glossary

Antinomies – refer to mutually exclusive beliefs or conclusions. Antinomies can be self-contradictions or paradoxical statements.

Asynchrony – the absence or lack of concurrence of time.

Bollixed – to bollix is to throw things in disorder and is not considered offensive in American English in comparison to ‘bollocks’. In the text ‘Notes on the Gallery Space’ he literally just means the art world gets thrown into confusion in the process.

Cartesian paradox – in reference to the mind-body problem addressed by Rene Descartes, also known as dualism. Descartes developed a method known as the Method of Cartesian Doubt where he didn't accept anything as true if there is the slightest possibility that it isn't. He eventually came to the conclusion that something that doesn't exist, doesn't have thoughts - "I think, therefore I am" - as long as you have some thought or sensation, it is impossible to doubt that you exist. From this he proposes the idea that your mind is separate from the body and interacts with it which comes with a whole lot of problems such as how a non-physical things can affect and interact and produce changes in a physical one.

Colour Field - the term colour field painting is applied to the work of abstract painters working in the 1950s and 1960s characterized by large areas of a more or less flat single colour. The term was originally applied to the work from about 1950 of three American abstract expressionist painters Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still.

Concatenation - the action of linking things together in a series; a series of interconnected things. 

Coulisses – a term used in theatre production to refer to a section of stage scenery placed in the wing of a theatre through which the actors can enter or exit.

Desiderata – in other words; requirement, prerequisite, essential.

Hermeneutics - branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation.

Iconoclasm - literally means "icon-breaking", and refers to the destruction of images or hostility towards visual representations in general.

Lebensraum - the territory which a state or nation believes is needed for its natural development.

Neoliberalism - since the 1990's activists have used the word neoliberalism for global market liberalism and for free-trade policies and is often used interchangeably with 'globalisation'. It is promoted as the mechanism for global trade and investment supposedly for all nations to prosper and develop fairly and equitably.

Paradigms – a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns.

Perambulating – to perambulate is to walk through, about or over; to travel through and traverse the myriad of paintings exhibited in the space.

Philistinism - derogatory term which describes a specific social attitude of undervaluing and despising art, beauty, spirituality and intellect. A philistine person is someone who indicates a lack of and indifference to cultural and aesthetic values.

Recalcitrant – hard to deal with, manage, or operate.

Repoussoir – from the French verb meaning to push back. Used as a term to describe a painting technique which uses illusionistic devices such as the placement of a large figure or object in the immediate foreground of a composition to increase the illusion of depth in the picture. This method of establishing spatial depth in paintings is characteristic of 17th century Dutch artworks and is still used in landscape painting and is influential in photography.

Taxonomic - taxonomy is the practice and science of classification.

Teleological - the philosophical doctrine that final causes, design, and purpose exist in nature. Teleology has the basic meaning of the study of ends and purposes.

Tropism – its dictionary definition is ‘the ability of an organism to direct itself towards a stimulus. As an art movement tropism both literally and figuratively moves in the direction of a stimulus. Tropism wants to move and lead the spectator towards participation in, and interaction with the perception that is being presented.

Vagaries – a vagary is an unexpected and inexplicable change in a situation or in someone’s behaviour.

Vicissitudes – is the alternation between opposite or contrasting things or a change in circumstance which in the text can be read as an unpleasant change in circumstance brought about by time as works of art hung up in white gallery spaces are not to be touched in order to preserve its painted surface.

Zeitgeist – a compound of two German, words zeit, which means time and geist, which means spirit. When used in association with the modern movement, it means spirit of the times; the prevailing or dominant set of beliefs and ideals and attitudes in a particular period of time. In the text however, he capitalizes the word, turning it into a proper noun, making it seem like he’s referencing a metaphysical entity – like God or a Spirit which directs the course of human events.