1 SEEKING PHILOSOPHY BY WORDS 1 ART and META-ART ULRICH DE BALBIAN META-PHILOPHY RESEARCH CENTER 2 2 PREFACE The first encounter I had with her caused me to be passionate about her many levels, multi-dimensions, infinite contexts and endless questions I had about you. It was not merely a passing infatuation but instead the beginning of a long and ever deepening friendship, the repeated re-discovery of a long lost one, a profound bond. A bond with that what is my deepest being, an ever-increasing intimacy that always increases and multiplies, the fulfilment of a need, that what defines me, that what constitutes my reality, my life-worlds and the meaning of my multiverses. You are never out of my mind, you I seek in every context, you I need to find in all situations, from the seemingly most superficial, the everyday, the most subtle and simple, the most complex and cryptic. I perceive with and through you and see and think through you, you are the aims, the purpose and the contents of all my thought and reflections, you I seek endlessly, you I discover, uncover, find and encounter whatever hear, see, taste, touch and feel. You are the behind the energy of lover, the vibrations of lovers, the light of the stars, the source, both the beginning, the path leading to and the end and realization of wisdom. You are the shrine in which a deity reveals hidden knowledge and the divine purpose of life, you are the deity, the knowledge, the meaning and the purpose that are revealed. You seem so close in reflection, when reflecting, but always beyond all thought, escaping words, fleeing ideas, unable of being grasped. Seemingly so near, as close as my own being, but always more, never fully revealed, never completely grasped as you are always new, a new born as well as the mother giving birth, the old man who lived many lives, the wisdom of innumerable millennia, limitless, vast but microscopic, old but eternally young. You are almost being traced by words, delineated by ideas, indicated and discovered by concepts, but then you are not being grasped or depicted, and we again end up with more mere words, -isms, biases, fallacies, speculations and theories. 3 3 CONTENTS PREFACE 2 ART, META-ART, THEORY of ART, Art THEORY 4 META-PHILOSOPHY AND ART 43 CONCLUSION DEATH OF PHILOSOPHY 51 4 4 ART META-ART Meta-art is the school, the movement, the type of art that I create. It has, of course, a lengthy tradition and background from the Western tradition of Fine Art and more specifically the genre of painting. The 'meta' refers to the fact that it is a consideration of, a thinking about, a reflection on art, or in this case, painting. Is this thinking concerned with and a second-order or meta-reflection about aesthetics and/or about philosophy of art? According to a definition on Google, aesthetics concerns – aes*thet*ic esTHedik/ noun plural noun: aesthetics 1. a set of principles underlying and guiding the work of a particular artist or artistic movement. "the Cubist aesthetic" Origin late 18th century (in the sense 'relating to perception by the senses'): from Greek aisthētikos, from aisthēta 'perceptible things,' from aisthesthai 'perceive.'(That seems to concern all senses, not merely visual perception. Thus it probably include dealing with all art forms, painting, music, literature, performance art, installations, etc?) The sense 'concerned with beauty' was coined in German in the mid 18th century and adopted into English in the early 19th century, but its use was controversial until late in the century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesthetics Gives us more detail concerning this notion. Aesthetics (/ɛsθɛtɪks/; also spelled aesthetics and esthetics also known in Greek as Αισθητική, or "Aisthētiké") is a branch of philosophy that explores the nature of art, beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty.[1][2] 5 5 It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgements of sentiment and taste.[3] More broadly, scholars in the field define aesthetics as "critical reflection on art, culture and nature".[4][5] In modern English, the term aesthetic can also refer to a set of principles underlying the works of a particular art movement or theory: one speaks, for example, of the Cubist aesthetic.[6] Contents  1 Etymology  2 Aesthetics and the philosophy of art  Aesthetics is for the artist as Ornithology is for the birds.  - Barnett Newman[10][11]  For some, aesthetics is considered a synonym for the philosophy of art since Hegel, while others insist that there is a significant distinction between these closely related fields. In practice, aesthetic judgement refers to the sensory contemplation or appreciation of an(Y) object (not necessarily an art object), while artistic judgement refers to the recognition, appreciation or criticism of art or an art work.   Philosophical aesthetics has not only to speak about art and to produce judgments about art works, but has also to give a definition of what art is.  Art is an autonomous entity for philosophy, because art deals with the senses (i. e. the etymology of aesthetics) and art is as such free of any moral or political purpose.  Hence, there are two different conceptions of art in aesthetics: art as knowledge or art as action, but aesthetics is neither epistemology nor ethics.[12]  3 Aesthetic ethics, judgment and universals o 3.1 Aesthetic ethics o  Aesthetic ethics refers to the idea that human conduct and behaviour ought to be governed by that which is beautiful and attractive. John Dewey[13] has pointed out that the unity of aesthetics and ethics is in fact reflected in our understanding of behaviour being "fair"-the word having a double meaning of attractive and morally acceptable. More 6 6 recently, James Page[14][15] has suggested that aesthetic ethics might be taken to form a philosophical rationale for peace education.  o 3.2 Aesthetic judgment Judgments of aesthetic value rely on our ability to discriminate at a sensory level. Aesthetics examines our affective domain response to an object or phenomenon  3.2.1 Factors involved in aesthetic judgment  o Judgments of aesthetical values seem often to involve many other kinds of issues as well. o  3.2.2 Are different art forms beautiful, disgusting, or boring in the same way?  o A third major topic in the study of aesthetic judgments is how they are unified across art forms. We can call a person, a house, a symphony, a fragrance, and a mathematical proof beautiful. What characteristics do they share which give them that status? What possible feature could a proof and a fragrance both share in virtue of which they both count as beautiful? What makes a painting beautiful is quite different from what makes music beautiful, which suggests that each art form has its own language for the judgement of aesthetics.[20 At the same time, there is seemingly quite a lack of words to express oneself accurately when making an aesthetic judgment. An aesthetic judgment cannot be an empirical judgement. Therefore, due to impossibility for precision, there is confusion about what interpretations can be culturally negotiated. (Not sufficient intersubjective agreement about notions to be used in this discourse. As a result no clear and precise institutionalized norms, rules standards could or have been institutionalized. Therefore there are none that can be internalized and socialized.) Due to imprecision in the standard English language, two completely different feelings experienced by two different people can be represented by an identical verbal expression. Wittgenstein stated this in his lectures on aesthetics and language games. 7 7 A collective identification (socio-cultural or intersubjective agreements, norms, rules and standards...) of beauty, with willing participants in a given social spectrum, may be a socially negotiated phenomenon, discussed in a culture or context. (sub-culture for example of art critics, students, art schools and movements, etc) Is there some underlying unity to aesthetic judgment (tacit, implicit assumptions, pre-suppositions, implicit transcendentals concerning aesthetic universals? Very Kantian and in the tradition of speculative –isms and metaphysics) and is there some (socio-culturally or intersubjectively agreed) way to articulate (identify, express, depict in words, verbally or other signs) the similarities ( speculative metaphysics, this time comncerning 'identity', particulars and universals, traits, etc) of a beautiful house, beautiful proof, and beautiful sunset?[21] Defining (now we are back to the meaning and definition of 'defining and definition', as Hume already insisted that these things must be clarified..) de*fine dəfīn/ verb gerund or present participle: defining 1. 1. state or describe exactly the nature, scope, or meaning of. "the contract will seek to define the client's obligations" synonyms: explain, expound, interpret, elucidate, describe, clarify; More give the meaning of, put into words "the dictionary defines it succinctly" o give the meaning of (a word or phrase), especially in a dictionary. o make up or establish the character of. "for some, the football team defines their identity" 2. 2. mark out the boundary or limits of. "clearly defined boundaries" synonyms: determine, establish, fix, specify, designate, decide, stipulate, set out; More 8 8 demarcate, delineate "he defined the limits of the law" o make clear the outline of; delineate. "she defined her eyes by applying eyeshadow" synonyms: outline, delineate, silhouette "the farm buildings were defined against the fields" https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/artdefinition/ (The definition of art is controversial in contemporary philosophy. Whether art can be defined has also been a matter of controversy. The philosophical usefulness of a definition of art has also been debated. Contemporary definitions are of two main sorts. One distinctively modern, conventionalist, sort of definition focuses on art's institutional features, emphasizing the way art changes over time, modern works that appear to break radically with all traditional art, and the relational properties of artworks that depend on works' relations to art history, art genres, etc. The second less conventionalist sort of contemporary definition makes use of a broader, more traditional concept of aesthetic properties that includes more than art-relational ones, and focuses on art's pan-cultural and trans-historical characteristics.  