Jeanne Constantin: Talking to the Sublime
6 March 2019
The Glasgow School of Art
Glasgow, UK
Since it was first identified in Longinus’s Peri Hypsous in the 1st century AD, the concept of ‘the sublime’ has come to signify something supreme and virtuous beyond the scope of understanding; an event or entity with incomprehensible power; that which cannot be seen but which we nonetheless seek to capture and express, often in vain. The human pursuit of showing the unshown has taken many paths - the Romantics sought to invoke nature’s magnitude through artistic means, while physicists at CERN seek to illustrate the so-called ‘god particle,’ proving the existence of an invisible energy field throughout the universe.
Meanwhile, from a poststructuralist view, the task of mediating knowledge through representational forms lessens our direct engagement with the material world. We are left to wonder whether the Infinite can ever be quantified and understood through self-reflective language.
In Talking to the Sublime (2018), Jeanne Constantin attempts an unmediated interaction with the intangible. Reversing the predominantly male Romantic trope, Constantin conveys her thoughts into nature through a performative process rather than venturing to speak on its behalf. She records a secret message addressed to the sublime using MAX/MSP software, which converts the sound of her voice into a sequence of decibels. She then applies a self-invented law to the decibel value which reconstitutes them as a series of arm motions. Using the physical self to ‘conduct’ her thoughts, Constantin demonstrates a will to engage the notion of magnitude at its most material level.
List of works:
Jeanne Constantin, Test dialogue #1: Talking to the Sublime, 2018, two channel video (3:31min).
Jeanne Constantin, Mind map of David Abram’s ‘The Spell of the Sensuous,’ 2018.
Jeanne Constantin, This particular moment, 2018.
Found video (11.15min) ‘John Kiernan’s Kaleidoscope: Ultrasounds.’ Almanac Films, 1950.
Found video (1.58min). Various states of matter affected by sound waves.
6 March 2019
The Glasgow School of Art
Glasgow, UK
Since it was first identified in Longinus’s Peri Hypsous in the 1st century AD, the concept of ‘the sublime’ has come to signify something supreme and virtuous beyond the scope of understanding; an event or entity with incomprehensible power; that which cannot be seen but which we nonetheless seek to capture and express, often in vain. The human pursuit of showing the unshown has taken many paths - the Romantics sought to invoke nature’s magnitude through artistic means, while physicists at CERN seek to illustrate the so-called ‘god particle,’ proving the existence of an invisible energy field throughout the universe.
Meanwhile, from a poststructuralist view, the task of mediating knowledge through representational forms lessens our direct engagement with the material world. We are left to wonder whether the Infinite can ever be quantified and understood through self-reflective language.
In Talking to the Sublime (2018), Jeanne Constantin attempts an unmediated interaction with the intangible. Reversing the predominantly male Romantic trope, Constantin conveys her thoughts into nature through a performative process rather than venturing to speak on its behalf. She records a secret message addressed to the sublime using MAX/MSP software, which converts the sound of her voice into a sequence of decibels. She then applies a self-invented law to the decibel value which reconstitutes them as a series of arm motions. Using the physical self to ‘conduct’ her thoughts, Constantin demonstrates a will to engage the notion of magnitude at its most material level.
List of works:
Jeanne Constantin, Test dialogue #1: Talking to the Sublime, 2018, two channel video (3:31min).
Jeanne Constantin, Mind map of David Abram’s ‘The Spell of the Sensuous,’ 2018.
Jeanne Constantin, This particular moment, 2018.
Found video (11.15min) ‘John Kiernan’s Kaleidoscope: Ultrasounds.’ Almanac Films, 1950.
Found video (1.58min). Various states of matter affected by sound waves.