Anti-mémoires. Noms, reflets et écritures

Arthur Danto asserts that Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington really embodies the beauty of his meaning. For him, the Memorial’s “internal beauty” is felt and read because she is built as a text by the rhetoric of enthymeme, as a syllogism based on some tacit knowledges and highly probables communplaces. However, the relationship to the Kant’s pulchritudo adhaerens and philosophy of architecture is not an easy one : Danto rejects as unreadable the self-referent formalism of Greenberg’s Modernism and the environmental non-monumentality of Richard Serra’s Minimalism, but the agency of the Memorial’s shared internal beauty is haunted by an unquestioned spectral logic. Actually, the image embodiment in this work can always exceed the rhetoric of reconnaissance supported by the syllogistic rhetoric and disturb the identity framework of the nord-american community. The beholders’ reflecting shape on the Memorial can become, finally, an unreadable and pathetic index, or be perceived as a figural imprint, ephemeral and troubling ; these disembodied pictures can achieve a medial incarnation – e.g. a Verkörperung – of the underworld

Entre "poesis" y "scientia": aspectos del alfabeto poético de la naturaleza en Antonio Machado y Eugenio Montale

This investigation arises in the wake of the existence of promising and not yet examined affinities between Antonio Machado’s detailed notions about landscape and Eugenio Montale’s wide geo-botanical knowledge; he knew and admired Andalusian poet’s work thanks to the reading of Gerardo Diego’s Anthology. The article follows a comparative perspective between the literatures of two “sister” languages and finds its inspiration in the suggestive rhetorical question asked by the Sevillian author: “Nature is only an alphabet / of the poetic language / But, is there a better one?”. The author of Campos de Castilla mentions an extraordinary quantity of wild or cultivated plants with the scientific exactitude of an expert naturalist and shares his “simply love of Nature” (and love towards the simplicity of Nature) with the author of Ossi di seppia; the “poetry of objects” by the Genovese poet, whose selection of vegetables specimens intuits Machado’s clear mark, is oriented towards those rough and rocky landscapes of his native Ligury region that reveal him cosmic values. Both poets share the same detailed look of hic et nunc, analogous descriptive strategies, a stilus miserorum and the description of neo-simbolic paysages de l’âme.Esta investigación surge a raíz de la existencia de prometedoras y aún no examinadas afinidades entre las detalladas nociones paisajísticas de Antonio Machado y la vasta erudición geobotánica de Eugenio Montale, quien conocía y admiraba la obra del poeta andaluz gracias a la lectura de la Antología de Gerardo Diego. El artículo sigue un enfoque comparatista entre las literaturas de dos lenguas “hermanas” y halla su inspiración en el sugerente interrogante retórico que plantea el maestro sevillano: “Naturaleza es sólo un alfabeto / de la lengua poética. / Pero ¿hay otro mejor?”. El autor de Campos de Castilla menciona una extraordinaria cantidad de plantas, espontáneas o cultivadas, con el rigor científico de un experto naturalista, y comparte su “simple amor a la Naturaleza” (y amor a lo simple de la naturaleza) con el autor de Ossi di seppia; la “poesia delle cose” del genovés, sobre cuya selección de ejemplares vegetales se intuye la inconfundible huella machadiana, se orienta hacia esos ásperos y rocosos paisajes de su Liguria natal que le desvelan valores cósmicos. Ambos poetas comparten la misma mirada pormenorizada del hic et nunc, análogas estrategias descriptivas, un stilus miserorum y la descripción de paysages de l’âme neo-simbolistas

El vientre de los modernos. Psicología, fisiologia y filologia de la consciencia historíca

“La ‘modernidad’ a través de la imagen de la comida y la digestión”. Ésta es la tarea y el programa de la genealogía fisiológica y psicológica identificada con claridad por Nietzsche en un fragmento del otoño de 1888 y firmemente perseguida en toda su obra. El diagnóstico es implacable y es posible por un uso extendido de la metáfora gastronómica, aplicada a todos los campos de la experiencia y el lenguaje por una escritura temeraria de la historia. Como Valéry y Péguy también lo ilustran, la experiencia de los hombres contemporáneos es pobre y enferma y se caracteriza por una duplicidad radical y una contradicción sin síntesis. No sólo las cosas, como además lo muestra en sus análisis sobre las mercancías como nuevos jeroglíficos que marcan el espacio saturado de la metrópolis, sino también el hombre es doble, así como su corporizada y profundamente fisiológica economía. Su estómago hambriento tiene dos caras, porque todo lo toma pero no nutre en absoluto; vocifera acerca de entusiasmos varios y heterogéneos, no sobre un verdadero alimento para ser absorbido y transformado. En resumen, vive por un instante sin pasado ni futuro. El opuesto de esta lógica de la enfermedad y la insensibilidad en busca de muchas sensaciones y shocks sensacionales, y el reverso de este olvido por rapidez excesiva, es un ser anti- o incluso premoderno en extremo. En los tiempos modernos, el entrenamiento de un criticismo genuino acerca de los prejuicios y el supuesto auto-conocimiento implican una regresión y una alteración de las propias identidades históricas, las creencias y los valores. Finalmente, como Benjamin y Warburg lo revelaron, el criticismo es como tornarse otra vez animal y la interpretación es como recuperar la lentitud y la melancolía de un eterno masticar, al igual que un perro o una vaca

