Editorial – The affordances of art

Abstract

This special issue on the theme of the affordances of art is organised around a lecture Erik Rietveld presented at the University of Twente on the occasion of being appointed as Socrates Professor. In his lecture, Erik describes three affordance-related aspects of the making practices at Rietveld Architecture-Art-Affordances (RAAAF), a visual art and architecture studio Erik and his brother Ronald Rietveld founded in 2006. The special issue includes 22 reflections on Erik’s lecture written by commentators from a broad range of different fields including art history, architecture, ecological psychology, dynamical systems cognitive science, anthropology, archaeology and the philosophy of 4e cognition. Erik and I provide a response that reflects on what it means to make philosophical art installations. The special issue also includes an interview conducted with art-historian Anja Novak reflecting on the potential of ecological-enactive cognitive science to further our understanding of experiential engagement with art. Finally, Erik has written an opinion article in which he sets out the next steps in his research programme of developing a conceptual framework for understanding ‘change-ability’ – skills for coordinating with a rapidly changing world. The key insight behind the framework is that changing the affordances of the living environment can contribute to changing otherwise rigid and undesirable patterns of behaviour. Erik reflects on the role that artworks can play in inviting reflection on how the practices that organise and shape human life could be different, a task that is increasingly urgent in a time when removing obstacles to change is necessary.