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    The Paradox of Unconventional Affordances: Marc Slors

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    Jacopo Frascaroli
    1) Works of art like those discussed can offer new unconventional affordances that challenge established norms and practices. 2) In contrast to conventional affordances which we respond to automatically through enculturation, unconventional affordances must be imposed on audiences through artistic interventions that disrupt normal practices. 3) Paradoxically, it is this imposition of unconventional affordances through art that allows audiences to freely reflect on and relate to them, rather than being coerced into responding in a certain way.

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    The Paradox of Unconventional Affordances: Marc Slors

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    Jacopo Frascaroli
    7 views3 pages
    1) Works of art like those discussed can offer new unconventional affordances that challenge established norms and practices. 2) In contrast to conventional affordances which we respond to automatically through enculturation, unconventional affordances must be imposed on audiences through artistic interventions that disrupt normal practices. 3) Paradoxically, it is this imposition of unconventional affordances through art that allows audiences to freely reflect on and relate to them, rather than being coerced into responding in a certain way.

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    1059712321989100

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    1) Works of art like those discussed can offer new unconventional affordances that challenge established norms and practices. 2) In contrast to conventional affordances which we respond to automatically through enculturation, unconventional affordances must be imposed on audiences through artistic interventions that disrupt normal practices. 3) Paradoxically, it is this imposition of unconventional affordances through art that allows audiences to freely reflect on and relate to them, rather than being coerced into responding in a certain way.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    7 views3 pages

    The Paradox of Unconventional Affordances: Marc Slors

    Uploaded by

    Jacopo Frascaroli
    1) Works of art like those discussed can offer new unconventional affordances that challenge established norms and practices. 2) In contrast to conventional affordances which we respond to automatically through enculturation, unconventional affordances must be imposed on audiences through artistic interventions that disrupt normal practices. 3) Paradoxically, it is this imposition of unconventional affordances through art that allows audiences to freely reflect on and relate to them, rather than being coerced into responding in a certain way.

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    of 3

    Special Issue Commentary

    Adaptive Behavior
    2022, Vol. 30(6) 529–531
    Ó The Author(s) 2021
    The paradox of unconventional
    Article reuse guidelines:
    affordances sagepub.com/journals-permissions
    DOI: 10.1177/1059712321989100
    journals.sagepub.com/home/adb

    Marc Slors

    Abstract
    Responsiveness to affordances that are salient in our conventional practices is usually automatic and unreflective—for
    good reasons. Responsiveness to unconventional affordances, by contrast, must be enforced. This is what artistic inter-
    ventions of studio RAAAF do. I argue that it is precisely the fact that affordances are more or less forced on us that
    makes it possible for us to relate to them freely.

    Keywords
    Affordances, conventions, art

    Handling Editor: Julian Kiverstein, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    1. Introduction unconventional affordances for us: they necessarily


    have to force them on their audience, rather than lure
    One of the features of the works of art produced by it into responsiveness through unreflective practice. But
    studio RAAAF and discussed in Erik Rietveld’s inau- it is precisely such forcing that allows the audience to
    gural lecture is their ability to ‘‘generate meaning by freely relate to them and reflect on them. Or so I will
    offering new affordances, new possibilities for engaging argue.
    with the world.’’ (Rietveld, 2019, p. 13) The ability to
    offer new affordances is discussed under the heading of
    one of the three aspects of RAAAF-art distinguished 2. Two routes to responsiveness to
    by Rietveld, namely working with layers of meaning. It affordances
    is, however, also connected with another aspect identi-
    fied by Rietveld, namely the ability of art to facilitate Our conventional daily cultural practices, Rietveld
    writes,
    an openness to the possibility of having radically differ-
    ent socio-material practices. For part of this facilitation
    typically generate a selective openness to those affordances
    consists precisely of exposing an audience to radically that allow us to go on in the same way as the other practi-
    new affordances. In this contribution, I want to discuss tioners (...), to act according to the established norms, but
    the way in which works of art open up unconventional the cost of that conventional selective openness is that peo-
    affordances, as part of what it takes to let us consider ple also habitually ignore many of the more unorthodox
    radically new practices. I want to do this against the affordances. (Rietveld, 2019, p. 13)
    background of the idea that socio-cultural practices
    usually sensitize us to conventional affordances by
    making us unreflectively and automatically responsive I believe this is exactly right. Our cultural practices
    to them. This way of offering affordances is not avail- make us sensitive to specific affordances offered by our
    able to artists; works of art that propose new affor- socio-cultural niche, thereby occluding many others.
    dances connected with new practices cannot rely on the
    actual implementation of these practices to make us Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
    responsive to affordances. This points to an interesting Corresponding author:
    paradox in the way in which works of art, such as Marc Slors, Radboud University, Nijmegen 6500 HC, The Netherlands.
    those discussed by Rietveld, open up a world of Email: [email protected]
    530 Adaptive Behavior 30(6)

