Aesthetics and Anthropology

This book focuses on the reconfiguration of aesthetic anthropology into an anthropological problem of cogitation, opening up a fascinating new dialogue between the domains of anthropology, philosophy, and art. Tarek Elhaik embarks on an inquiry composed of a series of cogitations based on fieldwork in an ecology of artistic and scientific practices: from conceptual art exhibitions to architectural environments; from photographic montages to the videotaping of spirit seances; and from artistic interventions in natural history museums to ongoing dialogues between performance artists and marine scientists. The chapters examine the image-work, ethical demands, and aesthetic struggles of interlocutors including artists Mathias Goeritz, Mounir Fatmi, Silvia Gruner, Joan Jonas, and Patricia Lagarde.

Tarek Elhaik is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Davis, USA, and the author of The Incurable Image: Curating Post-Mexican Film and Media Arts (Edinburgh U. Press, 2016). He is also the founder of AIL: Anthropology Image Lab.

Preface; Prelude: The Cogitator; 1 The Art of Cogitation; 2 Mathias Goeritz / Concrete Abstractions; 3 Silvia Gruner / Desperate Playfulness; 4 Mounir Fatmi / Cerebral Compositions; 5 Patricia Lagarde / A Naturalist's Blues; 6 Marine Cogitations; References