Spinoza’s Ethics has had an unexpected and catalytic impact on 20th-century debates. His ontology and ethical understanding—particularly on themes such as interpersonal relationships and collective existence—have become important references for contemporary philosophical problems. From the perspective of contemporary art theory, Nicolas Bourriaud’s concept of “relational aesthetics,” for example, indirectly relates the relationship art establishes with its audience and its potential for community-building to Spinoza’s theory of the multitude (multitudo) and affects.
Spinoza’s ontology, which can be defined as “to exist is to be affected and to affect,” resonates with Bourriaud’s ideas about art’s function in creating spaces for social interaction. In his work Relational Aesthetics, Bourriaud uses the term “encounter,” a translation of the Latin occursus, in a non-Spinozist context. Although Spinoza uses the term only once in the Ethics, according to Deleuze, it profoundly colors all practical domains.
Around this magical term, I propose that we reflect together on our collective existence through artworks that dissolve the boundaries between human and non-human bodies, and that invite us to think about the possibility of a different order of life, affecting both our being and our practical lives.
Prof. Dr. Özge Ejder JOHNSON
Özge Ejder is a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. She completed her undergraduate studies in Philosophy and Political Science at METU and her graduate studies at Bilkent University. Her teaching and research focus on art and architectural theory, aesthetics, and continental philosophy, with particular emphasis on Husserl and post-Husserlian phenomenology. Her work centers on themes such as death, boredom, and representation, as well as the Anthropocene and crisis.
