The meaning of the touching

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Copyright: Morgan, Brook Lee
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Abstract
In the last two centuries Western way of life has tended towards a culture of instant gratification, where immediacy and estrangement from process and production are commonplace. Counter to this tendency, The Meaning of the Touching looks at the significance instilled within objects through meaningful engagement with materials and the methods we choose to employ within its formation. Engagement with materials and process in a meaningful and considered manner is present within many contemporary artists’ practice; through connection to materiality and the environment, through a focused consideration of somatic and visceral stimulus and the relevance they place on their process and techniques, many artists instil significance and importance into an otherwise estranged process and the ensuing object. Beyond artists practice, meaningful engagement can be applied to any participation in this ontological state of engagement with material and or process. Through an examination of the processes applied by relevant contemporary artists, own studio practice and philosophical discourse connected to process, the importance and significance instilled within objects has been divulged. It became apparent that contemporary artists/practitioners engaging with material process on a meaningful level adhered to components of what could be considered an intuitive methodology. Components of an intuitive methodology include play, experimentation, the accidental and allusive. This methodology admits for discourse and knowledge in the form of ‘knowing’ to be articulated through sensation, resonance and through somatic and haptic awareness. It is apparent that artists who engage in more visceral forms of communication extend a platform for meaningful engagement to occur. The outcome is that the condition and way in which the object is formed articulates the reception in which it is received. The effect being that of heightened awareness and instilled meaning.
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Author(s)
Morgan, Brook Lee
Supervisor(s)
Williamson, Liz
Dr Vaughan, Rees
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Publication Year
2010
Resource Type
Thesis
Degree Type
Masters Thesis
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