Improvisation in Sculpture
ISBN
978-0-367-20364-1
Type
book section
Date Issued
2022
Author(s)
Abstract
According to a hegemonic tradition, sculpture is an art related to space rather than time. In 1766, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing claimed for a distinction between spatial and temporal arts, placing sculpture in the former category, and defining it as an art related to the deployment of static objects in space. In Lessing's account, the reception of visual artworks such as paintings and statues has to be intended as an act of simultaneous perception, preventing any possible understanding of sculpture in terms of processuality. The same specificity of the plastic art has been defended in 1940 by Clement Greenberg and in 1967 by Michael Fried; but stress on the role of spatiality in sculpture can equally be found before then and after. As for improvisation, the concept is usually associated with the idea of temporal processes and with artistic genres such as dance, music or theatre. When regarded as merely spatial, sculpture hence appears to have little in common with improvisational practices. Therefore, is the idea of improvisation in sculpture nothing but a contradiction in terms? This is not necessarily the case. In order to prove so, it is indispensable (a) to reconcile sculpture and temporality, and (b) to provide a definition of improvisation that can apply to "non-performative arts." These preliminary remarks are the object of the first section of this chapter. In what follows, two arguments are developed: the first one, outlined in the second section, draws on perceptual elements in order to assess the idea that not only the activity of the artist, but also the activity of the recipient, displays improvisational features. The second argument, sketched in the third section, is devoted to the ontology of sculptural artworks: here, I claim that sculptures themselves can be regarded as improvisational entities. Resorting to some case studies, I finally point out that, after the performative turn that took place in the 1960s, improvisation has become a key concept in understanding many phenomena in the field of contemporary sculpture.
Language
English (United States)
Keywords
sculpture
improvisation
performativity
aesthetics
haptic vision
material agency
kinetic sculpture
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Book title
The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Improvisation in the Arts
Publisher
Routledge
Publisher place
New York and London
Start page
585
End page
599
Pages
15
Subject(s)
Division(s)