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This thesis examines the manifestation of ‘presence’ in contemporary sculpture and the nature of the viewer’s encounter. In particular, it investigates the ways in which inert materials are transformed into objects that appear to possess life. Presence has been considered in terms of the image in different media; however, this thesis shows that a work does not have to be figurative for presence to be evoked. Through a detailed investigation of individual artworks, each of the chapters explores different ways in which presence manifests itself. The identification of diverse examples across time and place reveals unexpected similarities between modes of presence observed in ancient and religious sculpture and the practices of making and viewing art in the contemporary sculptural encounter. The thesis examines the shared agency between artist and materials, and how this manifests itself as presence; how presence operates when the site and the viewer become part of the work; and how materials are activated through specific beliefs or through an intervention made to their form or context. It aims to show that these different layers are interconnected and that together they determine the nature of presence.

La double approche pratique et théorique de cette thèse reflète le caractère paradoxal du mot allemand "unheimlich" qui décrit une sensation ambiguë entre étrangeté et familiarité. À ceci correspond la définition donnée par Freud, selon laquelle l'effrayant de l'"Unheimlich" « remonte au depuis longtemps connu, depuis longtemps familier». Nous retrouvons cet aspect familier au cœur de l'adjectif "unheimlich" dans la syllabe "heim" qui signifie « chez-soi». Dans la traduction française « inquiétante étrangeté», cette signification se perd. L'ancrage de l'"Unheimlich" dans l'entre-deux amène une indécidabilité (Derrida), voire un constant passage ou aller-retour. Par conséquent, il a toujours échappé à une conceptualisation et apparaît aujourd'hui comme un « non-concept» (Masschelein). Cependant, l'"Unheimlich" est de plus en plus souvent mis en relation avec l'art, ce dont témoignent les nombreuses expositions qui s'y sont récemment consacrées. Serait-ce alors dans l'art que l'"Unheimlich" trouve son véritable "Heim" ? Selon notre hypothèse centrale, il serait à l'œuvre dans l'art lorsque celui-ci s'avère être auto-réflexif et illimité. Différents « passages» nous guident dans notre approche du cœur "unheimlich" d'une pratique artistique personnelle hantée par la mort, l'origine, les doubles, l'Ange de l'Histoire (Benjamin), une rencontre impossible avec un Autre-moi et par des « lettres volées» de la langue allemande. Située entre photographie et installation, cette pratique témoigne du caractère hybride de l'art actuel qui semble être devenu « étranger à lui-même» (Kristeva). Les travaux personnels reflètent-ils l'entre-deux "unheimlich" qui nous inquiète, mais qui peut aussi nous enchanter ? Ou alors, l'"Unheimlich" serait-il irreprésentable, renvoyant à un au-delà des images ? / The double (theoretical and practical) approach of this thesis reflects the paradoxical nature of the German word "unheimlich" which describes an ambiguous feeling between strangeness and familiarity. Correspondingly, Freud states that the terrifying of the "Unheimlich" « leads back to something long known to us, once very familiar ». The syllable "heim" «( home ») in the middle of the adjective "unheimlich" reflects this aspect of familiarity which is lost in the French translation « inquiétante étrangeté» (as well as in the English « uncanny »), The "Unheimlich's" anchorage in the in- between involves an undecidability (Derrida), a constant passage or to-and-fro, Therefore it has always escaped a stringent conceptualization and appears today as an « unconcept » (Masschelein). However, more and more the "Unheimlich" is being connected with art as is evident from the numerous exhibitions recently devoted to it. Could it be then that it founds its real "Heim" in art ? According to my main hypothesis, the "Unheimlich" is at work in art when it turns out to be self-reflexive and unlimited. Different « passages» guide our approach to the "unheimlich" heart of my own art practice haunted by death, origins, doubles, the « Angel of History » (Benjamin), an impossible encounter with an Other-me and the «purloined letters » of the German language. Located between photography and installation, this practice gives an account of the hybrid nature of current art which seems to have become a « stranger to itself» (Kristeva). Do the personal works that we compare to other artist's works, reflect the "unheimlich" in-between that disturbs, but also can delight us? Or could the "Unheimlic"h tum out to be unrepresentable, referring to a quality that goes beyond images ?

