Featured Researcher: John Ricco
John Ricco. Source: U of T Mississauga/Christine Shaw
Professor John Ricco is working on a new book project that could shed light on one of human- kind’s most intriguing philosophical questions.
The project, titled The Decision Between Us, focuses on the place of art in the politics and ethics of the society, and ultimately, on whether humans can coexist in ways that are politically and ethically sound.
“Art is inextricably linked with the political and the ethical,” says Ricco. “I wouldn’t argue that they’re the same thing, but I do believe that you cannot think about one without thinking about the other two.”
With the notion that art suggests new ways of engaging in political and ethical relations by doing what the more traditional fields of politics and ethics cannot do, Ricco is studying particular instances in the history of art that have staged relational spaces, which allow us to think of politics and ethics in particular ways.
An example of this “art of participation” is seen in the work of famous artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres, who placed a pile of generic candy in a gallery and invited visitors to take a piece. Through this installation, Gonzalez stages an ethical decision involving the visitors in a collective process but since there are no rules or boundaries to guide them in how to take part in the work, the installation never reaches a conclusion.
Ricco says that by leaving any final decision open and in question, this performative staging encourages viewers to think both individually and collectively about their engagement with the work and in doing so, to form something suggestive about how, for instance, to share a space without anyone feeling the need to claim it as their own.
“Art is an arena where people experience some- thing open-mindedly,” says Michelle Johnson, who with her peer Claudia Ciornei, reads the core texts and discusses them with Ricco as part of her undergraduate Research Opportunity Project. “It can really shed a light on the arenas of politics and ethics.”
Tags: Arts, Arts & Culture, Featured Researcher, John Ricco, UTM
I am writing a book about the sixties culture – a time when the arts were flourishing.
I’d love to get in contact with you to hear about some of your ideas on the sixties.
Don´t you think, that art, next to ethics, collapses when the presuppositions of metaphisics have been surpassed? Nobody belives today, that one can understand the universe, and that there is the universe; moreover, there are very few (very powerful people), who support the idea of significance, so useful to hold their ground. Others, millions and millions just migrate.