1. Constraints on Definitions of Art  2. Traditional Definitions  3. Skepticism about Definitions o 3.1 Some descendants  4. Contemporary Definitions o 4.1 Conventionalist Definitions: Institutional and Historical o 4.2 Institutional Definitions o 4.3 Historical Definitions o 4.4 Functional (mainly aesthetic) definitions  5. Conclusion  Bibliography  Academic Tools  Other Internet Resources  Related Entries 9 9 1. Constraints on Definitions of Art Any definition of art has to square with the following uncontroversial facts: (i) entities (artifacts or performances) intentionally endowed by their makers with a significant degree of aesthetic interest, often surpassing that of most everyday objects, exist in virtually every known human culture; (ii) such entities, and traditions devoted to them, might be produced by non-human species, and might exist in other possible worlds; (iii) such entities sometimes have non-aesthetic- ceremonial or religious or propagandistic-functions, and sometimes do not; (iv) traditionally, artworks are intentionally endowed by their makers with properties, usually perceptual, having a significant degree of aesthetic interest, often surpassing that of most everyday objects; (v) art, so understood, has a complicated history: new genres and art-forms develop, standards of taste evolve, understandings of aesthetic properties and aesthetic experience change; (vi) there are institutions in some but not all cultures which involve a focus on artifacts and performances having a high degree of aesthetic interest and lacking any practical, ceremonial, or religious use; (vii) such institutions sometimes classify entities apparently lacking aesthetic interest with entities having a high degree of aesthetic interest; (viii) many things other than artworks-for example, natural entities (sunsets, landscapes, flowers, shadows), human beings, and abstract entities (theories, proofs) are routinely described as having aesthetic properties. Of these facts, those having to do with art's cultural and historical features are emphasized by some definitions of art. Other definitions of art give priority to explaining those facts that reflect art's universality and continuity with other aesthetic phenomena. There are also two more general constraints on definitions of art. First, given that accepting that something is inexplicable is generally a philosophical last resort, and granting the importance of extensional adequacy, list-like or enumerative definitions are if possible to be avoided. Enumerative definitions, lacking principles that explain why what is on the list is on the list, don't, notoriously, apply to definienda that evolve, and provide no clue to the next or general case (Tarski's definition of truth, for example, is standardly criticized as unenlightening because it rests on a list-like definition of primitive denotation; see Devitt 2001; Davidson 2005). Second, given that most classes outside of mathematics are vague, and that the existence of borderline cases is characteristic of vague classes, definitions that take the class of artworks to have borderline cases are preferable to definitions that don't (Davies 1991 and 2006; Stecker 2005). Whether any definition of art does account for these facts and satisfy these constraints, or could account for these facts and satisfy these constraints, are key questions for the philosophy of art.) 10 10 https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/series/aesthetics-and-philosophy-art-lectures it requires a description of the entire phenomenon, as Wittgenstein argued in his lectures on aesthetics. (In other words Wittgenstein here lays down certain prescriptions or rules for the production of socio-culturally or intersubjective meaning and the creation of definitions, and the process of 'defining' in such a ways that is socio-cultural or intersubjectively acceptable. Acceptable to who? Universally acceptable? To all people, of all age groups, in all cultures and subcultures in all historical periods? To a small group of specialist or experts in a particular field, for example art critics, artists, students, researchers who work in a particular field or domain for example of mathematics, nuclear physics, etc?) o 3.3 Aesthetic universals (Good that he attempted it, but one can endlessly add other ideas that he excluded and criticize the ones he did included for all sorts of reasons. The criticisms can be extended to all attempts at theories and speculations about philosophies and aesthetics of art). The philosopher Denis Dutton identified six universal signatures in human aesthetics:[22] 1. Expertise or virtuosity. Humans cultivate, recognize, and admire technical artistic skills. 2. Nonutilitarian pleasure. People enjoy art for art's sake, and don't demand that it keep them warm or put food on the table. 3. Style. Artistic objects and performances satisfy rules of composition that place them in a recognizable style. 4. Criticism. People make a point of judging, appreciating, and interpreting works of art. 5. Imitation. With a few important exceptions like abstract painting, works of art simulate experiences of the world. 6. Special focus. Art is set aside from ordinary life and made a dramatic focus of experience. Artists such as Hirschhorn have indicated that there are too many exceptions to Dutton's categories. For example, the installations of the contemporary artist Thomas Hirschhorn deliberately eschew technical virtuosity. People can appreciate a Renaissance Madonna for aesthetic reasons, but such objects often had (and sometimes still have) specific devotional functions. "Rules of composition" that might be read into Duchamp's Fountain or John Cage's 4′33′′ do not locate the works in a recognizable style (or certainly not a style 11 11 recognizable at the time of the works' realization). Moreover, some of Dutton's categories seem too broad: a physicist might entertain hypothetical worlds in his/her imagination in the course of formulating a theory. Another problem is that Dutton's categories seek to universalize traditional European notions of aesthetics and art forgetting that, as André Malraux and others have pointed out, there have been large numbers of cultures in which such ideas (including the idea "art" itself) were non-existent.[23]  4 New Criticism and The Intentional Fallacy  During the first half of the twentieth century, a significant shift to general aesthetic theory took place which attempted to apply aesthetic theory between various forms of art, including the literary arts and the visual arts, to each other. This resulted in the rise of the New Criticism school and debate concerning the intentional fallacy. At issue was the question of whether the aesthetic intentions of the artist in creating the work of art, whatever its specific form, should be associated with the criticism and evaluation of the final product of the work of art, or, if the work of art should be evaluated on its own merits independent of the intentions of the artist.  In 1946, William K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley published a classic and controversial New Critical essay entitled "The Intentional Fallacy", in which they argued strongly against the relevance of an author's intention, or "intended meaning" in the analysis of a literary work. For Wimsatt and Beardsley, the words on the page were all that mattered; importation of meanings from outside the text was considered irrelevant, and potentially distracting.  In another essay, "The Affective Fallacy," which served as a kind of sister essay to "The Intentional Fallacy" Wimsatt and Beardsley also discounted the reader's personal/emotional reaction to a literary work as a valid means of analyzing a text. This fallacy would later be repudiated by theorists from the reader-response school of literary theory. Ironically, one of the leading theorists from this school, Stanley Fish, was himself trained by New Critics. Fish criticizes Wimsatt and Beardsley in his essay "Literature in the Reader" (1970).[24]  As summarized by Gaut and Livingston in their essay "The Creation of Art": "Structuralist and post-structuralists theorists and critics were sharply critical of many aspects of New Criticism, beginning with the emphasis on aesthetic appreciation and the so-called autonomy of art, but they reiterated the attack on biographical criticisms' assumption that the artist's activities and experience were a privileged critical topic."[25] These authors contend that: "Anti-intentionalists, such as 12 12 formalists, hold that the intentions involved in the making of art are irrelevant or peripheral to correctly interpreting art. So details of the act of creating a work, though possibly of interest in themselves, have no bearing on the correct interpretation of the work."[26] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formalism_(art) (Structuralfunctional Formalist interpretations of the art work – other aspects are merely secondary and even irrelevant. In the case of painting the relevant aspects are – colour, form, composition, texture, etc) In art history, formalism is the study of art by analyzing and comparing form and style-the way objects are made and their purely visual aspects. In painting, formalism emphasizes compositional elements such as color, line, shape, texture, and other perceptual aspects rather than iconography or the historical and social context. At its extreme, formalism in art history posits that everything necessary to comprehending a work of art is contained within the work of art. The context for the work, including the reason for its creation, the historical background, and the life of the artist, that is, its conceptual aspect is considered to be of secondary importance. Anti-formalism in art would assert the opposite ascription of respectively primary and secondary importance. According to the observation that works of art can in general contain formal properties and nonformal properties, the philosopher Nick Zangwill has delineated three types of formalism as they are encountered at the turn of the 21st century. First, Zangwill identifies extreme formalists who think "that all works of art are purely formal works-where a work is purely formal if all its aesthetic properties are formal aesthetic properties," then he defines antiformalist thinkers as those who "think that no works of art have formal aesthetic properties."[6] The third type which Zangwill identifies as representing the transition of the philosophy of aesthetics into the 21st century is that of moderate formalism, where its principle exponents defend the principle "that all the aesthetic properties of works of art in a select class are formal, and second, that although many works of art outside that class have nonformal aesthetic properties, many of those works also have important formal aesthetic properties that must not be ignored."