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Olga Cuxart Oriol, Independent Scholar, SpainAbstract
This paper reexamines traditional symbolic and representational accounts of form persistence from a material and process-oriented perspective. Moving beyond explanations centred primarily on cultural transmission, it develops the concept of operational memory to describe how formal configurations endure through embodied practice, material engagement, and perceptual coherence. Drawing on examples from sculpture, architecture, and material culture, the study highlights the active role of matter, bodily action, and perceptual organisation in maintaining recognisable and adaptable forms across different historical contexts. By foregrounding the relational and operative conditions that sustain form, the research offers a nuanced account of continuity, showing how recognition, coherence, and reactivation emerge through recurrent material and organisational principles rather than from fixed symbolic meanings alone. In doing so, it proposes a framework for understanding how forms remain operative despite changing circumstances, while also opening new avenues for investigating the connections between materiality, perception, and cultural persistence.
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Conference: ACAH2026Stream: Arts - Visual Arts Practices
This paper is part of the ACAH2026 Conference Proceedings (View)
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