Lived and lost spaces: a study on the use of personal space in contemporary art

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1819847 (Table of Contents)

Personal space is a frequently referenced entity in contemporary artwork in various contexts and through a variety of media. This paper establishes personal/private space and its loss as the main point of discussion for selected contemporary artworks which amplify these issues. The context of personal space in this paper is the one defined in the discourses of Bachelard and de Certeau; the indoor domestic space in which one finds comfort, feels belonging, performs everyday rituals and continuously confirms their sense of self. Throughout this paper, contemporary artists, with a focus mainly on Sarkis, Rachel Whiteread, and Do Ho Suh are analyzed based on their representations of personal space; their varying methods are identified in their approaches towards the issues of homesickness, belonging and identity. This paper finds that the re-creation of space is a shared method between the aforementioned artists’ selected works. Each artist is identified re-creating space through whichever medium as best serves the process of catharsis. The effects and intentions of the selected works of the mentioned contemporary artists are compared with each other and with the author’s own works.