[7])  Gaut and Livingston define the intentionalists as distinct from formalists stating that: "Intentionalists, unlike formalists, hold that reference to intentions is essential in fixing the correct interpretation of works." They quote Richard Wollheim as stating that, "The task of criticism is the 13 13 reconstruction of the creative process, where the creative process must in turn be thought of as something not stopping short of, but terminating on, the work of art itself."[26] (PLEASE SEE THE SECTIONS below for the different types of theories and their alternative emphasis!  5 Derivative forms of aesthetics o 5.1 Post-modern aesthetics and psychoanalysis o 5.2 Recent aesthetics o 5.3 Aesthetics and science o 5.4 Truth in beauty and mathematics o 5.5 Computational approaches o 5.6 Evolutionary aesthetics o 5.7 Applied aesthetics  6 Criticism  7 See also  8 References  9 Further reading  10 External links Etymology The word aesthetic is derived from the Greek αἰσθητικός (aisthetikos, meaning "esthetic, sensitive, sentient, pertaining to sense perception"), which in turn was derived from αἰσθάνομαι (aisthanomai, meaning "I perceive, feel, sense").[7] The term "aesthetics" was appropriated and coined with new meaning by the German philosopher Alexander Baumgarten in his dissertation Mediationes philosophicae de nonnullis ad poema pertinentibus ("Philosophical considerations of some matters pertaining the poem") in 1735,[8] even though his later definition in the fragment Aesthetica (1750) is more often referred to as the first definition of modern aesthetics.[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_art At the broadest level, a theory of art aims to shed light on some aspect of the project of defining art or to theorize about the structure of our concept of 'art' without providing classical definitions, namely definitions formulated in terms of "necessary and sufficient" conditions. Contents  1 Aesthetic response 14 14  Aesthetic response or functional theories of art are in many ways the most intuitive theories of art. At its base, the term "aesthetic" refers to a type of phenomenal experience and aesthetic definitions identify artworks with artifacts intended to produce aesthetic experiences. Nature can be beautiful and it can produce aesthetic experiences, but nature does not possess the function of producing those experiences. For such a function, an intention is necessary, and thus agency – the artist.  Monroe Beardsley is commonly associated with aesthetic definitions of art. In Beardsley's words, something is art just in case it is "either an arrangement of conditions intended to be capable of affording an experience with marked aesthetic character or (incidentally) an arrangement belonging to a class or type of arrangements that is typically intended to have this capacity" (The aesthetic point of view: selected essays, 1982, 299). Painters arrange "conditions" in the paint/canvas medium, and dancers arrange the "conditions" of their bodily medium, for example. According to Beardsley's first disjunct, art has an intended aesthetic function, but not all artworks succeed in producing aesthetic experiences whatsoever. The second disjunct allows for artworks that were intended to have this capacity, but failed at it (bad art).  Marcel Duchamp's Fountain is the paradigmatic counterexample to aesthetic definitions of art  2 Formalism  3 Institutional (The institutions of the art world situate, 'make' or define what is art...)   The institutional theory of art is a theory about the nature of art that holds that an object can only be(come) art in the context of the institution known as "the artworld".  Addressing the issue of what makes, for example, Marcel Duchamp's "readymades" art, or why a pile of Brillo cartons in a supermarket is not art, whereas Andy Warhol's famous Brillo Boxes (a pile of Brillo carton replicas) is, the art critic and philosopher Arthur Danto wrote in his 1964 essay "The Artworld":  To see something as art requires something the eye cannot descry-an atmosphere of artistic theory, a knowledge of the history of art: an artworld.[1]  According to Robert J. Yanal, Danto's essay, in which he coined the term artworld, outlined the first institutional theory of art.  Versions of the institutional theory were formulated more explicitly by George Dickie in his article "Defining Art" (American Philosophical Quarterly, 1969) and his books Aesthetics: An Introduction (1971) and 15 15 Art and the Aesthetic: An Institutional Analysis (1974). An early version of Dickie's institutional theory can be summed up in the following definition of work of art from Aesthetics: An Introduction:  A work of art in the classificatory sense is 1) an artifact 2) on which some person or persons acting on behalf of a certain social institution (the artworld) has conferred the status of candidate for appreciation.[2]  Dickie has reformulated his theory in several books and articles. Other philosophers of art have criticized his definitions as being circular.[3]  4 Historical  5 Anti-essentialist Some art theorists have proposed that the attempt to define art must be abandoned and have instead urged an anti-essentialist theory of art. In 'The Role of Theory in Aesthetics' (1956), Morris Weitz famously argues that individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions will never be forthcoming for the concept 'art' because it is an "open concept". While anti-essentialism was never formally defeated, it was challenged and the debate over anti-essentialist theories was subsequently swept away by seemingly better essentialist definitions. Commenting after Weitz, Berys Gaut revived anti-essentialism in the philosophy of art with his paper '"Art" as a Cluster Concept' (2000). Cluster concepts are composed of criteria that contribute to art status but are not individually necessary for art status. There is one exception: Artworks are created by agents, and so being an artifact is a necessary property for being an artwork. Gaut (2005) offers a set of ten criteria that contribute to art status: (i) possessing positive aesthetic qualities (I employ the notion of positive aesthetic qualities here in a narrow sense, comprising beauty and its subspecies); (ii) being expressive of emotion; (iii) being intellectually challenging; (iv) being formally complex and coherent; (v) having a capacity to convey complex meanings; (vi) exhibiting an individual point of view; (vii) being an exercise of creative imagination; (viii) being an artifact or performance that is the product of a high degree of skill; (ix) belonging to an established artistic form; and 16 16 (x) being the product of an intention to make a work of art. (274)  6 Aesthetic creation Zangwill[4] describes the aesthetic creation theory of art as a theory of "how art comes to be produced" (p. 167) and an "artist-based" theory. Zangwill distinguishes three phases in the production of a work of art:  7 What is "art"? How best to define the term "art" is a subject of constant contention; many books and journal articles have been published arguing over even the basics of what we mean by the term "art".[5] Renaissance European art) these qualities, as the wider history of art demonstrates, are by no means essential to it.[9] Perhaps (as in Kennick's theory) no definition of art is possible anymore. Perhaps art should be thought of as a cluster of related concepts in a Wittgensteinian fashion (as in Weitz or Beuys). Another approach is to say that "art" is basically a sociological category, that whatever art schools and museums and artists define as art is considered art regardless of formal definitions. This "institutional definition of art" (see also Institutional Critique) has been championed by George Dickie. Most people did not consider the depiction of a store-bought urinal or Brillo Box to be art until Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol (respectively) placed them in the context of art (i.e., the art gallery), which then provided the association of these objects with the associations that define art. Proceduralists often suggest that it is the process by which a work of art is created or viewed that makes it art, not any inherent feature of an object, or how well received it is by the institutions of the art world after its introduction to society at large. If a poet writes down several lines, intending them as a poem, the very procedure by which it is written makes it a poem.  8 What should art be like?  9 The value of art  10 References 17 17 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Theories_of_aesthetics Subcategories This category has the following 18 subcategories, out of 18 total. C  ► Classicism (5 C, 13 P)  ► Conceptualism (1 C, 5 P)  ► Constructivism (5 C, 38 P) E  ► Essentialism (1 C, 16 P) F  ► Formalism (aesthetics) (1 C, 7 P)  ► Formalism (philosophy) (3 C, 8 P) M  ► Metamodernism (1 C, 7 P)  ► Minimalism (3 C, 13 P)  ► Modernism (10 C, 130 P) N  ► New Urbanism (4 C, 40 P) O  ► Objectivism (Ayn Rand) (7 C, 15 P) P  ► Postmodern art (11 C, 44 P)  ► Postmodern theory (11 C, 100 P)  ► Postmodernism (21 C, 123 P)  ► Psychoanalytic theory (8 C, 50 P) R  ► Remodernism (8 P)  ► Romanticism (14 C, 141 P) S  ► Symbolism (arts) (4 C, 15 P) 18 18 Pages in category "Theories of aesthetics" The following 31 pages are in this category, out of 31 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more). C  Classicism  Conceptualism  Contextualism  Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming  Crystal Cubism D  Didacticism E  Essentialism  Excessivism F  Formalism (philosophy) I  Irrealism (philosophy) L  Lyricism M  Modernism N  Nesting Orientalisms  New Romanticism  New Suburbanism  New Urbanism O  Objectivism (Ayn Rand) P  Philhellenism 19 19  Philistinism  Post-contemporary  Post-postmodernism  Postinternet  Postmodernism  Presentationism  Processing fluency theory of aesthetic pleasure  Psychoanalytic theory R  Reactionary modernism  Romanticism S  Signalism  Sottorealism T  Theory of art http://www.uark.edu/campus-resources/rlee/partsp07/whyphilart.html What is Philosophy? Philosophy, as I define it, is the "critical examination of pivotal concepts and beliefs." Critical examination involves looking at matters with a questioning attitude. Look for reasons for opinions and beliefs. Look for reasons against them. Attempt to construct (or find) arguments for positions -and also against - positions. Reject or revise positions/beliefs/theories accordingly. Question what things mean. but don't simply ask questions and leave it at that. Attempt to answer those questions. And look (critically) at whether those answers are satisfactory. Questions Addressed by Philosophy of Art So what are the philosophical questions that arise in, and at the foundation of, art? Here are several:  What kind of thing is a work of art?  