Space-time and creation in art : three practice-led experiments

Abstract

This study addresses site-specific sculptural practice and examines the tensions arising from the interactive relations between site and the artworks that exist within it. It applies the concept of ‘anthropophagy’ to re-signify traditional models of representation in order to re-organize them into new contexts through practice-led research into site-specificity. Anthropophagy, a metaphorical vision of the Brazilian indigenous people, utilises cannibalistic customs “in order to legitimate their critical, selective and metabolising appropriation of European artistic tendencies” (Mosqueira 2010: 12). The use of this concept in this thesis arises from the idea of simultaneously belonging to two geographically separated cultural universes: one individual (in my case, Brazilian) and another related to the centralised European/US cultural model of influence that dominates the art world. The differences and intersections between these two universes provide a rich field for practice-led research into how artistic creation is affected by attitudes to space and time. In order to explore this, the thesis is divided into four chapters. The first develops a theoretical framework dealing with concepts of space and time and demonstrates how anthropophagy draws these concepts together. The next chapter examines walking in the UK as an art practice to expand the understanding of site-specific practice through the artworks of Richard Long and Hamish Fulton. The third chapter focuses on work, site and location in order to examine how anthropophagy can re-signify the idea of walking as related in Chapter two. The final chapter analyses site-specificity, drawing on my own practice-led research explored through three art projects implemented in Brazil and England. These projects develop ways to negotiate the complex relationship between art, place and temporal contexts, re-inscribing events within specific sites over time. To build a methodology for the research, I have developed three different projects and situations testing the spatial-temporal contexts of site. By using site-specific art practice I shape my arguments upon a creative practice ruled by concepts, materials and techniques. In my practice I have delineated some creative responses to the transformations of the contemporary world, weaving iii reflections between work/site/body as well as on my own perception regarding current ‘temporalities’. The theoretical frameworks that inform this study range from postmodernism to globalisation theories in order to draw together work, site and location under the overarching concept of anthropophagy. Key words: Space-Time, Site-Specific Art, Antropofagia (Anthropophagy)