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Staging the Encounter: the Work of Art as a Stage is a practice-led PhD project that consists of a thesis and a studio component in sculpture. Through a research question on the dimension of staging in the practice of sculpture, understood as the spatial staging that is intrinsic to placing objects in space, I speculate on the effect of this agency on the encounter of the viewer with the work of art. In this respect staging is linked to the modality of aesthetic presentation and the emergence of affect in the viewer. The thesis investigates different trajectories of thought that reveal a shift in art from an aesthetic experience keyed on objects to activated scenes of encounter. The aesthetic event becomes an in-between zone where objecthood, medium and autonomy are redefined. The first chapter explores a subject produced by an encounter with a work of art. Two stories of aesthetic embodiment in ancient Greek drama and Sanskrit performance describe a dynamic co-creation between the viewer and the work of art; here the aesthetic model dictates its events to theory. The affective becomings latent in the art encounter restore a connection between the viewing subject and its faculty of entering the world through the senses. In the second chapter I explore the implications of staging for contemporary sculpture and installation. A sculptural performativity across situated objects and emerging affects maps as lines of force in the space that art stages. The expanded space of sculpture reverberates social and political frictions through a subversive materiality, casting objects as agents of an insubordinate order. The third chapter presents my studio practice, which develops through a series of sculptures, video works and performances. In these works I set up spaces that act as rehearsals, scenes that act as platforms for encounters. I also describe case studies of encounters with works of art that manifest the elements that I discuss throughout the thesis: a staged encounter that produces an oscillation in the viewer between states of affect and becoming and critical reflection.

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Through processes of making and breaking in sculpture and writing I explore experiences, concepts and perceptions of breaking. ‘Breaking’ is the main theme running through my work but it arises in many different contexts and I deal with it on different planes. My research simultaneously explores and draws parallels between personal experiences in life: breaking bones, making/breaking sculpture and philosophical concepts of the break. In addition, breaking has become my methodology. Since both methodology and subject are ‘breaking’, each contributes to the understanding of the other. In 2006 I broke my collarbone three times, my wrist and my hand and when I returned to making sculpture I could only relate to my previous artwork by breaking it. By using autoethnographic approaches to foreground my subjectivity I describe a shift from health to injury. A corresponding change in my aesthetic understanding reflects a shift from a sense of a whole self to a fragile, broken one and a further perception of the coherence of the whole as inauthentic. The physical act of breaking in my sculptures then creates a further new subject position, that of the breaker, and that is in tension with my normative social position as a woman. In reflecting on the unexpected experience of power through breaking I explore the creative potential of this position for the female artist. I propose that physical breaking can shift the self towards the uncertainty of the ‘void’ by introducing the new subject positions of breaker and broken. The void is articulated as the break between established structures. Its relative freedom creates both risk and creativity, and evidences multiple subject positions associated with lived and de-centred experience. Giving to others the experience of breaking reciprocally benefits my artwork by introducing multiple subject positions and shifting it towards the void.

Dans les dernières décennies du XXe siècle, les musées et centres d'art contemporain ont connu un grand dynamisme - redéfinition, expansion, modernisation - en réponse aux attentes de transformation des sociétés contemporaines. La pluridisciplinarité est considérée comme l'un des innovations les plus marquantes de cette évolution. Elle a contribué au renouveau du concept muséal et a participé à l'invention de véritables complexes culturels. Notre thèse vise à montrer l'émergence et la diffusion de la pluridisciplinarité dans la société au sens large, qui se retrouve dans les institutions culturelles, notamment, celles dédiées à l'art contemporain. L'étude du Centre Pompidou souligne que l'idée de la pluridisciplinarité est inscrite dans la conception, l'organisation et les programmes de cette institution. L'analyse de ses structure internes permet de voir comme le Centre a fédéré l'ensemble de ses départements, largement centrés sur eux-mêmes, et leur a donné cohérence et visibilité par la mise en oeuvre d'expositions pluridisciplinaires. De plus, la question de l'exportation, la transposition ou le rejet d'un modèle expérimenté par le Centre Pompidou est traitée à la lumière de l'expérience de la Tate Modem et du Centre Pompidou-Metz. La thèse apporte ainsi des éléments de réflexion sur la pérennité de l'idée de la pluridisciplinarité. Enfin, elle met en évidence que ces institutions, vouées à la promotion d'une démarche globale des disciplines artistiques, contribuent également à la diffusion de la pluridisciplinarité dans l'art, la culture et la société. / In the last decades of the twentieth century, contemporary museums and art centers have been very dynamic : redefinition, expansion and modernization. They transform to meet the needs of contemporary societies. In this evolution multidisciplinarity is considered as one of the most significant innovation. It contributes to the renewal of the museum concept and participates in the invention of cultural complexes. Our thesis aims to elucidate the emergence and dissemination of multidisciplinarity in society, art and culture. More specifically, the study focuses on the organizational, professional and cultural implications of multidisciplinarity in contemporary art institutions. ln the light of the experience of the Pompidou Center, it takes into consideration structures and operations, changes and evolution and the management of cultural programs. The study of internal features and their impact on multidisciplinary exhibition shows how the Center has brought together all of its departrnents, naturally centered on themselves, giving them coherence and visibilitv Furthermore, the analysis of export, transposition or rejection of the Pompidou Center model is undertaken by examining the Tate Modem and the Pompidou Center-Metz, which raises the question of the sustainability of the idea of multidisciplinarity as a social value. Finally, the thesis shows that cultural institutions dedicated to a comprehensive approach of artistics disciplines tend to promo te a multidisciplinary approach to art and culture in society.

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No description available.