Yi Chen's research interests include cultural theory, art history, philosophy and non-representational research method. She recently published her monograph 'Practising Rhythmanalysis: Theories and Methodologies (2016)', Rowman and Littlefield International. Address: London, London, City of, United Kingdom
This book explores rhythmanalysis as a philosophy and as a research method for the study of cultu... more This book explores rhythmanalysis as a philosophy and as a research method for the study of cultural historical experiences. It formulates 'rhythm' as a critical concept which is defined in dialogic relationships to intellectual traditions, yet introducing unique philosophical positions that serve to re-think ways of conceiving and addressing cultural political issues.
Engaging with the notion of 'conjunctural shift', which for Stuart Hall captures the ruptured social landscape of Britain in the 1970s, the book then puts the method of rhythmanalysis to work by testifying the changing cultural experiences in rhythmic terms. This particular rhythmanalytical project instantiates while opening up ways of using rhythmanalysis for exploring cultural historical experiences.
This paper calls forth a theoretical and methodological discussion around existing approaches tow... more This paper calls forth a theoretical and methodological discussion around existing approaches towards visual analysis. The discussion diverges from a mode of visual analysis which treats images as representational hence seen as being secondary to cultural historical reality. In light of the emerging cultural theories revolved around New Materialist's philosophy, it seeks to conceive images as forms of cultural materialities hence proposing methodological attentions which restore their belonging to the material world. I shall formulate a materiality of images as an affective force which not only travels between the viewer and the image but which tunes into sites of cultural materialities (e.g. senses, perceptions, feelings, rhythms). To extend this proposed interest and engagement with images for visual cultural analysis, the paper outlines modes of contextual practices that embrace images as cultural materialities. In particular, the concept 'visibility' (Deleuze, 1999) is examined as a methodological attention which suggests the double operations of, on the one hand, using images to illuminate the affective and perceptual conditions of cultural experience, while 'making sense' of images in contexts that are defined by these materialist conditions. Finally, I suggest that a materialist study of images or the recuperation of their ontological status, offers a potent lens for bridging a range of Humanities disciplines within which visual analysis are central (visual culture, art history, cultural studies).
In this paper, I will be looking at the practice of walking through the lens of rhythmanalysis. T... more In this paper, I will be looking at the practice of walking through the lens of rhythmanalysis. The method is brought to attention by Lefebvre’s last book Rhythmanalysis (2004) in which he suggests a way of interrelating space and time; a phenomenological inquiry hinged on the concrete experience of lived life.
My interest in the nuance of walking was initially evoked by the structural film Fergus Walking which was made by the film maker William Raban in 1978. I will explore the potential of using structural films in sensitising us to the temporalspatial relationship of things. The main body of the paper centres around two themes: Firstly I address the primacy of movement as a mode of engaging with
the world. It is through ‘muscular consciousness’ (Bachelard 1964: 11) that walking becomes a form of experiential knowing, feeling, connecting and protesting. Secondly, I examine the practices of walking in relation to the radical transformations of the Docklands’ landscape since the beginning of the 1980s. I propose that the contesting interests of different groups can be explored by
analysing the rhythmic interactions of their activities. The transition and recomposition of an economy from locally based industrial activities to globalised financial services were manifested in the syncopation of regeneration rhythms to the living rhythms of the Docklands. The fast changing urban landscapes were negotiated through alternative ways of navigating the streets, hence engendering a different set of rhythms.
In Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life, the French philosopher and sociologist Henri Le... more In Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life, the French philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre illustrated vividly the infiltration of rhythms in our concrete experience of lived life. Sparse comments on the relationship of psychoanalysis and rhythmanalysis set up a contested terrain. The proposition that rhythmanalysis as a tool of cultural investigation will eventually replace psychoanalysis provokes major lines of arguments in this paper. In assessing their forms of attention, analytic techniques, interactions with the world and the nature of their pursuit, this paper suggests that instead of conceiving an antagonistic relationship between the two fields of enquiry, a constitutive and dialogic form of relation lies at the heart of the problem. I argue that by examining aspects of psychoanalysis through the optic of rhythmanalysis and vice versa, concealed perceptions and interpretations of each are made visible. A tentative reformulation of D. W. Winnicott’s Object Relations theory within the framework of rhythmanalysis is undertaken. The credentials of employing psychoanalysis and rhythmanalysis in cultural criticism are evaluated and the synergy of rhythmanalysis and psychoanalysis in the arena of cultural studies is emphasised.
This book explores rhythmanalysis as a philosophy and as a research method for the study of cultu... more This book explores rhythmanalysis as a philosophy and as a research method for the study of cultural historical experiences. It formulates 'rhythm' as a critical concept which is defined in dialogic relationships to intellectual traditions, yet introducing unique philosophical positions that serve to re-think ways of conceiving and addressing cultural political issues.
Engaging with the notion of 'conjunctural shift', which for Stuart Hall captures the ruptured social landscape of Britain in the 1970s, the book then puts the method of rhythmanalysis to work by testifying the changing cultural experiences in rhythmic terms. This particular rhythmanalytical project instantiates while opening up ways of using rhythmanalysis for exploring cultural historical experiences.
