Expanded Visions

Abstract

The dialogues and engagements between the fields of anthropology and contemporary art emerging over the last decades have been increasingly nuanced, provocative and insightful. They are also interestingly elusive. As an anthropologist who has long been drawn to incorporating elements of artistic practice into my own research, I still struggle with defining such work — is it art or anthropology, or something else entirely? For all my efforts to situate my own practice within a distinct disciplinary framework (art – anthropology?), it is still not entirely clear to me how to articulate this framework, where exactly it belongs. Plenty of artists and anthropologists now collaborate or borrow ideas from each other and apply them to their own work, whether this involves filmmaking or exhibition-making or social practice. But most of these projects are still classified ultimately as either art or anthropology, leaving insufficient space to explore the subtleties of their intertwined relationship. Such readings leave these works in a bind: categorized as art, they often are accused of falling short of “ proper ” anthropology; categorized as anthropology, they often are dismissed as bad art. Where is the sweet spot of convergence, that enigmatic ground where both art and anthropology can co-exist, each on their own terms but also in genuine correspondence with one another? The field has now developed to a point where the space between these two arenas has sharper focus but is still in flux, not quite fleshed out to its full potential. Arnd Schneider ’ s most recent book, Expanded Visions , adds another integral component to this evolving scaffolding, examining the configurations of “ consilience ” that arise when these two realms come into contact (a space he refers to as “ art – ethnography ” ). From experimental filmmaking practices to the social dynamics of film production, Schneider engages with a diverse set of examples, delving into the theoretical implications of such work within contemporary anthropology.