Aesthetics of disaster as decolonial aesthetics: making sense of the effects of Hurricane María through Puerto Rican contemporary art

ABSTRACT

On 20 September 2017, Hurricane María made landfall on Puerto Rico causing unprecedented disaster. From that day onwards, the Puerto Rican multi-layered colonial, social and political context was further complicated by the traumatic acceleration of a human disaster via this natural disaster. This crystalized the urgency of using art as vehicle for (social) catharsis, a practice that continues to be used by individual artists, collectives, community organizations, art projects, and other art institutions on the island and abroad, through mural art, community paintings, art exhibitions, literature, music, and many other aesthetic expressions. This article examines, from a decolonial and critical cultural studies perspective, post-Hurricane María artistic expressions in contemporary art as decolonial aesthetics through the cathartic use of the frame of an aesthetics of disaster. It is argued that, an aesthetics of disaster aims to re-assert an artistic form that is able to accelerate the discursive nullification of a deeply rooted colonial, social and cultural problem by way of art as catharsis inspired by the way that Hurricane María unveiled these problems. The piece briefly contextualizes Puerto Rico, and it examines the idea of Puerto Rican contemporary art as catharsis. Then, it describes how Puerto Rican contemporary art exhibitions and associated aesthetic production are processing urgent post-hurricane issues through three illustrative pieces in exhibitions in PR and abroad in the United States (US). Lastly, decolonial aesthetics is reexamined and re-understood, informed by Édouard Glissant's view expressed in Poetics of Relation which aids to the conclusion that Puerto Rican contemporary art using the frame of an aesthetics of disaster functions as a powerful form of decolonial aesthetics.     

格萨尔藏戏传承实践及文化表征

格萨尔藏戏将口头诗歌中的“歌”化为具体的表演行为动态实践，集声音、舞蹈、仪式和群体互动等多种形式于一体，是历史悠久、别具特色的藏戏剧种。格萨尔藏戏表演通过对古典时代民族民间文化的重构与想象，构成格萨尔史诗更丰富宽广的表达。作为文化象征的表述符号，格萨尔藏戏是口头传统研究中的表演民族志，其歌舞形态为本的言说系统，更贴近格萨尔史诗说唱本体，并重新廓清格萨尔史诗口传与书写之间复杂的关联，还口头说唱以本原。格萨尔史诗戏剧化表演实践与创新中的复合性、融合性、新生性特征和带有实验性的探索，使格萨尔藏戏经历新的蜕变。     

鲍德里亚的消费经济批判及其艺术性变革

在鲍德里亚看来，当代社会在经济现象形态方面表现为消费经济的活跃，需要进行符号经济学批判。当代消费经济具有独特的运行机制，是将各种商品都转化为符号体系的过程，这既是资本的进一步扩展、资本增值的实然逻辑，又是技术理性的渗透、媒介信息的传播，还是物体系的形成、拜物教的深化。消费经济及其奢侈文化从大都市扩散到世界各地，推动了当代商业的发展。当代消费经济令人与人之间关系冷漠，围绕人的不再是实际物品，而是众多意义，需要用结构主义符号学分析其运行机制，采用艺术性变革的方式消除消费异化。艺术能够建构具有救赎作用的乌托邦，不应只为了满足感官刺激，而要通向真理之路，唤醒人的创造潜能，改造消费社会的不合理机制。     

谁的乡村建设？——基于乡村建筑变迁的观察和思考

在全面推进乡村振兴的大背景下，乡村建设正如火如荼地开展。其中，乡村建设中农民房屋建筑类型从特质性的“匠心独具”到同质性的“千村一面”，再到异化性的“自厝同异”变迁路径，反映出传统文化的保护危机，也深刻揭示出建筑变迁背后暗藏的农民与地方政府间的多元矛盾和博弈。此问题的根源在于农民主体性被消解，成了被建构的对象或客体，而地方政府却不断强化构建主体的身份认同。事实上，当前乡村建设呈现出五种不同的价值取向：一是为城市消费者休闲情趣的乡村建设；二是为城市中产阶级家乡情感的乡村建设；三是为地方政府凸显政绩的乡村建设；四是为开发商投资回报的乡村建设；五是为农民生存利益的乡村建设。不同参与者均带着不同的利益诉求介入乡村建设，直接影响到乡村建设的发展走向。因此，要处理乡村建设中的矛盾和问题，必须强化农民在乡村建设中的主体意识和主体身份，赋予农民对乡村建设事务的话语权与决定权。     

