Thesis Chapters by Peter Alwast
This research project evaluates historical and contemporary approaches to art medium and how prob... more This research project evaluates historical and contemporary approaches to art medium and how problems of medium specificity may be re-thought through the lens of Jean-Luc Nancy’s aesthetic materialism and Jacques Rancière’s aesthetics of politics. While coming to different conclusions about art’s critical potential, both modes of thought are informed by poststructuralist premises.
Nancy’s concept of the ‘singular-plural’ is used to account for both translations and discordances between painting and other mediums such as digital printing and 3D animation. The singular-plural is relevant to the question of medium in contemporary art because it provides a critique of artistic projects that subordinate formal and sensory meaning to conceptually driven ideals beyond material features of artworks. Nancy’s materialist aesthetics revitalises the artwork’s formal characteristics as capable of rendering sensory meaning without entirely relying on pre-determined significations. This approach is contrasted with ‘socially engaged’ artistic trends of recent times that privilege a yet to be realised ideal of social re-configuration over the tangible, material characteristics of artworks. Rather than claiming to represent social or political content ‘outside’ of the sensory impact of the artwork, my practice stages juxtapositions between divergent material supports, suspending conceptual resolution, while heightening effects of difference.
At the same time, in some of my works, formal relations between different media operate alongside symbolic references to typically opposed historical regimes of technological modernity through digital prints, and anti- or pre-modernity through figurative, folk-art type paintings on hessian. Both connections and incompatibilities between differing modes of production are not only explored for their formal and sensible features, but are also deployed for their signifying potential. This approach intersects with philosopher Jacques Rancière’s conception of modern art as a surface of conversion between sensory, material aspects of artworks and their discursive re-inscription. In this way, formal components of the artwork generate sensory, inter-medial affects, while also activating diverse conceptual associations related to social and political events. My project contends that formal, inter-medial features of artworks may be viewed as ‘political’ through their potential to form new relations of meaning at odds with conventional or singular expectations.
This research project evaluates historical and contemporary approaches to art medium and how prob... more This research project evaluates historical and contemporary approaches to art medium and how problems of medium specificity may be re-thought through the lens of Jean-Luc Nancy’s aesthetic materialism and Jacques Rancière’s aesthetics of politics. While coming to different conclusions about art’s critical potential, both modes of thought are informed by poststructuralist premises.
Nancy’s concept of the ‘singular-plural’ is used to account for both translations and discordances between painting and other mediums such as digital printing and 3D animation. The singular-plural is relevant to the question of medium in contemporary art because it provides a critique of artistic projects that subordinate formal and sensory meaning to conceptually driven ideals beyond material features of artworks. Nancy’s materialist aesthetics revitalises the artwork’s formal characteristics as capable of rendering sensory meaning without entirely relying on pre-determined significations. This approach is contrasted with ‘socially engaged’ artistic trends of recent times that privilege a yet to be realised ideal of social re-configuration over the tangible, material characteristics of artworks. Rather than claiming to represent social or political content ‘outside’ of the sensory impact of the artwork, my practice stages juxtapositions between divergent material supports, suspending conceptual resolution, while heightening effects of difference.
At the same time, in some of my works, formal relations between different media operate alongside symbolic references to typically opposed historical regimes of technological modernity through digital prints, and anti- or pre-modernity through figurative, folk-art type paintings on hessian. Both connections and incompatibilities between differing modes of production are not only explored for their formal and sensible features, but are also deployed for their signifying potential. This approach intersects with philosopher Jacques Rancière’s conception of modern art as a surface of conversion between sensory, material aspects of artworks and their discursive re-inscription. In this way, formal components of the artwork generate sensory, inter-medial affects, while also activating diverse conceptual associations related to social and political events. My project contends that formal, inter-medial features of artworks may be viewed as ‘political’ through their potential to form new relations of meaning at odds with conventional or singular expectations.
