University of Central Lancashire From the SelectedWorks of Clive Palmer Summer September, 2008 The urT n to Aesthetics: An Interdisciplinary Exchange of Ideas in Applied and Philosophical Aesthetics Clive A Palmer, University of Central Lancashire Available at: http://works.bepress.com/clive_palmer/1/ 3269-Cover1.qxd 5/8/08 13:27 Page 1 The Turn to Aesthetics The Turn The Turn to Aesthetics An Interdisciplinary Exchange of Ideas in Applied and Philosophical Aesthetics The Turn to Aesthetics Edited by Clive Palmer and David Torevell Reporting on an international conference held at Liverpool Hope University 5th–8th June 2007. This was a wide-ranging inter-disciplinary conference which encouraged submissions from three general strands of study including; those subjects which have enjoyed a substantial history of involvement in the field such as Theology and Philosophy, those relatively new to the study such as Sports Studies and Management, and those which focus upon such applied dimensions as the Arts and Education. The overall aim of the conference was to learn from interdisciplinary debate and to encourage an exchange of ideas on research of the highest quality. Edited by Clive Palmer and David Torevell ISBN 978-0-9515847-3-6 Published by Liverpool Hope University Press The Turn to Aesthetics The Turn to Aesthetics An Interdisciplinary Exchange of Ideas in Applied and Philosophical Aesthetics Front Cover: Detail of “LT”, 2002, tinted resin, variable dimensions by Mark Titmarsh. Back Cover: “NKL”, 2002, acrylic and resin on canvas, 90 x 110cms by Mark Titmarsh. First published in the United Kingdom in 2008 by Liverpool Hope University Press Copyright © Clive Palmer and David Torevell and the authors of the papers 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. ISBN 978–0–9515847–3–6 Printed and bound in Great Britain Contents Acknowledgements viii Notes on Contributors ix Foreword xv Graham McFee Introduction 1 Clive Palmer Papers 1 Aesthetics and the practices of art 5 Peter Lamarque 2 Aesthetics and Management 17 Heather Höpfl 3 Turning toward the aesthetic, turning away from responsibility 28 Keith Owens 4 The lightning flash of hope - aesthetics and absurdity in the racetrack 41 poetry of Charles Bukowski. Steve Brie 5 Aesthetics of war: the artistic representation of war in Lee Miller’s 51 WWII photographs. Lynn Hilditch 6 In search of a conversation between aesthetics and theology: an 58 approach to a poem by Edmund Cusick Mark Wynn 7 Shaping the Darkness: Virginia Woolf and the Apophatic Moment 71 Donna Lazenby 8 How the form of Byzantine icons relates to the Christian worldview 83 David Clayton v 9 The aesthetics of participation 92 Tim Prentki 10 Design for the ancient drama 103 Margaret-Catherine Perivoliotis-Chryssovergis 11 Acts of aesthetic confession in Saul Bellow’s Ravelstein 115 Leila Hojjati 12 Spiritual exercises and the aesthetic refinement of the moral self 124 Patrick Carr 13 Artistic value: Its scope and limits (and a little something about 133 sport). Graham McFee 14 Art, sport and aesthetics. 145 Doug Sandle 15 The re-orientation of aesthetics and its significance for aesthetic 160 education Alexandra Mouriki 16 Thinking Heidegger’s post aesthetics through the expanded field of 168 painting Mark Titmarsh 17 Aesthetics and the environment - repatriating humanity 180 Nikolaos Gkogkas 18 Moving from the margins creating space with digital technology: 189 wonder, theory and action Avril Loveless 19 The turn to aesthetics in archaeological theory - experiencing 199 materiality through art and experiment Cordula Hansen 20 Taking the aesthetic temperature: reflections on the role of the arts in 210 a healing context Peter Jordan vi Live Performances 21 Poems: Poetry Reading 215 John Lindley 22 Acoustic Guitar Performance 227 Neil Campbell Extended Poster Discussions 23 A socio-aesthetic account of construction and destruction in world 229 football Joel Rookwood and Clive Palmer 24 Drawing upon the aesthetic heritage of Men’s Artistic Gymnastics to 236 create a personalised technique – a case study of the performance qualities of Aleksei Nemov (Russia) Clive Palmer and Val Sellers 25 Olympic art contests 1912-1948, their invention and demise 241 Stephan Wassong, Karl Lennartz and Thomas Zawadzki 26 Structure and surface - contextualising aesthetic form in the sport 252 psychology process Matthew Thombs and Clive Palmer Closing comments – a delegate’s perspective 27 Sheer aesthetics - a closing comment on the Turn to Aesthetics 259 Conference Mark Titmarsh Conference Abstracts 262 Overview of conference programme and full listing of abstracts. Six keynote addresses and fourteen parallel sessions. vii Acknowledgements Acknowledgements David and I would like to thank and acknowledge the invaluable assistance given from all those who supported our endeavour to stage The Turn to Aesthetics conference and to make it such a success. Throughout this journey, their generosity to share their knowledge and show interest