Are all works the same kind of thing?  Is art essentially connected with emotion?  What distinguishes things that are artworks from things that are not?  Must an artwork be about something?  How is art like, and unlike, language? 20 20  Under what conditions, if any, can things which are not made by humans still be art?  If an artwork glorifies something immoral, can it still be good?  Is there some special aesthetic emotion that is felt when one experiences works of art?  For an artwork to represent something (a person, a mythological creature, an abstract idea), what is necessary?  Does one need any special skills in order to be an artist? Techniques of Philosophy: Distinctions and Arguments One things philosophers do is to make distinctions. So, for example, Collingwood distinguishes what he calls "art-proper" from other things such as "magical art," "craft," "amusement," and so on. An important distinction at the center of the field is between "art" and "aesthetics." Aesthetics, as this term is currently understood, involves certain kinds of judgements ("aesthetic judgments") about things, often, but not always, involving beauty. One can make aesthetic judgments about things which are not art, such as sunsets and hands. Philosophy of art, on the other hand, concerns philosophical questions about the nature of art, not all of which involve an aesthetic appreciation, certainly not beauty. I mentioned already that philosophers use logic as a tool. This is because philosophers are concerned to make and criticize arguments. As philosophers use the term "argument" it is a defense of a position. An argument has conclusion, a statement which is argued for. An argument also has premises, which are claims which are appealed to in defense of the conclusion. It is also usually useful to isolate the form or structure of an argument, which helps to make clear how the premises are supposed to support the conclusion. Why Do Philosophy of Art? So, why do philosophy of art? Well, while I feel philosophy is valuable in general, I actually don't think it is requisite that everyone do philosophy of art. While art and beauty are pivotal concepts, it is not important that everyone understand about them. Some people want to understand. All power to them. But someone who cares about art, someone who does art, ought to try to understand. Socrates was an important philosopher early in the development of western civilization. (He died in 399 B.C.E.) Socrates made a practice of questioning all sorts of people whom others might consider wise. He questions politicians, military generals, priests, law professors (or what was roughly equivalent to that in their society), and poets. In each case he'd find people with strong beliefs who thought they understood what they were doing. In each case by the end of the discussion with Socrates they would realize that they don't understand what they are doing. Generals didn't understand what courage was. Priests didn't 21 21 understand what piety was. Politicians didn't understand what justice was. And so on. Spiders make webs. It is not important that they understand what they are doing. They do it (and generally do it quite well; the ones who didn't haven't passed on their genes to subsequent generations). Bees make honey. They don't need to understand. Water runs downhill. It doesn't understand what it is doing. And people too do things they don't understand and don't need to understand. I walk. I haven't taken courses in kinesiology. But if someone specializes in some field or wishes to be an expert, she or he should understand what it is she or he is doing. And this involves critically examinating pivotal concepts and beliefs that arise in, or at the foundation, of that field. If, therefore, one wishes to be an artist (not as a casual hobby, but as master), or if one wished to teach art to others, one should have an understanding of what art is, how it relates to emotions, and so on. Richard Lee, rlee@uark.edu, last modified: 16 January 2008 https://web.csulb.edu/~jvancamp/361_r1.html Art, Philosophy, and the Philosophy of Art by Arthur C. Danto Humanities, Vol. 4, No. 1 (February 1983), pp. 1-2 1. What does Danto understand as "philosophy"? 2. Danto says that "a philosophical question arises whenever we have two objects which seem in every relevant particular to be alike, but which belong to importantly different philosophical categories" (#3), and he goes on to give several examples of this puzzle from classical philosophers. Can you think of additional examples of this puzzle from your own experiences? In practice, how do you distinguish those seemingly identical objects? 3. Danto gives several examples in which an ordinary object might be perceptually indistinguishable from a work of art. What criteria can you think of to distinguish the art works? Can you use the same criteria for all the various genres of art? Is there an "essence" of art that can be found in all of them? If so, what is that "essence"? If not, what else seems to explain why we consider the works in question here to be works of "art"? 4. Why have some philosophers, including Wittgenstein, believed that it was impossible to specify "necessary and sufficient" conditions for "art"? Are there problems in trying to understand art without being able to specify such "necessary and sufficient" conditions? 5. Danto considers proposals by other theorists for the essential characteristic(s) of all art (i.e., its necessary and sufficient conditions). 22 22 What are those proposals, and why does Danto consider them inadequate? 6. According to Danto, W.H. Auden's poetry "is indistinguishable from ordinary talking." Find some of his poetry by searching on the Web. Do you agree with Danto? If you disagree, on what basis do you believe they are "distinguishable from ordinary talking"? 7. Raphael's School of Athens is cited by Danto as an example of a work "regarded as especially 'philosophical.'" Look at the on-line images of this work by clicking here. Why would someone consider Raphael's work "philosophical"? 8. Duchamp's first "readymade" was "Bicycle Wheel". Find this image online by searching the Web. Does this work "lack aesthetic qualities"? Is our appreciation of this work an "intellectual activity" and not an "aesthetic" one? Has Duchamp proved his point with this work that "Aesthetic delectation is the danger to be avoided"? 9. Danto suggests that a starting point for a theory of art recognizes that works of art are "representations." What does he mean by this? What does he not mean by this? Why is this sense of "representation," alone, inadequate to completely account for what we mean by art? 10. What does Danto mean by "The Problem of Indiscernible Counterparts"? 11. Why does Danto believe that "the distinction between art and philosophy" is "problematic"? http://www.knc.edu.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Philosophy-of-the-Arts-Gordon-Graham.pdf Contents ??? Preface to the Third Edition xi Introduction 1 1 ART AND PLEASURE 3 Hume on taste and tragedy 3 Collingwood on art as amusement 6 Mill on higher and lower pleasures 8 The nature of pleasure 12 2 ART AND BEAUTY 14 Beauty and pleasure 14 Kant on beauty 23 23 16 The aesthetic attitude and the sublime 19 Art and the aesthetic 21 Gadamer and art as play 23 Art and sport 26 Summary 29 3 ART AND EMOTION 31 Tolstoy and everyday expressivism 31 Aristotle and katharsis 35 Expression and imagination 37 Croce and 'intuition' 38 Collingwood's expressivism 41 Expression vs expressiveness 44 Summary 50 4 ART AND UNDERSTANDING 52 Hegel, art and mind 52 Art, science and knowledge 54 Aesthetic cognitivism, for and against 58 Imagination and experience 62 vii The objects of imagination 65 Art and the world 68 Understanding as a norm 70 Art and human nature 73 Summary 74 5 MUSIC AND SONIC ART 76 Music and pleasure 76 Music and emotion 24 24 79 Music as language 83 Music and representation 86 Musical vocabulary and musical grammar 88 Résumé 92 The uniqueness of music 92 Music and beauty 93 Music as the exploration of sound 95 Sonic art and digital technology 97 Summary 101 6 THE VISUAL ARTS 103 What is representation? 104 Representation and artistic value 105 Art and the visual 108 Visual art and the non-visual 113 Film as art 116 Montage vs long shot 118 'Talkies ' 120 The 'auteur' in film 123 Summary 126 7 THE LITERARY ARTS 127 Poetry and prose 127 The unity of form and content 130 Figures of speech 132 Expressive language 134 Poetic devices 135 Narrative and fiction 25 25 140 Literature and understanding 145 Summary 147 8 THE PERFORMING ARTS 149 Artist, audience and performer 149 Painting as the paradigm of art 150 Nietzsche and The Birth of Tragedy 154 CONTENTS viii Performance and participation 157 The art of the actor 160 Summary 162 9 ARCHITECTURE AS AN ART 164 The peculiarities of architecture 165 Form, function and 'the decorated shed' 169 Façade, deception and the 'Zeitgeist' 171 Functionalism 174 Formalism and 'space' 175 Résumé 178 Architectural expression 178 Architecture and understanding 180 Summary 181 10 MODERN ART 183 The break with tradition 183 Experimental art and the avant-garde 185 The art of the readymade 188 Conceptual art 191 The market in art 193 26 26 Art and leisure 195 Summary 198 11 THE AESTHETICS OF NATURE 200 Objectivism vs subjectivism 200 Art and interpretation 203 The artist's intention and the 'intentional fallacy' 207 The aesthetics of nature 213 Summary 218 12 THEORIES OF ART 221 Defining art 221 Art as an institution 228 Marxism and the sociology of art 230 Lévi-Strauss and structuralism 235 Derrida, deconstruction and postmodernism 238 Normative theory of art 243 Summary 248 Finding examples http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732142.001.0001/acprof9780199732142-chapter-002 Noël Carroll Margaret Moore William P. Seeley DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732142.003.0019 There is growing interest in the relationship between research in cognitive science and our understanding of art and aesthetics. Cognitive science, in its broadest sense, is the study of how organisms acquire, transform, and use information in the production of behavior. Artworks are artifacts designed to direct attention to the features responsible for their artistically salient aesthetic and semantic effects. In this