Space and art work in Heidegger and Gadamer

Abstract

Within the philosophical writings of Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer, this paper will consider an issue that remains salient to contemporary aesthetics: the tight relationship that not uncommonly establishes itself between a work of art and its place: the physical environment for which it was originally intended and to which it would belong. In this context, the concept of original place carries with it - equal measure - the idea of original destination, where the “why” and the “whither” of a work are identifi ed. The relationship between architecture, space, and works of art thus reveal themselves in all of their complexity. The thematization of this question in the works of these two thinkers - that considered the interdependency among a work of art, its time, and its space - raised considerations which are extremely meaningful and have current value, capable of shedding light on diverse threads ofthe language of contemporary art, particularly those which face the challenge of acting directly on their environment, such as installations and the works ofLand-Art. To affect and be affected by its space and its time is, from the perspective of the work of art, the true enigma that serves as the foundation for this discussion.