When Attitudes Become Exhibition: Exhibitional Space as "Affects"

태도가 전시가 될 때: '감화'로서의 전시공간

  • Published : 2003.12.31

Abstract

What is an exhibition? Is it of the system which is designed to serve Art Works in their representation, or is it a place where the artistic presentation could be considered as art work itself? After modernist era, the role of exhibitional space might have been shifted from those two principle raison d'$\^{e}$tre of exhibitional space into another, a new one. What Deleuze would call it as he borrowed the term from Spinozian philosophy : the Affectional Space. This new type of exhibitional space has been announced since 1969 when a Harald Szeeman, young independent curator and art critic from Swiss, has organized his brilliant exhibition "When Attitudes become Form" in Bern. For sure, these intensities in curatorial practices have been existing before like some early 20th century exhibitional efforts by Marcel Duchamp, El Lissitzky, Yve Klein, etc. It has influenced much on many of, otherwise most of contemporary art exhibiting practices. And now it seems to be necessary to give it a conceptual idea which could enlighten better the new paradigm of exhibitional practices that we try to clarify. I would propose the idea of that new exhibitional space as "space of non-organic becoming". This idea is inspired by Deleuze's ever famous philosophical work Thousand Plateaus, which, with Folds by the same author, has contributed to many contemporary and aesthetical debating issues. What is "affect"? Explaining about Spinoza's principle concepts, Deleuze defines it as a kind of durations or variations which are constituted by different levels of perfection. One perfection is precedented or followed by certain perfection bigger or lesser through lived transitions or passages. So each time it actualizes and reflects the state of All as a cut of Reality while each state of affections, images or ideas can not be separated from the duration which binds it to the precedent state and extends it to following one. Affect is also a term of changes. One affects at the same time it is affected. Exhibitional space as affect (or affectional space) is distinguished from representational and presentational space in the way it attributes movement, produces arrangements and generates new factors of artistic creation including those which are outside of ever accepted artistic elements. The concepts of affectional space are used especially to enlighten contemporary situation of artistic and curatorial processes. Art is no more limited to be seen as mere objects of aesthetical admiration, nor as art vis-$\`{a}$-vis art relationship apart from the whole. It includes possibilities and virtuality that appear in the imperceptible and undescribable manners if delimited in given language. As once noticed by Kuhn, we might be living in a paradigmatically shifting world, not only in Art but also in Life. And we need to express it more with Art as moving and affectional nods than as just a clean window or a distinct manual book.

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