Academic Sessions: Exeter 1998
Contingency and Identity
Conveners:
Sue Watling (Somerset College of Arts and Technology) and Robin Mariner (Bath College of Higher Education)
This strand will explore the conditions under which something may be designated an art work, someone an artist. Since the premise is that the ontology of the artist/art work is not an unconditional given but contingent, the exploration will involve both addressing methodological questions and mapping, historically, the emergence of particular artistic identities at specific moments.
Are the concepts of 'art object' and 'artistic intention' intelligible in separation from the discursive? What might the distinction be between art objects and non-art objects? To what degree (and in what way) is what the artist does constitutive of what an artist is (and vice versa)? How have epistemological changes affected our understanding of, and the visibility of, art works and artists of the past?
A related concern would be to map the emergence of successful artistic identities and privileged art forms from the manoeuvrings of practitioners, patrons, critics, curators et al within the available habitus. What might be the regulatory effects of institutionalised discourses? And to what extent have these things conditioned what is legible/intelligible as (ie 'what counts as') artistic identity and practice? For women artists and artists of colour, this has been, and continues to be, a particularly acute problem.
Papers taking a theoretical approach to these questions, those exploring the emprical detail of specific relevant examples, and papers with a balance of the two approaches, would all be welcome.
Proposals for papers should be sent to the conveners at the following address:
Faculty of Arts and Design, Somerset College of Arts and Technology,Wellington Road, Taunton, Somerset TA1 5AX.
Tel: (01823) 366366 ext 227; Fax: (01823) 366357.
Sue Watling (Somerset College of Arts and Technology) and Robin Mariner (Bath College of Higher Education)
This strand will explore the conditions under which something may be designated an art work, someone an artist. Since the premise is that the ontology of the artist/art work is not an unconditional given but contingent, the exploration will involve both addressing methodological questions and mapping, historically, the emergence of particular artistic identities at specific moments.
Are the concepts of 'art object' and 'artistic intention' intelligible in separation from the discursive? What might the distinction be between art objects and non-art objects? To what degree (and in what way) is what the artist does constitutive of what an artist is (and vice versa)? How have epistemological changes affected our understanding of, and the visibility of, art works and artists of the past?
A related concern would be to map the emergence of successful artistic identities and privileged art forms from the manoeuvrings of practitioners, patrons, critics, curators et al within the available habitus. What might be the regulatory effects of institutionalised discourses? And to what extent have these things conditioned what is legible/intelligible as (ie 'what counts as') artistic identity and practice? For women artists and artists of colour, this has been, and continues to be, a particularly acute problem.
Papers taking a theoretical approach to these questions, those exploring the emprical detail of specific relevant examples, and papers with a balance of the two approaches, would all be welcome.
Proposals for papers should be sent to the conveners at the following address:
Faculty of Arts and Design, Somerset College of Arts and Technology,Wellington Road, Taunton, Somerset TA1 5AX.
Tel: (01823) 366366 ext 227; Fax: (01823) 366357.