LINK
︎︎︎RESEARCH DOCUMENT
W.E.I.O. is interested in exploring “Heritage” within
the the field of contemporary arts in the 21st
Century.
Defined by artists who situate themselves
in disparate cultures, this platform offers a study
of the impact of heritage on contemporary art
through the lens
of actor-network theories.
︎︎︎
Actors
This study defines all ‘actors’ as stakeholders who have the ability to shape and influence on one or several creative outcomes simultaneously. Sociologist and anthropologist Bruno Latour claimed “anything that does modify a state of affairs by making a difference is an actor.”1 Actors do not necessarily need to be presented in one definite form but can be elastic instead. Therefore, actors of this project are not limited to humans, but may extend into art, technology, digital communication and cultural groups. This is a key principle of this archive. Despite the notion that some actors are more imminent in this platform, others can be less visible but still important in the pursuit of a new contemporary perspective. The belief of this project is to give an equal amount of attention with agency to all actors. The interactions of actors are being traced impartially, assuming there is no differentiation between the human and material or the social and the natural.2
1. Bruno Latour, Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory, Clarendon Lectures in Management Studies (Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).
2. Jonathan Murdoch, “Towards a Geography of Heterogeneous Associations,” Progress in Human Geography 21 (1997): 321-37.
1. Bruno Latour, Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory, Clarendon Lectures in Management Studies (Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).
2. Jonathan Murdoch, “Towards a Geography of Heterogeneous Associations,” Progress in Human Geography 21 (1997): 321-37.
