Abstract
The research project “Figures of Touch” is an interdisciplinary
project deploying epistemic interests of media studies, art research,
aesthetics, philosophy, and medical anthropology. It addresses the
relations between the arts, body and society in a new way by analysing
the transformation of the cultural status of touching that cuts through
multiple levels, e.g. due to ubiquitous computing. In terms of our
research this shift constitutes a multifaceted research challenge with
aesthetic, ethical and methodological aspects.
Our approach will be guided by the ‘pathic’ moment of touching, by
which we refer to touch as the sense of being exposed and affectable.
From the normally ignored ‘pathic’ point of view, the sense of touch is
relational, situational and inherently heterogeneous. It also exceeds
the tactile order: to touch is always also to be touched, moved in the
whole of one’s being. As a ‘pathic sense’ touch potentially subverts
dichotomies, such as mind/body, theory/praxis, intelligible/sensible
and thus challenges established regimes of knowledge and art forms. The
‘pathic’ orientation of our research enables significantly
new and productive ways of cross relating the questions concerning
sensuous, ethical, clinical and technological aspects of touching.
Consequently, the project has great relevance in terms of its extensive
implications well beyond its explicit topics.
The research project investigates the sense of touch and the
transformation of its significance in regard to the culturally
established mind/body order and the institutional order of higher
education. From the ‘pathic’ point of view these are essentially
interrelated.
In terms of actual research processes, the research consists of
conceptual mapping of the ‘pathic’ sense of touch and of introducing,
analyzing and demonstrating concrete figures of touching, such as
sensuous difference, tactful art research, touch from a distance, and
the untouchable. This is done on multiple levels in the contexts of
media studies, philosophy, art research and medical anthropology. It is
our objective to give a rich and legible image of the cultural
significance of touch today.
