317 Figura 4: Carolee Schneemann. Eye Body, 1963.............................................317 Figura 5: Carolee Schneemann. Eye Body, 1963.............................................318 Figura 6: Recreación del estudio de Carolee Schneemann con su construcción Four Fur Cutting Board ...............................................................319 Figura 7: Carolee Schneemann. Eye Body, 1963.............................................319 Figura 8: Carolee Schneemann. Newspaper Event, coreografía y baile experimental realizado para el Judson Dance Theater en la iglesia Judson, 29 de enero de 1963 ...........................................................................................320 Figura 9: Robert Morris. Site, 1964 ..................................................................320 Figura 10: Édouard Manet. Olympia, óleo sobre lienzo, 1865 .....................321 Figura 11: Carolee Schneemann. Meat Joy, Performance,1964 ....................321 Figura 12: Carolee Schneemann, Meat Joy, 1964. ..........................................322 Figura 13: Carolee Schneemann, Meat Joy, 1964. ........................................323 Figura 14: Carolee Schneemann, Meat Joy, 1964. ..........................................324 vi Figura 15: Carolee Schneemann. Meat Joy, 1964. ........................................324 Figura 16: Carolee Schneemann. Meat Joy, 1964 ...........................................325 Figura 17: Carolee Schneemann. Anuncio para la presentación de Meat Joy en el Judson Memorial Church, 1965 ..................................326 Figura 18: Carolee Schneemann. Boceto para Meat Joy, 1964 ........................327 Figura 19: Carolee Schneemann. Meat Joy, 1964. ........................................328 Figura 20: Carolee Schneemann. Anuncio de Water Light/Water Needle, 1966 ..........................................................................................................328 Figura 21: Carolee Schneemann, Boceto para Acqua Notte. .......................329
Recommended publications
  • OF POSITIONS and Half POSITIONS Having Several MARKS At
    OF POSITIONS AND half POSITIONS having several MARKS at once Diagram illustrating The Bretagne, from Weaver’s Orchesography p.114, 2nd ed. Printed for, & sold by Ino. Walsh [ca. 1715] i. Of Positions and half Positions having several Marks at once In 1705 English Dancing-Master John Weaver’s Orchesography or The Art of Dancing by Characters and Demonstrative Figures was first printed. This text sought to explain the whole art of dance, with tables of steps and rules for the motions of the arms so that anyone could learn various dances. “Of Positions and half Positions having several Marks at once” is a chapter heading taken from this publication. Weaver (1673-1760) choreographed many ballets and pantomimes, some of which were performed at the Theatre Royal at Drury Lane. A series of lectures given by Weaver in 1721 were one of the first attempts to base dancing and dance instruction on anatomy and knowledge of the body.1 Importantly, Orchesography is “an exact and just translation from the French of Monsieur Feuillet.” Raoul Auger Feuillet (1653-1709) put into print the choreography or dance notation invented by Pierre Beauchamps (1631-1705) dancing master to Louis XIV (1638-1715). This text marks the birth of choreography, linking indelibly body, space, and printed symbols.2 For Feuillet, all dancing was comprised of a small number of essential motions and his system created a planimetric representation of the dancing body, emphasizing possible directions and the paths it may take in space, as well as the motions of the feet and legs. Such a path was notated by a line, and steps or positions by embellished characters on either side.
