Divergencies of Perception : The Possibilities of Merleau-Pontian Phenomenology in Analyses of Contemporary Art

Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) has been known as the philosopher of painting. His interest in the theory of perception intertwined with the questions concerning the artist s perception, the experience of an artwork and the possible interpretations of the artwork. For him, aesthetics was not a sub-field of philosophy, and art was not simply a subject matter for the aesthetic experience, but a form of thinking. This study proposes an opening for a dialogue between Merleau-Pontian phenomenology and contemporary art. The thesis examines his phenomenology through certain works of contemporary art and presents readings of these artworks through his phenomenology. The thesis both shows the potentiality of a method, but also engages in the critical task of finding the possible limitations of his approach. The first part lays out the methodological and conceptual points of departure of Merleau-Ponty s phenomenological approach to perception as well as the features that determined his discussion on encountering art. Merleau-Ponty referred to the experience of perceiving art using the notion of seeing with (voir selon). He stressed a correlative reciprocity described in Eye and Mind (1961) as the switching of the roles of the visible and the painter. The choice of artworks is motivated by certain restrictions in the phenomenological readings of visual arts. The examined works include paintings by Tiina Mielonen, a photographic work by Christian Mayer, a film by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno, and an installation by Monika Sosnowska. These works resonate with, and challenge, his phenomenological approach. The chapters with case studies take up different themes that are central to Merleau-Ponty s phenomenology: space, movement, time, and touch. All of the themes are interlinked with the examined artworks. There are also topics that reappear in the thesis, such as the notion of ��cart and the question of encountering the other. As Merleau-Ponty argued, the sphere of art has a particular capability to address our being in the world. The thesis presents an interpretation that emphasises the notion of ��cart, which refers to an experience of divergence or dispossession. The sudden dissociation, surprise or rupture that is needed in order for a meeting between the spectator and the artwork, or between two persons, to be possible. Further, the thesis suggests that through artworks it is possible to take into consideration the ��cart, the divergence, that defines our subjectivity.

Reading of audiovisual productions of contemporary art in art education

This article focuses on the reading of audiovisual productions of contemporary art as a creative process, seeking to analyse which effects of meaning the articulations between the visual and sound systems produce, and the meaning that children give to then. It describes a video art, identifying the languages that compose it and the relationships that link them. Such reading exercise had as corpus of analysis the Chair video art, by Masaru Ozaki, and counted with the theoretical and methodological support of the discourse semiotics, especially with studies on assembly procedures that articulate visual and auditory languages. Also, it presents a focal study with the meanings that a group of children gave to the video art. The findings indicate the importance of including the reading of audiovisual productions of contemporary art at school through the problematization of effects of meaning produced by the interrelation between different languages. And they suggest some subsidies that allow teachers from different areas of knowledge to reflect about the visuality in their pedagogical practice; the choice of the audiovisual materials taken to the classroom and other ways of seeing these texts edited.

Recens��o: Claire Bishop, "Radical Museology: or What���s ���Contemporary��� In Museums of Contemporary Art?"

Recens��o de: Claire Bishop, "Radical Museology: or What���s ���Contemporary��� In Museums of Contemporary Art?", Londres: Koenig Books, 2013

���PROVINCIALISM, PICKING SIDES AND BIAS: EFFECTS OF GEOGRAPHY ON MEDIA COVERAGE OF CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, 2005-10.���

The development of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton has prompted diverse coverage from print and online media. This investigation looked at trends in news stories and commentary from 2005-10 to show how the location of a medium affected coverage. Through the author���s own observations and interviews with journalists and other interested parties, several trends emerged. Media outlets outside Arkansas portrayed the museum as trying to plunder the cultural heritage of local communities and relied partly on the museum���s association with Wal-Mart and stereotypes of Arkansas to frame coverage. Arkansas media, faced with limited cooperation from the museum���s public relations apparatus, typically played a cheerleader role, at times overemphasizing the importance of the collection in the art world and showcasing few critical voices in stories about acquisitions and other areas of the museum���s development.

In��s Katzenstein (ed.). Escritos de vanguardia. Arte argentino de los a��os '60. Buenos Aires, The Museum of Modern Art, Fundaci��n Proa y Fundaci��n Espigas, 2007, 384 p��ginas

Fil: Bugnone, Ana Liza. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educaci��n; Argentina.

In��s Katzenstein (ed.). Escritos de vanguardia. Arte argentino de los a��os '60. Buenos Aires, The Museum of Modern Art, Fundaci��n Proa y Fundaci��n Espigas, 2007, 384 p��ginas

Fil: Bugnone, Ana Liza. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educaci��n; Argentina.

In��s Katzenstein (ed.). Escritos de vanguardia. Arte argentino de los a��os '60. Buenos Aires, The Museum of Modern Art, Fundaci��n Proa y Fundaci��n Espigas, 2007, 384 p��ginas

Fil: Bugnone, Ana Liza. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educaci��n; Argentina.

The Museum of Modern Art twenty-fifth anniversary year; final report.

Mode of access: Internet.

Sculptors' Drawings 1910-1980, Selections from the Permanent Collection Whitney Museum of American Art

Catalog of an exhibition held at the Visual Arts Gallery, Florida International University. Essayby Paul Cummings

Women artists demonstrate in front of the Museum of Modern Art because there are not enough women's art shown at museums

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.