Pancalism and reality

 Pancalism s. m. [from English pancalism, comp. of pan- and of gr. καλός «beautiful»]. - Term coined by the American philosopher. J. M. Baldwin (1861-1934) to name his own speculative system, based on the idea of beauty as the only principle capable of unifying and absolutely reconciling the multiple aspects of reality.

(from Treccani Vocabulary, https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/pancalismo/)

During the research I carried out on authors who deal with the theme of doppelganger and digital cloning applied to photographic composition, I found an association between the artist Chantal Michel (Swiss-born, 1968) and Pancalism. 

"....The pancalistic answer is that the good and the true is so because it is beautiful. The final court of appeal is aesthetic. Nothing can be true without being beautiful, nor anything that is in any high sense good. The ascription of beauty, a reasoned, criticised, thought-out ascription of æsthetic quality, is the final form of our thought about nature, man, the world, the all......"

Abstract from: "Genetic Theory of Reality: being the Outcome of Genetic Logic as Issuing in the Æsthetic Theory of Reality called Pancalism", https://www.nature.com/articles/096167a0

In Assignment 5 I stated my personal position on the relationship between digital manipulation and reality: 

"I feel comfortable in thinking that the mere act of composing pieces of reality is a projection of my identity in the world: as a photographer, as a subject, or as both."

If we consider digital manipulation as one of the components of reality, the reconciliation of these components, in accordance with pancalism, contributes to the realization of beauty. 

The artistic work of Chantal Michel, analyzed in this key, provides us with some clarifications on the choices of photographic composition made by the artist. 

Chantal Michel places her model and replicas in non-places, or on painted backgrounds. But even these backgrounds, insofar as they are unlikely manufacture or arrangement of furniture and are not digitally constructed, are real and contribute to the search for an aesthetic with a pancalistic profile.

Chantal Michel, Vier tanzende Mädchen, 2007, mixed media (https://www.artsy.net/artwork/chantal-michel-vier-tanzende-madchen accessed on 20/11/2021)

Chantal Michel, Freundinnen, 2008