Papers by Peter Alwast
Through collage, this artwork juxtaposes so called traditional materials and processes with image... more Through collage, this artwork juxtaposes so called traditional materials and processes with imagery generated via new media software. Hessian, oil pastel, and drawing are put into relations with imagery echoing information network
An exhibition of drawing, paintings and video works exploring the relationship of painterly mater... more An exhibition of drawing, paintings and video works exploring the relationship of painterly materiality with dematerialised virtual spaces. And the relationship between painting and other media. Work was started during the Australia Council Green St Residency in New Yor
Alwast undertook an Asialink residency at Videotage, Hong Kong in 2012 4 channel video installati... more Alwast undertook an Asialink residency at Videotage, Hong Kong in 2012 4 channel video installation: combing video animation with shot video captured in Hong Kong. The video installation investigated the relationship of private and public space and verticality in Hong Kon
Fourteen Trillion. Utilising video animation, drawing, and giclee printing, Frozen In The Tracks ... more Fourteen Trillion. Utilising video animation, drawing, and giclee printing, Frozen In The Tracks melds together a poetic dialogue about the relentless flow of time and information, the shifting intensities between real and artificial light, and how abstraction and indifference aestheticise real world consequences of high frequency derivative trading
A hybrid painting/drawing digital media work exploring the relationship between drawing and virtu... more A hybrid painting/drawing digital media work exploring the relationship between drawing and virtual media. Expanding the possibilities of painting with reference to other media
Making Sense, Oct 3, 2018
Making Sense, Oct 3, 2018
Light Study. Utilising video animation, drawing, and giclee printing, Frozen In The Tracks melds ... more Light Study. Utilising video animation, drawing, and giclee printing, Frozen In The Tracks melds together a poetic dialogue about the relentless flow of time and information, the shifting intensities between real and artificial light, and how abstraction and indifference aestheticise real world consequences of high frequency derivative trading
Painting included in an exhibition of paintings and video work investigating the relationship bet... more Painting included in an exhibition of paintings and video work investigating the relationship between painting, new media and photography.Solo exhibition at Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydne
Hybrid painting/print work included in an exhibition of paintings and video work investigating th... more Hybrid painting/print work included in an exhibition of paintings and video work investigating the relationship between painting, new media and photography.Solo exhibition at Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydne
This research project evaluates historical and contemporary approaches to art medium and how prob... more This research project evaluates historical and contemporary approaches to art medium and how problems of medium specificity may be re-thought through the lens of Jean-Luc Nancy’s aesthetic materialism and Jacques Rancière’s aesthetics of politics. While coming to different conclusions about art’s critical potential, both modes of thought are informed by poststructuralist premises.Nancy’s concept of the ‘singular-plural’ is used to account for both translations and discordances between painting and other mediums such as digital printing and 3D animation. The singular-plural is relevant to the question of medium in contemporary art because it provides a critique of artistic projects that subordinate formal and sensory meaning to conceptually driven ideals beyond material features of artworks. Nancy’s materialist aesthetics revitalises the artwork’s formal characteristics as capable of rendering sensory meaning without entirely relying on pre-determined significations. This approach is...
