The trouble with Kant's spatial metaphor
"In consequence of this revolutionary assertion Kant states that: 'Space is not an empirical concept which has been derived from outer experiences.' (B/38) On the contrary: '…it is the subjective condition of sensibility, under which alone outer intuition is possible for us.' (A/26; B/42)
In other words, Kant asserts that space (and time) are not objective, self-subsisting realities, but subjective requirements of our human sensory-cognitive faculties to which all things must conform. Space and time serve as indispensable tools that arrange and systemize the images of the objects imported by our sensory organs. The raw data supplied by our eyes and ears would be useless if our minds didn't have space and time to make sense of it all. ...
Kant's view of space (and time) is the groundwork of his Critique [of Pure Reason], However the inseparable bond he claimed between geometry and the nature of space serves to undermine his case rather than support it. ...
When Kant refers to geometry, he must mean Euclidean geometry, since Non-Euclidean geometry, the brainchild of the 19th Century, was unknown to him. Hence space, in Kant's philosophical system must conform to Euclidean geometry. Norman Kemp Smith, in his Commentary on the Critique, remarked that for Kant '…space in order to be space at all, must be Euclidean.'
Space, in Euclidean Geometry, is a concept which is independent of the attributes of our human minds and senses. The word Geometry is derived from Greek - geo 'earth', and metron 'to measure', namely 'earth measurement'. With such semantic-conceptual roots its hardly conceivable that Euclid regarded Geometry as divorced from an objective independent space."
(Pinhas Ben-Zvi, 2005, Philosophy Now)
Ben-Zvi, P. (2005). "Kant on Space." Philosophy Now, January/February 2005(49).
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
cunicode: Digital Fabrication and Additive Manufacturing
"We want everyone on earth to be able to design & make their own things, we dream in an universal access to the production means, and we believe in the popularization of design tools & 3D-Printing to make ideas real.
cunicode is a design studio for 3DPrint & creative fabrication; the way things are made is changing, so, the way things are designed will change as well.
Founded in early 2011 to explore the business opportunities of Additive Manufacturing through design. We design inspiring objects and services to be produced digitally."
(Bernat Cuni)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Plato Art Space: Ilhan Koman and Candas Sisman's 'Flux'
"Famous Turkish sculptor İlhan Koman’s boat Hulda arrives in İstanbul, its final destination, after its long journey which began in Stockholm. Hulda was both Koman’s home and studio during his residence in Stockholm.
The exhibition consists of the photographs and videos from Hulda’s journey, 10 original sculptures such as Whirlpool and Dervish by İlhan Koman and a video -dedicated to İlhan Koman- by young artist Candaş Şişman. The photographs and videos are from the cities Hulda visited during its journey -Stockholm, Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Lisbon, Barcelona, Naples, Malta, Thessalonica and İstanbul. The exhibition in Plato Art Space is also the final leg of the activities of Hulda Festival (www.huldafestival.org).
The exhibition is also undertaking the mission of building a bridge between young generation artists and Koman by presenting Candaş Şişman’s work. Şişman’s video Flux is influenced by Koman’s sculptures (Pi, Moebius, Whirlpool and Ogre) and is dedicated to İlhan Koman’s inspiring art. The video has a sound design which is also inspired by the materials of Koman’s sculptures and is produced by Candaş Şişman.
The exhibition is curated by Yıldırım Arıcı and accompanied by a reader (published by Plato College of Higher Education) and it is featuring texts by Çetin Kanra, Aykut Köksal, Abidin Dino, Ferit Edgü, Burcu Beşlioğlu and a poem by Oktay Rıfat. "
(Plato Art Space, İstanbul contemporary art)
Fig.1 "Flux", Candaş Şişman, Hulda Festival 21 September 2010 - 23 November 2010 İstanbul, Turkey.