This paper calls forth a theoretical and methodological discussion around existing approaches tow... more This paper calls forth a theoretical and methodological discussion around existing approaches towards visual analysis. The discussion diverges from a mode of visual analysis which treats images as representational hence seen as being secondary to cultural historical reality. In light of the emerging cultural theories revolved around New Materialist's philosophy, it seeks to conceive images as forms of cultural materialities hence proposing methodological attentions which restore their belonging to the material world. I shall formulate a materiality of images as an affective force which not only travels between the viewer and the image but which tunes into sites of cultural materialities (e.g. senses, perceptions, feelings, rhythms). To extend this proposed interest and engagement with images for visual cultural analysis, the paper outlines modes of contextual practices that embrace images as cultural materialities. In particular, the concept 'visibility' (Deleuze, 1999) is examined as a methodological attention which suggests the double operations of, on the one hand, using images to illuminate the affective and perceptual conditions of cultural experience, while 'making sense' of images in contexts that are defined by these materialist conditions. Finally, I suggest that a materialist study of images or the recuperation of their ontological status, offers a potent lens for bridging a range of Humanities disciplines within which visual analysis are central (visual culture, art history, cultural studies).
In this paper, I will be looking at the practice of walking through the lens of rhythmanalysis. T... more In this paper, I will be looking at the practice of walking through the lens of rhythmanalysis. The method is brought to attention by Lefebvre’s last book Rhythmanalysis (2004) in which he suggests a way of interrelating space and time; a phenomenological inquiry hinged on the concrete experience of lived life.
My interest in the nuance of walking was initially evoked by the structural film Fergus Walking which was made by the film maker William Raban in 1978. I will explore the potential of using structural films in sensitising us to the temporalspatial relationship of things. The main body of the paper centres around two themes: Firstly I address the primacy of movement as a mode of engaging with
the world. It is through ‘muscular consciousness’ (Bachelard 1964: 11) that walking becomes a form of experiential knowing, feeling, connecting and protesting. Secondly, I examine the practices of walking in relation to the radical transformations of the Docklands’ landscape since the beginning of the 1980s. I propose that the contesting interests of different groups can be explored by
analysing the rhythmic interactions of their activities. The transition and recomposition of an economy from locally based industrial activities to globalised financial services were manifested in the syncopation of regeneration rhythms to the living rhythms of the Docklands. The fast changing urban landscapes were negotiated through alternative ways of navigating the streets, hence engendering a different set of rhythms.
In Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life, the French philosopher and sociologist Henri Le... more In Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life, the French philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre illustrated vividly the infiltration of rhythms in our concrete experience of lived life. Sparse comments on the relationship of psychoanalysis and rhythmanalysis set up a contested terrain. The proposition that rhythmanalysis as a tool of cultural investigation will eventually replace psychoanalysis provokes major lines of arguments in this paper. In assessing their forms of attention, analytic techniques, interactions with the world and the nature of their pursuit, this paper suggests that instead of conceiving an antagonistic relationship between the two fields of enquiry, a constitutive and dialogic form of relation lies at the heart of the problem. I argue that by examining aspects of psychoanalysis through the optic of rhythmanalysis and vice versa, concealed perceptions and interpretations of each are made visible. A tentative reformulation of D. W. Winnicott’s Object Relations theory within the framework of rhythmanalysis is undertaken. The credentials of employing psychoanalysis and rhythmanalysis in cultural criticism are evaluated and the synergy of rhythmanalysis and psychoanalysis in the arena of cultural studies is emphasised.
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Books by Yi Chen
Engaging with the notion of 'conjunctural shift', which for Stuart Hall captures the ruptured social landscape of Britain in the 1970s, the book then puts the method of rhythmanalysis to work by testifying the changing cultural experiences in rhythmic terms. This particular rhythmanalytical project instantiates while opening up ways of using rhythmanalysis for exploring cultural historical experiences.
Papers by Yi Chen
My interest in the nuance of walking was initially evoked by the structural film Fergus Walking which was made by the film maker William Raban in 1978. I will explore the potential of using structural films in sensitising us to the temporalspatial relationship of things. The main body of the paper centres around two themes: Firstly I address the primacy of movement as a mode of engaging with
the world. It is through ‘muscular consciousness’ (Bachelard 1964: 11) that walking becomes a form of experiential knowing, feeling, connecting and protesting. Secondly, I examine the practices of walking in relation to the radical transformations of the Docklands’ landscape since the beginning of the 1980s. I propose that the contesting interests of different groups can be explored by
analysing the rhythmic interactions of their activities. The transition and recomposition of an economy from locally based industrial activities to globalised financial services were manifested in the syncopation of regeneration rhythms to the living rhythms of the Docklands. The fast changing urban landscapes were negotiated through alternative ways of navigating the streets, hence engendering a different set of rhythms.
http://freeassociations.org.uk/FA_New/OJS/index.php/fa/article/view/65
Engaging with the notion of 'conjunctural shift', which for Stuart Hall captures the ruptured social landscape of Britain in the 1970s, the book then puts the method of rhythmanalysis to work by testifying the changing cultural experiences in rhythmic terms. This particular rhythmanalytical project instantiates while opening up ways of using rhythmanalysis for exploring cultural historical experiences.
My interest in the nuance of walking was initially evoked by the structural film Fergus Walking which was made by the film maker William Raban in 1978. I will explore the potential of using structural films in sensitising us to the temporalspatial relationship of things. The main body of the paper centres around two themes: Firstly I address the primacy of movement as a mode of engaging with
the world. It is through ‘muscular consciousness’ (Bachelard 1964: 11) that walking becomes a form of experiential knowing, feeling, connecting and protesting. Secondly, I examine the practices of walking in relation to the radical transformations of the Docklands’ landscape since the beginning of the 1980s. I propose that the contesting interests of different groups can be explored by
analysing the rhythmic interactions of their activities. The transition and recomposition of an economy from locally based industrial activities to globalised financial services were manifested in the syncopation of regeneration rhythms to the living rhythms of the Docklands. The fast changing urban landscapes were negotiated through alternative ways of navigating the streets, hence engendering a different set of rhythms.
http://freeassociations.org.uk/FA_New/OJS/index.php/fa/article/view/65