Art and the senses Research in Progress at the Department of Art History Friday September 14, 2012, 9.30‐17.00 Bergsmannen/Aula Magna, Stockholm University 9.30‐10.00 Anna Dahlgren: Art and the Senses – Introduction Anna Dahlgren is Associate professor at the Department of Art History, Stockholm University 10.00‐11.00 Patrizia di Bello: Touch at the International Exhibition of the Industrial Arts and Manufacture and the Fine Arts of All Nations, London, 1862 Patrizia di Bello is senior lecturer in the History and Theory of Photography at Birkbeck, University of London International Exhibitions such as the one in London in 1862 are usually analysed as visual spectacle. Yet the experience of the exhibition for visitors at the time was a multi‐sensorial cacophony of sights, sounds, smells, and tactile sensations. This paper attempts to reconstruct the role of touch in the exhibition. Signs and notices in the catalogue reminded visitors that it was 'Strictly Forbidden to Touch the Exhibits'. Yet touch was everywhere in the exhibition. Machines and musical instruments were handled by attendants to demonstrate their functioning, and visitors were sometimes encouraged to have a go themselves. And while the objects in the exhibition were not supposed to be for sale, many exhibitors took orders, and allowed potential customers to finger and feel their wares to entice them into a purchase. Moreover, the division and organisation of objects in the exhibition according to Classes ‐ Raw Materials, Machinery, Manufactures, and Fine Arts ‐ was related not to how these objects looked, but to the conceptualisation of the 'touch', the hands of the workers, involved in making them ‐ most importantly, artists versus mechanical workers. This division was mirrored and intersected by the distinction in the exhibition between the touch of attendants, mostly male, and those of potential customers, more likely to be depicted as women. Using the textual and visual evidence of the experience of visiting the1862 International Exhibition, this paper begins to unpack how touch reinforced and complicated the conceptual taxonomies of objects and hands at the Exhibition, and augmented or disrupted the visual judgement of visitors on that most important matter of taste. 11.00‐11.45 Peter Gillgren, Michelangelo Soundscapes Peter Gillgren is Professor at the Department of Art History, Stockholm University Michelangelo’s art is rich with multimedia content and references. Several of his works in painting and sculpture were conceived in close relation to the lightning effects, the music and general scenography of multimedia spectacles such as ceremonies and rituals. Considered as soundscapes – rather than texts – Michelangelo’s works represent a dynamic and impressive range of voices, pitches and spectacular soundings. The presentation will focus on the Julius monument in San Pietro in Vincoli, its status within the field of Art History and how the supposed silences of the visual arts have influenced interpretation and understanding. Renaissance ideas about the relation between the senses will also be discussed. 12.00‐13.30 Lunch 13.30‐14.15 Magdalena Holdar: Danger and anger: Friction as driving force in the Fluxus artists’ network Magdalena Holdar is senior lecturer at the Department of Art History, Stockholm University The past decade has shown an increased interest in Fluxus art and artists related to the Fluxus network, such as George Maciunas, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, and Dick Higgins. Curators, researchers, and artists have found inspiration in this global network that seems to blend so well with practices like relational aesthetics, do‐it‐
yourself projects, and collaborative communities. This paper examines the presence of controversies, conflict and debate in the Fluxus network. It will discuss the network’s expansion in the 1960s and 70s in spite of – not thanks to – its heterogeneous cluster of artists. I will show that agonistic tendencies were not only present in the communication between artists but also coloured the artworks. Constant negotiation of art’s aims and artists’ responsibilities were present in every vein of the Fluxus structure, from artwork, to private letters, to joint events. Highlighting this would mean acknowledging Fluxus’ complexity and the fundamental differences to contemporary practices that claim affiliation to it. Thus, was friction a key feature in Fluxus democracy? 14.15‐15.00 Vendela Grundell: Interface Photography – Place and Act Vendela Grundell is PhD student at the Department of Art History, Stockholm University Photographs today are made, shared and viewed on and through an increasing number of screens. Enabling yet limiting the how, where and why of this visual practice, digital interfaces and interfacing have come to define photographic experience. Tracing material and conceptual roots, the interface emerges as a place and as an act. It shapes and is shaped by the interplay between individual, machine and visual culture. One example of such interplay is glitch photography, where mediation is disrupted in a way that clarifies its conditions while challenging them. In the process, the sensorium comes alive in unexpected ways. 15.00‐15.30 Coffee 15.30‐16.15 Mia Åkestam: Configurations of desire Mia Åkestam is senior lecturer at the Department of Art History, Stockholm University Medieval thinkers and philosophers were convinced that it was the eye that aroused desire in humans. The art, skill, was attributed to the brain and intellect. The Scholastics relied on Aristotelian theory where the eye was associated directly to the feeling and it in turn was set in the heart. The conviction that it was the sight that stimulated the amorous desire was so strong that one could argue that the blind could not feel the desire.. To master temptation was one side of the coin, the other was how to express the sublime desire for beauty and salvation. Smell, taste and touch is not as obvious as sight when we talk about pictures, but is nevertheless emphasized by medieval writers. And, from the beholders part, the medieval use of imagery involved all the senses. 16.15‐17.00 Martin Olin: Concluding remarks Martin Olin is curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Museum, Stockholm Participation is free. For registration and further information please contact [email protected] The department of Art History, Stockholm University, www.arthistory.su.se