Zur Entstehungsgeschichte der westlichen Ästhetik und das Weiterwirken der Gründungsmythen samt ihrer Gewalt
Die Konstitution des Kunstfelds im westeuropäischen 18. Jahrhundert ist eng verbunden mit der sogenannten Ausdifferenzierung moderner Gesellschaften. Gemeint ist damit die schrittweise Abgrenzung der einzelnen gesellschaftlichen Teilbereiche gegen einander. Ökonomie, Politik, Kunst, Religion, Wissenschaft etc. verstehen sich in der Folge immer mehr als autonome gesellschaftliche (Teil-)Systeme mit eigenen Regeln. Dieser gesellschaftliche Wandel ereignet sich nicht zufällig, sondern ist überlebenswichtig für das Funktionieren des entstehenden kolonialen Kapitalismus, dessen gewaltvolle Ökonomie sich von der Politik, der Religion oder der Ethik nichts (mehr) vorschreiben lassen will.
Für den Begriff der Ästhetik bedeutet diese gesellschaftliche Neueiteilung eine zunehmende Einschränkung der Ästhetik auf Kunsttheorie und die schrittweise Verknappung des Zugangs zum neu konstituierten Kunstfeld s– sowohl was die Produzent*innen als auch was die Rezipient*innen betrifft –, aber auch die tendenzielle Unabhängigkeit des Kunstfelds von Politik, Ökonomie oder Wissenschaft. Auch wenn diese Unabhängigkeit nie komplett war, so hat sie doch dazu beigetragen, dass die ökonomischen, politischen oder epistemische Handlungsmöglichkeiten des Kunstfeld radikal eingeschränkt wurden. Adorno spricht in diesem Zusammenhang vom Kunstfeld als einem Naturschutzpark, innerhalb dessen zwar Regellosigkeit gefeiert wird, der aber nach außen hin von harten Regeln begrenzt wird.
Dabei wäre es bis ins 17. Jahrhundert allerdings auch in Westeuropa vollkommen unverständlich gewesen, Kunst derart abzugrenzen. Das bis dahin geltende Verständnis von Ästhetik als Theorie der Wahrnehmung oder auch als Anleitung zur Produktion des Schönen war eng verknüpft mit den unterschiedlichsten Lebensbereichen und für diese auch unmittelbar relevant.
Die Vorlesung wird zunächst die Folgen des gesellschaftlichen Wandels im Westeuropa des 18. Jahrhunderts für das Kunstfeld skizzieren. Anschließende wird sich die Vorlesung mit neueren Ansätzen beschäftigen, die die Einschränkung des Ästhetischen auf Kunst befragen oder gänzlich hinter sich lassen, indem sie ästhetische Praktiken transversal mit dem Sozialen, dem Ökologischen, der Wissensproduktion oder der Politik verbinden. Es wird also um Ästhetiken gehen, die sich den gesellschaftlichen Trennungen der Moderne entwinden und die transversale Verbundenheit verschiedener „Ökologien“ (Félix Guattari sagt) ins Zentrum rücken.
ATTENTION: THIS LECTURE COURSE WILL BE IN GERMAN! Philosophy and Aesthetic Theory A: On the origins of Western aesthetics and the enduring influence of its founding myths, including their violence The emergence of the field of art in 18th-century Western Europe is closely linked to the so-called differentiation of modern societies. This refers to the gradual separation of individual social subsectors from one another. Consequently, economy, politics, art, religion, science etc. came to be understood increasingly as autonomous social (sub-)systems with their own rules. This social transformation did not occur by chance but was vital to the functioning of the emerging colonial capitalism, whose forceful economy no longer wished to be dictated to by politics, religion or ethics. For the concept of aesthetics, this social reorganisation leads to the restriction of aesthetics to art theory and the gradual narrowing of access to the newly constituted field of art – affecting both producers and recipients – but also the tendency towards the field of art’s independence from politics, the economy or science. Even if this independence was never complete, it has nevertheless contributed to a radical restriction of the economic, political or epistemic scope for action within the art world. In this context, Adorno speaks of the art world as a nature reserve, within which lawlessness is celebrated, but which is bounded on the outside by strict rules. Yet, right up until the 17th century, it would have been utterly inconceivable even in Western Europe to demarcate art in this way. The understanding of aesthetics that prevailed until then – as a theory of perception or as a guide to the production of beauty – was closely linked to the most diverse spheres of life and was also directly relevant to them. The lecture will first outline the consequences of the dramatic social change in 18th-century Western Europe for the field of art. It will then turn to more recent approaches that question the restriction of the aesthetic to art, or move beyond it entirely, by linking aesthetic practices transversally with the social, the ecological, the production of knowledge or politics. The focus will therefore be on aesthetics that break free from the social divisions of modernity and place the transversal interconnectedness of various ‘ecologies’ (as Félix Guattari puts it) at the centre.
ATTENTION: THIS LECTURE COURSE WILL BE IN GERMAN! Philosophy and Aesthetic Theory A: On the origins of Western aesthetics and the enduring influence of its founding myths, including their violence The emergence of the field of art in 18th-century Western Europe is closely linked to the so-called differentiation of modern societies. This refers to the gradual separation of individual social subsectors from one another. Consequently, economy, politics, art, religion, science etc. came to be understood increasingly as autonomous social (sub-)systems with their own rules. This social transformation did not occur by chance but was vital to the functioning of the emerging colonial capitalism, whose forceful economy no longer wished to be dictated to by politics, religion or ethics. For the concept of aesthetics, this social reorganisation leads to the restriction of aesthetics to art theory and the gradual narrowing of access to the newly constituted field of art – affecting both producers and recipients – but also the tendency towards the field of art’s independence from politics, the economy or science. Even if this independence was never complete, it has nevertheless contributed to a radical restriction of the economic, political or epistemic scope for action within the art world. In this context, Adorno speaks of the art world as a nature reserve, within which lawlessness is celebrated, but which is bounded on the outside by strict rules. Yet, right up until the 17th century, it would have been utterly inconceivable even in Western Europe to demarcate art in this way. The understanding of aesthetics that prevailed until then – as a theory of perception or as a guide to the production of beauty – was closely linked to the most diverse spheres of life and was also directly relevant to them. The lecture will first outline the consequences of the dramatic social change in 18th-century Western Europe for the field of art. It will then turn to more recent approaches that question the restriction of the aesthetic to art, or move beyond it entirely, by linking aesthetic practices transversally with the social, the ecological, the production of knowledge or politics. The focus will therefore be on aesthetics that break free from the social divisions of modernity and place the transversal interconnectedness of various ‘ecologies’ (as Félix Guattari puts it) at the centre.
- Trainer/in: Ruth