The techno-ecological practice as the politics of ontological coalitions

The paper focuses on the art projects aimed at visualizing (grasping) the physical or biological phenomena through interfaces and / or installations designed specifically for such purpose. Such works often mirror the post-­digital condition of our time where the digital technologies constitute the common background for everyday activities, no longer having the allure of "new" and "exciting" (Berry, Dieter et al., 2015). In this process, both the networked technologies of wireless communication and the act of crossing the boundaries between the digital and the physical play the crucial role as the post-­digital networked imagery increasingly becomes directly connected to the physical environment. I would like to ponder on the questions of processuality and relationality involved in such instances where the complexity of the hybrid works of art clearly transgresses the paradigm of representationalism (Thrift, 2008;; Anderson and Harrison, 2010;; Kember and Zylinska, 2012). The particular attention is given to the fact that such artworks bond different ontological realms (discursive, physical, digital) and different agents (human and non-­human, carbon-­based and software-­based) forging “ontological coalitions” (Malafouris, 2013). Throughout the article the mutlirealist and relational perspective is offered, inspired by the propositions of Gilbert Simondon and Etienne Souriau. Based on the research project supported by National Science Centre Poland ("The aesthetics of post-­digital imagery: between new materialism and object-­oriented philosophy", 2016/21/B/HS2/00746)

Neuroscience, evolution and the sapient paradox: the factuality of value and of the sacred

The human genome, and hence the human brain at birth, may not have changed greatly over the past 60 000 years. Yet many of the major behavioural changes that we associate with most human societies are very much more recent, some appearing with the sedentary revolution of some 10 000 years ago. Among these are activities implying the emergence of powerful concepts of value and of the sacred. What then are the neuronal mechanisms that may underlie these consistent, significant (and emergent) patterns of behaviour

Between brains, bodies and things: tectonoetic awareness and the extended self

This paper presents the possible outline of a framework that will enable the incorporation of material culture into the study of the human self. To this end, I introduce the notions of extended self and tectonoetic awareness. Focusing on the complex interactions between brains, bodies and things and drawing a number of different and usually unconnected threads of evidence from archaeology, philosophy and neuroscience together, I present a view of selfhood as an extended and distributed phenomenon that is enacted across the skin barrier and which thus comprises both neural and extra-neural resources. Finally, I use the example of a gold Mycenaean signet ring to explore how a piece of inanimate matter can be seen (sometimes) as a constitutive and efficacious part of the human self-system

Everyday material engagement: supporting self and personhood in people with Alzheimer’s disease

Threats to the self and personhood of people with ADRD include the disturbing images of Alzheimer’s disease as the death before death, culturally based assumption that status as a full human being is dependent upon cognition and memory, and a decrease in personal possessions with a move to a 24-h care setting. This paper presents the findings of an ethnographic study of self and personhood in Alzheimer’s disease in an American long-term care facility. It argues that the lifeworld in which the self and personhood of individuals with ADRD is actualized is mediated and negotiated through engagement with everyday objects. Using a framework that integrates Material Engagement Theory with Bourdieu’s Practice Theory, it is argued that the study of the material engagement of individuals with ADRD can lead to a better understanding of the lives of individuals with ADRD by focusing on the material and non-discursive aspects of objects. Findings contribute to the understanding of current practice issues in dementia care while shifting the focus away from exclusively biomedical understanding. Paradoxically, people with ADRD, due to their cognitive impairment, may provide us with a more fundamental way to understand the importance of objects in the lives of humans in general