Metropolis M Books For over a decade now, the debate on art has been dominated by the rhetoric of re- Experimental Aesthetics search. However, does the concept of artistic research still express its originally radical and experimental power today? The concept seems to have become hackneyed and ob- scured by method fever and academic jargon. Perhaps the time has come to invigorate its conceptual framework – for example through terminology referring to its compa- nion in art, namely philosophy’s branch of aesthetics. Could experimental and specu- lative processes of thought again be leading in aesthetic debates and contemporary art? These are the issues that come to the fore in this publication through a series of projects, views, and perspectives connect- ed to the project Aesthetic Jam – part of the 9th Tapei Biennial. with Andre Alves, Boris Groys, Chus Martínez, Clodagh Emoe, Henk Slager, Metropolis M Books, PO Box 19263, NL 3501 DG Utrecht Hongjohn Lin, Irene Kopelman, John Rajchman, Lonnie van Brummelen & www.metropolism.com Siebren de Haan, Mick Wilson, and ISBN 978-90-818302-4-9 Timotheus Vermeulen EN Metropolis M Books Experimental Aesthetics Editorial p. 2 Aesthetic of the Impasse p. 4 Andre Alves On Aestheticization p. 6 Boris Groys Aesthetic Consciousness p. 10 Chus Martinez Performing Philosphy in a p. 14 Non–Philosophical Way Clodagh Emoe Stop Making the Sensible p. 18 Hongjohn Lin Workstation p. 20 Irene Kopelman Experimental Aesthetics p. 24 A Short Story of Thinking in Art John Rajchman Drifting Studio Practice p. 30 Lonnie Van Brummelen & Siebren de Haan An Anachronistic Aesthesis p. 34 The inedible following upon the unspeakable Mick Wilson Aesthetics and the “as if ” p. 42 Timotheus Vermeulen * * Irene Kopelman, Workstation, Aesthetic Jam, Taipei Biennial, 2014 Experimental Aesthetics profound focus on method and knowledge production is at risk of losing sight of the role of critical judgment – after all a core Editorial concept in Kantian aesthetics. Specifically, the unique character of the aesthetic judgment – offering a critical mirror Today, both the practice and reflecting both the judgment and how understanding of artistic research are it comes into being – makes clear that the encompassed by increasingly rigidifying aesthetic as such represents a dimension forms of academization. This asks for preceding a transparent methodology a thorough conceptual reassessment of and an epistemological result. Therefore, that originally artistic field. Indeed, many the aesthetic process requires a manner of questions have been lurking in the wings judgment that is capable of prolonging for some time now. Does the present the gap between aesthetic apprehension conceptual impact of artistic research still and methodological deduction so that cover its original and radical drive? any claim to knowledge could be delayed Is artistic research still related to processes as a “not yet.” of experimental thinking and creating? The very issues of aesthetics and Or does a pervasive institutionalization productive delay of knowledge were at urge to reset the ever-narrowing framework the core of the project Joyful Wisdom of artistic research? (Parallel Event Istanbul Biennale 2013).2 The present publication intends to In line with Nietzsche’s Gaya Scienza, explore topical potentialities of an alter- essayistic presentations of eight artistic native and more strategic manner of dealing situation-based thinking processes with artistic practices. Therefore, the texts continued the quest for an aesthetics that deliberately refer again to the concept hovers on the border of judgment and of aesthetics. Since contemporary thinkers affect in an attempt to be liberated from such as Alain Badiou and Jacques Rancière the freezing order of academic knowledge. have initiated to redefine the aesthetic The potential of a radical choice loomed domain, aesthetics seems once again up, foreboding the course of being to point to extra-territorial frameworks adrift to the point of a black out of the able to avoid the production of instrument- senses, an epistemic guerilla, and making alizing concepts. Indeed, a topical an untimely plea for speculative and understanding of aesthetics appears to be symbolic forms of understanding. astoundingly compatible with what was Aesthetic Jam, the concluding project once advocated by artistic research, i.e. in this series3, is part of the 9th Taipei the self-reflexive and self-critical capacities Biennial (2014) and connects to Nicolas of artists engaging in configurations of Bourriaud’s curatorial concept of understanding and signification. The Great Acceleration. The concept of In light of a topical reconsideration great acceleration points here to the urge of the aesthetic regime, a first