The New Carlsberg Foundation once again provides funding for the art history journal Passepartout, which is about to release its 37th issue. The theme of the upcoming issue is ‘materiality’ and its impact on the aesthetic disciplines.
For decades, the humanities have prioritized culture over nature, mind over body, discourse over materiality. Now, however, this stance is increasingly challenged by a shift in paradigm in the form of the so-called ‘material turn’ that has taken root in philosophy, history and the social sciences. The new materiality mindset springs in part from discoveries in microbiology, biomedicine and quantum physics, which have shown that the world that is open to our senses is active and dynamic and imbued with agency, in contrast to the previous sharp distinction between animate and inanimate ‘objects’. This calls for new approaches to materiality and a fruitful interdisciplinary exchange among fields of science that have traditionally been fairly incompatible.
In the upcoming issue, researchers and practitioners contribute with articles on studies on a wide range of topics, from modernist paintings and photography over recent autobiographical literature to 3D technology. They all address the topic of materiality – its absence as well as its presence. The purpose of the issue is thus to create renewed awareness of materiality in the aesthetic field.
Among the articles is Alle mulige vilde ting – Et nedslag i ny materialitetsfilosofi (All sorts of wild things – a look at new materiality philosophy) by Adam Bencard, assistant professor at Medical Museion, Copenhagen. Associate Professor Camilla Skovbjerg Paldam at Aarhus University, School of Communication and Culture – Art History contributes with Erotikkens materialitet: Haptisk blottelse (The materiality of eroticism: haptic exposure) and PhD Fellow Michael Kjær, University of Copenhagen, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, has written the article ‘Billeder af en anden verden’ (Images of another world).
Passepartout is a research-based, peer-reviewed art journal that publishes two issues a year. The editorial team is attached to Aarhus University, School of Communication and Culture – Art History.
Passepartout #37 comes out in spring 2016.