The gesture as a return to the resistance essence of art

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/aris.92683
Keywords: gesture, capitalism, resistance, contemporary art, Agamben

Abstract

In today's capitalist environment, art has forfeited its potential for resistance. Reinstating this capacity requires a structural detachment from the market. The artistic gesture, as a unique execution of a human body that does not become an object, eludes market capture, since, in the case of the gesture, the work is the very activity of acting. The gesture, as a minimal yet vital component of art not only escapes the gravitational pull of capital but also, by aligning itself with human action, underscores the individual and collective agency of humans to think and act freely. To comprehend the above, it is elucidated how the work/gesture, the artistic gesture, reshapes the concept of a work of art, the role of the artist and the viewer, and the function that the museum must fulfill. Finally, the political and educational potential of the artistic gesture is posited as an exercise that fosters free-thinking practices to sensitize participants to their mutual interdependence and eco-dependence on nature.

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Author Biography

María V. Machado-Penso, Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana UTEM

Architect and Doctor in Architecture from the Universidad de Zulia. Master in Advanced Technologies in Architectural Construction at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Master in Philosophy from the Universidad del Norte. She is currently a professor and researcher at the Universidad de la Costa. Senior Researcher and leader of the ARUCO-CUC Research Group, category A1 MINCIENCIAS. She was a tenured professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Design of the University of Zulia for more than 25 years. She is an international curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Zulia (MACZUL). She has been a guest professor at universities in Spain, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia. He has exhibited his artistic interventions individually and collectively in Colombia, Brazil, Norway, Venezuela, Mexico, and Spain. The results of research on contemporary art and architecture have been published in books and research magazines of international impact such as SpeculaCCiones. Speculative actions in art and architecture from the diversion of consumer objects and What it means to think during the production of the work of art in the series Line-ment of international territorial policy. During 2017 he completed an arts residency at the Casa Vecina headquarters of the Mexico City Historical Center Foundation.

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Published
2024-05-13
How to Cite
Machado-Penso M. V. y Serrano-López F. G. (2024). The gesture as a return to the resistance essence of art. Arte, Individuo y Sociedad, 36(3), 619-627. https://doi.org/10.5209/aris.92683
Issue
Vol. 36 No. 3 (2024)
Section
Articles

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