Imaginative Horizons Research Articles

Школа методологии художественных исследований: практика и теория

The conversation between two female curators, co-founders of the Bishkek School of Contemporary Art (BiSCA), raises questions related to methodological approaches in artistic research. They reflect on the connection of their interests and education (political science and sociology) with the emergence and agenda of the School of Artistic Research Methodology, on the need for an ideological position in projects, on the advantage of artistic research over academic research, as well as on the opportunities that methodological system thinking offers for forming new perspectives on seemingly understandable phenomena, elements of systems, or systems themselves. The conversation traces the concepts and conclusions on the structure and forms of interaction within the School of Artistic Research Methodology as a fluid platform for the exchange of experiences in the field of artistic practices and research methodologies. It is built on self-organization and solidarity without any hierarchy of knowledge or teachers, where everyone being an equal participant in the process of information exchange. The text emphasizes that methodology is one of the foundations of creativity, with School of Artistic Research Methodology focusing on the exploration of research processes and reflection on contemporary art practices in Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan. This reflection derives local art theory from practices, comparing and systematizing different approaches in order to gradually form knowledge on ourselves, cultural and political processes taking place in Kyrgyzstan, while expanding the horizons of methodological imagination and the possibility of reassembling social relations.

Interrogating Futurity in Contemporary China:Towards Plural Horizons of Political Imagination

Interrogating Futurity in Contemporary China:Towards Plural Horizons of Political Imagination

No Exit: Death Drive, Dystopia, and the Long Winter of the American Dream in Harold Ramis’s The Ice Harvest

ABSTRACT This article examines Harold Ramis’s 2005 noir comedy The Ice Harvest as the critically dystopian counter-panel to his beloved 1993 film Groundhog Day, a film frequently discussed within the paradigm of utopia. While starkly different in genre, tone, and reception, the two films comprise a dialectical dyad that registers the historical transition from the utopian cultural effervescence of the early 1990s to the tragic foreclosure of imaginative horizons and the dystopian transformation of economic, political, and social landscapes in the new millennium. In The Ice Harvest, the author argues, this is achieved through a strategic reactivation of film noir as a variant of the critical dystopia.

Friendships, Fidelities and Sufi Imaginaries: Theorizing Islamic Feminism

This article theorizes Islamic feminism as a form of ‘friendship with/in tradition’, drawing creatively on Sufism. It unpacks these feminist friendships as forms of ‘radical, critical fidelity’ which includes commitments and loyalties to tradition while simultaneously engaging critically with sexism, patriarchy, and homophobia. Core epistemological and ethical concerns are explored, including the nature of relationships to tradition; analytical methods for engaging with Muslim tradition from a gendered lens; religious authority and authoritarianism; and most significantly, engaging with emancipatory horizons of imagination that are attentive to the contemporary axes of power and privilege. The paper turns to rethinking approaches to hierarchy and possibilities for abuse, focusing on the shaykh–murīd and broader teacher–student relationships. It presents a nuanced approach to engaging with hierarchies as a serious analytical category that requires attention. Positing fluidity, transparency, and accountability as central to cultivating responsible hierarchical practices, the article suggests that friendship as a modality of relationships can contribute to such positive transformations. This article, emerging from a project on Muslim feminist ethics, presents creative theorizations of Islamic feminism as a liberatory project of human and divine friendships, inspired by Sufi ideas of walāya.

Review: Kill the Documentary: A Letter to Filmmakers, Students, and Scholars, by Jill Godmilow

Review: <i>Kill the Documentary: A Letter to Filmmakers, Students, and Scholars</i>, by Jill Godmilow

The technopolitics of security: Agency, temporality, sovereignty

This introduction to the special issue on ‘the technopolitics of security’ outlines key concepts and engages debates pertaining to the relationship between techno-materiality, security governance and struggles over sovereignty. ‘Technopolitics’ refers to the strategic practice of designing and using technologies to enact political goals, producing hybrid forms of power that combine cultural, institutional and technological dimensions. These technopolitical practices give rise to new forms of agency, producing effects unintended by their designers that may alter logics of political contestation and allow technologies to be reappropriated for different political purposes. To illustrate the distributed forms of agency and contingent encounters that the technopolitics approach evokes, the article develops three key aspects of technopolitics in its relationship to security governance: (1) an understanding of agency as distributed between human and non-human actors, but also asymmetric in that human intentionality plays an assembling role that is frequently overrun by the unintended effects; (2) the temporal horizons of imagination and action over which technopolitical interventions unfold, identifying the importance of logics of anticipation and eventization; and (3) the relationship between technopolitics and sovereignty, arguing that it encourages a decentred and materialized understanding of how claims to sovereignty are made and contested.

