The queer potential of the abject: The agency of matter and radical negativity in Mona Hatoum's Corps étranger

Autores
Martínez, Ariel; Arévalo, Luciano Nicolás; Gomariz, Tomás; Suzzi, Guillermo Sebastián
Año de publicación
2021
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
We present our thoughts here on British-Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum's Corps étranger (1994), a video-installation consisting of endoscopic images of the inside of the artist's own body projected from beneath the glass floor of a cylindrical booth. In a departure from the social constructionist proposal of Judith Butler, who emphasizes the role normative ideals play in the construction of the body by imposing an imaginary morphological ideal (assigning some parts of the body to a position in a hierarchy while dismissing others), this performative work of art is analyzed in the light of an emerging theoretical field known as New Materialism. Using this perspective, a return to materiality is proposed as a counterpoint to hyper-constructionist queer thought, presented here as inadequate for addressing the complexity of the agency of matter and its relation with meaning. Similarly, and in agreement with criticism of that sector of queer theory which revolves around representation and silences or demonizes materiality and its processes, we suggest connections between material agency and antisocial queer negativity, which some theorists link to the death drive. On the basis of these theoretical connections, we utilize some non-essentialist viewpoints of the body that enable us to see that Hatoum's video-installation confronts us with a corporal dimension which manifests itself as an eruption of matter outside the limits of linguistic mediation. Corps étranger constitutes a potent onto-epistemological resource that brings us closer on the one hand to integrating the agency of matter into the definition of what it is to be human, and on the other, to the recovery of queer theory's potential to make peace with dimensions that cannot be confined to the limits of language.
Fil: Arévalo, Luciano Nicolás. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.
Fil: Martínez, Ariel. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (UNLP-CONICET); Argentina.
Fil: Gomariz, Tomás. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (UNLP-CONICET); Argentina.
Fil: Suzzi, Guillermo Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (UNLP-CONICET); Argentina.
Fuente
Whatever. A Transdisciplinary Journal of Queer Theories and Studies, 4, 487-510. (2021)
ISSN 2611-657X
Materia
Ciencias sociales
Body
Abject
Matter
Presentation
Psychoanalysis
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Repositorio
Memoria Académica (UNLP-FAHCE)
Institución
Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación
OAI Identificador
oai:memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar:snrd:Jpr12686

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repository_id_str 1341
network_name_str Memoria Académica (UNLP-FAHCE)
spelling The queer potential of the abject: The agency of matter and radical negativity in Mona Hatoum's Corps étrangerMartínez, ArielArévalo, Luciano NicolásGomariz, TomásSuzzi, Guillermo SebastiánCiencias socialesBodyAbjectMatterPresentationPsychoanalysisWe present our thoughts here on British-Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum's Corps étranger (1994), a video-installation consisting of endoscopic images of the inside of the artist's own body projected from beneath the glass floor of a cylindrical booth. In a departure from the social constructionist proposal of Judith Butler, who emphasizes the role normative ideals play in the construction of the body by imposing an imaginary morphological ideal (assigning some parts of the body to a position in a hierarchy while dismissing others), this performative work of art is analyzed in the light of an emerging theoretical field known as New Materialism. Using this perspective, a return to materiality is proposed as a counterpoint to hyper-constructionist queer thought, presented here as inadequate for addressing the complexity of the agency of matter and its relation with meaning. Similarly, and in agreement with criticism of that sector of queer theory which revolves around representation and silences or demonizes materiality and its processes, we suggest connections between material agency and antisocial queer negativity, which some theorists link to the death drive. On the basis of these theoretical connections, we utilize some non-essentialist viewpoints of the body that enable us to see that Hatoum's video-installation confronts us with a corporal dimension which manifests itself as an eruption of matter outside the limits of linguistic mediation. Corps étranger constitutes a potent onto-epistemological resource that brings us closer on the one hand to integrating the agency of matter into the definition of what it is to be human, and on the other, to the recovery of queer theory's potential to make peace with dimensions that cannot be confined to the limits of language.Fil: Arévalo, Luciano Nicolás. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.Fil: Martínez, Ariel. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (UNLP-CONICET); Argentina.Fil: Gomariz, Tomás. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (UNLP-CONICET); Argentina.Fil: Suzzi, Guillermo Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (UNLP-CONICET); Argentina.2021info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfhttps://www.memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/art_revistas/pr.12686/pr.12686.pdfWhatever. A Transdisciplinary Journal of Queer Theories and Studies, 4, 487-510. (2021)ISSN 2611-657Xreponame:Memoria Académica (UNLP-FAHCE)instname:Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educacióninstacron:UNLPenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.13131/2611-657X.whatever.v4i1.85info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/2025-09-29T11:58:41Zoai:memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar:snrd:Jpr12686Institucionalhttps://www.memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/Universidad públicahttps://www.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/https://www.memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/oaiserver.cgimemoria@fahce.unlp.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:13412025-09-29 11:58:42.131Memoria Académica (UNLP-FAHCE) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educaciónfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The queer potential of the abject: The agency of matter and radical negativity in Mona Hatoum's Corps étranger
title The queer potential of the abject: The agency of matter and radical negativity in Mona Hatoum's Corps étranger