regard, questions about the nature of our understanding and appreciation of art are questions that ultimately depend on an 27 27 understanding of our psychological interactions with particular artworks. Therefore, research in psychology and neuroscience has bearing on a variety of topics relevant to the philosophy of art and aesthetics. We review examples from literature, music, and the visual arts that illustrate the potential of this interdisciplinary collaboration and provide counterarguments to philosophical skepticism about the relevance of psychology and neuroscience to the philosophy of art and aesthetics. These discussions point towards a rich and productive rapprochement between philosophy and cognitive science that can trace its roots to the 18th Century origins of contemporary aesthetics. Keywords: aesthetics, attention, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, music, visual art http://www.bard.edu/bluecher/lectures/phil_art/philart.htm FUNDAMENTALS OF A PHILOSOPHY OF ART ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF ARTISTIC EXPERIENCE https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy-of-art The philosophy of art is distinguished from art criticism, which is concerned with the analysis and evaluation of particular works of art. Critical activity may be primarily historical, as when a lecture is given on the conventions of the Elizabethan theatre in order to explain some of the devices used in Shakespeare's plays. It may be primarily analytical, as when a certain passage of poetry is separated into its elements and its meaning or import explained in relation to other passages and other poems in the tradition. Or it may be primarily evaluative, as when reasons are given for saying that the work of art in question is good or bad, or better or worse than another one. Sometimes it is not a single work of art but an entire class of works in a certain style or genre (such as pastoral poems or Baroque music) that is being elucidated, and sometimes it is the art of an entire period (such as Romantic). But in every case, the aim of art criticism is to achieve an increased understanding or enjoyment of the work (or classes of works) of art, and its statements are designed to achieve this end. The test of the success of art criticism with a given person is: has this essay or book of art criticism increased his understanding or enhanced his appreciation of the work of art in question? Art criticism is particularly helpful and often necessary for works of art that are more than usually difficult, so that the 28 28 average person would be unable adequately to understand or enjoy them if left to himself. The task of the philosopher of art is more fundamental than that of the art critic in that the critic's pronouncements presuppose answers to the questions set by the philosopher of art. The critic says that a given work of music is expressive, but the philosopher of art asks what is meant by saying that a work of art is expressive and how one determines whether it is. In speaking and writing about art, the critic presupposes that he is dealing with clear concepts, the attainment of which is the task of the philosopher of art. The task of the philosopher of art is not to heighten understanding and appreciation of works of art but to provide conceptual foundations for the critic by (1) examining the basic concepts underlying the critic's activities to enable him to speak and write more intelligibly about the arts, and by (2) arriving at true conclusions about art, aesthetic value, expression, and the other concepts that the critic employs. Upon what does the philosopher of art direct his attention? "Art," is the ready answer, but what is art and what distinguishes it from all other things? The theorists who have attempted to answer this question are many, and their answers differ greatly. But there is one feature that virtually all of them have in common: a work of art is a human-made thing, an artifact, as distinguished from an object in nature. A sunset may be beautiful, but it is not a work of art. A piece of driftwood may have aesthetic qualities, but it is not a work of art since it was not made by a human. On the other hand, a piece of wood that has been carved to look like driftwood is not an object of nature but of art, even though the appearance of the two may be exactly the same. This distinction was challenged in the 20th century by artists who declared that objets trouvés ("found objects") are works of art, since the artist's perception of them as such makes them so, even if the objects were not human-made and were not modified in any way (except by exhibition) from their natural state. Nevertheless, according to the simplest and widest definition, art is anything that is human-made. Within the scope of this definition, not only paintings and sculptures but also buildings, furniture, automobiles, cities, and garbage dumps are all works of art: every change that human activity has wrought upon the face of nature is art, be it good or bad, beautiful or ugly, beneficial or destructive. 29 29 The ordinary usage of the term is clearly less wide. In daily life when works of art are spoken of, the intention is to denote a much narrower range of objects- namely, those responded to aesthetically. Among the things in this narrower range, a distinction, although not a precise one, is made between fine and useful art. Fine art consists of those works designed to produce an aesthetic response or that (regardless of design) function as objects of aesthetic appreciation (such as paintings, sculptures, poems, musical compositions)-those human-made things that are enjoyed for their own sake rather than as means to something else. Useful art has both an aesthetic and a utilitarian dimension: automobiles, glass tumblers, woven baskets, desk lamps, and a host of other handmade or manufactured objects have a primarily useful function and are made for that purpose, but they also have an aesthetic dimension: they can be enjoyed as objects of beauty, so much so that a person often buys one brand of car rather than another for aesthetic reasons even more than for mechanical reasons (of which he may know nothing). A borderline case is architecture: many buildings are useful objects the aesthetic function of which is marginal, and other buildings are primarily objects of beauty the utility of which is incidental or no longer existent (Greek temples were once places of worship, but today their value is entirely aesthetic). The test in practice is not how they were intended by their creators, but how they function in present-day experience. Many great works of painting and sculpture, for example, were created to glorify a deity and not, insofar as can be ascertained, for an aesthetic purpose (to be enjoyed simply in the contemplation of them for their own sake). It should be added, however, that many artists were undoubtedly concerned to satisfy their aesthetic capabilities in the creation of their work, since they were highly perfectionistic as artists, but in their time there was no such discipline as aesthetics in which they could articulate their goals; in any case, they chose to create "for the greater glory of God" by producing works that were also worthwhile to contemplate for their own sake. This aesthetic sense of the word "art," whether applied to fine art or useful art, is the one most employed by the majority of critics and philosophers of art today. There are two other senses of "art," however, that are still narrower, and, to avoid confusion, their use should be noted: (1) Sometimes the term "art" is restricted to the visual arts alone or to some of the visual arts. But as 30 30 philosophers of art use the term (and as it is used here), art is not limited to visual art; music and drama and poetry are as much arts as are painting, sculpture, and architecture. (2) Sometimes the term "art" is used in a persuasive sense, to include only those works considered good art. "That's not art!" exclaims the viewer at an art gallery as he examines a painting he dislikes. But if the term "art" is to be used without confusion, it must be possible for there to be bad art as well as good art. The viewer, then, is not really denying that the work in question is art (it is a human-made object presented to be contemplated for its own sake) but only that it is worthwhile. The word "art" is also ambiguous in another way: it is sometimes used to designate the activity of creating a work of art, as in the slogan "Art is expression"; but it is more often used to designate the product of that process, the completed artwork or artifact itself, as in the remark "Art is a source of great enjoyment to me." There will be occasion later to remark on this ambiguity. Connect with Britannica Countless proffered definitions of "art" are not definitions at all but theories about the nature of art that presuppose that the ability to identify certain things in the world as works of art already exists. Most of them are highly unsatisfactory even as theories. "Art is an exploration of reality through a sensuous presentation"-but in what way is it an exploration? Is it always concerned with reality (how is music concerned with reality, for example)? "Art is a re-creation of reality"-but is all art re-creation, even music? (It would seem likely that music is the creation of something, namely, a new set of tonal relationships, but not that it is the re-creation of anything at all.) "Art is an expression of feeling through a medium"-but is it always an expression (see below Art as expression) and is it always feeling that is expressed? And so on. It appears more certain that Shakespeare's King Lear is a work of art than that these theories are true. All that seems to be required for identifying something as a work of art in the wide sense is that it be not a natural object but something made or transformed by a human being, and all that is required for identifying it as art (not as good art but as art) in the narrower sense is that it function aesthetically in human experience, either wholly (fine art) or in part (useful art); it is not even necessary, as has been shown, that it be intended by its creator to function in this way. Page 1 of 7 Next page The interpretation of art 31 31 https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy-of-art/The-interpretation-of-art Works of art present problems of both interpretation and evaluation. Evaluation is not the concern of this article (see aesthetics), but one problem about interpretation deserves to be mentioned. Works of art are often difficult, and how to interpret them properly is far from obvious. The question then arises as to what factors should guide efforts at interpretation. At one extreme lies the view known as isolationism, according to which a knowledge of the artist's biography, historical background, and other factors is irrelevant to an appreciation of the work of art and usually is harmful in that it gets in the way, tending to substitute a recital of these facts for the more difficult attempt to come to grips with the work of art itself. If the work of art is not understood on first acquaintance, it should be read (or heard, or viewed) again and yet again. Constant re-exposure to it, so that the recipient is totally absorbed in and permeated by it, is the way to maximum appreciation. At the other extreme, contextualism holds that the work of art should always be apprehended in its context or setting and that not merely knowledge about it but total appreciation of it is much richer if it is approached with this knowledge. According to the contextualists, not only literature (ordinarily appreciated contextually) but also the other arts, even nonrepresentational painting and music, should be apprehended in this way. The mediums of art In the context of every work of art there are three items to consider: 1. The genesis of the work of art. 2. The artifact, or work of art, which is a publicly available object or thing made by the artist and viewed by the audience. 