Roczniki Kulturoznawcze

Integral aesthetics. Project: Introduction to a Timeless Controversy Over Contemporary Art

Anna Kawalec — 2021-03-30

In the article, I propose a conception of aesthetics that undermines the dogmatic idea of a pure discipline exempt from moral evaluation. This project is motivated by cross-cultural research. The second part overviews the articles published in this issue which are organized along their interculturalism.

Aesthetics and the Arts of Engagement

Arnold Berleant — 2021-03-30

In an earlier study I suggested that the study of aesthetics, rather than being derived from first principles, would benefit, in particular, from knowledge of contemporary developments in the arts. Over the last two centuries, social, technological, and cultural changes have had a transformative effect on the arts and on aesthetic experience. Such fundamental changes called for a new account that would explain them and rationalize their occurrence. I proposed integrating aesthetic experience into a perceptual field that combined the creative, appreciative, objective (i.e. focused), and performative functions in what I called aesthetic engagement. Over the past half century, trends in the arts and their experience have moved more emphatically away from discrete objects and disinterested contemplation, fulfilling the transition to an aesthetic of active engagement of artist, appreciator, object and performer in an experiential aesthetic field

Aesthetic Historism and the Aesthetics of Tidibe: Ritual, Performance, and Contested Perceptions of “Skin” in the Papuan Highlands

Eric Hirsch — 2021-03-30

The article focuses on a series of dances performed in Fuyuge (Papua New Guinea) ritual, one of which provokes debate about its ancestral appropriateness. I use these examples to examine the distinctiveness of Fuyuge aesthetics and historical understanding as compared with Western aesthetics and historical understanding. Whereas the latter is geographically wide and relativistic the former imagines all aesthetics and historical forms as deriving from the Fuyuge world.

Contemporary Dance as Modernist Art

Edyta Kuzian — 2021-03-30

Dance has a very broad spectrum of styles and uses. In this paper, I consider dance as a kind of art performance, which uses the body as its distinctive medium. My focus is on which dance genres best realize the ambition of treating the body as its central medium.

My central claim is that contemporary dance radically breaks away from the other forms of dance and makes ordinary movements visible. In this respect, I also argue, only contemporary dance is fully modernist, in something like Clement Greenberg’s sense: it makes explicit the medium-specific essence of dance as an artform, doing what only dance can do—revealing the body in movement. To be sure, other forms of dance, from classical to modern, also use the body in their performances; however, I argue that only contemporary dance draws self-consciously on the embodied nature of the dancer in a modernist sense. If the artistic medium of dance – the body in movement—has inherent aesthetic qualities, then the job of dance aesthetics is to provide a framework for clarifying the medium-specific elements and limits of dance.

My overall argument has two steps. I first clarify the notion of modernism. Second, I argue that for dance to be a modernist art, it must consider the moving body as an art in itself. To support this idea, I offer a reading of the history of dance, which shows that its developments and revolutions successively refine the appreciation of bodily movement alone as the focus of its practice. As I will show, this development culminates with contemporary dance.

Dancing as Environmental Aesthetics from Indigenous America

Juan Alejandro Chindoy Chindoy — 2021-03-30

Contemporary studies on environmental aesthetics emphasize the relationship of continuity between nature and human action. Most of these critical approaches suggest that the emphasis on the continuity of nature with humanity implies a change of attitude to the natural environment, meaning that we should move away from the exploitation of the natural environment and focus on its preservation and conservation. In the two sections of this paper, it is argued that the idea for the continuity of humans with the natural environment has for a long time been a core philosophical belief in indigenous America, the oldest aesthetic manifestation of which has been expressed in the forms of dancing. The first section is dedicated to the idea of continuity in indigenous America, emphasizing on the concepts of Mother Nature and Human Spirit. The second part shows that native dancing embodies aesthetically the idea of continuity of human action and the natural environment.

