State of Flux: Aesthetics of Fluid Materials

Fluid materials are distinctive. They can spill, leak, mix, and dissipate. Fluids tend to movement and transformation: they bear witness to a material world in constant change. Due to their dynamic and processual flow, liquids run counter to ideas of matter as ready-made, inert or passive. Currents of materials undermine attempts of reification, and they bring about the fluctuation of meaning. Fluid materials are in a state of productive flux. This volume presents studies that reflect upon and with materials in motion. Drawing on examples from film, painting, installation art, architecture, or photography, the essays explore the aesthetic and epistemic potentials of fluids. Instead of thinking about the imagery of fluidity, they focus on actual liquids such as foam, water, ink, or chemicals.