The Nature of the Body, the Body of Nature: Perception, Space and Ontology in Contemporary Art
Abstract
This study aims to examine the ontological relationship between nature, the body, and art through contemporary art practices. By adopting a qualitative research method, works are analyzed by establishing an ontological theoretical foundation centered on Martin Heidegger's concept of being, Maurice Merleau-Ponty's theory of bodily perception, Gernot Böhme's approach defining nature as a living essence, and Meyer Howard Abrams’s philosophy of art. In the study, the representation of nature and the body is examined through the works of Olafur Eliasson, Ana Mendieta, Anselm Kiefer, Ursula von Rydingsvard, and Kiki Smith, who render the ontological orientation of contemporary art visible through perceptual spatial constructs, body-nature unity, layers of memory, organic forms, and bodily traces. The findings indicate that contemporary art treats nature as an existential phenomenon and that the relationship humans establish with nature creates a field of aesthetic and ethical awareness. By addressing the nature-body-art relationship within an ontological framework, the study contributes to the debates in contemporary art literature with an original perspective. Thus, it is demonstrated that art deepens the idea of co-existing with nature through bodily experience, and opens up a new space of awareness regarding being for the viewer.
Keywords
Nature , Body , Ontology , Phenomenology , Contemporary Art
Kaynakça
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