Linea

This book explores the many dimensions of the power of lines, a phenonemon of highest semantic and conceptual density. Theontological status of lines is polihedral, with their ever changing material nature and appearance, their continuous shifting between stability and motion, their ability to divide and unite, to represent and to create form in space and time.Lines are major agents in arts and science, for example in drawing, writing and building, in and between cultures. Fascinated by lines and their potential, the curators of this volume have suggested a multi-disciplinary dialogue over the last years. "Power of Line" presents the results of this experience and pushes the argument further, under various points of view, mostly from art and architectural history, but also philosophy, history of science and performance studies. The essays of this volume study Chinese and Japanese lines, European and Islamic ones, lines which evoke nature, architecture and other visual cultures, lines as pictorial or graphic signs, traces and gestures, concerned with letters or choreographies.