University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2018 Encountering Statues: Object Oriented Ontology And The Figure In A Sculptural Practice Osborn, Lisa http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/13070 University of Plymouth All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. ! ! ! ENCOUNTERING!STATUES:! OBJECT!ORIENTED!ONTOLOGY!AND!THE!FIGURE!IN!A! SCULPTURAL!PRACTICE! ! ! By! ! Lisa!Osborn! ! ! ! ! A!thesis!submitted!to!Plymouth!University!in!partial!fulfilment!for! the!degree!of! DOCTOR!OF!PHILOSOPHY! ! ! School!of!Art,!Design!and!Architecture! Copyright This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author's prior consent. © Lisa B. Osborn, April 2018 2 ABSTRACT Encountering Statues: Object Oriented Ontology and the Figure In a Sculptural Practice Lisa Osborn This study reappraises the role and value of statues (i.e. the figure as sculpture) in order to determine what happens when we encounter these objects. The consideration and construction of statues in my studio practice has generated specific insights into statues as person-shaped objects and into our encounter with these objects. From the perspective of a practice making statues this study addresses how, through the encounter, statues both stimulate and obscure our perceptions of them as objects. My practitioner’s understanding of statues is articulated and enlarged by developing methods which allowed me to gain an expanded perspective of my practice, through data collected from conversations about statues, and via a subsequent diffractive dialogue with concepts gleaned from other disciplines. This research process has revealed specific characteristics of the encounter, and of statues themselves, that have been excluded or obscured by familiar assumptions and theories, such as a tacit consideration of statues that allows us to be unsettled by their nudity, or the role touch plays in considering statues, and ultimately the history of the object itself. These findings are considered through a sustained engagement with Object Oriented Ontology (after Harman). Through this process, my initial findings are subsequently expanded and further enhance a re-conception of the encounter and of statues as objects. Finally, I argue for the importance of considering this reappraisal of the role the encounter with statues could play in revealing and reframing our relations with objects more generally. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Copyright .............................................................................................................................................. 2 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ 6 Table Of Contents .............................................................................................................8 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... 13 Author’s Declaration and Word Count ................................................................................. 15 Videos ............................................................................................................................. XXX INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 18 Background ....................................................................................................................................... 20 Defining ‘Statue’ .............................................................................................................................. 31 Reflection and Methods ............................................................................................................... 39 Chapters ............................................................................................................................................. 47 Chapter 1 .......................................................................................................................... 50 Thinking About Statues ........................................................................................................ 50 Iconoclasm ........................................................................................................................................ 52 Touch and Tactility ........................................................................................................................ 56 Pygmalion .......................................................................................................................................... 64 Apotropaism ..................................................................................................................................... 68 Statue As Corpse ............................................................................................................................. 71 Mimesis ............................................................................................................................................... 80 Nudity .................................................................................................................................................. 85 Affect .................................................................................................................................................... 91 Chapter 2 .......................................................................................................................... 97 Encounter .................................................................................................................................. 97 My Studio Practice ......................................................................................................................... 98 Situating Work and Practice................................................................................................... 100 Craft ................................................................................................................................................... 103 Materials ......................................................................................................................................... 105 Statues in the Studio .................................................................................................................. 112 Encounter ....................................................................................................................................... 113 Words and the Encounter ....................................................................................................... 116 Methods and Diffraction .......................................................................................................... 123 Reflection-In-Action: ................................................................................................................. 126 Chapter Three .............................................................................................................. 132 Projects and Duality ............................................................................................................ 132 Duality .............................................................................................................................................. 133 Metaphor and Mirror Neurons ............................................................................................. 136 The Projects ..................................................................................................................................... 142 The Conversation Project ........................................................................................................ 142 The Shusterman Project ........................................................................................................... 150 The Berlin Figure Project (Foam) ........................................................................................ 152 The GoPro Project ....................................................................................................................... 154 The Sins Project ........................................................................................................................... 157 The Giacometti Materials Projects ...................................................................................... 163 The Slides Project ........................................................................................................................ 167 The Broken Piece Project ........................................................................................................ 171 The Canvas Marys Project ....................................................................................................... 173 Conclusion 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