The affective work of art: an ethnographic study of Brian Lobel's Fun with Cancer Patients

Abstract

This article demonstrates the sociological possibilities of using affect. In particular the discussion rises to the methodological challenges posed by affect theories when attempting to undertake empirical research. Drawing on ethnographic data from a study of Brian Lobel's Fun with Cancer Patients art exhibition, it is argued that the development of critically entangled methods, attentive to fleeting, partial, complex and often ‘inaccessible’ knowledge and experiences, is necessary. In Fun with Cancer Patients the aesthetic event offered opportunities for art participants and visitors to engage with different discourses and subjectivities around cancer. An affective lens makes this engagement intelligible. The analysis contributes to ‘live sociology’, demonstrating that developing live methods attentive to affect can provide insight into the political potential of aesthetic encounters.

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