Assistive technology for disabled visual artists: exploring the impact of digital technologies on artistic practice

Abstract

Disabled artists with physical impairments can experience significant barriers in producing creative work. Digital technologies offer alternative opportunities to support artistic practice, but there has been a lack of research investigating the impact of assistive digital tools in this context. This article explores the current practice of physically impaired visual artists and their experiences around the use of digital technologies. An online survey was conducted with professional disabled artists and followed up by face-to-face interviews with 10 invited artists. The findings illustrate the issues disabled artists experience in their practice and highlight how they are commonly using mainstream digital technologies as part of their practice. However, there is little awareness around novel forms of technology (e.g. eye gaze tracking) that present new creative opportunities. The importance of digital tools for supporting wider practice (i.e. administrative and business tasks) was also highlighted as a key area where further work is required.     

中国传统行政的善治理想及其现代影响——以黄宗羲为例

中国传统行政理论在长期发展中积累了丰富的内容,形成了完整的理论形态,并在明清之际达到了它近乎顶峰的极限状态,黄宗羲的善治理论就是它在这个阶段的重要代表。黄宗羲视域中的善治在内容及方式上,都延续了儒家传统主流观点。它在内容上首先要求圣王,即唯有圣王才能以“不忍人之心”行“不忍人之政”,所谓善治实际上就是“不忍人之政”;其次它还将善治的具体内容确定为养民与教民,“养民”就是使民足以事父母及畜妻子,养生送死无憾,“教民”就是用圣王学说教育民众,使民衣食住行都合乎礼;再次它还主张治理目的是使民皆“至于至善”和“止于至善”。中国传统行政理论的善治理想在现实中还有强劲的生命力,它既表现为行政的强烈伦理导向,又表现为一种主动作为的积极政府观,还表现为一种彻底的以人为本的人文主义。     

Miaoicization vis-à-vis sinicization: contrasting Miao subgroups in contemporary China

This article studies the Miao classification as an example to examine the minzu shibie project initiated by the Chinese Communist Party after 1949. The Miao classification that originates with the minzu shibie project can be defined as a process of miaoicization; however, it is not a unified Miao group (as projected by the classification team) that has emerged but rather one dominant Miao subgroup that defines the official Miao category in contemporary China. At the moment the most dominant Miao subgroup is the Hmu group in Southeast Guizhou. The overemphasis of Hmu sub-culture to represent all the Miao of China is related to the fact that over the last decades many important leaders in Guizhou have been Hmu. While all Hmu are sinicized to a certain extent, it seems that the Hmu at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale are most likely to be sinicized and to amalgamate with the Han majority.     

艺术设计教育理念与文化产业需求意向的对接

以培养符合文化产业发展需求意向以及知识结构合理的复合型人才为目的，探讨艺术设计教育理念与文化产业诉求的契合点，分析艺术设计教育理念的定位调整对文化产业市场及文化产业综合形象力的提升产生的积极作用，进而得出艺术设计教育理念与文化产业需求意向的对接，关系到艺术设计教育的发展前景，并对文化产业起到推进动能和促进作用，对文化价值观产生不可估量的影响。     

Sociology and Art: An Interview with Howard S. Becker

This is an interview with Howard S. Becker, and the focus is sociology and art. In this interview, Howard S. Becker talked about many interesting and important topics such as his sociological lineage, his difference with the estheticians Arthur Danto and George Dickie, traditional sociologist of art such as Lukacs and Goldmann, his Tactile Art Group, the universality of his art worlds, Richard A. Peterson and his production of culture perspective, the sociology of “sociology of art” in America, French sociologists of art, and his own art life, and so on.     

城市公共艺术与文化软实力的对接关系研究——以广州为例

文化软实力是一个国家除军事经济之外让别人主动接近的吸引力,城市公共艺术也是一种与大众有亲缘关系的艺术形态。某种程度上说,城市公共艺术是文化软实力在艺术领域的一种显象。广州城市公共艺术在器物层、行为层、制度层诠释了文化软实力的静态和动态的维度。