Convivencia
This digital text, Convivencia, is an exploration into interculturality in contemporary culture and the interplay of context, complexity and connectivity and has been prepared as part of the assessment for MA Intercultural Practices at Central Saint Martins, University of Arts London. It reflects my awareness of being part of a community and contains stories that illustrate my experience on this journey.
It focuses on the aesthetic experience and influence of the visual arts but from a broader multidisciplinary form of inquiry, acknowledging that some forms cultural production do not fit easily within specific categories of the arts and knowledge.
…aesthetic experience is a been of sensation and knowledge such that we may almost feel thought itself (“scientism sensitive quid cognoscenti”)
Quoted in Guyer, Paul (1711-35). “The Origins of Modern Aesthetics,” in The Blackwell Guide to Aesthetics, ed. Peter Kivy, 15-44. London: Blackwell, 2004, p 15.
Convivencia’s approach illuminates the role of law and legal, economic, sociological and environmentalism discourse in the creation and maintenance of systems and in mediating tensions between systems that support capitalism and creative and artistic production.
It seeks to understand and articulate the relationship between market supremacy, economic inequality, capitalism, the devaluation of creativity and culture creation and ecological degradation; and to explore the distinctive way the law gives shape to and legitimises the increasing power of capitalism and economic theories and principles over creative forces. These understandings form the basis of my aesthetic production as an artist.
You will also find a bibliography of a unique collection of source materials (images of art, moving image art, artist and curator talks and interviews, articles, readers, books and websites) to support and guide an artist’s journey of critical intercultural self-reflection of their place in the world as a cultural creator.
The author
Sarah Rainbird is a lawyer, artist and social change critic and agent based in Australia. Sarah is currently undertaking an MA Intercultural Practices, Central Saint Martins, University of Arts London, a practice-based inquiry between spaces, places, and disciplines where study on the course prioritises making, action research and intercultural dialogue on global themes.
Thank you
I would like to acknowledge and express my sincerest gratitude to Dr Marsha Bradfield, Program Director for MA Intercultural Practices whose has helped me navigate all things intercultural, transcultural and multicultural. Marsha’s suggested resources, insights and artistic production form the foundation for this text and provide unending inspiration for my own thoughts and artistic practice.