Editorial

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Open AccessEditorial

Introduction for Special Issue ‘Autotheory in Contemporary Visual Arts Practice’

by Katherine Baxter and Cat Auburn

Arts 2023, 12(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts12010011 - 10 Jan 2023

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This Special Issue concerns the artistic practice of autotheory and its associated af-fordances and risks as undertaken by artists, art writers, and those interested in the stakes of the practice of autotheory [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autotheory in Contemporary Visual Arts Practice)

Research

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17 pages, 1953 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cinema Divina and Autotheory: An Interview with Marilyn Freeman

by Marilyn Freeman and Cat Auburn

Arts 2022, 11(6), 122; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts11060122 - 30 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1615

Abstract

This is an interview with moving image artist, writer, and contemplative practitioner, Marilyn (M) Freeman by artist, Cat Auburn. They explore Freeman’s contemplative filmmaking practice, ‘Cinema Divina’ and the relationship of Freeman’s life, artistic practice and research interests to autotheory. Autotheory is widely [...] Read more.

This is an interview with moving image artist, writer, and contemplative practitioner, Marilyn (M) Freeman by artist, Cat Auburn. They explore Freeman’s contemplative filmmaking practice, ‘Cinema Divina’ and the relationship of Freeman’s life, artistic practice and research interests to autotheory. Autotheory is widely held to be the coalescence of autobiography with theory (or philosophy) within a work of art or literature, often with an aim towards offering social or cultural narration and service. The impulse to collaborate on this interview came from Auburn’s encounter with Cinema Divina during an online group contemplative session facilitated by Freeman in February 2022. This interview covers Freeman’s development of Cinema Divina, such topics as Freeman’s theory of Vertical Dissonance, the risks of working autotheoretically, mysticism, interior life, the hierarchies of knowledge production and the potential for what Freeman calls ‘the illuminated space’ to create radical opportunities for personal transformation. Ultimately, this interview establishes that Cinema Divina can be seen as an autotheoretical practice that uses contemplative practices rooted in lectio divina, a meditative prayer ritual of early Benedictine monastics, to theorize through Freeman’s embodied, lived experiences and artistic outcomes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autotheory in Contemporary Visual Arts Practice)

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14 pages, 2255 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Rethinking the Spirit of “Self” and “Theory”: The Practice of “Autotheory” in Contemporary Chinese Art

by Wenwen Gu and Ke Su

Arts 2022, 11(6), 115; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts11060115 - 04 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2232

Abstract

From genre to interdisciplinary and trans-medial artistic practice, “autotheory” has attracted great attention for formally distilling a troublesome contradiction of dualistic opposition between theory and practice in arts and attempting to solve it. In this paper, autotheory is understood as the joining of [...] Read more.

From genre to interdisciplinary and trans-medial artistic practice, “autotheory” has attracted great attention for formally distilling a troublesome contradiction of dualistic opposition between theory and practice in arts and attempting to solve it. In this paper, autotheory is understood as the joining of reflective thinking through the “collective self” and the reflective thinking of “theory”. Based on Lauren Fournier’s research, this paper investigates two kinds of art practices in contemporary Chinese art. The first developed from the art movements of the late 1970s to the late 1980s, when there was a rethinking of collective selfhood in Chinese art circles. This “collective self” in Chinese culture expands the parameters of autotheory’s individualized, autobiographical “self”, as described by Fournier. The second example of autotheory discussed in this paper explores contemporary Chinese feminist art. Due to its cultural background and historical trajectory, different dimensions of individualized autotheoretical practices have developed in feminist contemporary art in China in the new era. The case studies presented in this paper show the flexibility of autotheory as a methodology, the complex conditions it applies to, and the potential to generate theory from expanded notions of “self” in art practice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autotheory in Contemporary Visual Arts Practice)

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11 pages, 595 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Unclogging the Ears: Nonstop Languaging as Autotheory in Art and Academia

by Antrianna Moutoula

Arts 2022, 11(6), 114; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts11060114 - 03 Nov 2022

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Abstract

This text emerges from the autotheoretical performance practice of nonstop languaging, developed during my Master Studies at HOME OF PERFORMANCE PRACTICES, ArtEZ University of the Arts. My ongoing artistic research is enacted through this practice and proposes a writing of the self that [...] Read more.