Azul pintado de azul. Leyendas de artistas sin obras

En el verano de 1947, Yves Klein, Claude Pascal, Armand Fernández, sentados en la playa de Niza: contemplan el mar y el cielo azul, no hacen nada, y hacen declaraciones sobre el arte que llegará, sobre el Arte y el Gran Estilo del Futuro. A partir de ese momento, y de esas palabras, cada una de sus vidas cambia radicalmente: se convertirá en una vida nueva, una vida de artista sin obras, hecha solo de palabras, narraciones, gestos. En ese episodio, nace el Nouveau Realisme y la voluntad artística de la superación del problema del arte según el Modernismo y la Action Painting. En ese episodio y en su narración, hecha sucesivamente por los tres jóvenes artistas, se puede localizar el nacimiento del propio y auténtico mito del artista contemporáneo

The Book of Hours for a 21st Century World

This ‘Book of Hours’ project begins on the Monday hours of the Dead all the way to the Sunday Hours of the Trinity and is inspired almost entirely by the 1440 Book of Hours of the Dutchess Catherine of Cleeves. This project is the sum product of a semester’s worth of instruction from my Medieval Religious Thought and Practice class taught by Professor Anna Harrison. The main purpose of this art installment is to show that even though they originate from a society highly unlike ours today, facing issues that medieval people couldn’t even begin to imagine, they can be still be used to give a brand new perspective on how to tackle problems plaguing 21st century society, such as war and mental health. In the original illuminated manuscript pieced together by the Master Catherine of Cleves, and contained elaborate depictions of biblical imagery intertwined with the offices, prayers, and litanies relevant to each hour of each day. Catherine of Cleves’ Book of Hours is often regarded as a masterpiece of Northern European illumination and religious artwork and is one of the best preserved artistic expressions of its time. This modern book of hours does not specifically cite prayers or litanies so as to make it more accessible to the multicultural and increasingly secular society of today. The emphasis lies purely on the emotion invoked by each drawing. While the old book of hours sought to visualize important messages and prayers, this modern book seeks to use art to express those same teachings but in a way that intersects faith and spirituality with current culture and politics. The grand social statement of these drawings make this book stand out from traditional books of hours. The book of hours is split up into seven drawings, one for each day of the week, and paragraphs will follow each drawing thoroughly explaining the message and subtext of each drawing. Through this lens, this project hopes to reveal how traditional christian teachings can be applied to both an increasingly secular society and among non-christians. The drawings adhere to reality by depicting current social issues however they are also given a dose of surrealism to depict the often surreal feelings or punishments that were commonly taught and dispersed in medieval literature. Though some are more complex in style than others, the natural gravitation is toward simplicity so as to allow for even inexperienced art audiences to clearly understand the emotion and message that the drawings wish to convey. While it may seem like this book of hours and Duchess Catherine’s book may have nothing in common, the thread that ties them together is that both of them are statements of their time. Both these books seek to immortalize the messages of their time and depict the world as it is seen in each respective culture and society. Though each experience is vastly different, it is a testament to how flexible religious teachings can be in serving the needs of the world no matter what kind of world it may be

Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia: Role of Dermoscopy in Differential Diagnosis

Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is more common in postmenopausal women, but it can occur in younger women. Some authors consider FFA to be a distinct frontal variant of lichen planopilaris. From a clinical point of view, this relatively uncommon condition is characterized by progressive frontotemporal recession due to inflammatory destruction of hair follicles. Dermoscopy can be very useful, as the differential diagnosis between traction alopecia, alopecia areata, FFA and cicatricial marginal alopecia may be difficult. It is not clear whether or not treatment alters the natural history of the disease - the disease stabilized with time in most of the patients with or without continuing treatment. Here we report a case of a 50-year-old woman with FFA and discuss the relevance of dermoscopy in the differential diagnosis of this disease

Faits et valeurs en esthétique: approches et enjeux actuels

Inspired by the text entitled The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy and Other Essays (2004) of Hilary Putnam, the volume focuses on the theory and practice of knowledge, but one can legitimately extend it to other fields, most especially in aesthetics. Certain observable features in the fields of aesthetics, practice and artistic creation show that old evaluation criteria may now be obsolete. This is because upon further consideration, the definition of value remains opaque : should the artwork be judged according to its moral value, its market value, or its formal value ? To side with or against the concept of value in art and aesthetics does not preclude a certain number of differences concerning the very nature of what is meant by value. If traditionally the ‘fact’ was the work, taken in all its tangibility, currently the materiality of the object no longer seems to play such a major role. Art is increasingly populated by so-called ‘immaterial’ or ‘ephemeral’ works and is therefore rarely, or badly, quantifiable according to old aesthetic and economic evaluation criteria. The progressively pragmatic contextualization of works within the social space puts forward a new definition of aesthetic value, no longer eternal and ideal, but rather anchored in the sensible and the politico-economic issues of a culturally specific situation. The current changes too support the idea that the question of ‘value’ and its confrontation with the concept of ‘fact’ is urgent. What role do artistic practices and aesthetic theories play ? A role of emancipation, of liberation, escape, or transformation ? Or on the contrary, could art become another means to subject individuals to the status quo ? As can easily be noticed, the question of maintaining or rejecting the dichotomy of facts and values is at the heart of the most pressing issues