Making Sense, Oct 3, 2018
Beyond Identity Politics: Global Challenges & Humanistic Responses, 2020
This presentation will survey recent artistic and theoretical positions that move beyond conventi... more This presentation will survey recent artistic and theoretical positions that move beyond conventional understandings of aesthetics and politics in contemporary art. Artworks from Australia and the United States shall be discussed which have capacity to confound conventions of intelligibility associated with identity driven art. Although it is impossible to either completely affirm or deny the validity of identity politics in contemporary art, this paper will seek to outline possible alternatives to its usual representational logic. The critical potential of art will be viewed through the lens of Jean-Luc Nancy's and Jacques Ranciere's aesthetic philosophy. In both accounts the aesthetic experience of the artwork is treated as a disruption of the so called 'natural' or representational correspondence between words, images, sounds, language and human actions. For Nancy, the artwork's sensory effects have the capacity to dispel with prefigured significations and therefore disrupt what is conventionally deemed intelligible within a given cultural grouping or social context. Similarly, for Ranciere the political potential of the artwork is registered through the unbinding of hierarchical classifications. In both cases the artwork's aesthetic effect is analogous to a re-ordering that potentially spurs the opening of unexpected and unscripted avenues of meaning, inherent to the ethos of equality in radical democratic politics
A hybrid painting/drawing digital media work exploring the relationship between drawing and virtu... more A hybrid painting/drawing digital media work exploring the relationship between drawing and virtual media. Expanding the possibilities of painting with reference to other media
An exhibition of drawing, paintings and video works exploring the relationship of painterly mater... more An exhibition of drawing, paintings and video works exploring the relationship of painterly materiality with dematerialised virtual spaces. And the relationship between painting and other media. Work was started during the Australia Council Green St Residency in New Yor
Here and Everywhere Else
An exhibition of drawings, paintings and hybrid painting works exploring the relationship of pain... more An exhibition of drawings, paintings and hybrid painting works exploring the relationship of painterly materiality with dematerialised virtual spaces, expanding the territory of painting language
Solo exhibition of drawings, paintings and hybrid painting works exploring the relationship of pa... more Solo exhibition of drawings, paintings and hybrid painting works exploring the relationship of painterly materiality with dematerialised virtual spaces, expanding the territory of painting language
Uploads
Thesis Chapters by Peter Alwast
Nancy’s concept of the ‘singular-plural’ is used to account for both translations and discordances between painting and other mediums such as digital printing and 3D animation. The singular-plural is relevant to the question of medium in contemporary art because it provides a critique of artistic projects that subordinate formal and sensory meaning to conceptually driven ideals beyond material features of artworks. Nancy’s materialist aesthetics revitalises the artwork’s formal characteristics as capable of rendering sensory meaning without entirely relying on pre-determined significations. This approach is contrasted with ‘socially engaged’ artistic trends of recent times that privilege a yet to be realised ideal of social re-configuration over the tangible, material characteristics of artworks. Rather than claiming to represent social or political content ‘outside’ of the sensory impact of the artwork, my practice stages juxtapositions between divergent material supports, suspending conceptual resolution, while heightening effects of difference.
At the same time, in some of my works, formal relations between different media operate alongside symbolic references to typically opposed historical regimes of technological modernity through digital prints, and anti- or pre-modernity through figurative, folk-art type paintings on hessian. Both connections and incompatibilities between differing modes of production are not only explored for their formal and sensible features, but are also deployed for their signifying potential. This approach intersects with philosopher Jacques Rancière’s conception of modern art as a surface of conversion between sensory, material aspects of artworks and their discursive re-inscription. In this way, formal components of the artwork generate sensory, inter-medial affects, while also activating diverse conceptual associations related to social and political events. My project contends that formal, inter-medial features of artworks may be viewed as ‘political’ through their potential to form new relations of meaning at odds with conventional or singular expectations.
Nancy’s concept of the ‘singular-plural’ is used to account for both translations and discordances between painting and other mediums such as digital printing and 3D animation. The singular-plural is relevant to the question of medium in contemporary art because it provides a critique of artistic projects that subordinate formal and sensory meaning to conceptually driven ideals beyond material features of artworks. Nancy’s materialist aesthetics revitalises the artwork’s formal characteristics as capable of rendering sensory meaning without entirely relying on pre-determined significations. This approach is contrasted with ‘socially engaged’ artistic trends of recent times that privilege a yet to be realised ideal of social re-configuration over the tangible, material characteristics of artworks. Rather than claiming to represent social or political content ‘outside’ of the sensory impact of the artwork, my practice stages juxtapositions between divergent material supports, suspending conceptual resolution, while heightening effects of difference.