White Lament: Reckoning with Racism Through Concrete Repentance

ABSTRACT This paper will argue that Whiteness must be addressed within White contexts as a challenge to the prevalent colour-blindness, which distorts our imaginative horizons and presents a warped gospel aesthetic. In other words, Whites like myself need to use our agency to reckon with and repent of Whiteness at the behest of our Black sisters and brothers. Otherwise, attempts to appropriate lament into corporate worship will be reduced to voyeurism, individualism and consumerism. I will mainly interact with James Cone and Anthony Reddie, both of whom critique the way Black suffering can become overlooked or usurped. Within the paper, some tentative suggestions will be made on how to proceed with appropriating lament into corporate worship, lest our theology and practices unwittingly (or intentionally) bury those who suffer beneath the veneer of false peace and colour-blindness.

Transnationale Ansätze. Eine bilaterale Sicht auf das deutsch-polnische Geschichtsbuchprojekt „Europa – Unsere Geschichte / Europa. Nasza historia“

The many perspectives of incisive historical processes in the European states are mostly different in their estimations and dissenting didactical traditions, also in their main focuses of the historical and educational policies. In spite of this this article shows that a bidirectional approach can provide for a transcend of the nationalistic horizons of imagination. The particular interpretations and perspectives, traditions of historical thinking, policies, curricula and didactics could and should be thought together for dialogues to reach a reflected teaching. Transnational approaches could be observedmethodologically, the different perspectives validated to aim at a reflected teaching of history and discussed as a way to reach a kind of European history reflection. The article reflects the practice of experiences of such an approach when having finished 2020 the joint German-Polish Textbook project: “Europa – Unsere Geschichte / Europa Nasza historia” – Europe our joint history.

The Potential of Ecclesial Metaphors in Systematic Ecclesiology

In recent decades, the use of metaphor in ecclesiology has been broadly critiqued on the ground that metaphors are too abstract and idealized to advance our understanding of the concrete church in history; consequently, ecclesiology has embraced an “empirical turn,” incorporating fields like ethnography and social sciences. In this article, the author argues for a positive function of metaphor in ecclesiology drawing from the work of Janet Martin Soskice. Metaphors link various associative networks of meaning and in doing so open up new imaginative horizons. This theory allows ecclesial metaphors to be examined for their adequacy in light of other empirical or nontheological fields of knowledge. In turn, this invites the theologian to explore other associative networks of meaning such that a metaphor leads to new insights into the nature and mission of the church. The metaphor of the church as the body of Christ serves as a test case.

Performing Resilience: Anchorage and Leverage in Live Action Role-Play Drama

Abstract The concept of resilience is frequently described within neoliberal discourses as the ability of individuals to bounce back from shocks and reflexively adapt to changing circumstances. In ecological sciences, however, resilience is more commonly understood as the capacity of systems to radically transform themselves, when their usual mode of operation is challenged, rather than simply reverting to their original state. This article considers how live action role-play, as a form of participatory performance, might support ecological resilience by enabling players to actively reflect on their cultural practices in constructing the systems of their play and develop new capacities in the process through intersubjective exchanges with diverse others.The notion of performing resilience is concretised through discussion of artistic research residencies at Trumpington Community Orchard in Cambridge in 2017 and the Peartree Bridge estate in Milton Keynes in 2018. These projects explored how encounters with unfamiliar spaces and beings might enable participants to play with their resilient changeability. Specifically, the article addresses the value of spatial reflexivity in building resilience, proposing spatial defamiliarization as an aesthetic strategy for transcending the immediate familiarity of habitual practices, expanding participants’ horizons of perception and imagination. These arguments yield a theoretical model for cultivating resilience through participatory performance termed anchorage-leverage. This model suggests that habit can provide the foundation for potential transformations of cultural practices as existing capacities are reconfigured by new relational connections, conferring new affordances that enable participants to radically reconfigure the ecologies in which they play and live.

