The Conundrum of Control: Making Sense Through Artistic Practices (Brill Research Perspectives in Humanities and Social Sciences / Brill Research Perspectives in Art and Law)

Every day we encounter situations in which "things spin out of control" or in which our forms of life are subjected to increasingly stringent controls. Our daily lives seem to oscillate between these two poles. However, the nature of control is a difficult conundrum to probe. Art practices help us make sense of the paradoxes related to the enhancing interplay between control and non-control by putting them on display. The author argues that cooperation between these two poles is essential but is currently hindered, leading to a sterile bipolarity. What happens if this interplay between the two poles collapses? The essay is structured into three parts: the first defines control and its relationship with law, life, and art. The second part characterizes artistic practices based on their functions in human experience. The third part delves into two exemplary cases: Taiwanese artist Tehching Hsieh and Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn. List of Figures vii Abstract 1 Keywords 1 1 Introduction 2 1.1 What This Essay Is About 2 1.2 What Is Meant by “Control”? 5 1.3 Adventure as a Condition of Human Experience 12 1.4 Do Control and Non-control Still Communicate? 20 2 What Does Art Do? 30 2.1 A Divorce? Two Theses 30 2.2 Art as a Space for Operational Experimentation 38 3 Case Studies 45 3.1 Tehching Hsieh: Presenting Life 45 3.1.1 “These Days Anything Is Art” 45 3.1.2 “The Artist” 49 3.1.3 “Hsieh’s Artworks Are Haunted by the Law” 58 3.1.4 (Out of) Control? 61 3.1.5 The “Cage Piece” 65 3.1.6 “I Don’t Really Blur Art and Life” 74 3.1.7 “Time Clock Piece” 76 3.1.8 “The Power of Art Is Leaning toward the Exploration of Essences” 80 3.1.9 “We Will Never Touch” 84 3.1.10 What Trajectory? 92 3.1.11 Works as Oracles? 94 3.2 Thomas Hirschhorn: Displaying the Incommensurable 100 3.2.1 Premise 100 3.2.2 “I Love to Do Collages” 107 3.2.3 A Collage “Escapes Control” 110 3.2.4 “Untere Kontrolle” 115 3.2.5 “Headlessness” 121 3.2.6 Shame 125 3.2.7 The Artist’s Responsibility for the Uncontrollable 132 3.2.8 Pixelation and Incommensurability 138 3.2.9 Displaying and Judging 150 Acknowledgements 154 References 154 "Various forms of control play a central role in our lives. However, the nature of control is a difficult conundrum to probe. Believing we "control" ourselves, nature or others may seem like a sign of autonomy, power and self-determination, but it is often an illusion and not always desirable. Art practices help us make sense of the questions and paradoxes related to the enhancing interplay between control and non-control by putting them on display. What happens if this interplay between the two poles collapses? What are the consequences for our forms of life?"-- Provided by publisher