Sunday, May 2, 2010

Re: [Yasmin_discussions] Narcissism and Anthropocentrism

Laura wrote:

"Now I'm wondering: what does it means for the art and for the artists? What
kind of art, which example or case, is based on this kind of awareness or
necessity?"

Thank you for your question Laura and I'll respond.

Historically, art has addressed political issues, as reflective of
civilization's use of art and the artists interpretations of society,
whether s/he was ordered to do so, commissioned to do so, or did so for the
sake of art, or for the sake of art for a vehicle of social-political
discourse. But rather than going in the direction of art histories to
respond to your question; I would say that *any* art which desires to
address the issues. Simply, I don't think that "awareness of necessity" can
be sequestered to any one artistic practice or theory. However I could be
wrong. But a larger questions may be is whether an "awareness of necessity"
is inherent/intuitive or goal-oriented/functional, and in which case it
might be situated in either "art" or "design". Now, I am not a separatist
so I would not draw a line between art and design, but some might.

However, focusing in on your particular question, I would say that the
answer might be simply any artistic fields engaging life. This is not a
cop-out, but a second-order cybernetic look the universe (which includes the
artist, the art works, the artistic tool, all animals, plants and all other
aspects of nature.) And since we reside in a time frame which is deeply
connected to the Metaverse, I would have to include new distinctions for
computer-based codes which come together to form which could be perceived as
life (whether symbolically or literally).

Distinctly this engages biological arts (which bio art, syn-bio art,
automorph art, are directly related), as well as computer-based arts and AI
(which artificial general intelligence, synthetic intelligence, artificial
life, and intelligence amplification are related). Fields such as
wearables, and human enhancement art are specifically engaged in many of the
aforementioned areas of practice. Also, tissue art and cell art, and also
chemical cell art would be included in this practice area.

A distinguishing factor is whether the art works an the artists/designers
are intended to address an awareness of necessity, or if they are not
addressing any awareness or necessity, but simply exploring the media they
are working with.

Lastly, there are indeed instances where an artist/designer will appropriate
an artistic field/area for the purposes of pushing an agenda - whether that
be to exploit, critique, condemn, confirm, compliment and promote an
awareness of an assumed necessity rather than producing artworks for the
sake of art. So, another issues attached to your question is not just what
kind of art, but what kind of artist - the artists' worldview -- their
philosophy, religion, spirituality, metaphysics, politics, social ecology,
for example.

Natasha

2010/4/23 Pier Luigi Capucci <plc@noemalab.org>

> hello,
>
> sorry Francesco, Roger and all for joining this discussion late. It is
> indeed a very intriguing topic, and, as Natasha noted, a
> multidimensional one.
>
> Indeed the idea of "anthropocentrism" as some kind of ideology which
> puts humankind at the center of the known world has been historically
> put in discussion in a long path. 2009 was both the 400 anniversary of
> the telescope's invention by Galileo and the 150 anniversary of the
> publication of Darwin's "Origin of the Species" (and the 200centenary of
his birth).
> [BTW 2009 was the centenary anniversary of the Futurism avantgarde
> too, with the central position their time's technologies had in their
> poetics, but we'd go too far]
>
> With his invention Galileo gave an extraordinary push to the sky's
> observation, to the diffusion of the heliocentric system and of
Copernicus'
> theories, also through the "scientific method" (which is often called
> "Galilean method"). Copernicus dethroned the humankind from his
> central position in the Universe, but, although dislocated in a remote
> zone the humankind remained the chosen creature, the first one, the
> highest among the living beings on the Earth. Darwin dethroned the
> humankind from his privileged position. Like all the living beings,
> humankind is the result of an extremely long process, of a "design
> without a designer". All the living beings, humankind included, were
> not created as they are and are not steady and unchangeable, but
> evolved starting about 3,8 billion years ago from a remote group of
primeval common organisms.
>
> Hence all the living organisms are related, and each individual,
> whatever species it belongs, is unique but it is pervaded by the
> matter and the processes which compose all the other living beings.
> The fundamental processes and the control mechanisms are essentially
> the same in all species; in our genes we have the genes of many other
> species, even of viruses. And the difficulties and discussions in the
> science domain on the definition of "species" and on the methodology
> to set the differences among the species emphasize this "unitarity".
>
> It seems today the humankind is reaching another topic point in this
> relativization path, since he has the chance to use sciences and
> technologies to hugely modify some issues which deeply define the
> "human essence", which becomes basically uncertain. But does this all
> imply that anthropocentrism is fading out? Or, better, does it imply
> it will/can disappear?
>
> More after.
>
> Pier Luigi
>
> --
> Pier Luigi Capucci
> e-mail: plc@noemalab.org
> web: http://www.noemalab.org/plc/plc.html
> skype: plcapucci
>
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--
Laura Gemini
Dip. Scienze della Comunicazione.
Media, linguaggi, spettacolo
Lab. LaRiCA - Facoltà di Sociologia
Un. degli Studi di Urbino "Carlo Bo"
Via Saffi 15 - 61029 Urbino (PU)
+39 0722 305726
http://incertezzacreativa.wordpress.com
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