Beyond the institutional site and the ethos of the void: the relevance of Gabriel Marcel's Creative Fidelity

Abstract

The article addresses ethical issues concerning spectatorship and art practices. It explores an alternative to both modern institutional authority and postmodern nihilism by referring to the concept of ‘creative fidelity’ developed by the French ‘existentialist’ philosopher Gabriel Marcel. Contemporary radical reactions against the excesses of modernity in the western world have led to profound mistrust in the idea of subject/object, and have as a result favoured attitudes which tend to dissolve such a dichotomy. These attitudes, by expressing the contingency, indeterminacy, or groundlessness of meaning, have triggered the disappearance of the self, authorship, authenticity and insight. In art, both spectators and practitioners have left the modern cage of institutional ‘sitedness’ to behave like nomads in the jungle. The question therefore becomes: How is it possible to perceive, make, or even teach art in a meaningful manner without imposing frameworks, closures, boundaries or perspectives? This, it is argued, can be achieved by understanding the vital complementary relationship between innovation and faith, creativity and fidelity, renewal and availability.