Aesthetic Investigations (E-Journal, Dutch Association of Aesthetics)
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Surplus of Form: Architecture and the Status of the Object
Full text linkExcess of matter in form designates the principle that underlies architecture. The surplus of form contains not only a constructive principle, but also an aesthetic principle that enables sensual experience. In the coupling of construction and sensual experience, the basic prerequisites for the aesthetics of architecture are thus named, but at the same time also the difficulties with which architecture is confronted within philosophical aesthetics. For Kant, it was precisely the object character that stood in the way of an architectural aesthetics as part of a general aesthetics. For him, only the architectural drawing, because detached from matter, construction, and function, could meet the criteria of the beautiful, and that only as a façade view and not as a ground plan or sectional drawing. With reference to Aristotle, Kant and Schopenhauer and an outlook on contemporary architecture, the essay outlines the principles of an aesthetics of architecture as it is to be developed out of the specific material conditions of architecture and has its starting point in the surplus of form. 
On Purposefully Poor Images: Aesthetic Encounters with Alienation
No full textThis article introduces the concept of purposefully poor images. Building on Hito Steyerl’s theory of poor images as images that travel through networks and lose resolution and information, (2009) the theory of the purposefully poor image looks at the phenomenon of images that are produced with the intention of looking poor. These are images that draw attention to their own process of objectification by satirising their degradation. In showcasing the material markers of objectification, purposefully poor images allow for an aesthetic encounter with the experience of alienation. This article draws the autonomist Marxist approach of Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi (2009) to argue that their place within semiocapitalism allows purposefully poor images to draw attention to and overcome alienation from within capitalist relations. It is argued that purposefully poor images are a product of collective circulatory logics within digital capitalism, but also a powerful tool for aesthetically representing alienation
The Art of Political Representation: On Banksy, Hogarth and Democracy
No full textRarely in the postwar period has the western system of representative democracy seemed more criticised and less respected. From historically low turnouts to the disparagement of the motives of politicians as individuals and as a class, voters seem increasingly disillusioned and disengaged. Questions of representation are centrally at stake in both art and politics and the premise of this essay is that recent art can help us understand the current democratic predicament. The particular work which provokes my reflections is Devolved Parliament, Banksy’s thirteen foot long oil painting of the House of Commons, which recently sold for a record breaking sum. Its sale price no doubt says much about the state of the art market in the UK and elsewhere, but what, if anything, does the painting have to say about contemporary politics
Introduction to the Special Issue on Philosophy and Architecture
No full text(This is the Guest Editor\u27s introduction
Why It Matters Who Poses
Full text linkI make the case for modelling as a collection of creative practices that work with various art forms as a promising area of work. I achieve this by exploring three questions. First, are models not merely a prop employed by the artist? Using phenomenological considerations informed by my work as a life model, I argue that models often work to vague briefs and are moreover employed precisely because of their unique poses. Second, how do models impact artworks? Overlooking a model\u27s contribution can drastically alter our aesthetic understanding of an artwork. I argue that models contribute creatively and maintain \u27model reasons\u27, a formal interest in posing as body-experts. Third, what is the value of research into models and their poses? Deepening our knowledge can constitute a restorative act. Further scholarship will also need to reckon with the realities of changing technologies and working practices. It is especially important, then, to tease out and understand the existing practices of modelling and their interrelations with other artists, artistic media, and technologies
Everyday Aesthetics - Review
No full textThis article reviews the volume \u27Everydayness: Contemporary Aesthetic Approaches\u27, edited by Lisa Gombini and Adrián Kvokačka. Thomas Froy assesses the relation, explored by the contributing authors, between the notion of the \u27everyday\u27 and the field of aesthetics, focussing on questions about the \u27who\u27 and the \u27what\u27 of everyday aesthetics, and its place in the modern world. 
A Review of Sherri Irvin, Immaterial: Rules in Contemporary Art
No full textI don\u27t think abstracts are needed for reviews
From Model to Sitter: On Reclaiming Colonial Photography
Full text linkThis paper focuses on historic anthropological photographs, meant to depict Indigenous individuals as generic models of colonial stereotypes, and examines their later reclamation as portraits. Applying an intention-based account of portraiture, we discuss the historical context and contemporary examples of the utilisation of these images in order to address several questions. What happens when the depicted persons in colonial imagery are treated and presented as sitters, rather than model specimens? Does this change the nature of the image? If a photograph was not originally intended as a portrait, can it come to function as such at a later stage? Regardless of whether they fulfill all the requirements necessary for portraiture, these colonial photographs represent a vital resource for the reclamation of Indigenous cultural heritage. As such, this paper serves as an introductory discussion into the complex issues surrounding the recategorisation, repatriation, and restitution of colonial photographic archives