[-empyre-] A further thought Re: Cambridge and Paris

Mon Oct 11 23:48:35 EST 2010

Dear Patty,
Further to my message this morning I'd like to emphasise the way
Making Sense uses the process of creating an artwork as a method of
thinking. The aesthetic encounter sometimes refers to passive
reception of an artwork; we are also interested in mobilizing the
active, physical process of creating an artwork, as a method of
thinking through doing. I am a painter and use colour and texture to
think about ontology and make sense of the present. I think through my
fingers, so to speak. I am interested in talking with artists who use
digital media and cyberspace, a virtual reality, and comparing notes
or experimenting on the process of creating an artwork.
All the best,
Lorna

2010/10/10 Patricia R. Zimmermann <patty at ithaca.edu>:
> Lorna:
>
> Could you explain in theoretical and practical terms your idea of how Making Sense facilitates "aesthetic encounters."?
>
> What is the theory of an "aesthetic encounter"?
>
> How does your group define "aesthetic"?
>
> And, how does your group define "encounter"?
>
> How does the change implied from "encounter" differ in function from the change implied in "intervention" or "mobilization"?
>
> Thanks in advance for sharing any thoughts on the above based on your experience in Making Sense.
>
> Patty
>
> -------
> Patricia R. Zimmermann, Ph.D.
> Professor, Cinema, Photography and Media Arts
> Roy H. Park School of Communications
> Codirector, Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival
> Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies
> 953 Danby Road
> Ithaca College
> Ithaca, New York 14850 USA
> Office: +1 (607) 274 3431
> FAX: +1 (607) 274 7078
> http://faculty.ithaca.edu/patty/
> http://www.ithaca.edu/fleff
> BLOG: http://www.ithaca.edu/fleff10/blogs/open_spaces/
> patty at ithaca.edu
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
>>Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2010 08:55:29 -0400
>>From: empyre-bounces at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au (on behalf of Renate Ferro <rtf9 at cornell.edu>)
>>Subject: [-empyre-] Cambridge and Paris
>>To: soft_skinned_space <empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
>>
>>Lorna Collins wrote:
>>
>>.......We want to analyse and discuss the aesthetic encounter and an art
>>practice as a medium that can help us make sense of the world. We
>>bring together artists and philosophers, scholars and students,
>>thinkers and writers, from all around the world, to build an interface
>>between artistic creation, theoretical debate and academic
>>scholarship. At the colloquium we want to formulate new ways to frame
>>and develop discourse, and found a new way of making sense, which can
>>challenge and invigorate the protocol, regulation and system of
>>academia. This is a different kind of conference – there is no
>>hierarchical division between the plenary speakers and the audience,
>>we have an economy of mutual exchange and intimate debate. This
>>Colloquium.......
>>
>> Good Morning Lorna,  Thanks for giving us a general overview of your own
>>philosophy and the history of the Making Sense Colloquium.  I'm wondering if
>>you could talk about the event being held at the Pompidou in Paris? Do you
>>have a mission for this event that might be slightly different that the
>>Cambridge event in 2009?  Was there a publication that cam out of the
>>Cambridge event or what kind of information was gathered that perhaps has
>>informed the event in Paris? The statement above is so broad so I'm
>>wondering if you have defined the Paris event differently based on what
>>happened in Cambridge?
>>
>>Lorna will be introducing two of the Visiting Artist's who will be featured
>>in Paris later today but I'm hoping that she will give us more of a sense of
>>the event's history so that perhaps that would give our empyre subscribers a
>>idea of the underpinnings of potential discussion points.
>>
>>Thanks Lorna.  Renate
>>
>>
>>On 10/10/10 12:34 AM, "Lorna Collins" <lpc29 at cam.ac.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Renate,
>>>
>>> Thanks for the intro! I’d like to say a bit about Making Sense… This
>>> is the second interdisciplinary colloquium of Making Sense.  The first
>>> was held at the University of Cambridge in 2009. At these events we
>>> want to analyse and discuss the aesthetic encounter and an art
>>> practice as a medium that can help us make sense of the world. We
>>> bring together artists and philosophers, scholars and students,
>>> thinkers and writers, from all around the world, to build an interface
>>> between artistic creation, theoretical debate and academic
>>> scholarship. At the colloquium we want to formulate new ways to frame
>>> and develop discourse, and found a new way of making sense, which can
>>> challenge and invigorate the protocol, regulation and system of
>>> academia. This is a different kind of conference – there is no
>>> hierarchical division between the plenary speakers and the audience,
>>> we have an economy of mutual exchange and intimate debate. This
>>> colloquium can be seen as an artistic creation or installation in
>>> itself. I think we can all be artists. Participants are encouraged to
>>> react and articulate their opinion.
>>>
>>> How does this fit into my own work? I am neither specifically a
>>> writer, nor artist, nor philosopher, but use these genres
>>> simultaneously to make sense of the world, to discover my place within
>>> it, and to think about what might threaten our most basic need to
>>> inhabit it. I use art to write philosophy, and I use philosophy to
>>> inspire the plastic forms of art I make; in between my visual,