Review: Bible and Poetry in Late Antique Mesopotamia: Ephrem’s Hymns on Faith, by Jeffrey Wickes

Review: <i>Bible and Poetry in Late Antique Mesopotamia: Ephrem’s Hymns on Faith</i>, by Jeffrey Wickes

El surgimiento del contact improvisation en el laboratorio estético-político de los años 60 y 70

ABSTRACT This text reflects on the emergence of contact improvisation and the changes generated by postmodern dance in the American aesthetic-political context of the 60s and 70s. New modes of dance production developed by the New York neo-avant-garde of that period are addressed; the experimental attitude of the artists; and their interest in collaborative forms, among others. Based on the research results of my doctoral thesis, the literature on an emblematic discipline of postmodern dance, about which there are few publications in Spanish, is expanded. Further study may open imaginative horizons for new laboratory practices.

Racialisation in Malaysia: Multiracialism, multiculturalism, and the cultural politics of the possible

This article focuses on racialisation as a signifying practice and cultural process that attributes difference in Malaysia. It attempts to think with and against the concept of racialisation with an aim to add to a clearer understanding of the cultural politics of ‘race’. It focuses on the hierarchies of power and marginalisation, visibility and invisibility, inclusion and exclusion that are built into dominant discourses and modes of knowledge production about race, citizenship, and culture in Malaysia. This article aims to show how the political mobilisation of race as a remnant of colonial governmentality disciplines social processes through the notion of multiculturalism. For this reason, it sets up state-endorsed ‘multiracialism’ and a people-driven ‘multiculturalism’ as oppositional ways of thinking about race. It concludes by briefly identifying some key drivers for cultural transformation and speculating if these people-centred processes can offer a more imaginative racial horizon.

Ieskats kaķu vārdu izvēles motivācijā

Onomasticians tend to focus not only on toponyms and anthroponyms, but also on zoonyms. This article gives an insight into cat names and the motivation for their choice. At the end of 2020, the author of this article made a questionnaire about cat names, posted this questionnaire on the social network Facebook, and received an unexpectedly large number of responses from people ‒ 19,592 questionnaires were submitted. The main focus of the questionnaire was placed on the motivation to choose cat names, as the motivations for choosing the same name can be very different, even completely opposed. The social and economic study of zoonyms enables us to identify the most important factors in choosing cat names, avoiding as many hypothetical or even erroneous conclusions as possible. A significant part of the analysed material consists of felynonyms motivated by the appearance of the cat: coat colour (Cukurs) (white), Kurmis (black), Oreo (black and white), Grejs (grey), Mango (red)), appearance in general or individual details (eyes (Poga), ears (Betmens), whiskers (Ūšuks), paws (Pepija), any special feature (Ķēpa) or defects (Bočelli)). The situation how the cat enters the family also plays an important role; where the cat is found (Dīzelis, Barons); who brings or finds the cat (Pičus); who it is bought from (Dekāns). The choice of felynonyms is also determined by other factors, such as the cat's behaviour and temper (Tors, Skrāpīte); accident or single action (Neptūns, Džampers); matching names (Dolārs and Mārciņa, Ansis and Grieta); the name of another real animal (Cimdiņš, Dadzis); cat breed or its name (Kilimandžāro, Boriss); originality (Deficīts, Punkasens); owner's profession, position, occupation (Karmena, Pikselis); interests, hobbies (Akords, Eminems); travel (Forints, Turcis); unfulfilled dreams and longing (Haskijs, Lote) or even several factors at once (Zaļģis, Notārs). People naming cats have chosen words that already exist in the language as names for their pets and have made various occasional words, showing the unlimited horizons of human imagination (Mimeļmops, Irokejs). The collected material is the first such extensive summary of cat names. It can also serve as a source of inspiration for everyone to choose a name for their new pet.

