Introduction to the dossier “Poetics of Involvement”: artistic practice against cosmophobic subliminalienation

Abstract

This article presents the conceptual proposal and the structure of the dossier “Poetics of Involvement,” discussing the power of artistic practice as a tool of resistance and connection in the face of contemporary aesthetic disconnection. Based on a theoretical diagnosis that defines sublimalienation as a perceptual anesthesia resulting from the distance and speed of image flows, the concept of cosmoinvolvement is proposed as a counter-colonial tactic of engagement with the world. The theoretical-methodological framework articulates the counter-colonial thinking of Antônio Bispo dos Santos, the relational worldings of Donna Haraway's Chthulucene, and the phenomenological presentness of Robert Morris—the latter re-signified as expanded presentness through the contribution of Yuk Hui's technodiversity. Finally, it presents the organization of the twenty-one contributions published in this dossier, divided into four thematic axes: involvement with other beings, involvement with spaces, involvement with technicalities, and translation as involvement.