Is Art an Adaptation? The Timeless Controversy over the Existence of Aesthetic Universals (by the Lens of Evolutionary Informed Aesthetics)

Jerzy Luty — 2021-03-30

Considering the fact that, in analytical terms, the main subject of research in the philosophy of art are statements about art and that it only re-examines objects defined as ‘art’, I argue, instead, that the interdisciplinary nature of the evolutionary approach to art and aesthetic is possibly due to the naturalization of philosophical perspective and due to ‘ethological turn’ in aesthetics. It makes it possible to reveal the origin, sources and function of art and artistic behaviour at a time of unprecedented discoveries in evolutionary science related to human culture and cognition. I see this as a duty of the researcher, who aims at finding answers to the timeless controversies about the real nature of art and the universal emotions it evokes, and not only deal with what theory formulates.

Rituals: Philosophical Perspectives and Normative Aspects

Raffaela Giovagnoli — 2021-03-30

We use the word “rite” or “ritual” especially in relation to religion and myth to indicate those aspects of it that make religious experience possible in the mystical dimension. Rituals are presented as sets of acts or normatively codified practices that form cultural patterns of a given society and are a representation of the cultural values and standards. They are fundamental for the institutionalization of roles, the formation of social identity and social cohesion. We’ll sketch several philosophical perspectives to show conceptual differences and theoretical views concerning the notion of ritual and its normative aspects.

Art Creation and Human Reproduction

Barbara Tryka — 2021-03-30

The article is about performance IMMACULATE (2020) by Casey Jenkins focused on problems of queer reproduction. The artist intended to live stream an act of self-insemination every month during ovulation until conception. The author provides critical analysis and interpretation of the performance in the context of pretence and authenticity of the artist’s actions. Flowingly, the author discusses deliberate blurring of boundaries between artist’s life and art, between human reproduction and artistic creation, and explains the relationship between process of creation and its artwork. Finally, the author discusses possible objections to IMMACULATE including issue that a child may be conceived as an artwork. The core of this controversy starts from welding of art creation and procreation. However, resigning from real insemination does not have to undermine the authenticity of art performance or it can make it even more authentic. The author emphasizes the moral aspect of artistic decision-making either in the context of authenticity of art creation or the relational dimension of art where any artistic action taken towards other humans is significant.

Theatre as Church Service: Brat Magarac (“Brother Donkey”)—A Drama about Saint Francis of Assisi by the Croatian Author and Director René Medvešek and its Staging at ZKM Zagreb

Andrea Meyer-Fraatz — 2021-03-30

The paper deals with the drama Brat Magarac (“Brother Donkey”) by the Croatian playwright and director René Medvešek, and the author’s staging at the Theatre of the Young (ZKM) in Zagreb in 2001. The drama presents the life of Francis of Assisi. Numerous film productions on this subject offer evidence of the inherent theatricality of Saint Francis’ life. Medvešek’s staging corresponds to Saint Francis’ teachings since the scenery and costumes are very modest. In addition, by integrating musical elements the whole performance takes on liturgical qualities. This corresponds to the author’s idea of theatre in general, which, in his view is not confined only to presenting a show for the audience, but which, similarly to a church service, brings people together and enables them to experience a catharsis.

Native Art and Comedy from a Dine’ Perspective

Les Begay — 2021-03-30

This article is an analysis of Native art and comedy from outside the contemporary Western viewpoint. It’s an interpretation of Dine’ art and comedy from the perspective of an enrolled member of the Dine’ Nation. It explains why the art was created, details of the art and why it remains private. The article also illustrates the appeal of Native comedy to both Native and non-Native audiences and the differences. It's a personal observation of Dine' art and comedy, one of the 574 recognized Tribal Nations of North America.

Exposure and Disclosure of Artworks

Raphael Sassower — 2021-03-30

The artworld’s ongoing imbrication in and complicity with the ever-growing web of hypercapitalism is evident in the United States. Any pretense to the contrary exposes hypocritical conduct on the fronts of artistic production, distribution, and consumption. Only public engagement with and support of the art community writ large can offer potential protection against the unwarranted and unwanted financial and political intrusion.