“I Have Been Born, Raised and Lived My Whole Life Here” – Perpetually on the Move While Remaining Still

This article explores the story of Einar, a Faroese man who always lived within a 500-meters radius on the island of Suðuroy, who never felt “stuck” or “immobile” in the literal sense of the word. Studies have shown that staying is a process, as much as mobility; yet while mobility studies mainly show that imagination is an incentive to move, we argue that imagination may also actively support staying. Combining sociocultural psychology with mobility studies, we propose to explore the entanglement of symbolic mobility (a form of imagination) and various forms of geographical (im)mobility. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and hours of conversation, we present the case study of Einar’s life on his island. We follow the sociogenetic development of the island, and the expansion and contraction of the imaginative horizon over time. On this background, we then retrace the life of Einar and show how, within this transforming context, his imagination developed thanks to resources he could use from the mobility of technologies, ideas, and other people. Interestingly, at different bifurcation points, his symbolic mobility almost led him to move away but, at another point, helped him to refuse geographical mobility. Hence, he was always symbolically mobile while staying. We finally propose directions for generalising from this case study, and implications for cultural psychology and for mobility and migration studies.

Cultures of Fermentation

Cultures of Fermentation

City on a Hill: Urban Idealism in America from the Puritans to the Present

City on a Hill: Urban Idealism in America from the Puritans to the Present

The memory struggle: archives of postmemory in contemporary Korean photography

This essay elucidates works of ‘the generation after’ Korean artists whose photographs reveal crevices of the modern and contemporary history of Korea. Using the medium of photography, Kwon Soon Kwan, Oh Suk Kuhn, An Jung Ju, Im Jong Jin, and Lim Anna look back and take issues with memories of then Korean War and the Gwangju Democratization Movement of May 18. I examine how their postmemory works visualize ghostly presences, dramas of anxiety, bodies as sites for trauma, and consumed and celebrated memories. I analyze ways in which they explore cultural, historical, and political transformations in collective memories based on Marian Hirsch’s theory of postmemory. Their works further pose questions on official records of the past traumatic events that were modified, edited, distorted, and even deleted for political purposes. I claim that, by giving the individual victims permanent presences, their photographic impulse is to recover what is no longer visible in society and history. Photographs in their work are places of lasting return that bring about ghosts that have disappeared in the archive. I argue that focused on the tension between national and individual memories, the artists’ imaginative horizon and creative appropriation recover specific local histories of the political violence embedded in oblivion.

Wait and the Sky Will Change: Anticipation and Revolution in Northeastern Thailand

ABSTRACT“Wait, and the sky will change its color” is a saying that, in Thai, points toward a future that will erase the unbearable present. But what does it mean to wait? In Northeastern Thailand, I explore this experience of holding the present in tension with an uncertain future via examples drawn from religious upheaval, political revolution, and the lives of migrant workers. Waiting on that which never comes, in this context, is neither nihilism nor escapism, but allows for the opening a space of fantasy—the imaginative horizon that allows a rethinking of the everyday. [anticipation, millenarianism, imagination, waiting, migrant labor, Thailand]

Value-dense indexes and the escalation of a Muslim–Christian conflict

ABSTRACT This article discusses an episode of open antagonism and violence that erupted between Orthodox Christians and Muslims in Gondar Ethiopia in 2009. In Gondar, a perceived symbolic attack on the Ark, a holy object with the qualities of the Ark of the Covenant, created an intersubjectively legible and affectively resonant impetus for escalating action. Conventions of Muslim–Christian coexistence appeared to be overturned, resulting in an alternative social (dis)order of open antagonism. I argue that a focus on values, in many cases, can sharpen our understanding of how quantitative change transforms into qualitative change, because such a focus trains our attention on continuous, and changing, fields of affective and conceptual import that frame collective action. Not that values determine action, or that escalations are predictable, but that novel articulations between different values that create new imaginative horizons of action that change the grounds of change. In such periods of escalation, novel courses of action can be framed within, and justified by, conservative value structures. The value relevance of some escalations enables these events to have a lasting, transformative impact.