Can Philosophy Exist? by Zoe Panagiota (aka Betty) Nigianni

Photography with sound and net art, drawing, found folk sculpture with digital drawing, readymades, 2012, 2020, 2021. Accompanied by archival material. The exposition exposes the question of what is artistic research. Usurping the mini-essayist format, which is traditionally associated with research in say the area of philosophy, the exposition formally operates on different levels. I selectively included visual art research material from my own artistic archive, as well as anonymous material that's readily available from the internet and in film archives. In this way, I wanted to emphasise the role of archiving and using archives in the artistic process, as an element of artistic research and artistic production that might involve remediation. Taking that we live in a largely theoretic culture, which means that we use external information systems for storage and retrieval of written, visual and other material, the implication is that art is part of this theoretical system. Moreover, I specifically problematise the notion of value in relation to the visual arts by using the popular media figures of the counterfeit and the impostor, with reference to the so-called "impostor syndrome", correlated with being a minority of some sort in one's field: "A different thought is that two people may be answerable to the very same standard of success or competence, yet be subject to different epistemic standards for reasonable belief in their respective success or competence. This would be an example of pragmatic encroachment." (Katherine Hawley, "What is Impostor Syndrome?", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 93, 2019). I use visual art and figurative examples as illustrations, adapting from methods, such as the example, used in analytic philosophy. I suggest that some artworks operate as philosophical provocations of the archive. "The artwork just exists", as Frank Stella argued. In this view, I ordered this exposition as a design proposal for two independent, yet interconnected exhibitions: one for the final artistic exhibition show; and one as a general overview for the artist's studio, set up as a stand alone, if parallel, exhibition.

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We are surrounded by images in our everyday lives. Images can become the starting point for artistic work. Images can be the subject of research. What interests me is the detachment of images from their original source and their free-floating, not unlike pieces of ice. Burgin describes an 'envelope', an 'everyday environment of images', in which "inhabitants of wealthy nations are enveloped by" [1]: images from television, film, the internet, street advertising, posters on buildings, covers on music cds etc. Burgin argues that "what we share in common in cultural experience is dervied from the image enevelope" [2]. I call these images pervasive. I am interested in these images, but also other kinds of images. These can be images we make ourselves, or images we find. Pervasive images have become banal. We are no longer able to aestheticise pervasive images; we have un-aestheticised them. I am interested in reconsidering the detachment of all sorts of images from their original source with the following questions: Is there a re-investment of these images? And what is the role of art as the producer of new images?

Philosophy has been the traditional episteme, which is the Greek word for science. Modern and contemporary philosophy have disputed the normative standpoint for long resting on so-called first philosophy. Challenging first philosophy has led to either proliferations of philosophical discourses and the modern sciences, or practicing philosophical thinking on a case by case basis: say on folk ethics, or practical philosophy, or semantical judgments about truth and falsity.

On the other hand, considering the epistemic difficulties with defining artistic research has only led to the paradox of having to accept art as theoretical. This should not be confused with conceptual art already defined as art for which the value of the concept or idea is prioritised over the finished object. I suggest a reevaluation of art to answer questions about the artwork's epistemic value. I also attempt an evaluation of artistic research to answer questions about whether the artwork or artistic process has epistemic value.

To illustrate my discussion, I take on the counterfeit and the impostor as cinematic fictional characters and figures of art's propositional "as-if". I use pervasive images to suggest answers about how they connect and disconnect with practising philosophical thinking on the aforementioned basis. On the other hand, I use new images as provocations of pervasive images usurping the notion of the archive.

If this is case by case philosophical thinking, at least I have suggested another example of philosophy's existence.

Glossary

*Counterfeit: An imitation or copy of something, usually made to deceive that it is of equal or greater value of the original.

**Impostor: One who suffers self-doubt about the value of their achievements, for justified or unjustified reasons.

References

[1] Burgin, Victor, The Remembered Film, London: Reaktion Books, 2004, p. 65

[2] Ibid. p. 66

'Minimalisms', inks on paper, A2, 2012

drawings from photographs of icy surfaces

Studio

Drawing requires no collaborators, no elaborate fabrication, no negotiation with others, as installation, photography (in terms of printing labs), or even painting (at least monumental painting) does. All that drawing requires is imagination, creativity, and skill.

Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing: 008-009.

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