in us, and “our idea”, has been a sobering example of friendship and collegiality. Along the way we have been fortunate to benefit from their help at critical phases during preparation, during the conference itself and with this post-event publication. To these we owe a debt of gratitude for their tireless efforts and continued interest; we thank you most sincerely. In particular we would like to acknowledge Richard Hooper, Val Sellers, Tom Foreman, Victor Merriman and Stephan Wassong for their support and enthusiasm during the early stages of this project. Thanks also to the staff at Hope University for their attentiveness to host the event and to ensure all our visitors were made comfortable during their stay in Liverpool. Also, a debt of thanks to those who chaired papers during the conference enabling the event to run smoothly: Patrice Haynes, Jenny Daggers, John Brinkman, Brendan Schmack, Simon Kawycz, and Matt Thombs. For the displays and live performances thanks are due to Karl Lennartz, President of IOSH (International Society of Olympic Historians) for loaning the images of Olympic Art Competitions included in our poster display, and to Neil Campbell (acoustic guitarist) and John Lindley (poet) for their “polished” performances during the evening breaks of the conference. I am also very grateful Graham McFee for being on hand to give occasional, but timely advice and to Mark Titmarsh for allowing us to feature his artworks on the cover design. Finally, we wish to thank all the delegates for contributing to the conference so openly and making it such a stimulating experience for all those present. The creative mood to exchange ideas and take an active interest in other scholars’ applications of aesthetics is reflected in this book and I thank the authors wholeheartedly for their wisdom shared further in these pages, not least for their tolerance of my editorial interferences. Lastly, thanks goes to my wife, Dorinda, for supporting me during this episode of academic life by tolerating the more than average number of distractions which have spanned long before and long after that memorable week in June 2007. Clive Palmer Liverpool 2008 viii Contributors Notes on Contributors Clive Palmer is a Senior Lecturer in Sports Pedagogy and Physical Education at Liverpool Hope University. His principal research interest is the aesthetic evaluation of Men’s Artistic Gymnastics. Clive is also the editor of the Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies and is currently developing online resources for teaching sports pedagogy and gymnastics to undergraduates and teachers in schools. David Torevell is Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Liverpool Hope University. He is the author of two books on Christian liturgy Losing the Sacred: Ritual, Modernity and Liturgical Reform (T&T Clark, 2000) and Liturgy and the Beauty of the Unknown. Another Place (Ashgate, 2007) and is the co-author of Inspiring Faith in Schools: Studies in Religious Education (Ashgate, 2007). His research interests include theological aesthetics, contemplative spirituality, Christian ritual and performance and Christian Education. Peter Lamarque is Professor of Philosophy at the University of York. From 1995 to 2008 he was Editor of the British Journal of Aesthetics. He is the author of Fictional Points of View (Cornell UP, 1996) and The Philosophy of Literature (Blackwell, 2008), and co-author, with Stein Haugom Olsen, of Truth, Fiction, and Literature: A Philosophical Perspective (Clarendon Press, 1994). He also edited Philosophy and Fiction: Essays in Literary Aesthetics (Aberdeen UP, 1983); Concise Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Language (Elsevier Press, 1997) and an anthology (with S.H. Olsen) Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: The Analytic Tradition (Blackwell, 2003). Heather Höpfl is Professor of Management at the University of Essex and Visiting Professor at UvH, Utrecht and the University of South Australia. She has worked in a number of different jobs and fields including operations research with a large engineering company, as a schoolteacher, as a tour manager for a touring theatre company and a researcher working on a research project with ICL and Logica. In the 1990s she worked with British Airways Safety Services on developing a safety culture. She is co-editor of Culture and Organization and publishes widely. Recent publications have been on the Bhopal disaster with Sumohon Matilal and on Aesthetics and Management. In November 2007 she was invited to speak at the Hong Kong Arts Centre and the Hong Kong Institute for Design on the relationship between management and aesthetics. She is committed to an ethical and compassionate approach to management. She is married to Dr Harro Höpfl who is a political theorist and has two sons George and Max. ix Contributors Keith Owens is an Assistant Professor of Communication Design at the University of North Texas College of Visual Arts & Design, Denton, TX.