This research project is an investigation into the creation of enchanted spaces within contemporary art.
The aim of the research is to investigate and identify a particular form of self-reflexive Enchantment emerging within contemporary art. This overtly fictitious form of Enchantment parallels and extends current philosophical discourse which theorises that there is a panoply of new secular stratagems emerging to re-enchant a disenchanted world in the wake of the void left by divinity.
The artists cited in this project locate their practice in explicit and intimate concepts of desire predicated upon sexuality and identity. This ensures that their collective approach is one of pleasure and as a corollary non-critical and deliriously celebratory. Working from a position of love, a form of enchantment emerges which is remarkable in that it concurrently inspires wonder and veracity.
The hypothesis for the research is that fictions of intimacy within contemporary art are explicit expressions of desire that variously contravene dominant aesthetic and cultural ideologies as a corollary performing an emancipatory function.
The research is motivated by a decidedly earthly intoxication for the ‘hyper-femme’. This particular form of ‘conspicuous femininity’ often engenders uncomfortable responses in audiences and prompts speculation concerning appropriate levels of sexual expression.
Pivotal to resolving this research is the investment of the artwork with identifiable qualities of enchantment such as wonder, delight and joy. For this presentation I will review progress to date including explorations concerning fantasy and the methodologies utilised to affect transformation.