3. The effects of the work of art upon the audience. https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy-of-art/Differences-in-the-artsrelated-to-mediums ... Differences in the arts related to mediums Very significant differences among the arts occur because of the differences in their medium. https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy-of-art/Subject-matter 32 32 Art as representation, https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy-of-art/Art-as-expression https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy-of-art/Art-as-form Formalist theories. https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy-of-art/Art-as-a-means-to-truth-or-knowledge 33 33 34 34 ART THEORY https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesthetics Aesthetics (/ɛsθɛtɪks/; also spelled aesthetics and esthetics also known in Greek as Αισθητική, or "Aisthētiké") is a branch of philosophy that explores the nature of art, beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty.[1][2] It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgements of sentiment and taste.[3] More broadly, scholars in the field define aesthetics as "critical reflection on art, culture and nature".[4][5] In modern English, the term aesthetic can also refer to a set of principles underlying the works of a particular art movement or theory: one speaks, for example, of the Cubist aesthetic.[6] Contents  1 Etymology  2 Aesthetics and the philosophy of art  3 Aesthetic ethics, judgment and universals o 3.1 Aesthetic ethics o 3.2 Aesthetic judgment  3.2.1 Factors involved in aesthetic judgment  3.2.2 Are different art forms beautiful, disgusting, or boring in the same way? o 3.3 Aesthetic universals  4 New Criticism and The Intentional Fallacy  5 Derivative forms of aesthetics o 5.1 Post-modern aesthetics and psychoanalysis o 5.2 Recent aesthetics o 5.3 Aesthetics and science o 5.4 Truth in beauty and mathematics o 5.5 Computational approaches o 5.6 Evolutionary aesthetics o 5.7 Applied aesthetics  6 Criticism  7 See also  8 References  9 Further reading  10 External links 35 35 At the broadest level, a theory of art aims to shed light on some aspect of the project of defining art or to theorize about the structure of our concept of 'art' without providing classical definitions, namely definitions formulated in terms of "necessary and sufficient" conditions. Theory of art Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_art The Art Story: Art Critics, Historians, and Art Theory www.theartstory.org/section_critics.htm Art Theory and Art Critics. Ideas and concepts related to modern art are explored in this section, along with the overviews of the most important critics and ... Modern Art * Postmodern Art * Art for Art's Sake * The Art Story Blog Theory of art Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_art At the broadest level, a theory of art aims to shed light on some aspect of the project of defining art or to theorize about the structure of our concept of 'art' without providing classical definitions, namely definitions formulated in terms of "necessary and sufficient" conditions. Aesthetic response * Formalism * Institutional * Historical Art Theory Intro Georgetown University faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/visualarts/art-theory-intro.html Identity politics theory wave from early 1980s-mid 1990s (race, class, gender theory; feminisms). So-called "culture wars" debates in public-funded art and ... Art Theory Contexts Art theory shift since late 1970s toward semiotics, cultural theory, and pan-humanities critical theory Academic pan-humanities-social science theory becomes part of the professionalization of artworld careers: curators, art historians, critics. Identity politics theory wave from early 1980s-mid 1990s (race, class, gender theory; feminisms). 36 36 So-called "culture wars" debates in public-funded art and political alignments of artists and artworld (1970searly 1990s). Question of the "state of the arts today" is largely overdetermined and generated through an institutional context and a universe of discourse used to pose questions and posit answers. Semiotics, intertextuality (intermediality) and the current art scene Differentiating synchronic (concurrent relationships) and diachronic (historical narrative) analysis, art in social and economic relations Meaning viewed through semiotic model of differences and oppositions that structure the possible cultural significance of work Viability of the "semiotic square" of oppositions and differentiations in analyzing art in a social context: network of relations is more complex than simple oppositional model. Intertextuality: a model for "intermediality": art making and art interpreting in contexts of prior work, traditions, codes, and values assumed by interpretive community. Intertextuality refers to the network of content and code interdependencies for meaning, prior and concurrent works presupposed for the intelligibility of the work being viewed What do the art works themselves and the "communities of practice" or "communities of reception" unconsciously presuppose about prior and contemporary work through which (and only through which) the work is intelligible? A text is intelligible only through "a mosaic of references and quotations that have lost their origins" (Kristeva's definition of intertextuality). Art works are similar in mosaics of implied references and responses. What is already encoded, part of a cultural encyclopedia, prior to anyone's interpretation (Eco). Now we have "intermediation" (all media, beyond intertextuality): network of presupposed prior and contemporary works through which anything is interpreted. Semiosis: art works in ongoing chain or dialogue of interpretations and responses; meaning produced through semiotic structure like language and other symbolic forms. "The interpretation of a text will always take the form of another text." (Eco) Translated to art: "The interpretation of an art work will always the take form of another work. New works as interpretations of prior or contemporary works (semiosis). Applied mediology status/role/function of the material art object in a digital and post-Internet world social value of the "dematerialized" media of video and digital multimedia Self-aware internationalization of the artworld, 1990s-2005 Where are the art/culture power centers today? Superficially "decentered," the artworld reconfigures around New York, Berlin, London. Rise of Beijing and Asian nodes: More Asian artists establishing international identity. Major transitions in the artworld, 1960s-2005 Moving art off the walls and pedestals and into "lived space" or deconstructed gallery space in 1960s-80s Lens-based art coming into dominance: photography, video, all forms of hybrid photo processes and techniques Quest for new materials, non-"art" materials Power of the major international art fairs, festivals, and biennials Table of Comparisons and Transitions Modern (1930s-1950s) Postmodern (1960s-80s) 37 37 "Post-Post-Modern"? (early 1990s-today-?) MODERN Economics: art market a small scene, few artists, known channels. Galleries, dealers making a market in modern art works mainly in NY and Paris. Wealthy collectors establish market value of new artists. Museums establishing collections of "modern" works. Post-war boom in art work and shift in power to New York. Post Modern Economics: art market expands with growth in demographics in art world players and growth of commercial art market. More aspiring artists entering the scene, colleges churning out thousands of BFAs/MFAs looking for market validation. Galleries/ dealers making a market in first-wave postmodern works, artists and dealers begin selling more to museums and corporate or wealthy collector collections (Saatchi, Broad, etc.). Post Post Modern Economics: art market expansion meets decline in recession of the early 90s. Artists relying more on institutional funding, grants, funded shows and festivals, museum purchases. Hierarchy re-established in art market auction business and upper tier galleries. Late 90s-2003: international art world achieves self-awareness. Big festivals and biennials drive market value. Commercial and museum-institutional sectors becoming closely aligned. Modern Art as heroic struggle with tradition, overcoming tradition but new work understood in context of grand narrative of art and cultural history. Post Modern Distrust of metanarratives (Lyotard); suspicion of ideological agendas in "Western Art" paradigms; deconstruction of traditional art media and genres. Rise of feminism and identity politics as challenge to art world roles and functions of art. Post Post Modern Internationalization and globalization of art world "industry" also brings global localization, self-inscribed narratives, unresolved identity politics. National and ethnic identity tensions in achieving international standing and market value. Modern Sense of triumphalism in modernism: Greenberg's Hegelian narrative of end-point of art in self-aware, selfcritical art genres (painting, sculpture). Supreme goals of painting and sculpture believed to be achieved in modern, self-critical works. Post Modern Rejection of old triumphalism and signs of a new triumphalism of movements seen to destroy the illusions of modernism (Pop, minimalism, conceptual art, feminist art, outside art, graffiti art). Post Post Modern An anti-triumphalism triumphalism, a sense of relief or release from grand art-historical problems and struggles, with continuing distrust, and need to ignore, dominant cultures. 