    [Show full text]
  • The MIT Press Spring 2021 Dear Friends and Readers, Contents
    The MIT Press Spring 2021 Dear Friends and Readers, Contents Books are carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. They are engines of change, windows to the world, “lighthouses” (as a poet said) Trade 1-32 “erected in the sea of time.” Paperback Reprints 33-36 —Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian Distributed by the MIT Press University presses are critical to the academy’s core purpose to create and share knowledge. In these extraordinary times, scholars and scientists are racing to overcome a pandemic, Boston Review 37 combat climate change, and protect civil liberties even as Goldsmiths Press 38-39 they are forced to engage in escalating information warfare. With expanding misinformation and shrinking public trust in Semiotext(e) 40-43 news media, in science and academia, and in expertise more Sternberg Press 44-58 broadly, it falls to universities and mission-driven publishers to uphold sense-making and the spreading of facts—to share Strange Attractor Press 59-61 and translate credible, research-based information in ways that Terra Nova Press 62 maximize its impact on decisions that will shape the future of humanity. University presses have a central role to play in this Urbanomic 63 cause, and the MIT Press continues to be a guiding light. As Director, I am reminded daily of the power of books for posi- Academic Trade 64-68 tive change—to create more beauty, knowing, understanding, Professional 69-91 justice, and human connection in our vast and complex world. www.dianalevine.com Amy Brand All of us at the MIT Press feel a profound responsibility to use Journals 92-94 our privileged perch for good wherever we can.
    [Show full text]
  • Feminist Studies > Reclaiming Histories: Betye and Alison Saar, Feminism, and the Representation of Black Womanhood
    Reclaiming Histories: Betye and Alison Saar, Feminism, and the Representation of Black Womanhood Jessica Dallow The feminist movement has given me more professional exposure. But I resist that now, just like I resist exhibiting in African Amer- ican artists' shows. I've always worked the same way, and haven't done anything I would consider "feminist art." –Betye Saar Yes, I am a feminist. I was involved with the Women's Space [Womanspace] here in Los Angeles. Feminism for me implies more like humanism, just accepting yourself and knowing that it's okay to be the way you are. For me the ultimate goal is to be a whole person and to accept the outcome. –Betye Saar People aren't really ready to deal with fierce female passion. –Alison Saar Betye Saar considers herself a feminist; however she resists designating her artwork as such. Similarly, Alison Saar, Betye's daughter, avoids labeling her own art as feminist.1 Yet, both artists have helped to shape a feminist consciousness in the arts since the early 1970s through their probing constructions of autobiography, self-identity, family, and the fe- male body: a consciousness circulating around the historical develop- ment of the African American female nude. Betye's early ideas of spiritu- ality and ethnicity, shaped in the early 1970s, have germinated within her daughter, evidenced by Alison's bust- and full-length nude, non- white female figures of the 1980s and 1990s. The Saars' intergenera- tional explorations of race, history, and the black female body represent a crucial step to reclaim the contentious history surrounding the visual representation of African American women.
    [Show full text]
  • Selections from the Book PARADISE of the SPIRIT
    Selections from the Book PARADISE OF THE SPIRIT By His Grace Bishop Youanis Late Bishop of the Province of Gharbia, Tanta, Egypt Table of Contents Chapter 1: Repentance 3 A) What does sin do to us? 4 B) What does repentance do? 7 C) Our merciful God whom we worship 8 D) How do I repent? 12 E) **section removed from this version** F) Questions about repentance 18 G) Models of repentant people 19 H) From the sayings of the fathers about repentance 22 I) A prayer for repentance 24 J) A prayer to decide living with God 25 Chapter 2: Confession 26 A) Importance of confession and its blessings 27 B) The three elements of confession 30 C) General Guidelines 36 D) Prayers before and after confession 44 Chapter 3: Communion 45 A) Honor and work of this sacrament 46 B) How do we benefit from this sacrament? 48 C) What is Communion? 53 D) General topics about Communion 54 E) Prayer before and after Communion 60 Chapter 4: The Bible 61 A) God’s Book 62 B) Blessings of the Bible 64 C) The Word in the lives of men of God 69 D) Place of the Holy Bible among our reading 72 E) Why do we study the Holy Bible? 74 F) How to study the Word of God? 76 G) Methods of studying the Bible 81 H) The Coptic Church and the Bible 83 These chapters are selected from among the three books entitled Paradise of the Spirit, by Bishop Youanis, parts 1, 2, and 3.