This text emerges from the autotheoretical performance practice of nonstop languaging, developed during my Master Studies at HOME OF PERFORMANCE PRACTICES, ArtEZ University of the Arts. My ongoing artistic research is enacted through this practice and proposes a writing of the self that is not focused on recalling facts or narrating stories, but rather on tracing my thoughts in real time through language (languaging) and witnessing them simultaneously with another person. I perform autotheory by merging methods of articulating autobiography (carrying the self in language) with methods of forming and digesting theory. For this Special Issue, I created a new work in which nonstop languaging enters the framework of an academic paper. The autotheoretical work was developed through a series of radio performances at radio WORM, followed by a period of artistic research on transcription and citational practices. The result is an overload of words, thoughts, citations, experiences, theories, and memories that seek their own linearity. The practice of nonstop languaging contributes to the current artistic and academic discourse on autotheoretical modes of working with language, particularly within contemporary art, and further afield. This article invites readers to engage with an expanded view of autotheory in practice, and suggests that, by encouraging the shaping of an audience of engaged readers/listeners, autotheory can offer a space in which the confinements of knowledge production and dissemination within artistic academic discourse can be renegotiated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autotheory in Contemporary Visual Arts Practice)

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11 pages, 3235 KiB

Open AccessArticle

We Continue Each Other

by Sofie Gielis, Eleanor Duffin and Ingel Vaikla

Arts 2022, 11(6), 111; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts11060111 - 31 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1251

Abstract

Three female voices with different cultural backgrounds and practices explore the concept and possibilities of the we-narrative. Starting from a position of critical reflection, we dive into the question of how to speak as a female WE. WE is used to differentiate the [...] Read more.

Three female voices with different cultural backgrounds and practices explore the concept and possibilities of the we-narrative. Starting from a position of critical reflection, we dive into the question of how to speak as a female WE. WE is used to differentiate the particular collective dynamic that operates throughout this text from a more general use of the word ‘we’. Our framework is to work with the personal and vulnerable, but at the same time remain open to a dialogue that invites the other, through the concept of empathy. Our overarching aim is to look at what it means when we speak together collectively: whether it brings strength or dilution, and how speaking poly-vocally from a position of lived first person collective experience impacts current ideas around authorship. Is it possible to speak as a WE and write subjectively in a way that does not become a generalisation or a compromise? Guided by Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, our text uses the format of autotheoretical writing, drawing on our creative–critical writing practices in the context of visual art. We seek to encompass our female ancestors in visual art. The text generates a dialogue that creates room for the articulation of one’s own voice and hand, whilst intending to leave space or gaps for the other to insert themselves. Appearing in seemingly disparate fragments, the text weaves together to form a tapestry, sometimes performative, sometimes narrative, incorporating both visual and language-based elements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autotheory in Contemporary Visual Arts Practice)

22 pages, 3629 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quodlibet with Meninas

by Maria Gil Ulldemolins

Arts 2022, 11(5), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts11050082 - 05 Sep 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1963

Abstract

In Diagrammatic Writing (2013), Johanna Drucker discusses the power dynamics between texts interacting on a page. So-called autotheoretical texts often engage in similar types of performative and relational lay-outs, and yet, not much has been written about this formal phenomenon. Bearing this in [...] Read more.

In Diagrammatic Writing (2013), Johanna Drucker discusses the power dynamics between texts interacting on a page. So-called autotheoretical texts often engage in similar types of performative and relational lay-outs, and yet, not much has been written about this formal phenomenon. Bearing this in mind, I propose an experiment that performs relations by thinking with, and through, Las Meninas, a self-portrait that is not strictly about the self. All that surrounds Velázquez in the painting (the work-in-progress we do not see, the ensemble of courtly characters, the framed reproductions of masters’ works, the much-discussed mirror reflection) informs and contextualises the portrait, but also explodes it into much more. This paper thus attempts to ask whether autotheory can, by being aware of performative and diagrammatic writing, together with the use of images as citations, decentralise the auto- and become a more choral scene, a cluster, a textual quodlibet or medley. Can a form of writing make space for a multitude, or even, a multitude into a space? Can the autotheoretical self be only one more of many characters, present, with agency, but off-centred? Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autotheory in Contemporary Visual Arts Practice)

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14 pages, 276 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Unsure Theory: Ambivalence as Methodology

by Caitlin Merrett King

Arts 2022, 11(4), 78; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts11040078 - 18 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2421

Abstract

Ambivalence is often regarded as a ‘negative’ emotion—an ‘ugly feeling’ as Sianne Ngai outlines—where not knowing and being unsure are seen as suspicious or mentally unhealthy. In this article, I outline the initial exploratory stage of the development of a new affective theory [...] Read more.

