Negotiating Space in the Artwork of Paul Seawright, 2008 (Dokument)

Archive plan context
Universitätsarchiv der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Wien 3 Publikationen 3.1 Bücher / Periodika 3.1.1 Wissenschaftliche Abschlussarbeiten 3.1.1.1 Diplomarbeiten Naturbegriffe in den Arbeiten von Mark Dion und Olafur Eliasson (2010) Negotiating Space in the Artwork of Paul Seawright (2008) Neon (1999)

Information on identification
Archival Material Types:	Buch
Title:	Negotiating Space in the Artwork of Paul Seawright

Information on content and structure
Publikation: Gruppe:	Diplomarbeit/Dissertation (DIPLOM)
Publikation: Typ:	Diplomarbeit
AutorIn:	Gerhild Silber
Creation date(s):	2008

Identification area
Identification code:	46204-D
Language:	Englisch

Area of information

Beschreibung:

Paul Seawright's photographs speak of multiple spaces which are to be found beyond the conventional understanding of the physical space that is communicated by the natural sciences which perceive space as a given constant, absolute in its character. Only when acknowledging the view that space is not a given object with certain constant characteristics but rather a multitude of possibilities, one enters the level on which a conversation with Paul Seawright's photographs is possible that embraces the artist's photographic language. This is because in his photographs Paul Seawright not only undergoes the attempt of capturing space and, thus, displaying it, but, by doing so, also questions and at the same time negotiates the very concept of space. His photographs thereby raise questions about how space is, or in fact, can be produced, how space is constituted, and how space is, or again, can be negotiated. Hence, every examination of Seawright's artwork has to presuppose the renunciation of a reductionist understanding of space.

Born as a Protestant in 1965 in Belfast, Paul Seawright grew up in a city which was torn into pieces by two political forces - the Catholic and the Protestant communities. Marked by and at the same time driven by the dynamics of the political events, Paul Seawright seeks to capture with his camera what his mind is not capable of grasping. Through the medium of photography Paul Seawright tracks down the history of his city while investigating the politics of space in an extraordinary unique way. His photographs try to unmask the dynamics of how space is negotiated in public and private spheres, in seen and hidden places, in past and future times.

By, on the one hand, presenting three 20th century theorists, namely Henry Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau and Michel Foucault, and their respective theories on the production of (social) space, and, on the other hand, by drawing attention to the negotiation of space and the resulting variety of spaces - divided, in-between and inhibited - represented in Seawright's photographs, I wish to illustrate how his artwork is communicating an understanding of space which emanates from the assumption that a given society, together with its members, driven by the forces of power, is continuously creating spaces which in turn constitute, shape and change society. To put it differently, a close reading of Paul Seawright's photographs unfolds the interacting dynamics between history, politics, art and society which produce and negotiate spaces. However, since his photographs not only depict how space is being negotiated but also negotiate space themselves, I will demonstrate that it can be argued that one important contribution Paul Seawright is making with his photographs is that he is offering an alternative way of how the concept of space can be understood other than through theory or the way we are used to experience space in our everyday practices.