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The precarious ecologies of cosmopolitanism
journal contribution
posted on 2015-09-15, 14:28 authored by Marsha MeskimmonMeskimmon contends that cosmopolitanism might be described as a precarious ecology, a state of dynamic exchange
between selves and others, and a corporeal interplay between subjects, objects and ideas in the world. In this sense,
cosmopolitanism is not a finished product, but rather a delicate balance reached during the mutual making of subjects
and worlds, when that making welcomes difference and encourages ethical encounters with others. Turning to specific
works by the artists Joan Brassil, Catherine Bertola and Johanna Hällsten, Meskimmon suggests that one of the ways
that contemporary art can play a role in the creation of the precarious ecologies of cosmopolitanism is through its
ability to evoke in viewers a state of wonder. Meskimmon explores wonder as a precarious, and precious, affective state
that enmeshes us, imaginatively and sensually, with/in the world, and through each of these very different instances she
demonstrates how artwork can participate in the production of a tenuous and attenuated moment of balance, a precarious
ecology, that has the potential to align us through our shared wonder at the open generosity of the world.
History
School
- The Arts, English and Drama
Department
- Arts
Published in
Open Arts JournalVolume
1Issue
1Pages
15 - 25 (10)Citation
MESKIMMIN, M.G., 2013. The precarious ecologies of cosmopolitanism. Open Arts Journal, 1 (1), pp.15-25.Publisher
Open Arts JournalVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/Publication date
2013Notes
This is an Open Access article, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. This article was published in both the Open Arts Journal and the Humanities Research Journal in 2013.ISSN
2050-3679Publisher version
Language
- en