    [Show full text]
  • Modern Self-Portraits: the Self in the Age of Artistic Autonomy
    Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Senior Theses and Projects Student Scholarship 2020 Modern Self-Portraits: The Self in the Age of Artistic Autonomy Katie Vohr [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses Part of the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Recommended Citation Vohr, Katie, "Modern Self-Portraits: The Self in the Age of Artistic Autonomy". Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2020. Trinity College Digital Repository, https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/857 Modern Self-Portraits: The Self in the Age of Artistic Autonomy Katie Vohr Senior Thesis Trinity College, Hartford May 12, 2020 Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Michael FitzGerald for guiding me through this project and serving as an advisor and mentor to me throughout my time at Trinity. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity work under someone so knowledgeable and dedicated to his field and role as a teacher. Thank you to the faculty members of the Art History Department, each of whom has guided me over the course of my studies. Thank you to Professor Erick Vogt for his ongoing support throughout this project, and thank you to my friends and family who have encouraged me along the way. Maria Lassnig painting in her studio in Vienna, 1983. https://magazine.artland.com/lost-and-found-maria-lassnig/ 2 Table of Contents Introduction -4 Chapter 1- The Self: Who Am I? -7 Chapter 2- The Self and the Body -36 Chapter 3- The Self and Society: Identity -69 Conclusion - 110 Bibliography -113 3 Introduction Who am I? Artists have turned towards self-portraiture to explore this question for centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • CURRICULUM VITAE Adrian Margaret Smith Piper, Born 20
    CURRICULUM VITAE Revised March 2011 Adrian Margaret Smith Piper, born 20 September 1948, New York City TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Educational Record ............................................................................................................................. 2 2. Languages ............................................................................................................................................. 2 3. Philosophy Dissertation Topic.......................................................................................................... 2 4. Areas of Special Competence in Philosophy ................................................................................. 2 5. Other Areas of Research Interest in Philosophy ........................................................................... 2 6. Teaching Experience ........................................................................................................................... 2 7. Fellowships and Awards in Philosophy......................................................................................... 3 8. Professional Philosophical Associations......................................................................................... 4 9. Service to the Profession of Philosophy.......................................................................................... 4 10. Invited Papers and Conferences in Philosophy.......................................................................... 4 11. Publications in Philosophy.............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • RCA 2014 Body
    The Body •Read blurb from syllabus •Focus for today: Contexts for understanding works of art (Artist/viewer) Zhang Huan? Fen Ma Liuming? Zhang Zeduan, Along the River During the Qingming Festival, 11th century Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889 Mona Hatoum, Van Gogh’s Back, 1995 Photograph “I wanted it to appeal to your senses first maybe or to somehow affect you in a bodily way and then the sort of connotations and concepts that are behind that work can come out of that original physical experience. This is what I was aiming at in the work. I wanted it to be experienced through the body. In other words I want work to be both experienced sensually and intellectually rather than just one dimensionally if you like.” - Mona Hatoum “I don’t think art is the best place to be didactic; I don’t think the language of visual art is the most suitable for presenting clear arguments, let alone for trying to convince, convert or teach.” - Mona Hatoum Yasumasa Morimura, Olympia, 1999 Photograph Edouard Manet, Olympia, 1963 Painting (oil on canvas) “Throughout history artists have drawn, sculpted and painted the human form. Recent art history, however, reveals a significant shift in artists’ perceptions of the body, which has been used not simply as the ‘content’ of the work, but also as canvas, brush, frame and platform. Over the course of the last hundred years artists and others have interrogated the way in which the body has been depicted and how it has been conceived. The idea of the physical and mental self as a stable and finite form has gradually eroded, echoing influential twentieth-century developments in the fields of psychoanalysis, philosophy, anthropology, medicine and science.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of Performance
    syllabus and rpadings A History of Performance Moira Roth As with all syllabi, this one is imperfect. U.S. Happenings, Music, Theater, and Critical Introduction (New York: Rout­ Readers will see that the course in no way Dance Experiments in the 1960s; 7) ledge). Two other major new source books aspires to be global, but rather focuses on Fluxus Sensibilities; 8-9) Introduction to are Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz, eds., earlier historical material from Europe, U.S. Performance Art, Late 1960s-1980s; Theories and Documents of Contemporary together with contemporary U.S. happen­ 10) Pushing the Boundaries: Performance Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings ings and performances, focusing on the Art, Censorship, and AIDS. The remain­ (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960s and 1970s. There is much further ing weeks were devoted to student presen­ 1996), and Jerome Rothe~berg and Pierre 73 work to be done, not only in bringing it tations/performances. Joris, ed., Poems for the Millennium, Vol­ "up-to-date" chronologically, but also the­ ume One: From Fin-de-Siecle to Negritude oretically. Equally, the selection of artists Course Description (Berkeley: University of California Press, and works needs to be revised to present a 1995). Important forthcoming publica­ more balanced reading in terms ofcultural Historically the seminar begins with the tions include Charles R. Garoian, Perfor­ diversity, gender, and sexual orientation. I European antecedents of this art form in mance Art Anthology and Peformance Art, want to stress, too, that although I use the Futurist, Dada, and Russian revolu­ Culture, Pedagogy (the edited proceed­ many videos and audiotapes, I I have not tionary art movements, and so on.
