“Modern aesthetics and theory of art” - course 2800 rub. from MSU, training 15 weeks. (4 months), Date: December 4, 2023.
Miscellaneous / / December 06, 2023
The goal of the course is to develop students' knowledge of modern aesthetic concepts, the focus of which is the problem of interpreting the meaning of a work of fine art. The course is based on a broad overview of the main directions of modern aesthetics, philosophy and theory of art, combined into semantic blocks.
Candidate of Philosophical Sciences Position: Associate Professor of the Department of Aesthetics, Faculty of Philosophy, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov
1. Phenomenological and post-phenomenological aesthetics.
Phenomenological approach in aesthetics (M. Merleau-Ponty, J.-P. Sartre). The nature of the artistic image and the problem of aesthetic meaning. Postphenomenological studies in aesthetics (D. Aidy). Interpretation of non-objective art in phenomenology.
2. Hermeneutic and receptive aesthetics.
Hermeneutic studies in aesthetics (G.G. Gadamer, M. Heidegger, R. Ingarden, V. Iser). Understanding and interpretation. The role of the reader in the formation of aesthetic meaning. The concept of the “implicit” reader. The reader/meaning dichotomy in receptive aesthetics. The process of reception of a work of art as the generation of meaning. Interactivity in aesthetic perception.
3. Modern aesthetics and philosophy of art: the relationship between theoretical foundations.
Differentiation of methodology of aesthetics and art history. The problem of classification and systematization of modern art practice and criteria for their theoretical systematization. “Linguistic” and “visual” turns in modern aesthetics (V. Welsh, W. Mitchell). The problem of perception of a modern work of art and the theory of “atmospheres” by G. Boehme. The “visual turn” in aesthetics is a new methodological approach to interpretation.
4. The problem of the boundaries of a work of art in modern aesthetics.
The concept of an open work (“opera aperta”) in W. Eco. Principles of non-finito in contemporary art. Modes of openness. The rhizomatic character of a work of art. Diffuse image in the understanding of R. Krauss, perception-sensation J. Deleuze. Fragmented artistic structure. Antinomies: accuracy/inaccuracy, difference/similarity, simplicity/complexity, coherence/incoherence, variability/invariance as components of a modern metalanguage of description. The principle of polystistics, its embodiment in artistic practice. Style play, quotation, collage, allusion. Theories of modern musical avant-garde (P. Boulez, K. Stockhausen). The use of polystylistic techniques in music to expand the expressiveness and ambiguity of a work (A. Berg, D. Ligeti, A. Schnittke. Ch. Ives). Polystylistics in modern nonlinear architectural theory and practice (Ch. Jenks, F. Gary, N. Foster).
5. Non-representational artistic techniques.
Simulacrum. "Punctum". The imaginary and the unimaginable in contemporary art. Concepts of modern philosophy of image. Artistic minimalism in philosophical interpretation (J.-L. Nancy, J. Didi-Huberman, J.-L. Marion). The problem of negative mimesis, non-representational artistic techniques.
6. The problem of the artistic medium in the situation of postmediality.
Theory of media art. Intermediality and postmediality. Aesthetic expressiveness of new visual means of expression (photo, cinema, video art) and its analysis by R. Bart (punctum), R. Arnheim, R. Krauss (indexical), V. Flusser, V. Benjamin, J. Baudrillard. Hybrid aesthetic forms. Carnivalization and performativity.
7. The place of the structural-semiotic approach to the study of art in modern aesthetics.
Art as a language and as a modeling system (Yu. Lotman, R. Jacobson). Iconic and conventional signs in art (F. de Saussure). Semiology R. Barth (Mythologies). Anti-existentialist orientation of structuralism (binary oppositions in K. Lévi-Strauss). The immutability of structures in art, cultural invariants in art. The iconic nature of the artistic image and figurative structure. A work of art as text, structure and sign system. Types of signs and possibilities of conveying aesthetic meaning during recoding. Semantic levels of a work of art. Syntactics, semantics and pragmatics. Art and communication. Poststructuralism. Concepts of deconstruction, intertextuality and intertext.
8. Pragmatist aesthetics.
Expanding the concept of “aesthetic experience”. Environmental aesthetics and aesthetics of everyday life (A. Berleant, Yu. Saito). Urban aesthetics. Critical concept of “museum art” by D. Dewey. The latest trends in aesthetics: neopragmatism and “somaesthetics” (R. Shusterman). Relational aesthetics. Participatory and aesthetics. Interactivity in art. Inclusion of the recipient (viewer, listener, reader) in the process of creating a work of art. Interactivity in contemporary digital art. The concept of environment and environmental experience. The concept of “aesthetic field”. Ecological themes in aesthetics.
9. Empirical aesthetics.
Experimental research in psychology and aesthetics, aesthetics of simple forms. Analysis of a work of art from the point of view of Gestalt psychology. Composition balance as a representation of neuropsychological balance. Functional asymmetry of the brain and artistic creativity.
10. Aestheticization of science.
Algorithmic aesthetics. Art and science. Techno-sublime. Interpretation of an artistic image using natural scientific methods. Synergetics and self-organization. Science Art phenomenon. Fractal theory and dynamic equilibrium. Art as a projection of the scientific interests of the era (concept of M. Baxendall).
11. Analytical aesthetics.
Anti-essentialism, institutional theory of art. Philosophy of conceptual art, post-conceptualism. The philosophy of conceptual art. Overcoming “artistry” as the main aesthetic feature of conceptual art. Institutional theory of art and analytical tradition (A. Danto, J. Dickey). The problem of the boundary of a work of art, the expansion of the concept of “art”.
12. Philosophy of modern exhibition design.
Transformation of modern museum space. Participatory museum. The “white cube” concept, conceptual exhibition projects. Media art in the museum. Virtual museum. Experimental exhibition design.