Out of Sight, Out of Body: The Sugimoto/Demand Effect

摘要

What is it to imagine that the art object will be able to effect a change upon the subject who is the spectator? Whatever answer we give to this question, I shall argue that it parallels a question asked by Lacan when he reflected on the idea of affect—what is the relation of the signifier to the body? For if we are to pursue the issue theoretically, it will be no use posing questions at the level of how artworks influence our ideas and emotions. We will find that a precise mechanism links the relation of object and spectator and that of signifier and body. It is that of embodiment, and it concerns a particular relation of the subject to puissance. I will show how this relation is unraveled in the work of Thomas Demand and Hiroshi Sugimoto.