Participation and Involvement in Art: The Fullness of Formation

In the standard Platonic use of the concept of participation there is a dominant interest in fulfilling formulas of unity such that the wilder side of entering into formations of life, unprogrammed creation and association with other worldly beings, goes unappreciated. This paper proposes to correct this ontological bias and do justice to our richer ordinary sense of meaningful engagement by partnering the centering ideal of participation with the extending ideal of involvement, illustrating this move with a significant transition in Western art history. Raphael's High Renaissance Transfiguration shows a convincing domination of physical nature by eternal form, while Caravaggio's Baroque Calling of St. Matthew shows a meaning-determining materiality, contingency, and "horizontality" in similar subject matter. Caravaggio's Death of the Virgin can be read as an icon for the union of participation and involvement.