Myvanwy Gibson | Royal College of Art (original) (raw)

Theses by Myvanwy Gibson

THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS, 2023

I am interested in the possibility of an 'Anthropononcentric' Art. Through my practice-based rese... more I am interested in the possibility of an 'Anthropononcentric' Art. Through my practice-based research I have taken the position that technology , as an intelligence created by mankind, only holds the potential to recreate a continuous cycle of 'human being', rather than the possibility of a 'human becoming'. I propose that technology is a reflection of who we are, whilst it is nature that holds the knowledge of who we can become. This becoming is central to the concepts in my work. The aim and specific methodology in my practice is to not simulate or represent nature, rather it is nature that employs the human and their technologies to present itself. The research project The Language of Birds is underpinned by this theory, the aim of the project being to reveal the hidden language of birds-in art practice via translating their sound language into visual artforms; and in research via investigating the philosophical idea of 'the language of the birds' as a magical language that communicates with the initiated.

This thesis takes the position that an evolution of self consciousness (what I will call 'third p... more This thesis takes the position that an evolution of self consciousness (what I will call 'third person being' ) is a creative act in the process of social evolution, and that the very nature of reality demonstrates how this evolution can take place.

So why 'the tautology of virtual reality' ?

This thought allows us to enquire into the nature of reality. To enquire into the nature of reality we must distinguish between
physical reality and immaterial (non-physical) reality. One could say that physical reality is that which is constrained by physics or physical laws, and Immaterial reality pertains to what is not constrained by physical laws, e.g: concepts such as ‘character’ and ‘mind’.
So if one takes the general definition of virtual as being the immaterial, and the general definition of reality to be the quality or state of being material, then, it would normally be considered that 'virtual reality' is an oxymoron, would it not?
However, if one looks at it from a completely different angle, (180 degrees let's say) one could begin to consider that both sides are really different aspects of the one thing. That one cannot exist without the other, and that in fact they are complementary rather than opposing concepts.

Therefore, the notion of virtual reality could be in fact, a tautology. This notion then describes the idea that 'reality' and ‘virtuality’ are two sides of the one thing, and that they reinforce each other by being. There is no reality without non-reality, there is no non-reality without reality.
The underlying principle behind this concept is the principle of the unity of opposites. And, it is this inherent principle that allows for the evolution in consciousness .

Touching on the processes by which human communication, culture, and political/critical consciou... more Touching on the processes by which human communication, culture, and political/critical consciousness are created, the focus of the thesis is the creative relationship between human and non human intelligences in the making of art, in an attempt to begin to explore knowledges of 'inanimate' makers of the world. I reason that as technology is a manmade intelligence, it is therefore a human intelligence, and that this has many potentialities in the making of art and the subsequent discourse around it. However, I propose that there is possibly a greater potential for 'becoming' via also collaborating with and understanding the creative potential of intelligences not made by man. The intelligences of nature, that are laws unto their own. Intelligences that can offer a specific perspective into our own thinking- i.e. a point of view that might enable us to see the partiality of human agency.

chapbook by Myvanwy Gibson

‘And eight black horses rode below my window’ is a small collection of poetry exploring the of th... more ‘And eight black horses rode below my window’ is a small collection of poetry exploring the of themes of fear, lust, loathing and love whilst revolving around the ideas about evolution of consciousness, the non-anthropocentric and the move away from the taxonomy of identity towards sexual disidentification.

Papers by Myvanwy Gibson

Academia Letters, 2021

My practice as an Artist is an aesthetic experimentation of a way of thinking based on a nonhiera... more My practice as an Artist is an aesthetic experimentation of a way of thinking based on a nonhierarchical ontology. Thinking in a dialectical way I acknowledge the opposite or inversion of anthropocentrism, with the aim to arrive at a point of unity beyond 'human and the other'. Having attended the 'New Tendencies in Land & Environmental Art: Horizontal-Vertical Symposium' in Tenna, Switzerland, 1 in which critical attention was paid to the notion of the reorientation (both literally and metaphorically) of Land Art-I proposed a series of works to be presented and reflected upon during the course of the Land Art Biennial Art Safiental. I was intrigued by the challenge of trying to bring to life 'anthropononcentric art' 2 (Figure 1) in the environment of the Swiss Alps, and was particularly interested in attending due to my research into the horizontal and vertical axis both in practice and ontological theory. Thinking about Land Art In her presentation during the Symposium, Hanna Hölling discussed the history of the concept of landscape, making a point that inspired the works I ultimately created. As described by her, 'the '-scape' in landscape derives from the old english 'skipe' and is related to the word 1 https://alpsartacademy.ch/aaa2018/ 2 Myvanwy Gibson, An Anthropononcentric art.

The Hegelian Dialectic is often presented in a threefold manner comprising three stages of develo... more The Hegelian Dialectic is often presented in a threefold manner
comprising three stages of development. It is not, as many people believe, the thesis-antithesis-synthesis model that he used however (thesis, giving rise to its reaction - antithesis, which contradicts or negates the thesis - synthesis coming about via the tension between the two) . The terminology Hegel used was abstract-negative-concrete.
For Hegel the thesis-antithesis-synthesis formula left an important question unanswered as it did not explain why the thesis required an antithesis. The formula abstract-negative-concrete however, suggests an incompleteness in any initial thesis, leaving open the possibility of the movement that is needed if there is to be advancement. This is due to abstract being what it is: abstract. Abstract lacks the negative of trial, error and experience. For Hegel, the Concrete (which he also referred
to as the Absolute ) must always pass through the phase of the Negative - it must go through this process of mediation to continue the journey to completion - to its synthesis.

