AFFECT / INTENSITY / CONCEPT - a case study in experimental humanistics

Abstract

The essay will discuss various theories of affect and their transpositions into the domains of speculative philosophy, aesthetics, art theory, media theory, technology, and politics. Affect is assumed and interpreted as a real or imagined force of variant or invariant intensity that acts on the body of a viewer, listener, reader, or participant in an uncertain event. The difference between affect and emotion is elaborated upon. Then, the real or fictionalized connections of affect to sensory, conceptual, and discursive knowledge about the external forceful and intense impact on the body are analyzed and discussed. The author”s intention is to demonstrate and argue that there is no single comprehensive concept of affect, but rather that various speculations about affect, reflections on the experience of affective action, executions of affect as an unnamed intense force, as a named force, and as a concept that can be realized through certain aesthetic and artistic media (Todorović, Thome & Graham, Makavejev, Dreyer), as well as technologies of producing aggressive and violent impact on an individual or a small or large group of individuals, are possible. Special attention is paid to the discussion of differences in the execution of affect in politics, visual arts, music, literature, film, or television. At a general theoretical level, it is characteristic to establish differences between conceptual, discursive, and narrative analysis and discussion of the recognition, identification, and presentation of affect and affective impact. Differences in the experience and interpretation of affect in philosophy (de Spinoza, Deleuze & Guattari), psychoanalysis (Lacan), aesthetics, media theory, and culture (Massumi, Bruno, Ahmed) will be clearly indicated.