Relationscapes: Movement, Art, Philosophy (Technologies of Lived Abstraction) [Hardcover]

Erin Manning (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 026213490X | ISBN-13: 978-0262134903 | Publication Date: February 27, 2009

A new philosophy of movement that explores the active relation between sensation and thought through the prisms of dance, cinema, art, and new media.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A groundbreaking work! There is currently no book I know of like it in the thoroughness, depth, and sweep. Relationscapes offers a unique approach to a central series of issues in both continental philosophy and cultural theory." --Andrew Murphie, School of English, Media, and Performing Arts, University of New South Wales

Erin Manning holds a University Research Chair in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University in Montreal. She is director of the Sense Lab and the author of Politics of Touch: Sense, Movement, Sovereignty and Ephemeral Territories: Representing Nation, Home, and Identity in Canada.

"What commonalities do the Aboriginal paintings by Dorothy Napangardi, Emily Kwyame, and Clifford Possum share with the Western images of McLaren, Leni Riefenstahl, and David Spriggs? Each artist's production, as explored by Manning, unfolds a topology of the mind, an elasticity of movement between feeling and thinking. Manning's writing is itself a bath of sensory experiences as she brings these art pieces to life. Relationscapes creates ephemeral anchors for new journeys."--Barbara Glowczewski, author of the Dream Trackers digital project, senior researcher at the Laboratory of Social Anthropology, Collège de France

(Barbara Glowcsewski )

About the Author

With Relationscapes, Erin Manning offers a new philosophy of movement challenging the idea that movement is simple displacement in space, knowable only in terms of the actual, the movement already taken. Exploring the relation between sensation and thought through the prisms of dance, cinema, art, and new media, Manning argues for the intensity of movement. From this idea of intensity--the incipiency at the heart of movement--Manning develops the concept of preacceleration, which makes palpable how movement creates relational intervals out of which displacements take form. Discussing her theory of incipient movement in terms of dance and relational movement, Manning describes choreographic practices that work to develop with a body in movement rather than simply stabilizing that body into patterns of displacement. She examines the movement-images of Leni Riefenstahl, Étienne-Jules Marey, and Norman McLaren (drawing on Bergson's idea of duration), and explores the dot-paintings of contemporary Australian Aboriginal artists. Turning to language, Manning proposes a theory of prearticulation claiming that language's affective force depends on a concept of thought in motion. Relationscapes is a radically empirical book, working directly out of examples and delving into the complexity of relations these examples suggest. It takes a "Whiteheadian perspective," recognizing Whitehead's importance and his influence on process philosophers of the late twentieth century--Deleuze and Guattari in particular. Relationscapes is truly a transdisciplinary book, not aiming to cover the ground of a particular discipline but making clear how the specificity of a particular inquiry can alter key questions that emerge in the interstices between disciplines. It will be of special interest to scholars in new media, philosophy, dance studies, film theory, and art history.

"What commonalities do the Aboriginal paintings by Dorothy Napangardi, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, and Clifford Possum share with the Western images of McLaren, Leni Riefenstahl, and David Spriggs? Each artist's production, as explored by Manning, unfolds a topology of the mind, an elasticity of movement between feeling and thinking. Manning's writing is itself a bath of sensory experiences as she brings these art pieces to life. Relationscapes creates ephemeral anchors for new journeys." Barbara Glowczewski , author of the Dream Trackers digital project, senior researcher at the Laboratory of Social Anthropology, Collège de France

Martin Kenney is a Professor in the Department ofHuman and Community Development, University ofCalifornia, Davis, and Senior Project Director at theBerkeley Roundtable on the International Economy.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (February 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 026213490X
• ISBN-13: 978-0262134903
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #851,382 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Attempting to develop a theory of the incipiency of movement, April 18, 2010

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ROROTOKO (rorotoko dot com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Relationscapes: Movement, Art, Philosophy (Technologies of Lived Abstraction) (Hardcover)

"Relationscapes" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Manning's book interview ran here as the cover feature on April 14, 2010.