Fluxing the logic of definitive differences

Focusing on Fluxus, a loosely knit association of artists from America, Europe and Asia whose work centers around intermediality, this article explores the notion of relationality without relata. Intermediality refers to works that fall conceptually between media – such as visual poetry or action music – as well as between the general area of art media and those of life media(Higgins). Departing from two Fluxus intermedia – the event score, a performative score in the form of words, and the Fluxkit, a performative score in the form of objects – I investigate the logic of co-constitutivity within which every element is both subject and object, both constitutive and constituted. To be more precise, I trace the cross-categorial interplay of differences that explodes the logico-linguistic structure of binary oppositions, such as those between foreground and background, word and action, sound and silence, identity and alterity. Aided by Jacques Derrida’s concept of ‘de-centered play’ and Shigenori Nagatomo’s concept of ‘interfusion’ this article seeks to articulate the ways in which the Fluxus works mobilise the ‘silent background’ to dismantle the dualistic logic of definite differences.

Using love and logic at home: A workshop for parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing

Research supporting a workshop about using Love and Logic techniques at home, tailored for parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Isotopes and individuals: diet and mobility among the medieval Bishops of Whithorn

Stable isotopes get personal in this analysis of burials at a medieval cathedral. Compared with the local meat-eating rank and file, those people identified as bishops consumed significantly more fish and were incomers from the east. These results, while not so surprising historically, lend much increased confidence that isotope analysis can successfully read the status and mobility of individuals in a cemetery.

Reflections: 50 Years of Medieval Archaeology, 1957-2007

This volume celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Society for Medieval Archaeology (established in 1957), presenting reflections on the history, development and future prospects of the discipline. The papers are drawn from a series of conferences and workshops that took place in 2007-2008, in addition to a number of contributions that were commissioned especially for the volume. They range from personal commentaries on the history of the Society and the growth of the subject, to historiographical, regional and thematic overviews of major trends in the evolution and current practice of medieval archaeology in Britain. Critical overviews are presented of the archaeology of medieval landscapes, buildings and material culture; new developments in the scientific study of medieval health, diet and materials; and innovations in social approaches to medieval archaeology. A series of papers on southern Europe provide a comparative perspective, featuring overviews on medieval archaeology in Italy, Spain and southeastern Europe.