spellingShingle The queer potential of the abject: The agency of matter and radical negativity in Mona Hatoum's Corps étranger
Martínez, Ariel
Ciencias sociales
Body
Abject
Matter
Presentation
Psychoanalysis
title_short The queer potential of the abject: The agency of matter and radical negativity in Mona Hatoum's Corps étranger
title_full The queer potential of the abject: The agency of matter and radical negativity in Mona Hatoum's Corps étranger
title_fullStr The queer potential of the abject: The agency of matter and radical negativity in Mona Hatoum's Corps étranger
title_full_unstemmed The queer potential of the abject: The agency of matter and radical negativity in Mona Hatoum's Corps étranger
title_sort The queer potential of the abject: The agency of matter and radical negativity in Mona Hatoum's Corps étranger
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Martínez, Ariel
Arévalo, Luciano Nicolás
Gomariz, Tomás
Suzzi, Guillermo Sebastián
author Martínez, Ariel
author_facet Martínez, Ariel
Arévalo, Luciano Nicolás
Gomariz, Tomás
Suzzi, Guillermo Sebastián
author_role author
author2 Arévalo, Luciano Nicolás
Gomariz, Tomás
Suzzi, Guillermo Sebastián
author2_role author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Ciencias sociales
Body
Abject
Matter
Presentation
Psychoanalysis
topic Ciencias sociales
Body
Abject
Matter
Presentation
Psychoanalysis
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv We present our thoughts here on British-Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum's Corps étranger (1994), a video-installation consisting of endoscopic images of the inside of the artist's own body projected from beneath the glass floor of a cylindrical booth. In a departure from the social constructionist proposal of Judith Butler, who emphasizes the role normative ideals play in the construction of the body by imposing an imaginary morphological ideal (assigning some parts of the body to a position in a hierarchy while dismissing others), this performative work of art is analyzed in the light of an emerging theoretical field known as New Materialism. Using this perspective, a return to materiality is proposed as a counterpoint to hyper-constructionist queer thought, presented here as inadequate for addressing the complexity of the agency of matter and its relation with meaning. Similarly, and in agreement with criticism of that sector of queer theory which revolves around representation and silences or demonizes materiality and its processes, we suggest connections between material agency and antisocial queer negativity, which some theorists link to the death drive. On the basis of these theoretical connections, we utilize some non-essentialist viewpoints of the body that enable us to see that Hatoum's video-installation confronts us with a corporal dimension which manifests itself as an eruption of matter outside the limits of linguistic mediation. Corps étranger constitutes a potent onto-epistemological resource that brings us closer on the one hand to integrating the agency of matter into the definition of what it is to be human, and on the other, to the recovery of queer theory's potential to make peace with dimensions that cannot be confined to the limits of language.
Fil: Arévalo, Luciano Nicolás. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.
Fil: Martínez, Ariel. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (UNLP-CONICET); Argentina.
Fil: Gomariz, Tomás. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (UNLP-CONICET); Argentina.
Fil: Suzzi, Guillermo Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (UNLP-CONICET); Argentina.
description We present our thoughts here on British-Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum's Corps étranger (1994), a video-installation consisting of endoscopic images of the inside of the artist's own body projected from beneath the glass floor of a cylindrical booth. In a departure from the social constructionist proposal of Judith Butler, who emphasizes the role normative ideals play in the construction of the body by imposing an imaginary morphological ideal (assigning some parts of the body to a position in a hierarchy while dismissing others), this performative work of art is analyzed in the light of an emerging theoretical field known as New Materialism. Using this perspective, a return to materiality is proposed as a counterpoint to hyper-constructionist queer thought, presented here as inadequate for addressing the complexity of the agency of matter and its relation with meaning. Similarly, and in agreement with criticism of that sector of queer theory which revolves around representation and silences or demonizes materiality and its processes, we suggest connections between material agency and antisocial queer negativity, which some theorists link to the death drive. On the basis of these theoretical connections, we utilize some non-essentialist viewpoints of the body that enable us to see that Hatoum's video-installation confronts us with a corporal dimension which manifests itself as an eruption of matter outside the limits of linguistic mediation. Corps étranger constitutes a potent onto-epistemological resource that brings us closer on the one hand to integrating the agency of matter into the definition of what it is to be human, and on the other, to the recovery of queer theory's potential to make peace with dimensions that cannot be confined to the limits of language.
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021
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info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
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info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://www.memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/art_revistas/pr.12686/pr.12686.pdf
url https://www.memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/art_revistas/pr.12686/pr.12686.pdf
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.13131/2611-657X.whatever.v4i1.85
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
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dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Whatever. A Transdisciplinary Journal of Queer Theories and Studies, 4, 487-510. (2021)
ISSN 2611-657X
reponame:Memoria Académica (UNLP-FAHCE)
instname:Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación
instacron:UNLP
reponame_str Memoria Académica (UNLP-FAHCE)
collection Memoria Académica (UNLP-FAHCE)
instname_str Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación
instacron_str UNLP
institution UNLP
repository.name.fl_str_mv Memoria Académica (UNLP-FAHCE) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación
repository.mail.fl_str_mv memoria@fahce.unlp.edu.ar
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