Faire œuvre : pour une politique de la main

Think.Zone proposes to reflect on the ways in which works of art are made. In the second half of the 1960s, several artists argued that the execution of an artwork was entirely secondary to its conception. These kinds of statements will be scrutinized in relation to the artworks themselves, in order to consider the role played by the hand in the emergence of an idea.
The relationship between art and craft will also be examined from the perspective of its long history. Think.Zone will consider the uses made of this opposition in the context of colonization. Particular attention will be paid to practices outside the Western world (Western Europe and North America), and the seminar will be connected in particular to the research project that begins on September 1 under the title “Homemade: Photographic and Filmmaking Practices in Romanian Art of the 1970s–1980s.”
Above all, however, Making Art will provide an opportunity for students to articulate a reflection on their own ways of working and on how they go about realizing their projects. We will explore how making can think for itself. The specificity of gestures, techniques, and procedures will be presented and discussed throughout the sessions.