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Postmodern Aporias, Bergsonian Optimism, and Intuitive Gestures in Contemporary Sculpture and Installation: Four Works from the 53rd Venice Biennial

by Wood Roberdeau

Bergson and His Postmodern and Immanent Legacies, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, 25-26 February 2011

After focusing on the aspects of Henri Bergson's optimism that make his writings both attractive and problematic for... more After focusing on the aspects of Henri Bergson's optimism that make his writings both attractive and problematic for those faced with deconstructing the legacy of high modernism in both the socio-political and aesthetic camps, this paper examines works by artists Lygia Pape, Cildo Meireles, Ceal Floyer and Chu Yun that emphasize the artistic process of making and viewing over the production of commodity; it is argued that such intuitive gestures are able to creatively involve the viewer, abandoning antiquated models of transcendence and thereby activating a notion of immanence within 'postmodernity'.