Art as a tuning of the body/mind/space: a genealogy of neo-pre-modernism

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23520117
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Aesthetics/Art history
• Research Institution: Saitama University
• Principal Investigator: TOYAMA Kikuko 埼玉大学, 人文社会科学研究科(系), 教授 (80253128)
• Research Collaborator: NAKAJIMA Nanako
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 美学 / 現代アート / 舞踊研究 / 芸能研究 / 心身変容技法 / エネルギー・アート

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Focusing on an alternative mode of art making since the 1960s, when the modernist medium-specificity lost its credibility and all the art genres became increasingly blurred, I mapped out some exemplary cases of art of "self-alterantion", that is, art as tuning of the body/mind/space. An underlying philosophy, I argued, can be traced in various ancient (premodern), and often nonwestern, ideas on bio-cosmic energy and views of nature. Among the points discussed and searched in my studies, the followings are especially worth noting; (1) I pointed out how the socially marginalized subjects such as old people, children, etc., could suggest basic conditions of the dancing body, while dance may serve as a paradigmatic case for art of self-alteration. (2) the "energetic art," a category emerging with de-materialization of art objects, could be useful to bridge some ancient ideas and contemporary art practices.

Free Research Field

人文学