Paper short abstract:

Through the analysis of two installations of the artist Doris Salcedo, I discuss the term migratory aesthetics as paradigm of our times. I argue that one of its important features consists in the enactment of the effects of trauma and violence as forms of haunting and aberrant displacements.

Paper long abstract:

Through the analysis of the art installations Palimpsesto (Palimpset) and La Casa Viuda (The Widowed House) of the Colombian artist Doris Salcedo, I study an example of what can be understood as migratory aesthetics. In La Casa Viuda, Salcedo created objects made with displaced parts of other objects, which describe uncanny spaces. Palimpsesto was inspired by the migrants that died in the Mediterranean Sea searching for a better life in Europe. In this work, the names of the dead are written in specially crafted stone and through them appear water droplets that merge to reveal the names of other victims. By the examination of these installations, their creation and exhibition processes, in this presentation, I discuss the term migratory aesthetics as paradigm of our times. I argue that one of its important features consists in the enactment of the effects of trauma and violence as forms of haunting and aberrant displacements.