Abstract
Emerging from artistic research undertaken at the Museo Laboratorio della Mente (Museum of the Laboratory of the Mind), in Rome, this chapter considers the affective potential of specific museum objects, fagotti—packages containing the abandoned possessions of former patients of a closed psychiatric hospital. The author recounts the instant of her first encounter with the fagotti when affect, which is non-representational, took place followed by subsequent reflection when cognitive processes were set in motion. The methods of this artistic research enquiry required meaningful interpretations and imaginative insights and discernments in order to shift the register of the artistic research from a semi-fictive account to a credible critique of the now discredited Italian psychiatric system. The final artwork—a four-channel video installation produced through embodied enactments—is described as oscillating between, and contributing to, both non-representational and representational modes of ‘knowing’, which itself provides an affective encounter for the viewer.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, J. (2005). “Einmal ist Keinmal”: Observations on reenactment. In S. Lütticken (Ed.), Life, once more: Forms of reenactment in contemporary art. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Witte de With.
Bennett, J. (2005). Empathic vision: Affect, trauma, and contemporary art. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Boyd, C. (2017). Non-representational geographies of therapeutic art making: Thinking through practice. London, UK: Palgrave.
Brennan, T. (2004). The transmission of affect. London, UK: Cornell University Press.
Deleuze, G. (2008). Proust and signs (R. Howard, Trans.). London, UK: Continuum.
Dewsbury, J. D. (2009). Performative, non-representational, and affect-based research: Seven injunctions. In D. DeLyser, S. Herbert, S. Aitken, M. Crang, & L. McDowell (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research in human geography. London, UK: Sage.
Grosz, E. (2012). Chaos, territory, art: Deleuze and the framing of the earth. New York, NY: The Wellek Library Lectures, Columbia University Press.
Macleod, K., & Holdridge, L. (Eds.). (2006). Thinking through art: Reflections on art as research. London, UK and New York: Routledge.
Manning, E. (2016). The minor gesture. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Martelli, P. (2010). Introduction. In UOS & Studio Azzurro (Eds.), Museo Laboratorio Della Mente. Rome, Italy: Silvana Editoriale.
Martelli, P. (2014, November). Unpublished introduction to Safe-Keeping (custodia) exhibition. Rome, Italy.
Massumi, B. (2010). The future birth of the affective fact. In M. Gregg & G. J. Seigworth (Eds.), The affect theory reader. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Proust, M. (2002). In search of lost time: Finding time again (I. Patterson, Trans.). London, UK: Penguin.
Thrift, N. (2008). Non-representational theory: Space, politics, affect. London, UK: Routledge.
Thrift, N. (2010). Understanding the material practices of glamour. In M. Gregg & G. J. Seigworth (Eds.), The affect theory reader. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bennett, S. (2019). Affecting Objects: The Minor Gesture Within a Performative, Artistic Research Enquiry. In: Boyd, C.P., Edwardes, C. (eds) Non-Representational Theory and the Creative Arts. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5749-7_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5749-7_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-5748-0
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-5749-7
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)