James J. Gibson (b. 1904, USA – d. 1979, USA)
Affordance, 1966

Here I am pointing not at any particular publication, but to Gibson’s concept of affordance, first coined in his “The Senses Considered As Perceptual Systems” (1966). The concept has been fine-tuned, developed and reinterpreted by Gibson and his followers – in particular within the ecological psychology field – on numerous occasions, but it essentially points to emerging properties in animal-environment interaction that lend themselves as indicators of what the animal can do in that environment (or in relation to that object).

In my very open-ended and highly explorative-intuitive practice this concept is central. OK, this is a canvas – what does it allow me to do? Smear paint on it? Embroider it? Cut it? Wear it? Wrap things in it?… Same goes for also for more immaterial meaning creation – if I observe this “artwork” – what thoughts does it enable me to think, what feelings does it trigger, what associations can it invoke? Not to mention my explicitly improvisational and participatory works where exploration of the affordances of the given environment or object is at their very core.

Interestingly, Gibson-inspired works have lately been suggesting perception as active and direct, not mediated by sensations, and not divided into separate senses but rather as one system actively searching for meaningful patterns in a global array… totally makes sense the way I see it, and can may inspire new works exploring affordances of that particular proposition.