38 38 Rise of "ignorant art": art making purposely ignorant of past and predecessors. Modern Art as "about" the formal and material problems of a medium (painting, sculpting, etc.) and a commentary on the making and limits of art in a specific medium. Abstraction privileged over representational art. Post Modedrn Adoption of mechanical techniques and commercial image styles, removal of visible artist's "hand," use of industrial materials. Rise in acceptance of photography and video in "high art" contexts. "Death of painting." Post Post Modern Continuation of art as embedded in social critique, works that question position and identities, multiplying of media and spaces. Photography, video, installations over painting and traditional sculpture. Modern Artists as visionary outsiders needing the art business world for survival and communication of ideas. Artists and art begin taking role of religion and myth in secular, materialist world. Many artists identifying with the spiritual or transcendental. Other engaged in political resistance to capitalist economics and class system. Post Modern Cynical/ironic embrace of art business machine (Warhol), artists as pop stars and celebrities. Self-conscious ironization or parody of modernism and accumulated cultural "givens." Clash of discourses and movements in establishing the identity and goals of art and artists. Fragmentation and pluralism. Art becoming seen as performative acts by artists more than finished objects for business transactions. Post Post Modern Artists as court jesters in the art world, getting grants, media attention, gallery shows, art buyers, museum exhibitions. End of trajectory of artist as autonomous agent against dominant culture (avant-garde): artists becoming positioned as autonomous and outside critique or accountability to public or marketplace. Continued: art defined by act of an artist: art is about "being an artist" more than making "art objects". Modern Sense of implicit, recognizable qualities of artworks that distinguish them from non-art objects. Greenberg's sense of modernism, "avant-garde" vs. "kitsch." Post Modern Discourses on "death of art," "death of painting" etc., as conceived in modernist categories or in grand narratives of cultural history. Post Post Modern 39 39 Art as institutional fiat: what gets positioned as art in the art world. Art as performance by artist, not art objects themselves or properties distinguishable in objects. Modern Inherited faith in content of art, art's values and mission in culture. Surface and depth categories retained. Post Modern Style over substance, denial of substance/ content, celebration of surface over depth. Postmodern stylization: pastiche, parody, recombinant styles, use of styles detached from historical or cultural contexts and associations. Post Post Modern Continued po-mo assemblage of detritus from cultural and political history. Embrace of historical and local critiques. Recombinant art from styles and signs of art. Experimentation with new materials, contexts, hybrids, scale. Martin Irvine, 2004-2009 | email | homepage About | Art, Theory, Practice www.art.northwestern.edu/about ART, THEORY, PRACTICE, is the department of art at Northwestern University. Our acclaimed faculty of practicing artists and critics closely work with students at ... Art, Theory, Practice: front page items www.art.northwestern.edu/ visiting artists, Visiting Artist Talk: Adrián Villar Rojas Monday, April 3, 6pm, Block Museum, 40 Arts Circle Dr, Evanston * visiting artists, Visiting Artist Talk: ... "Practice is a set of relays from one theoretical point to another, theory is a relay from one practice to another. No theory can develop without eventually encountering a wall. A practice is necessary for piercing this wall." -Michel Foucault Art Theory | UNSW Art & Design https://www.artdesign.unsw.edu.au/future-students/undergraduate-degrees/arttheory 40 40 The Bachelor of Art Theory is designed specifically for aspiring thinkers, producers, curators, innovators and entrepreneurs interested in pursuing a career in the ... The Bachelor of Art Theory is designed specifically for aspiring thinkers, producers, curators, innovators and entrepreneurs interested in pursuing a career in the creative and cultural sectors. Degree: Bachelor of Art Theory (BArtTh) Duration: 3 years full-time Honours: Available to eligible students as an additional year of study  Program Overview  Program Structure  Career Opportunities  Dual Degree Options  Scholarships Program Overview This program champions creative inquiry and recognises that great ideas make things happen and change the world. This program will help you imagine creative possibilities and futures. From experimentation and risk-taking to investigating cultural, social, political and economic contexts, the BAT will develop your skills and knowledge in order to produce incisive ideas and communicate them powerfully. Our focus on dynamic creative inquiry will give you the capacity to think experimentally, critically and independently. The BAT is a three-year program grounded in art and design thinking with specialities in: contemporary art and design concepts; contemporary publishing and curatorial studies; and contexts for creative practices. The program, is taught by leading experts from transdisciplinary backgrounds and offers the most dynamic and intensive experience of its kind in Australia. You will become familiar with the most challenging experimental art and design of the recent past and present. In understanding the conceptual and practical contexts for these practices, you will be better equipped to tackle future challenges. Graduates will be attuned to diverse modes of global practice and inquiry, media literacies and critical thinking in a rapidly changing world. The degree offers the flexibility to develop transdisciplinary pathways to prepare you for the convergence of creative and critical fields in today's art industries. For example, the BAT offers a pathway into the Master of Curating and Cultural Leadership, a combination of degrees that provide a set of skills to support the creative innovators and change agents. In addition, the degree can be combined with a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws or Bachelor of Social Research & Policy; enabling students to complete two degrees simultaneously. Download Bachelor of Art Theory Schema 41 41 Program Structure Contemporary Art and Design Thinking This major considers ways of thinking about contemporary art and design practices, including experimentalism, art history, aesthetics, visual culture, critical theory and creative methodologies. Focusing on creative research, this major will introduce you to ways of investigating and articulating contemporary art and design. Publishing and Curatorial Studies This major will develop research skills in the areas of curation, contemporary art writing and publishing. It focuses on the history and future of curatorial studies and publishing and writing environments. Contexts for Creative Practice This major will foster an environment for the integration of thinking and making. It will provide you with the skills to identify, research, analyse and evaluate art, media and design practices. Contemporary approaches to art and design will be explored by engaging diverse processes and by using open-ended frameworks and methods. Bachelor of Art Theory (Honours) Upon completion of the Bachelor of Art Theory (or an equivalent recognised program either at UNSW or another institution), high achieving students may undertake an additional, research-based honours year. The honours year provides students the opportunity to expand and deepen their knowledge while developing their problem solving and research skills through the undertaking of research-based theses. The completion of the honours year may provide students with a pathway into PhD research Detailed information regarding the Bachelor of Art Theory (Honours) is available from the UNSW Handbook. Career Opportunities The creative and cultural industries are key drivers of growth in the contemporary global economy. Our graduates are sought after across a range of arts, cultural, entertainment, media and technology industries. The Bachelor of Art Theory offers students the opportunity to prepare intellectually and practically to work in these transformative industries. Students learn about the methodological processes, historical contexts and theoretical frameworks that underpin creativity, culture and innovation. Students also have the opportunity to acquire the hands-on skills underpinning how creative content is exhibited, distributed, interpreted and promoted. Careers for Bachelor of Art Theory graduates include:  Arts and cultural management, policy making and administration  Creative direction, planning and production  Art and design criticism, communications and journalism  Cultural and creative research and scholarship  Multi-platform publishing and distribution  Curatorship, festival, event and museum management  Design thinking and management  Public programming and engagement  Entrepreneurship, strategist, creative social enterprise and startups Aesthetics and Art Theory MA degree course London postgraduate ... www.kingston.ac.uk › Postgraduate study › Postgraduate courses 42 42 Apply now for Kingston University London's Aesthetics and Art Theory MA degree. The course grounds its problems and concepts in the appropriate ... MA in Contemporary Art Theory, Goldsmiths, University of London www.gold.ac.uk/pg/ma-contemporary-art-theory/ The MA in Contemporary Art Theory is for those with a special interest in contemporary art, and an aptitude for theoretical work in the subject. Art Theory Minor ANU https://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/minor/ARTT-MIN The Art Theory minor is primarily designed to meet the needs and interest of visual arts designers and makers by informing their practice with critical inquiry into ... Art and Theory Publishing www.artandtheory.org/ Welcome to Art and Theory, a publishing house dedicated to quality books on contemporary art, photography and aesthetics. The focus is on creating .. Theories Of Art Adwww.informationvine.com/Theories+Of+Art Theory In Art