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Title: | The body we own and the body we are |
Other Titles: | Body of glass : after Caravaggio |
Authors: | Briffa, Vince |
Keywords: | Aesthetics Multimedia installations (Art) Video art |
Issue Date: | 2007 |
Citation: | Briffa, V., (2007). The body we own and the body we are. Body of Glass : After Caravaggio exhibition catalogue. The Johanniterkirche, Feldkirch, Austria. |
Abstract: | While the sciences habitually concentrate on the body as object about which as much knowledge as possible needs to be gathered, the arts increasingly focus on the body as object of experience, augmenting the aesthetic experience and translating it into a heightening of the viewer’s subjective discernment. Treating the body as object of experience therefore is to turn it into a belonging or a possession – a thing – a phenomenon that occurs frequently and often consciously both in real life as well as in art. If this consideration is taken to its extreme, people who seem most body centered, that is people who perform outstanding courageous body acts, like the most challenging extreme sports for instance, may be treating their bodies as things, tools or instruments, with the body serving as a means to an end. In order to do this, some beat the body into shape through aggressive and uncompromising training; body-builders and fashion models here come to mind. On a different level, others train the body with adamant discipline, as if to civilize it, or perhaps redeem, convert or liberate it, such as in acts of extreme self-sacrifice and containment to escape the hands of all that is considered errant. The body can consequently at extremities become the site of a massive struggle, bringing about heightened joy or abyssimal torment. |
URI: | https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/108529 |
Appears in Collections: | Scholarly Works - FacMKSDA |
Files in This Item:
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The_body_we_own_and_the_body_we_are_2007.pdf Restricted Access | 112.27 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open Request a copy |
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