A Hunger For Aesthetics: Enacting The Demands Of Art (columbia Themes In Philosophy, Social Criticism, And The Arts)
by Michael Kelly /
2012 / English / PDF
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For decades, aesthetics has been subjected to a variety of
critiques, often concerning its treatment of beauty or the
autonomy of art. Collectively, these complaints have generated an
anti-aesthetic stance prevalent in the contemporary art world.
Yet if we examine the motivations for these critiques, Michael
Kelly argues, we find theorists and artists hungering for a new
kind of aesthetics, one better calibrated to contemporary art and
its moral and political demands.
For decades, aesthetics has been subjected to a variety of
critiques, often concerning its treatment of beauty or the
autonomy of art. Collectively, these complaints have generated an
anti-aesthetic stance prevalent in the contemporary art world.
Yet if we examine the motivations for these critiques, Michael
Kelly argues, we find theorists and artists hungering for a new
kind of aesthetics, one better calibrated to contemporary art and
its moral and political demands.
Following an analysis of the work of Stanley Cavell, Arthur
Danto, Umberto Eco, Susan Sontag, and other philosophers of the
1960s who made aesthetics more responsive to contemporary art,
Kelly considers Sontag's aesthetics in greater detail. In
Following an analysis of the work of Stanley Cavell, Arthur
Danto, Umberto Eco, Susan Sontag, and other philosophers of the
1960s who made aesthetics more responsive to contemporary art,
Kelly considers Sontag's aesthetics in greater detail. InOn
Photography
On
Photography (1977), she argues that a photograph of a person
who is suffering only aestheticizes the suffering for the
viewer's pleasure, yet she insists in
(1977), she argues that a photograph of a person
who is suffering only aestheticizes the suffering for the
viewer's pleasure, yet she insists inRegarding the Pain of
Others
Regarding the Pain of
Others (2003) that such a photograph can have a sustainable
moral-political effect precisely because of its aesthetics. Kelly
considers this dramatic change to be symptomatic of a cultural
shift in our understanding of aesthetics, ethics, and politics.
He discusses these issues in connection with Gerhard Richter's
and Doris Salcedo's art, chosen because it is often identified
with the anti-aesthetic, even though it is clearly aesthetic.
Focusing first on Richter's Baader-Meinhof series, Kelly
concludes with Salcedo's enactments of suffering caused by social
injustice. Throughout
(2003) that such a photograph can have a sustainable
moral-political effect precisely because of its aesthetics. Kelly
considers this dramatic change to be symptomatic of a cultural
shift in our understanding of aesthetics, ethics, and politics.
He discusses these issues in connection with Gerhard Richter's
and Doris Salcedo's art, chosen because it is often identified
with the anti-aesthetic, even though it is clearly aesthetic.
Focusing first on Richter's Baader-Meinhof series, Kelly
concludes with Salcedo's enactments of suffering caused by social
injustice. ThroughoutA Hunger for Aesthetics
A Hunger for Aesthetics, he reveals
the place of critique in contemporary art, which, if we
understand aesthetics as critique, confirms that it is integral
to art. Meeting the demand for aesthetics voiced by many who
participate in art, Kelly advocates for a critical aesthetics
that confirms the limitless power of art.
, he reveals
the place of critique in contemporary art, which, if we
understand aesthetics as critique, confirms that it is integral
to art. Meeting the demand for aesthetics voiced by many who
participate in art, Kelly advocates for a critical aesthetics
that confirms the limitless power of art.
