Since I started the Master Degree in Technology and Aesthetics of Electronic Arts of the National University of Tres de Febrero (Buenos Aires, Argentina), I developed the research "Lithological certainties, Analogies and horizontalities between rocks and humans from the electronic arts." Under the direction of Mg. Ana Laura Cantera.
This thesis was defended in November 2020.
Link to thesis website
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ABSTRACT
In this research the mineral materiality is investigated from various facets: physical, philosophical, poetic, territorial, historical, artistic and utilitarian, thus inquiring about the real and symbolic relationships that the mineral as a foundational element maintains with humans. We are then able to reflect on the asymmetric binomial human/nature, human/mineral and trace a possible empathy towards the non-organic objects that surround us. It‘s purpose is to develop a perspective that promotes respect, interest and affection towards the prehistoric materials that coexist with us.
Through the creation of a series of art pieces that involve minerals and technology, a line of work and thought was developed, where rocks as agents express their capacities through an electronic device as a manifestation of this Anthropocentric Era. Identifying mineral multiple capacities, allows us to place ourselves in a lithocentrist territory, manifesting a poetic, from the innate vitality of its materiality.
How can this paradigm impact in the Electronic Arts field? It was necessary to collect and agglomerate works and thoughts related, to create a research area where artistic practices that involve minerals in conjunction with technology from a litho-empathic point-of-view can be gathered. This art field is called LithoTechArt.
This thesis is derived from the fundamentals and concepts inherited from rocks, analyzing the character, and thinking of this primitive material as a starting point. The rock is presented as an uninhabitable territory, its individuality is invisible in everyday life.
Then, the links between the rock and the human are developed, from anthropomorphisms to technology productions. These postulations are connected with the passage of time in humans and in minerals, this factor allows the vital capacity to manifest, raising the possibility of mineral expression. In the end, the survival capacity of the rocks unfolds, adapting and remaining, recovering and regenerating aptitudes and abilities, as well as possible certainties that arise from them.
Keywords
art, nature, rock, mineral, geology, horizontality, lithocentrism, anthropocentrism, resilience, lithotechart, time of nature, lithological cycle, vital matter, materialities, human and rock, electronic arts.