2021 Volume 53 Issue 1 Pages 145-152
This study positions sculpting as an exploration of forms in their interactions with things including materials and the environment and discusses the thinking of the sculptor in relation thereto. Using “Actor–Network Theory”, which recognises the functioning of things along with that of humans, it examines the nature of the relationship between materials and creative practices with reference to Ludwig Klages’s writings on “Rhythm and Tempo” from the sculptor’s point of view. The “Rhythm of Materials” as a phenomenon of life and creative practices have a complementary relationship of mutual influence. Drawing on Zeami’s philosophy of exercise and expertise as presented by Tadashi Nishihira, the sculptors’ works were analysed, and the workings of things and the thinking of the sculptor were clarified. A conflict in the orientation in the thinking of the sculptor can be seen in the acquisition of skills and the attempt to escape from the absorption with skills through interaction with things. In sculpting, by going back and forth between these conflicting vectors, sculptors re-create themselves along with their work and gradually go beyond their past perspectives.