At the same time, in some of my works, formal relations between different media operate alongside symbolic references to typically opposed historical regimes of technological modernity through digital prints, and anti- or pre-modernity through figurative, folk-art type paintings on hessian. Both connections and incompatibilities between differing modes of production are not only explored for their formal and sensible features, but are also deployed for their signifying potential. This approach intersects with philosopher Jacques Rancière’s conception of modern art as a surface of conversion between sensory, material aspects of artworks and their discursive re-inscription. In this way, formal components of the artwork generate sensory, inter-medial affects, while also activating diverse conceptual associations related to social and political events. My project contends that formal, inter-medial features of artworks may be viewed as ‘political’ through their potential to form new relations of meaning at odds with conventional or singular expectations.
Papers by Peter Alwast
Nancy’s concept of the ‘singular-plural’ is used to account for both translations and discordances between painting and other mediums such as digital printing and 3D animation. The singular-plural is relevant to the question of medium in contemporary art because it provides a critique of artistic projects that subordinate formal and sensory meaning to conceptually driven ideals beyond material features of artworks. Nancy’s materialist aesthetics revitalises the artwork’s formal characteristics as capable of rendering sensory meaning without entirely relying on pre-determined significations. This approach is contrasted with ‘socially engaged’ artistic trends of recent times that privilege a yet to be realised ideal of social re-configuration over the tangible, material characteristics of artworks. Rather than claiming to represent social or political content ‘outside’ of the sensory impact of the artwork, my practice stages juxtapositions between divergent material supports, suspending conceptual resolution, while heightening effects of difference.
At the same time, in some of my works, formal relations between different media operate alongside symbolic references to typically opposed historical regimes of technological modernity through digital prints, and anti- or pre-modernity through figurative, folk-art type paintings on hessian. Both connections and incompatibilities between differing modes of production are not only explored for their formal and sensible features, but are also deployed for their signifying potential. This approach intersects with philosopher Jacques Rancière’s conception of modern art as a surface of conversion between sensory, material aspects of artworks and their discursive re-inscription. In this way, formal components of the artwork generate sensory, inter-medial affects, while also activating diverse conceptual associations related to social and political events. My project contends that formal, inter-medial features of artworks may be viewed as ‘political’ through their potential to form new relations of meaning at odds with conventional or singular expectations.
Nancy’s concept of the ‘singular-plural’ is used to account for both translations and discordances between painting and other mediums such as digital printing and 3D animation. The singular-plural is relevant to the question of medium in contemporary art because it provides a critique of artistic projects that subordinate formal and sensory meaning to conceptually driven ideals beyond material features of artworks. Nancy’s materialist aesthetics revitalises the artwork’s formal characteristics as capable of rendering sensory meaning without entirely relying on pre-determined significations. This approach is contrasted with ‘socially engaged’ artistic trends of recent times that privilege a yet to be realised ideal of social re-configuration over the tangible, material characteristics of artworks. Rather than claiming to represent social or political content ‘outside’ of the sensory impact of the artwork, my practice stages juxtapositions between divergent material supports, suspending conceptual resolution, while heightening effects of difference.
At the same time, in some of my works, formal relations between different media operate alongside symbolic references to typically opposed historical regimes of technological modernity through digital prints, and anti- or pre-modernity through figurative, folk-art type paintings on hessian. Both connections and incompatibilities between differing modes of production are not only explored for their formal and sensible features, but are also deployed for their signifying potential. This approach intersects with philosopher Jacques Rancière’s conception of modern art as a surface of conversion between sensory, material aspects of artworks and their discursive re-inscription. In this way, formal components of the artwork generate sensory, inter-medial affects, while also activating diverse conceptual associations related to social and political events. My project contends that formal, inter-medial features of artworks may be viewed as ‘political’ through their potential to form new relations of meaning at odds with conventional or singular expectations.