Invitation to the Defense of Marc-Alexandre Dumoulin

The Examination Panel is made up of: Doz.Mag.Dr.Assoc.Prof. Axel Stockburger (chair), O.Univ.-Prof.Mag.Dr. Elisabeth von Samsonow (first supervisor), Dr. Stuart Kendall (second supervisor), and Ass.Prof.Dr. Maria Stavrinaki (external appraiser, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne).

Abstract

In my dissertation, I explore the work of Georges Bataille on the prehistoric cave of Lascaux in order to clarify the cave’s place and importance within his œuvre, as well as expand upon Bataille’s understanding of non-discursive experience and its connection to avant-garde conceptions of creativity. In his book, Prehistoric Painting, Lascaux, Or, The Birth of Art, —as well as in the essays and lectures surrounding the book— Bataille makes of the prehistoric cave the symbolic site of our birth. His proposition is that art represents the final step to anthropogenesis: we, as a species, became fully human once we began smearing pigment on cave walls.

To Bataille, art ties in with excess, an activity devoid of use-value rising above matters of necessity or instinct. Freed from the confines of productive activity, the creative act lets free rein to destructive and libidinal impulses, it allows for a symbolic play and reconfiguration of one’s surroundings. He argues that during prehistoric times, this unleashing of impulses created the perfect storm for a surge of symbolic thinking within human consciousness, in the process announcing the beginning of culture. Inside Lascaux, Bataille envisions a new-born consciousness still struggling to separate itself from the animal within.

Because of the broad spectrum of ideas he incorporated inside Lascaux, scholarship on Bataille has generally struggled in properly assessing his writing on the topic; it is an interdisciplinary work that hovers between anthropology, art history and philosophy while also integrating a wide range of Bataille’s own concepts, previously explored in earlier publications. This disciplinary and authorial melting pot has caused confusion as to the work’s merit and place within his œuvre. This is further compounded by a general misunderstanding of prehistory as a concept; of the beginnings of a discipline and the controversies it sparked at the turn of the century. To remedy the situation, sections of this dissertation surveys the history of the concept of prehistory; I explore the early decades following prehistory’s inception, and demonstrate where and when it intertwines with Bataille’s biography, how it influenced him, and the subsequent impact of Lascaux’s discovery on the concept. With those precedents properly articulated and Bataille’s work contextualized within that history, I delve into his conception of non-discursive experience and its connection to artmaking.

Short biography

Marc-Alexandre Dumoulin is a Canadian artist currently living and working in Vienna, Austria. He obtained his Masters of Arts degree (2008) at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London, UK, and his Bachelor of Fine Arts (2006) at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. He has given lectures at the French cultural institute in Athens, Greece, as well as Taxispalais in Innsbruck, and Depot, Vienna. Dumoulin has been exhibited extensively in Austria, notably at the Belvedere 21 in Vienna, and Bildraum Bodensee in Bregenz.
Besides his specialization in inter-war and post-war Parisian Avant-Garde, he is particularly interested in the experiential realm of the creative process, which drives him to continuously sift through the history of art in search of different perspectives on the matter.

The defense presentation will be in English Language and will take place in the Sitzungssaal.

We are looking forward to welcoming you.