    Affordances that are part of our conventional routines would be available as well, we would very likely not
    are salient for us—our enculturation has made them even notice the diverse alternatives that are offered
    stick out in ‘‘the ambient optic array’’ or perceivable as everywhere in this work of art. This, again, means that
    patterns in the behavior of others. In that sense, we are unconventional affordances are imposed on us.
    often very much conscious of them. But that is percep- So, precisely because our route to conventional
    tual or phenomenal consciousness, not reflective con- affordances is via the gentle non-reflective nudging that
    sciousness. For we tend to respond to them, precisely enculturation entails and that results in a smooth unre-
    as parts of conventional routines: more or less auto- flective responsiveness, unconventional affordances
    matically. Elsewhere, I have argued that there is a good must be offered via another route that disrupts this
    reason for this (Slors, 2019): by collectively being sensi- smooth dealing with our life world.
    tive to the same kinds of affordances, we are able to
    put into place cultural conventions that allow us to off-
    load onto the cultural niche a considerable amount of 3. The paradox of unconventional
    cognition aimed at the coordination of our daily activi- affordances
    ties. If all affordances would stick out equally for us,
    such offloading would be impossible. Thus, culture sen- Such artistic arm-wrestling, which basically involves
    sitizes us to certain affordances and at the same time forcing a set of affordances onto an audience, might
    make us insensitive to the very many other affordances seem to be the opposite of letting people get acquainted
    that are present in our life world as well. with unorthodox affordances freely. But that impres-
    Against this (admittedly very sketchy) background, sion is misguided. The artistic route to unconventional
    it becomes clear that if one wants to open up uncon- affordances is a transparent one. It is precisely the fact
    ventional affordances to an audience, the access of this that affordances are forced on us, rather than sneaked
    audience to these affordances must follow another tra- in via the backdoor of slow and automatic encultura-
    jectory than the regular sensitization processes that tion, that makes it possible for us to reflect on them.
    underlie our responsiveness to the conventions that are Rietveld rightly quotes Alva Noë: ‘‘artworks that ques-
    salient for us in daily life, the processes of enculturation tion our conventional practices and norms can be seen
    and socialization. We cannot become acquainted with as a way of doing philosophy.’’ (Rietveld, 2019, p. 32)
    and responsive to unconventional affordances by Reflection is a prerequisite for the ability to relate freely
    becoming part of future socio-material practices in to whatever it is we reflect on. So here is the paradox: it
    which they figure. Such practices do not (yet) exist. is precisely by forcing affordances on us that we are not
    Instead, works of art such as those described by coerced into becoming responsive to them, but can
    Rietveld are interventions that deliberately stall or con- relate to them freely.
    tradict current practices. The audience is jolted out of
    the daily automaticity with which they interact with Declaration of Conflicting Interests
    their environments by being confronted with new ones.
    Unconventional affordances are thus made available The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with
    respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
    via a reflective route. Instead of slow, automatic encul-
    article.
    turation, they are, in a sense, forced on us by the artist.
    For example, the slicing open of Bunker 599 is a
    deliberate deviation from our current practice of pre- Funding
    serving cultural heritage. Whereas in our regular prac- The author received no financial support for the research,
    tices, the salient affordances that buildings such as authorship, and/or publication of this article.
    these have for us is to leave them intact as much as pos-
    sible, the esthetic intervention of slicing it open presents ORCID iD
    the new affordance of the bunker to make us question
    this regular practice. It is the stalling of our current Marc Slors https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4459-2859
    practice that offers this affordance. But such stalling
    more or less means that the affordance for reflection is References
    imposed on us. Another example is the End of Sitting Rietveld, E. (2019). The affordances of art for making new
    in which many unconventional affordances are offered. technologies. University of Twente.
    The point is that we are made responsive to these Slors, M. (2019). A cognitive explanation for the perceived
    unconventional affordances by the complete absence of normativity of cultural conventions. Mind & Language.
    conventional sitting affordances. If sitting affordances Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.12265
    Slors 531

    About the Author


    Marc Slors is a professor of philosophy of mind and cognition at Radboud University,
    Nijmegen. His research interests include social cognition, embodied and extended cognition and
    the cognitive role of cultural conventions.

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