The edge of perception : Gordon Matta-Clark’s hermeneutic of place and the possibilities of absence for the theological imagination
Abstract
This article places the conceptual artist Gordon Matta-Clark in conversation with hermeneutical debates within the field of theological aesthetics. By exploring the transformative effect Matta-Clark’s Splitting evokes on spatially related categories, I argue that place is a locus of meaning, and that absence is a constitutive feature of that meaning. The hermeneutics at play in Matta-Clark have a set of formal features which is in accord with certain positions within theological aesthetics, namely: the particularities of place over the generalities of space, the constitutive role of both absence and presence for perception, and the formative power of these on human identity. A final section argues that while meaning is embedded in place, the imagination retains a vital place in the hermeneutical process through its “imaging” function in events of perception.
Citation
Howell , C M 2022 , ' The edge of perception : Gordon Matta-Clark’s hermeneutic of place and the possibilities of absence for the theological imagination ' , Religions , vol. 13 , no. 10 , 920 . https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100920
Publication
Religions
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2077-1444Type
Journal article
Collections
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