Acts of Seeing

The act of seeing – and the business of writing about it- is a major question in art theory and this collection discusses this in relation to the work of Martin Kemp.There is always a fresh sense of urgency in Martin Kemp's published writings. He keeps most of the information alive in his mind, and accesses it selectively and creatively as his thinking develops, adding wide-ranging references as he proceeds withhis research.Parallel to Kemp's interest in contemporary science, one of his most consistent themes is the historical exploration of the possibilities of perceived and represented structures and patterns as organisational imperatives in nature and cognition. Structures in the context of Kemp's writing not only relate to the privileged observation sites of modern science but also act as instruments for an art history of contextually examined yet philosophically approached continuities.These essays raise many questions about ways of seeing, the acts of seeing and Kemp's major input into these discussions.