Adwww.about.com/Theory+In+Art 43 43 META-PHILOSOPHY AND ART The philosophical field I am investigating and writing about is metaphilosophy. I have written a lot about this area and have included endless sources, discussions, articles, books, references, encyclopaedia articles, bibliographies, explanations, university courses and much else on the topic of meta-philosophy. To understand more about the 'meta' aspect in general and more specifically the philosophical part see my articles on that idea. Either on my personal philosophical site : https://sites.google.com/site/philosophyphilosophizing/home, or on Academia.edu https://independent.academia.edu/UlrichdeBalbian or on Philosophical Papers http://philpapers.org/profile/342710 https://www.google.com/search?q=Authentic+in+your+art+ulrich+de+balbian& sa=N&biw=1366&bih=589&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0ahUKEwiy ld7N4rHQAhXJK8AKHUc2Dq84ChCwBAgY I reflect on, think about and deal with philosophy in my meta-philosophy articles, as far as my art is concerned, I became aware that I do not merely paint, that I am not only interested in art and painting as such, but that I explore these things, that I investigate them and that I reflect on them. Therefore my type of art is meta-art. The 'art' part of this notion refers to my practical art work. I realized that it is post-modern, relativizing many things, being sceptical of most things taken for granted (in this case concerning art and painting) and that my painting is based upon these notion. Other ideas that are expressed through my art, unintentionally, as I do not intentionally attempt to create a new school or movement, are ideas such as post-minimalism, the minimalistic aspects of my work. This concerns the colours I use, the colour combinations, the forms, the composition, the techniques being employed and much else. Another aspect of my work is a 44 44 concentration on and a highlighting of the process/es of painting, in other words process painting. These then are the notions that will assist in the explanation of meta-art. It is not something cerebral, something that I try to do, but something that gradually, naturally and automatically developed during the many decades that I have been painting. Painting for the creative, original, serious artist is not about making 'nice' pictures, nice images, but it is about being authentic and true to oneself. The artist does what he has to do, what he must do – concerning the colours employed, the paint, techniques, forms and other structures, he does what he must do at that moment. It is as if he has no choice in the matter, tapping from, expressing and realizing that what comes from the deepest layers of his consciousness and sub-consciousness. I have written on this authenticity here https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/0_2ySTeoi8hXCT9wNuwdiycB?trk=pr of-sm among more than 2000 other articles on art. Painting = 5 Golden Rules | ulrich de balbian | LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/painting-5-golden-rules-ulrich-de-balbian Nov 28, 2015 Painting = FIVE Golden Rules Here are five golden rules for the socio-cultural ... (1) The artist is totally, completely and absolutely authentic 45 45 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/painting-5-golden-rules-ulrich-de-balbian Painting = FIVE Golden Rules Here are five golden rules for the socio-cultural practice or the activity of painting when it is exercised in the Western Tradition of Fine and visual art and more specifically the genre of painting. These rules concern the artist as a whole, his Self, constructions of reality, social relationships, values, norms, attitudes, emotional and intellectual development, beliefs, etc. These are things he will get in order during his life time, for as Socrates is alleged to have said, "an unexamined life is not worth living". He will obviously question himself, his pre-suppositions and assumptions concerning all aspects of existence. It is in this totality of his existence that the subtlety and complexities of these rules should be interpreted, understood and individuated by each person. (1) The artist is totally, completely and absolutely authentic (and increasingly so) in his entire being and all areas of his existence. (2) S/he is unintentionally and naturally original and unique in his approach to and understanding of reality (internal and external realities), the discourse of art, the socio-cultural practice of Fine or Visual Art and painting. (3) S/he is naturally and intentionally questioning, reflective and aware of the subtle problematics of all things, phenomena and situations. (4) A work of art makes one, clear statement. (5) The real aim of a work of art is to be, subconsciously so, an emotional punch, a KO through and as 'feeling'. 46 46 1) He should learn to be authentic in all areas of his existence, he must endlessly question and examine himself, his Self, and entire existence. With this refined and highly developed skills of self-examination, that have become second nature to him and/or be applied sub-consciously all the time, he should approach his artist reality. This exercise will assist him to become increasingly truthful to himself, both in his entire existence and all aspects of his being and obviously in his artistic practices. 2) He will increasingly become unique in all areas of his existence and obviously in his original artistic work. This most definitely does not mean that he will use or abuse art to shock, merely attempting to attract attention and become in/famous. For an artist to be original it is essential that he explores and develops many aspects of the discourse and processes of painting, for example techniques, different media, supports and the structural or formal aspects of painting (such as color, composition, form, etc.) 47 47 48 48 3) His painting and his attitude towards painting will reveal that he, similar to creative thinking and questioning individuals in all socio-cultural practices and specialized discourses (for example, philosophy, natural and social sciences, visual and performance arts, mathematics, theology, composition of music, etc) and all areas of daily existence (for example parenting, work, leisure, relationships, beliefs, etc), investigates and explores phenomena and do not merely accept them on face-value, or the way they are constructed, perceived and understood by his time and place his culture and sub-culture, class, age group, personality-type and other socio-cultural, psychological, biological and human factors. In other words he will be experimental, explorative and questioning and able to interpret and translate everything as problems, by systematic, logical and controlled problematization or problematizing. He will continually and constantly have a reflective, questioning and open frame of mind and reference towards all aspects of existence and his own artistic practices. He would deal in depth with the formal and structural aspects of his work (and all aspects of his existence, for example the re/construction of his external environments as well as his inner worlds) be it in painting itself (for example the exploration of certain aspects of painting by working in series), drawing, installations, performance, photography, videos and other new media. 4) Every single one of his paintings will make one, clear statement. This point and the next point (5) are really the different sides of the same coin. In fact all 5 points are merely different perspectives on or views of the 'same' object, for example perceiving a house (and architectural plans of it) from the front, the top and the different sides. 49 49 5) All socio-cultural, personal, structural and formal aspects concerning a painting will work together in unity, or disunity (some aspects of the work might be 'slightly off' and intentionally so) with the single purpose and sole aim to convey an 'emotional or feeling-based' punch or KO. This, is the real aim and overriding purpose of every work of art the pre-conceptual,(conceptually) ineffable, emotional, feeling expression or 'message' it conveys, expresses and communicates. 50 50 51 51 CONCLUSION In my case to be true to myself, to be authentic in my existence and all things I do, including specialized socio-cultural practices such as philosophy, art, theology etc implies that I do and must create in a metaor reflective manner. That I must think about and carefully consider in a philosophical manner what I do, how I do it and why I do it. Therefore when I do philosophy, I do metaphilosophy, when I am involved in art or painting, I create meta-art, etc. I do meta-philosophy as philosophy has reached its end. https://www.academia.edu/31838624/Death_of_Philosophy_Part_1_metaphilosophy_ https://www.academia.edu/31838773/Metaphilosophy._Death_of_Philosophy_Part_2 https://www.academia.edu/31487396/_Meta-Philosophy_MetaCognition_and_Critique_of_Doing_Philosophizing 52 52 https://www.academia.edu/30547224/MetaPhilosophy_Philosophizing_resembling_Theorizing_ https://www.academia.edu/30505428/Philosophy_Meta_Experimental_Philosophy_subject-matter_methods_theorizing_ It lost its subject-matter as I have explored in a number of articles – https://www.academia.edu/30194224/_Meta_Philosophy_searching_for_its_sub ject-matter_.docx https://www.academia.edu/30473911/Death_of_philosophy_subjectmatter_methods_theorizing_sociology_cognitive_science https://www.academia.edu/30479175/Death_of_philosophys_methods_subject matter_theorizing_cognitive_sciences_sociology https://www.academia.edu/30473885/Death_of_philosophy_subjectmatter_and_methods_theorizing_sociology_and_cognitive_theory And its method of logical, reasoned thinking, reasoning and arguments and heuristic devices are not unique to the philosophical discourse or socio-cultural but are employed in many discourses such as journalism and other disciplines as well as everyday conversation. https://www.academia.edu/30148411/Philosophy_methods_methodology https://www.academia.edu/30958770/Philosophizing_is_part_of_the_Process_e s_of_Theorizing https://www.academia.edu/30703651/philosophizing_no_do_theorizing https://www.academia.edu/30391232/Philosophy_as_Theorizing 53 53 PHILOSOPHER'S THINKING (LOGIC & ARGUMENTATION (VOLUME 5)) Philosophers' Thinking (THOUGHT or Imaginary EXPERIMENTS and METAPHORS (volume 3) PHILOSOPHERS Thinking (HEURISTICS and PROBLEM-SOLVING} (VOLUME 2)Vol2.docx PHILOSOPHERSTHINKING (THEORIZING AND PHILOSOPHIZING (VOLUME 1)vol1.docx The doing of philosophy resembles certain contexts and aspects of the features, the steps and stages of theorizing, theory-development and construction.