>>> intellectual and phenomenological experiments I hope to invent a
>>> practical, accessible method for ‘making sense’.
>>>
>>> I take academic theory to the creative resources of practising art, in
>>> the efforts to challenge and invigorate the political scholarship of
>>> academic discourse through the basic, replenishing and regenerative
>>> facets of creativity. In this sense I am perhaps a diplomat and
>>> curator who seeks to arrange and mobilise the emancipatory interface
>>> that art can offer everyone, whilst trying to confirm and cement this
>>> chance in the more formal terms of academia.
>>>
>>> This is the kind of ethos that lies behind Making Sense the
>>> collective, which is the emerging group of artists and philosophers
>>> who came to the first and are coming to the second colloquium. Making
>>> Sense is bigger than singular events. We are trying to start a
>>> movement. The Making Sense project, beyond the colloquia, is
>>> ultimately about founding a communitarian practice, through art, that
>>> provides a restorative social act. It would be very interesting to
>>> discuss what that means and how it might be possible…
>>>
>>> I look forward to hearing your thoughts...
>>>
>>> Lorna
>>>
>>>
>>> 2010/10/10 Renate Ferro <rtf9 at cornell.edu>:
>>>> Welcome to our October discussion, ³Contextualizing Making Sense. The
>>>> alignment of criticality and configurations of embodiment and space permit
>>>> creative flows of networks, resources, research and discussions whose
>>>> configurations prove limitless.
>>>>
>>>> Lorna Collins and her team of collaborators have invited Tim and I to
>>>> represent empyre this month at the ³Making Sense Colloquium² at the
>>>> IRI-Centre Pompidou, Institut Télécom the 19th and 20th of October.
>>>> http://www.makingsensesociety.org/ <http://www.makingsensesociety.org/>
>>>> Lorna is a theorist and a PhD student at the University of Cambridge where
>>>> she is a Foundation Scholar at Jesus College.  Her academic research pushes
>>>> to forge the development of Making Sense via her research and writing but
>>>> also through various events such as the ³Making Sense² colloquium. The
>>>> colloquium brings together a wide variety of international theorists and
>>>> artists some of whom will be our guests this month on empyre.
>>>>
>>>> Both independently and collaboratively, Tim and I have worked between the
>>>> spaces of theory and practice for many years.  Through Tim¹s international
>>>> curating as well as his work in founding and directing the Rose Goldsen
>>>> Archive for New Media Art and in my case the founding and directing of The
>>>> Tinker Factory, an interdisciplinary lab for research and practice we have
>>>> independently found venues for forging theory and practice.  Together our
>>>> collaboration with empyre has given us an opportunity to investigate the
>>>> negotiations between theory and practice historically in May 2009 our
>>>> discussion Critical Motion Practice merged intersections that entailed both
>>>> self-reflective and interactive movement at the intersections of art,
>>>> choreography, architecture, activism and theory.  Again in September, 2007
>>>> our discussion on Critical Spatial Practice highlighted themes of social
>>>> responsibility at cross-disciplinary intersections.  The questions we asked
>>>> revolved between the technological and critical approaches between practice
>>>> and theory and how those questions empowered creativity, enhanced artistic
>>>> activism and encouraged artistic/performance practice and collaboration.
>>>>
>>>> We are looking forward to joining the Making Sense participants and
>>>> anticipate the international online discussion that will evolve with our
>>>> 1400 subscribers. Each week we will highlight a handful of Making Sense
>>>> guests in hopes that their own project descriptions will entice our members
>>>> to add their own ideas and comments.
>>>>
>>>> Together collaboratively we are hoping to open up the discussion of Making
>>>> Sense. As an artist my practice involves instincts, whim, research, reading,
>>>> discussion, investigation and critical analysis. When a research thread
>>>> ³makes sense² I assume that my inquiry is finished and the project is
>>>> finished a cue to proceed to the next.  The act of ³Making Sense² implies a
>>>> search for resolution.  Though in the process of making it is the
>>>> uneasiness, the questioning, the restlessness, the point that is not making
>>>> sense that excites me to continue.  Welcome to ³Contextualizing Making
>>>> Sense² or not?
>>>>
>>>> We would like to welcome Lorna Collins as our first guest. We will begin
>>>> this month on empyre by asking Lorna to answer a few questions for our
>>>> -empyre members.  Can you fill us in a bit more about your own work as it
>>>> relates to the Making Sense Colloquium?   Additionally what can we expect
>>>> from the forum itself coming up in a few weeks?
>>>>
>>>> Renate and Tim
>>>>
>>>> Renate Ferro
>>>> URL:  http://www.renateferro.net
>>>> Email:   <rtf9 at cornell.edu>
>>>> ,
>>>> Visiting Assistant Professor of Art
>>>> Cornell University
>>>> Department of Art, Tjaden Hall
>>>> Ithaca, NY  14853
>>>>
>>>> Co-moderator of _empyre soft skinned space
>>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyre
>>>>
>>>> Art Editor, diacritics
>>>> http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/dia/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> empyre forum
>>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Lorna Collins
PhD Candidate: "Making Sense; art practice as a social act"
Jesus College
Cambridge
CB5 8BL
http://web.me.com/lornacollins/
http://www.makingsensesociety.org./