Ambivalence is often regarded as a ‘negative’ emotion—an ‘ugly feeling’ as Sianne Ngai outlines—where not knowing and being unsure are seen as suspicious or mentally unhealthy. In this article, I outline the initial exploratory stage of the development of a new affective theory that I have termed ‘Unsure Theory’, in which ambivalence is observed as a mobile and aporetic state that, from an individual perspective, embraces the holding of multiple contradictory personal opinions. Unsure Theory also outlines ambivalence as an appropriate contemporary, meta-modernist response to late stage capitalism, our current socio-political moment, and its often negative impact on mental health. The aesthetics of ambivalence is explored through embracing a hesitant vernacular, an oscillating humorous, dry and ironic to sincere tone, and an internal, anecdotal first person voice that often addresses the reader. This exploration of Unsure Theory operates in an adjacent, feminist lineage of, and in homage to, Sad Girl Theory, as coined by writer, critic and artist Audrey Wollen, and Sick Woman Theory, by artist, writer and musician Johanna Hedva, as well as Lauren Fournier’s critical responses to both. Written within the genre of art writing and in reference to my own interdisciplinary creative practice, this article exemplifies autotheoretical writing as an extension of contemporary visual art practice. This article is partially situated within my own personal experience of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy from 2020–2022 and reading the autotheoretical novel Chelsea Girls by Eileen Myles at the beginning of 2021. Through unpacking these personal experiences, I begin to outline an argument for embracing ambivalence, particularly within autotheoretical practice, where Unsure Theory seeks to repoliticise uncertainty towards a new generative, critical and personal perspective on not knowing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autotheory in Contemporary Visual Arts Practice)

18 pages, 3388 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Holding Our Nerves—Experiments in Dispersed Collective Silence, Waking Sleep and Autotheoretical Confession

by Grace Denton

Arts 2022, 11(4), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts11040075 - 05 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1978

Abstract

As part of my practice-based research, I host a monthly radio show based on the principle of ‘waking sleep’, resulting in a largely silent experiment in dispersed communion with an audience. Silence—though frowned upon in standard broadcasting—has long been a feature of artworks [...] Read more.

As part of my practice-based research, I host a monthly radio show based on the principle of ‘waking sleep’, resulting in a largely silent experiment in dispersed communion with an audience. Silence—though frowned upon in standard broadcasting—has long been a feature of artworks from Marina Abramović (1973–present), to John Cage’s 4′33 (1952), to Gillian Wearing’s Sixty MinutesSilence (1996). The power of collective silence is harnessed by many doctrines: in Quaker meetings for worship, in the practice of Zen Buddhism, and in the Memorial observance of a minute’s silence. The practice of ‘waking sleep’ was coined by Ned Hallowell M.D. as a means of refreshing the brain and combatting the effects of ADHD. It is simply the act of letting the mind wander, without feeding it the next dopamine hit from a stimulant like a conversation or screen-scroll. Holding My Nerve is a radio show, and an ongoing autotheoretical artwork. It is part-field recording, part-endurance performance, and tracks my research process as it evolves. Using transcripts of the show, diaristic writing, and reflections on art history and my past works, this article explores the often-fraught relationships between autotheory, visual art, neurodivergence, and practice-based research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autotheory in Contemporary Visual Arts Practice)

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19 pages, 4704 KiB

Open AccessEssay

Trauma and Autotheory in an Expanded Practice of Life Drawing

by Gabrielle Amodeo

Arts 2022, 11(5), 80; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts11050080 - 26 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2204

Abstract

This article examines autotheory and clinical trauma theory in relation to the author’s studio-based visual arts practice. This is addressed through surveying the development of the drawing series An open love letter. This ongoing series stems from an expanded practice of life [...] Read more.

This article examines autotheory and clinical trauma theory in relation to the author’s studio-based visual arts practice. This is addressed through surveying the development of the drawing series An open love letter. This ongoing series stems from an expanded practice of life drawing and explores experiences of love in relation to PTSD. Trauma is an event that fractures the sense of self, sometimes culminating in PTSD. As someone who experiences PTSD, physical symptoms (sweating, vertigo, emotional flooding) have pulsed against researching trauma. Memory, symptoms, and theory tangle together, challenging expectations of objectivity. The article addresses how autotheory supports the validity of establishing visual arts research engaged with trauma and trauma theory from the embodied experiences of a trauma survivor. The article additionally traces how readings of clinical trauma theory and autotheory inflected across each other in this research. First, through a clinical-trauma-theory reading of autotheory, it examines how autotheory positions itself as restorative of ideological dissociations. Specifically, autotheory intervenes in trends in art practices by privileging conceptual modes over the embodied and emotional. Following, this research establishes the significance of an autotheoretical reading of trauma theory to articulate the embodied experience of the theory. This demonstrates the capacity of autotheory to embrace the associations between research, practice, and lived experiences. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Autotheory in Contemporary Visual Arts Practice)

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