exploration of a global refoundation of the notion took place during the project The Judgment of aesthetics deploying various topical is the Mirror (Living Art Museum, Reykjavik, perspectives such as antroposcene, object- 2013)1. In particular, attention was drawn oriented ontology, and new materialism. to how the current artistic discourse and its Yet, Aesthetic Jam also stresses the bond 1 The Judgment is the Mirror took place in 2 Joyful Wisdom took place as parallel event the Living Art Museum Reykjavik (as an exhibition) of the 13th Istanbul Biennale in Rezan Has Museum and the Iceland Academy of the Art (as a seminar) (as an exhibition) and Kadir Has University (as a from January 19 until March 24, 2013. Participants: seminar) from September 13 until October 20, 2013. 2 Tiong Ang, Clodagh Emoe, Jan Kaila, Jaapo Knuutila, Participants: Tiong Ang, Lonnie van Brummelen & Roger Palmer, Henk Slager (curator), and Mick Siebren de Haan, Burak Delier, Jan Kaila, Aglaia Wilson. Konrad, Marion von Osten, Henk Slager (curator), Jalal Toufic, and Mick Wilson. between aesthetics and experimental pro- cesses of making art. A zero-degree exhibition plan developed by co-curators Hongjohn Lin and Henk Slager4 hosted a relay-type series of three production periods and additional presentation moments. Participating artists not only produced new work, but also continuously engaged in adaptation of the display system and public discussions of the material conditions and relevant conceptual frame- works of both the exhibition and their art making for Aesthetic Jam. As an elaboration on aforementioned research projects, a publication has been developed in collaboration with Metro- polis M Books. Deriving from a multitude of perspectives and lines of thought, this publication intends to question anew the concept of aesthetics and its relevant positions and situations. Could a novel concept of aesthetics reveal different forms of interest in and processes of artistic thinking? Could experimental aesthetics as an undisciplinary methodology dis- tinctive from a theoretical and academic philosophy be in the forefront of artistic practices? Could the concept of aesthetics have the power to reframe the concept of artistic research? A number of Aesthetic Jam participants such as Lonnie van Brummelen & Siebren de Haan, Irene Kopelman, Hongjohn Lin, Mick Wilson, Andre Alves, and Clodagh Emoe delve into their art making and the questions stated above. In addition, the publication contains contextualizing texts by authors known for their criti- cal reflections on the topical impact of aesthetics such as Boris Groys, Chus Martínez, John Rajchman, Henk Slager, Timotheus Vermeulen. Henk Slager, Editor 3 Aesthetic Jam (co-curators Hongjohn Lin and 4 The zero-degree composition is made up of Henk Slager, Editor) took place as a satellite project two installative presentations: Lonnie van Brummelen of the 9th Taipei Biennial (curator Nicolas Bourriaud), and Siebren de Haan’s Episode of the Sea and Kai Taipei Fine Arts Museum/Taipei National University Huang Chen’s Sea Route. Both works articulate of the Arts, September 12, 2014 through January 4, the current situation of aesthetics metaphorically: 2015. Participants: Andre Alves, Tiong Ang, the obsoleteness of a chosen course, the romanticism Lonnie van Brummelen & Siebren de Haan, Chang of isolation, the unbearableness of island Nai-Wen, Clodagh Emoe, Fang Yen-Hsiang, James consciousness, and the pressing necessity of a 3 T. Hong, Huang Chien-Hung, Kai Huang Chen, complete reformulation based on novel perspectives Irene Kopelman, Alejandro Ramirez, Su Meng-hung, and experimentations. Gwen Wang, Wang Sheng-Hung, Mick Wilson, and Wu Shu-ann. Aesthetic of the Impasse idea of reality relies on the potential for change – a contingency that allows for the actualization of that potential, Andre Alves the novel. But in the current contemporary she identifies a tension between that which seems to be possible and the role of It is not a vision – it can be found in uncertainty as openness: “the prisons of any newspaper: the contemporary everyday the possible... invade and monopolize our is held by a sensation of non-resolution relation with the world every time we feel and lacks prospects for other worlds. that ‘everything is possible... but we cannot In the worst case, this is not some sort of do anything else (besides choosing)’ daydream but the manifestation of having and that ‘everything can be said... but one become paranoid without realizing the has nothing relevant to add.”1 splits between different realities. In the The crisis of imagination is not brought best case, it is the advertisement about so much by the lack of potential of an articulation of reality sustained by to produce alternatives (because