Dear Readers,
we are pleased to present this year?s first issue of AVANT. This collection of papers is composed mostly of translations, and, as such, it is addressed primarily to the Polish readers. The section dedicated to the practice of music constitutes an exception, as it is bilingual. Book reviews and a presentation by visual artists round up the volume.
The section dedicated to translations includes works in the domain of embodied cognitive science, while pioneering study on the practice of science serves as their counterpoint. The section is shaped by three key terms, allowing the three editors of this issue to cooperate in harmony:
(1) the environment: our surroundings, both physical and virtual, opportunities to act and tools, including those increasing cognitive capacity;
(2) the concrete: which points us to our experience, to the here-and-now, to what is singular, individual, and realised;
(3) manipulation: allowing us to familiarise ourselves with ourselves as well as with our environment, making objects handy, intelligible and our own.
Thanks to these three categories an anthology was formed at once cohesive and diverse, composed of the texts by Robert Hanna, Evan Thompson, Natika Newton, Frederique de Vignemont, Claire Petitmengin, David Kirsh and Bruno Latour.
The section dedicated to avant-guarde music (centred around John Zorn) can be seen as a certain continuation of this selection of translations: the avant-guarde becomes here a sphere of many complex, heterogeneous efforts, artistic and non-artistic. The issue closes with an unusual presentation by guest visual artists: Artur Przebindowski and Łukasz Siatkowski.
Before inviting you to read this issue, we would like to extend particular gratitude to:
Paweł Baranowski, lawyer and, simultaneously, musical journalist ? for advice regarding copyright laws, as well as ? the section devoted to music;
Iwo Fisz, lawyer ? for formal help with regard to obtaining a ministerial grant and, more generally, the journal?s functioning in the publishing sphere;
Emanuel Kulczycki, assistant professor at the Philosophy Institute, Adam Mickiewicz University ? for his Warsztat Badacza Komunikacji (Communication Researcher?s Workshop), invaluable for academic journals.
Editorial Board
Toruń-Bydgoszcz-Gdańsk-Warszawa, 10.06.2012