These are the speeches presented at the international congress of the International Association o... more These are the speeches presented at the international congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA), held at the Department of Psychology of the University of Vienna from August 29th to September 1st, 2016 and presented again at the Brera Academy. Milan on November 21st.
The research, in particular, those presented in the "Art and Science" section (see the texts of Gibson, Antignani, Secondin and Nanni), are contributions that start from the work, that is from the implicit "high-low" synthesis of which they are the result. Unusual contributions through which we are trying to expand the art-science debate through the artistic practice. An approach that we hope will find a space that it currently does not have. As is well known, the debate between art and science is almost monopolized by disciplines and specialists who have little or nothing to do with artistic production. Our proposal is aimed to bring to the attention of an audience of specialists, the point of view of those who engage in artistic practice, that is, those who try to make art. A practice that can not be limited to the mere acknowledgment of methodological questions, but research criteria and operational methods in the living of research on art.

Discussion on a series of works created at a residency in Switzerland, in the context of new tend... more Discussion on a series of works created at a residency in Switzerland, in the context of new tendencies in Land Art.

Technology as it is used in common parlance in contemporary society denotes a monumental wave of ... more Technology as it is used in common parlance in contemporary society denotes a monumental wave of both objects and concepts, manifested and futuristic: the internet, the phones, the computers, nanotech, biotech, self-modification, augmented reality, virtual reality etc. and this wave has been a huge force in how art has developed, impacting even on the notion of what art is. Not only via the intellectual and creative friction it created within science and art, which could be said to be the two major cultural discourses, but also via that fact that it’s presence exacerbated the infighting in the artworld itself between modernist and postmodernist discourse.

Consciousness Reframed Congress. Shanghai 2016, 2016

This paper is part of my research and enquiry into the creative relationship I have with with tec... more This paper is part of my research and enquiry into the creative relationship I have with with technology in the making of art. The act of being of the artist, enquiring into the being of the machine.
Touching on the processes by which human communication, culture, and political/critical consciousness are created, the focus of the paper is the creative relationship between human and non human intelligences in the making of art, in an attempt to begin to explore the knowledge of the non-human makers of the world.
The pivotal point of the argument is my reasoning that technology sits in the camp of human intelligence, therefore the non-human makers I refer to are intelligences beyond those that are man-made.
I reason that technology (as a man-made intelligence) has an enormous potential to reflect the human condition. However to really see that condition requires an alternative perspective. Without it, we recreate and reproduce, like eternal visual feedback, a continuous cycle of human being. I propose that there is possibly a greater potential for human 'becoming' via collaborating with, and understanding the creative potential of intelligences that offer a non-anthropocentric point of view -looking to the intelligences within Nature that are laws unto their own enabling us to possibly grasp the partiality of human agency.

International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA) Congress. New York 2014, 2014

It would normally be considered that ‘virtual reality’ is an oxymoron. If however we look at this... more It would normally be considered that ‘virtual reality’ is an oxymoron. If however we look at this from a completely different angle, we could consider that they, the virtual and the real, are different aspects of the one thing, that one cannot exist without the other, and that they are complementary, rather than opposing concepts. Therefore ‘virtual reality’ could be described as a tautology, a grammatical figure often used to reinforce the noun described by the adjective - and so it is here, because as completely opposing concepts they create each other by being. These artworks propose that it is the synthesis of diametrically opposed views that enables an evolutionary perspective, and paradoxically, that it takes this perspective to synthesize these views.

My practice at this time explored the universal principle that claims to explain transformation ... more My practice at this time explored the universal principle that claims to explain transformation - the unity of opposites. Via researching the physics of mirroring and the concepts of dualism and polarity, I discovered the use of transparent support (plexiglass) for painting. This material enabled me to come closer to materially realizing my sensory perceptions, and also to visually articulating the thoughts I had on consciousness and reality. The artworks were presented to the viewer on the opposite side to that which I had painted, and so from the point of view of the artist, the viewer sees the painting as one would in a mirror (a front-back reversal, along the depth axis).

The sublation of the seer and the seen leads to 'the aesthetic'.

Presentations by Myvanwy Gibson

Curatorial Proposal for Bi-personal Show 2018

XXIV. Conference of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. University of Vienna, Austria, 2016

At this time my practice was exploring a central category of Dialectics - the principle of the Un... more At this time my practice was exploring a central category of Dialectics - the principle of the Unity of Opposites, one of the dialectical laws through which change is understood.
Via researching the physics of mirroring and the concepts of dualism and polarity, I discovered a visual language using transparent support in my work. This enabled me to visually articulate what I like to call the dialectical consciousness.

Talks by Myvanwy Gibson

My studies have given me an in-depth understanding of the helical relationship between practical ... more My studies have given me an in-depth understanding of the helical relationship between practical and analytical research, and I have written theses and many papers translating the ideas that come through my practice. These theories continue to inform my practice today,
which I would say, is an ongoing aesthetic experimentation of a way of thinking based on a non-hierarchical ontology.