    [Show full text]
  • Sveučilište U Zagrebu
    SVEU ČILIŠTE U ZAGREBU TEKSTILNO-TEHNOLOŠKI FAKULTET TEKSTILNI I MODNI DIZAJN ZAVRŠNI RAD LIKOVNOST I SUVREMENA ESTETIKA NAGOG LJUDSKOG TIJELA U MODNOJ ILUSTRACIJI EMMA IVANKOVI Ć Zagreb, srpanj 2018. SVEU ČILIŠTE U ZAGREBU TEKSTILNO-TEHNOLOŠKI FAKULTET TEKSTILNI I MODNI DIZAJN MODNI DIZAJN ZAVRŠNI RAD LIKOVNOST I SUVREMENA ESTETIKA NAGOG LJUDSKOG TIJELA U MODNOJ ILUSTRACIJI doc. prof. likovne kulture Helena Schultheis Edgeler Emma Ivankovi ć Zagreb, srpanj 2018. UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB FACULTY OF TEXTILE TECHNOLOGY TEXTILE AND FASHION DESIGN FASHION DESIGN FINAL PAPER ART AND CONTEMPORARY AESTHETICS OF THE NAKED HUMAN BODY IN FASHION ILLUSTRATION doc. prof. likovne kulture Helena Schultheis Edgeler Emma Ivankovi ć Zagreb, July 2018 DOKUMENTACIJSKA KARTICA Zavod za dizajn tekstila i odje će Broj stranica: 70 Broj slika: 55 Broj literaturnih izvora: 12 Broj likovnih ostvarenja: 15 Članovi povjerenstva: 1. Ak. Slik. Paulina Jazvi ć, doc., predsjednik 2. Doc. Art. Helena Schultheis Edgeler, prof. likovne kulture, član 3. Prof. dr. sc. Budimir Mijovi ć, prof., član 4. Doc. Dr. Sc. Irena Šabari ć, doc., zamjenik člana Datum predaje i obrane rada: srpanj, 2018 Abstract In the western world, hardly a day goes by without the announcement of a “crisis” of the body. New, wonderful, disconcerting, horrifying possibilities continuallybombard us. With an easy and quick access to all data, changes and sharing of opinions on social media, the view on the naked body in fashion illustrations changes every day. My final paper deals with studying and observing the changes in the representation of the naked body in art. The goal is to show how the body shifted through time, changes in the view on it, its aesthetics and problems and the influence of time on the contemporary view of the body.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Cincinnati
    UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date: 12-Nov-2009 I, Elizabeth Kauffman , hereby submit this original work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Arts in Art History It is entitled: Adrian Piper and Immanuel Kant: Toward a Synthesis of Art and Philosophy Student Signature: Elizabeth Kauffman This work and its defense approved by: Committee Chair: Kimberly Paice, PhD Kimberly Paice, PhD Mikiko Hirayama, PhD Mikiko Hirayama, PhD Mark Harris, PhD Mark Harris, PhD 11/23/2009 339 UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI COLLEGE OF DESIGN, ARCHITECTURE, ART AND PLANNING Adrian Piper and Immanuel Kant: Toward a Synthesis of Art and Philosophy A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE ART HISTORY FACULTY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ART HISTORY BY ELIZABETH KAUFFMAN 2009 M.F.A., University of Cincinnati, 2008 B.A., Xavier University, 2005 Committee Chair: Kimberly Paice, Ph.D. Committee Readers: Mikiko Hirayama, Ph.D., and Mark Harris, Ph.D. ABSTRACT Adrian Piper (b. 1948) is both an artist and a philosopher. In the late 1960s, while still in school she established herself as an important Conceptual Artist. In the 1980s Piper went on to become the first female, African-American tenured philosophy professor in the United States. These two aspects of her professional life are usually treated strictly separately by scholars, however given the conceptual nature of her art, her philosophical ideas inevitably would have a lot to add to the reading of her artwork. In this study, I take a detailed look at Piper’s Kantian philosophy and it affects and insights on her art.
