Loading...
3 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
- River(s) Wear: Water in the Expanded FieldPublication . Santos, Miguel; Wainwright, JohnThis article elaborates on an artist-in-residence project funded by the Leverhulme Trust in the Geography Department at Durham University in 2015–16. The project confronted artistic and scientific perspectives to investigate how people in the North-East of England perceive and value their river environments and to recognize potential contributions to catchment management. The project identified a variety of disconnexions and hierarchies in the River Wear catchment and formulated artistic interventions for nonhuman audiences. This article reflects on water holistically and explores transdisciplinary views to propose water in its expanded field. Water in the Expanded Field is plural, complex, and aims at decentering the human importance. It promotes water multiple perspectives, including the more-than-human world and acknowledging water’s ontological importance, developed by the speculative artistic practice of producing works of art for nonhuman audiences and then transposed to water debates. The article converges distinct evidence pointing to the importance of composting existing knowledge and dualistic reasoning to promote pluriversal ontologies of water.
- On Scale: Ontological Variations in PhotographyPublication . Santos, MiguelThe concept of scale refers to complex phenomena that vary within space, time, or other dimensions in the real world. Scale underlines the connection between a representation and its referent while using finite and discrete measurements to render infinite narratives and meanings. The concept of scale can be as familiar as undefined, having a vari- ety of meanings depending on its operational context and disciplinary perspective. (Wells, 2013) In the specific context of lens-based arts, i.e., photography, the various approaches and implications of scale remain largely unanswered. The photograph of a landscape or a bacterium is unlikely to be material- ized in their real scale, its size would be, either, too big or too small for standardized observation. Scale anthropomorphises size, compressing physical and cultural geographies to pocket size, bringing distant percep- tions to arm’s length. As a concept, scale places humans at the centre of their own discourses while reinforcing human-centred taxonomies. None- theless, scalar variations are ontological to the photographic medium (Crowther, 2009), and have significant implications in the formation of individual narratives and political discourses, which are often made invisible or ignored. (Grau, 2003; Klein, 2004) This presentation attempts to uncover some of its problematics and its overall impact in the interpretation and formation of the work of art. Its primary focus is on photography while considering other artistic practices in a nondisciplinary convergent approach to scalar variations of size. References Crowther, P. (2009), Phenomenology of the Visual Arts (even the frame), Stanford, CA; Stanford University Press. Grau, O. (2003), Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, Cambridge, MA: London: MIT Press. Klein, N. (2004), The Vatican to Vegas: A History of Special Effects, New York; London: The New Press. Mandelbrot, B. (1982), The Fractal Geometry of Nature, San Francisco, CA ; W.H.Freeman & Co. Wells, R. (2013), Scale in Contemporary Sculpture: Enlargement, Miniatu- rization, and the Life-Size, Farnham; Burlington: Ashgate.
- Quarry Sonnets: a Reflexive ReportPublication . Santos, MiguelQuarry Sonnets was a research project on art and societal change investigating the value of artistic methodologies to decentre human perspectives and promote a multispecies society. This report reflects on the outcomes of a pilot trial in a former quarry in the Natural Park Serra de Aires and Candeeiros, Portugal. The pilot trial implemented a workshop with 45 art students and staff from six European Universities working in small groups in a collective effort to propose ideas for the Vale de Meios Quarry's rehabilitation, culminating in a public event with the local community and stakeholders. The workshop experimented with the quarry as a nexus for a multispecies conversation, exploring a framework that attempted to decentre human perspectives when considering ecosystem rehabilitation projects. The workshop generated ideas in partnership with the quarry ecosystem for further discussion and development with its stakeholders.