Rita Cachão
Transtechnology Research,
Room B321 Portland Square,
University of Plymouth,
Drake Circus,
Plymouth
PL4 8AA
Rita Cachão is presently a PhD candidate at the University of Plymouth with the Transtechnology Research group, focusing upon the essence of Space. This issue will and has been addressed within an artistic modus operandis.
The investigation of this relation first dates from the Licenciatura degree in Fine Arts – Sculpture at the University of Lisbon. There, it was explored the implications for both spectator and Art work when differently conceiving site-specific or place-specific works. In addiction, the city emerged as a privileged and preferred site for the observation of human interactions.
17th November 2010
Transtechnology Research Seminar
Mnemosyne Atlas and Cosmologies: Connecting the Dots or Drawing the Clouds
Cosmology is a theme that permeates Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas, particularly from the point of view of its place within a network that binds it to the ontology of the human being and Art. Focussing upon panel 1 it is possible to trace this cosmological connection through the images of models of sheep livers and Kudurros. These two types of artefacts portray the discussion not as direct representations of the cosmos but through their role in practices that embody cosmological representations. The influence of the cosmos in determining human destinies through the divinatory practice of hepatoscopy and, again, its influence mirrored by humans in the making of political order and geographical delimitation. Practices that when followed throughout time, geography and cultures reveal shifts that may echo different representational and thought systems, specifically the dialectic between mythological and logical thinking.
The idea that the cosmos could influence human beings and consequently their behaviour is deeply connected with the assumption of everlasting reference points in the night sky that when connected into lines can be used as an interpretative structure. A reading mode that has pervaded the conceptualisation and usage of concepts, as the one of space, and became structural in the way Western civilization has informed its thought system, whether mythological or logical. The realization that cosmologies have been mainly based on night sky readings opens a discussion about what would happen if the colourful curtain of a day sky, through which one cannot see, or the ephemeral clouds, would be at the basis of Western cosmologies and thought systems? Opening up a route for speculation, cloud painting will be discussed as a possible place where thinking about other systems could have their seeds, given the problems that painting clouds present us with.
Research
After University the bond between Space, Art and Man was further developed. Firstly, as an Extramuros worker, a community arts association, which took her through the creation and curating of public art within a socio-cultural milieu. Secondly, through a public art practice in a teamwork environment addressing cultural policies inside growing cities as well as dwellers inter-relations and appropriations of established art. And lastly, through deepen studies into landscape theory and art. Meanwhile a growing reflection on the boundaries of Art concerning its function and reception as well as the desire to surpass its elitism took her to search for other possible approaches. One of them was Design, a more direct confrontation between Man and living realm as the emphasis is on action towards opposed to reflection on reality. This investigation was brought forward with a MA in Design at the University of Wales, Newport. There, the thesis surveyed the evolution of Space as a dismembered realm along with its inter-relation with Man, particularly applied to the possibilities of Space as Khôra within a curatorial practice.
Proceeding with the MA survey around Space/Man inter-relation the PhD will uphold Space as Khôra, a tangible and transcendental entity demanding the union of Mathematics and Metaphysics as to reach a univocal accord (unity and harmony). To unveil the impact of this alternative insight on contemporary discourse around the binomial Space/Man is one of the main goals of the current research. To support and feed this idea two hypothetic confrontations with the khôratic will be explored: Kinaesthesia and the Sublime.
Firstly introduced by Plato, khôra is a product of a civilization where abstract mathematical thinking was born (in the west) enabling the unification of Mathematics, Metaphysics and Space. Unfortunately the course of time brought forth first the dismiss of the word khôra and later with the advent of Enlightenment the full dismantling of the triad. Contemporarily the word was rediscovered enabling us to challenge the linear and dualistic basis in which western knowledge is rooted due to the third gender quality, or the ability of being neither the inclusion nor exclusion and at the same time both. Despite the fact that western civilization is starting to question the scientific paradigm, this still rules in most disciplines. Therefore, Art can have an effective role given its idiosyncrasy when dealing with a seemingly paradoxical concept.
The argument will be driven by a confluence of ideas prompted by contemporary discourses and informed by an interdisciplinary methodology. The survey will specially account for the means through which the changes in, and different approaches to, the concept of Space have dictated how we have been perceiving, understanding and interacting with it around the previously mentioned key moments.
Enriched by advances in Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology in relation to Human/Space interactions the research will look for the possibility to dismantle the psycho-physiological perceptions and affects of kinaesthesia, proprioception and orientation, particularly with the aim of unveiling the question as to why we get afraid of being lost. This question will be discussed in its particular connection with walking, regarding this as the first aesthetic human act (Careri) as well as a constant processing of identified references. It is then expected that it might become possible to inform the reconstruction of the khôratic concept in these environments.
The sublime will be observed not only inside the Philosophical milieu but also as a physical experience. The Sublime is often reported as a unique occurrence connected to vastness and the void, or where humans can experience a confrontation between the immensely small and the overwhelming large stimulating us to associate it with either physical, mental or even transcendental conditions. Therefore, by deconstructing the sublime as a mental and physical confrontation with space, as it suggests the union of Mathematics, Metaphysics and Aesthetics, it may be allowed the conception of space as a khôratic sensation and intellectualization.