Aesthetics and Philosophy of Space and Visual Art

Dear Colleagues,

Henri Lefebvre’s “Production of Space” and Homi K. Bhabha's “Third Space” were the last great theories on the concept of space. Here, we need to have another take on the current political implications, as well as cross-national networking activities that are linked to the concepts of cultural constructions and postcolonial discourses as a subject that requires further articulation and how these fields of critical inquiry are interrelated, and then what would be the critical reaction to today’s digital offerings in their wider context.

It was in 1993 that the Internet became available worldwide, and, in this sense, it marks its 30th anniversary this year. We want to take this as an opportunity to explore the question of an updated concept of space. Spatial concepts that follow territorially marked localizations (continents, nations, regions, cities, GPS locations, etc.) are at the same time perforated and penetrated by a medial space that initially mediated itself as a virtual parallel universe independent of spatial boundaries, only to merge inseparably with the former counterpart in everyday life structured by telecommunication.

With the experience of being globally locatable, available, and accessible at any place, a regime of temporal presence has unfolded as a quality immanent to the notion of space, defining the present and the presence itself as spatial figures. This form of presence is not so much a temporal figure that is able to assert itself between a past and a future, but rather a residence for which the particular IP address is crucial, independent of the meaning previously associated with sites and spaces. It is this present and presence as their occupying places that is made the subject of this issue, exploring the breaking points, incompatibilities, and conflicts with political and territorial simultaneities.

This is not simply a matter of recognising the potentialities and possibilities of describing such different spaces or spaces of difference that manifest the thresholds of the "new" existential mappings regarding cultural visibility and/or invisibility. Furthermore, temporary mediation systems are at play, contributing to multiplicities of subject-positions through opening a discursive space by creating a complex mode of production site.

How does the spontaneous actualisation of “spatio-temporal dynamisms” occur? Additionally, does “here and now” relate to spatial/temporal disjuncture within and across cultural boundaries?

Dr. Gulsen Bal
Dr. Andreas Spiegl
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Arts is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.