Counterfactual thinking has become an established method to evaluate decisions in a range of disciplines, including history, psychology and literature. Elke Reinhuber argues it also has valuable applications in the fine arts and popular media.
A fascination with the path not taken is a logical consequence of a world saturated with choices. Art which provokes and explores these tendencies can help to recognise and contextualise the impulse to avoid or endlessly revisit individual or collective decisions. Reinhuber describes the term in broad strokes through the disciplines to show how counterfactualism finds shape in contemporary art forms, especially in photography, film, and immersive and interactive media art (such as 360° content, virtual reality and augmented reality). She analyses the different stages of counterfactuals with examples where artists experience counterfactual thoughts in the process of art production, explore these thoughts in their artwork, and where the artwork itself evokes counterfactual thoughts in the audience.
A fascinating exploration for scholars and students of art, media and the humanities, and anybody else with an interest in choices, the art of decisionmaking and counterfactualism.
Author(s): Elke Reinhuber
Series: Routledge Advances in Art and Visual Studies
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 211
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Illustration Credits
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 Counterfactualism in the Fine Arts
Chapter 2 Pluriverse and the Best of All Possible Worlds
Psychology: Counterfactual Thinking
Historiography: Counterfactual History
Philosophy: Possible Worlds
Economics: Counterfactual Analysis
Language: Counterfactual Conditionals
Physics: Probability Flux
Game Theory: Backward Induction
Uniting the Research in Counterfactualism
Notes
Chapter 3 Wind Back the Film of Life
Fact or Fiction
Forking-Path Literature
Performing Alternative Lives
Endless Variations
Extended Reality
Notes
Chapter 4 Step 1: Choice : A Starting Point for the Moral Dilemma
Forking Paths as a Metaphor for Choice: I Know Where I’m Going!
The Omnidirectional Video Secret Detours
Notes
Chapter 5 Step 2: Decisions: A User’s Manual
Freedom of Choice
Learning to Decide
Influences on Decisions
Divination Methods in Everyday Life
Fortune Telling/Palmistry in the Fine Arts
An Artistic Exploration of Choices and Decisions
Blank Chance
Decisions with 3 Tesla
Notes
Chapter 6 Step 3: Counterfactual Thoughts
Experiencing Counterfactual Thoughts
Revealing Counterfactual Thoughts
Evoking Counterfactual Thoughts
Multichannel Video Installations
Non-linear Narratives
Augmented Reality
Notes
Chapter 7 The Manifesto for Counterfactualism
Chapter 8 If Only I Had… (Concepts for Counterfactual Artworks)
Progressing towards a Counterfactual Artwork
Immersion: Decidophobia
A Counterfactual Narrative: Venomenon
Retrospective Considerations
Closing Considerations
Notes
Chapter 9 All Possible Futures
Bibliography
Index
