Contingent Agencies

How do atmospheres emerge? This book explores the dynamic entanglements between humans, environments, and nonhuman forces.

Contingent Agencies is a cross-disciplinary artistic research project initiated by Alex Arteaga and Nikolaus Gansterer that investigates how atmospheres arise from the interplay between human and nonhuman agencies. Drawing from phenomenology, enactivism, and new materialism, the book engages readers in a richly layered process of notation, reflection, showing, and sharing.

Through experimental artistic practices across various media, Contingent Agencies opens new pathways for understanding spatial, embodied, and affective relations. The publication invites not only reflection but also active participation in an expanded, open-ended research community.

What the book offers:

• Innovative models of artistic research grounded in philosophy and embodied practice
• Exploration of human and nonhuman interrelations in the formation of atmospheres
• An open framework that encourages communal inquiry and interdisciplinary engagement

A vital contribution to current debates on artistic research, material agency, and situated knowledge. A must-read for artists, theorists, and practitioners interested in environmental and performative aesthetics.

Alex Arteaga (*1969, Barcelona) is an artist researcher who combines aesthetic, phenomenological, and enactivist research practices through an inquiry into embodiments, environments, and aesthetic thinking. He is currently pursuing his research at the University of the Arts Helsinki.

Nikolaus Gansterer (*1974, Vienna) is an artist who explores the interrelationships between drawing, thinking and acting in his work. He teaches at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and is internationally active with performances, exhibitions and lectures.