    [Show full text]
  • Modern Art: 1945-1975 ARTH 4420-001 Fall 2017 Modern Art: 1945-1975 
    8/11/2017 ARTH 4420-001 Fall 2017 Modern Art: 1945-1975 ARTH 4420-001 Fall 2017 Modern Art: 1945-1975 Jump to Today Edit Monday and Wednesday: 9:40-11:00 am. ART 158. Sarah Hollenberg: Art Building, Room 151a. [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) TA: Chandler Keeling, [email protected] Course Description: The class examines a range of American and European art from the 1940s to the 1970s. Lectures and readings cover the period's major movements - including Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Process and Performance Art - as well as the critical debates over modernism, mass culture, gender and sexuality, and the nature of artistic production. Grading will be based on class participation and written assignments. Course Objectives: At the end of this course, students will be able to conduct visual and historical analyses of artworks discuss the relationships between artworks and their historical contexts in an informed and thoughtful manner clearly articulate their observations and discoveries critically read and assess primary and secondary texts conduct effective research write a thesis-driven essay Teaching and Learning Methods: The format of this course includes lecture supported with visual images, critical reading, student participation (in the form of presentations, group work and discussion), and analytic and research-based writing assignments. Evaluation Methods and Criteria: Reading Analysis Worksheets: 20% (ongoing) Guided Essay: 20% (October 15th) Research Paper: 30% (November 1, December 10) Participation: 30% (ongoing) Reading Analysis Worksheets and Reading questions: You will complete a Reading Analysis Worksheet (RAW) for ten assigned readings (links to the worksheet will be next to the reading in question).
    [Show full text]
  • Facing Necrophilia Or 'Botox Ethics'
    Five Behar.indd 122 29/08/2016 8:32:44 AM Katherine Behar Facing Necrophilia, or “Botox Ethics” Philosophies are means to ends. New ideas beg the question not of whether they are right or wrong but of whether they make for being rightly or wrongly. For this reason, ideas deserve deployment.1 This chapter asks after the deployment of recent object-oriented thought, and whether, when deployed, it lives up to its promises. Do speculative realism, object- oriented ontology, and new materialism truly banish philosophy’s thinking humanist subject? Can they man- age, finally, to put philosophers into contact, and philosophy into action, with and within the world? In other words, do these ideas “work” in an artistic sense? Can philosophy hold its own as perfor- mance art?2 Conceiving of the world as objects or matter sounds like a savvy strategy for avoiding the hubris and distortion of anthropocentrism. (And certainly we are agreed that anthropocentrism has proved again and again to be an enormous liability in deployment: from the eco- logical to the epistemological to the ethical.) But when put into practice, object- oriented thinking remains hindered by two obstacles. The first is a trend toward privileging connectivity that results in a fetishiza tion of liveliness.3 This tendency may be most evident in new materialist thought, and given that some object-oriented ontologies propose that objects are ultimately independent and apart from rela- tion, this claim may seem counterintuitive. Still, I fear liveliness lurks not only in new materialist animism and agential realism but also in object- oriented theories of relation and causation.
    [Show full text]