On the Ability to Oscillate Between Near and Far

Dorin Budușan

DOGtime – Unstable Media / Video lecture and publication

The lockdowns prompted by the current pandemic accelerated a process already underway long before this crisis: the increasing mediation of our contact with others through screens. There are good reasons to decry this loss of physicality; certainly, looking at bodies on a screen cannot replace being with them. But certain representations can have physical effects on our own bodies: they can make us blush, give us goosebumps, or excite us. What do these images activate in us? On the Ability to Oscillate Between Near and Far follows these lines of inquiry through concepts rooted in affect theory and queer theory, as well as a range of examples drawn from art history, literature, pop culture and gay porn. The visual essay that runs along with the text offers a parallel way of engaging with these questions, and further emphasises the materiality of images and representations of the body.

The printed publication On the Ability to Oscillate Between Near and Far will be presented in the bookshop of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam later this spring.

Graphic design: Andrei Pastuhov
Bookbinding advice: Katalin Czégényi