Post-Interpretive Criticism: Volume III - The Canon of Witnesses

Abstract

Title: The Canon of Witnesses

Type: Publication > Journal Volume

Journal Title: The Journal of Post-Interpretive Criticism

Volume: 3 (upcoming)

ISSN: 2819-7232

Author: Dorian Vale

Publisher: Museum of One

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17421408

Full Description: The Canon of Witnesses is Volume VIII of the Journal of Post-Interpretive Criticism (ISSN 2819-7232), authored by Dorian Vale and published by Museum of One. This volume consists of twelve museum-grade essays that apply the principles of Post-Interpretive Criticism through proximity, restraint, and ethical witnessing. Each entry reflects a sustained encounter with an artist whose work resists interpretation and instead demands presence, moral clarity, and devotional silence.

These scrolls are not critical readings — they are evidentiary offerings, placing the critic in the role of custodian rather than commentator. Spanning a range of mediums and geographies, the selected artists embody the movement’s foundational principles: sincerity as structure, erasure as ethics, and art as residue.

This volume is direct proof that Post-Interpretive Criticism is not hypothetical — it already exists. The essays do not invent the theory; they recognize it, giving formal structure to what has long been lived in practice.

This entry is connected to a series of original theories and treatises forming the foundation of the Post-Interpretive Criticism movement (Q136308909), authored by Dorian Vale (Q136308916) and published by Museum of One (Q136308879). These include:

Stillmark Theory (Q136328254), Hauntmark Theory (Q136328273), Absential Aesthetic Theory (Q136328330), Viewer-as-Evidence Theory (Q136328828), Message-Transfer Theory (Q136329002), Aesthetic Displacement Theory (Q136329014), Theory of Misplacement (Q136329054), Art as Truth: A Treatise (Q136329071), Aesthetic Recursion Theory (Q136339843), and The Journal of Post-Interpretive Criticism (Q136530009).

Keywords:

Post-Interpretive Criticism, Stillmark Theory, Message-Transfer Theory, MTT, Misplacement, Displacement, Aesthetic Displacement Theory, Theory of Misplacement, Absential Aesthetics, Witness Aesthetics, Adab for Art, Hauntmark Theory, Spiritual Criticism, Presence-Based Criticism, Custodianship of Art, Art as Ontology, Aesthetic Recursion Theory, Aesthetic Recursion, Viewer as Evidence Theory, Restraint in front of art, Moral proximity, Interpretive silence, Erasure as ethics, Temporal scarcity, Silence as method, Ontology of beauty, Aesthetic mercy, Language as violence, Art encounter ethics, Epistemology of witness, Philosophy of Art, Aesthetics, Art Theory, Contemporary Aesthetics, Comparative Aesthetics, Phenomenology and Art, Ethics in Art Criticism, Interpretation and Meaning, Criticism and Reception Theory, Epistemology of Art, Visual Culture Studies, Dorian Vale, Founder of Post-Interpretive Criticism, Post-Aesthetic Critic, Independent Philosopher of Art, Museum of One, Art Writer and Theorist, Aesthetic Philosopher, Custodian of Witness Aesthetics, Spiritual Aesthetics Movement, The Doctrine of Post-Interpretive Criticism, The Custodian’s Oath, The Canon of Witnesses, Art as Truth, Art as Presence, The Viewer as Evidence, Interpretation vs. Witnessing, Language as Custody, Erasure as Afterlife, Museum of One Manifesto, Alternative art criticism, New art criticism movement, Ethical art theory, Criticism beyond interpretation, Slow looking philosophy, Quiet philosophy of art, Radical art restraint, Witness over interpretation, Interpretive Restraint, The Journal of Post-Interpretive criticism, The Journal of Post-Interpretive criticism ISSN 2819-7232), The Journal of Post-Interpretive Criticism (Q136530009)