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Maurizio Anzeri: embroidered patterns on found vintage photographs
"Maurizio Anzeri makes his portraits by sewing directly into found vintage photographs. His embroidered patterns garnish the figures like elaborate costumes, but also suggest a psychological aura, as if revealing the person's thoughts or feelings. The antique appearance of the photographs is often at odds with the sharp lines and silky shimmer of the threads. The combined media gives the effect of a dimension where history and future converge. The image used in Round Midnight is an early 20th century ‘glamour shot' that at the time would have been considered titillating for both the girl's nudity and ethnicity. Anzeri's delicately stitched veil recasts the figure with an uncomfortable modesty, overlaying a past generation's cross-cultural anxieties with an allusion to our own.
'I've been collecting old photographs for a long time. A few years ago I was doing ink drawings with them and out of curiosity I stitched into one. I work a lot with threads and hand stitching, and the link to photography was a natural progression. I put tracing paper over the photo and draw on the face until it develops. Sometimes the image comes straight away, suggested by a detail on a dress or in the background, but with the majority of them I spend a lot of time drawing. Once the drawing is done, I pierce the photo with a set of needle-like tools I invented and take the paper away; the holes are obsessively paced at the same distance to convey an idea of geometry. When I begin the stitching something else happens, drawing will never do what thread will – the light changes, and at some points you can lose the face, and at others you can still see under it.'
'There's a dynamic in what happens between the photograph, the embroidery on top, and you standing in front looking at it. I try never to completely cover a face, you can always still see the face underneath. There are no rules other than I always leave one or both eyes open. Nothing is bigger in my head than a face, it's the best landscape we can look at. It's all to do with the centre, the body. Like a costume or other identity, my work reveals something that is behind the face that suddenly becomes in front. It's like a mask – not a mask you put on, but something that grows out of you. It's what the photo is telling you and what you want to read in the photos. I get my ideas from many different sources: it could be theatre, or someone dressed up on the tube, a tribe in Papua New Guinea, or Versace. It's never one specific thing.'
'Photographs from the 40s and 50s have a totally different quality from photos we're used to today. We don't recognise them as photographs now, they really look like watercolours or drawings. The images I use are anonymous, I find them everywhere; I'm really into flea markets and car boot sales, when you enter you have no idea what you're going to encounter. In everything I see there is something I am interested in, but I try to look at them as plain canvas. Art history is very important to me, it's all been done before but it's never been done by you: if you don't look into the past there is no chance to go into the future. The surrealist movement is important to my work, but I don't become obsessed by it, it's not dictating rules. I understand history in a formal respect, and think of past artists like travelling companions – making work is like going for a walk with them. At the end of the day it's about humanity.'"
(Saatchi Gallery)
Fig.1 Maurizio Anzeri, "Rita", 2011, Embroidery on photograph, 23.5 x 17.5 cm.
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Boundary Functions: personal space exists only in relation to others and changes without our control
"Boundary Functions shows us that personal space exists only in relation to others and changes without our control. ...
By projecting the diagram, the invisible relationships between individuals and the space between them become visible and dynamic. The intangible notion of personal space and the line that always exists between you and another becomes concrete. The installation doesn't function at all with one person, as it requires a physical relationship to someone else. In this way Boundary Functions is a reversal of the lonely self-reflection of virtual reality, or the frustration of virtual communities: here is a virtual space that can only exist with more than one person, and in physical space.
The title, Boundary Functions, refers to Theodore Kaczynski's 1967 University of Michigan PhD thesis. Better known as the Unabomber, Kaczynski is a pathological example of the conflict between the individual and society: engaging with an imperfect world versus an individual solitude uncompromised by the presence of others. The thesis itself is an example of the implicit antisocial quality of some scientific discourse, mired in language and symbols that are impenetrable to the vast majority of society. In this installation, a mathematical abstraction is made instantly knowable by dynamic visual representation."
(Scott Snibbe, 1998)
Fig.1 Scott Snibbe (1998). "Boundary Functions".
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
