Artification and the Aesthetic Regime of Art

The author discusses “artification” and attempts to ascertain whether some common features can be found between artification and Jacques Rancière’s aesthetics, especially his notion of the “aesthetic regime of art.” The author argues that Rancière’s project of “art become life” can be employed as a common denominator of both theoretical frameworks, that of artification and that of the aesthetic regime of art. Nonetheless, the art to which Rancière’s notion primarily applies is different from art in the traditional sense, which seems to form the empirical basis of the notion of artification

Mountain Photography and the Constitution of National Identity

The author analyzes the way in which from the end of the previous century on mountain photography helped to constitute and strengthen the so-called Slovenian national identity. He sketches the historical background that enabled the mountains and their representations to attain such a prominence within the more recent national history. He then compares the process of the visual representation within the context of the process of constitution of national identity with those found in some other European countries. Beside the standard carriers of national identity such as language, culture, territory, history, etc., in Slovenia the mountains too serve this function. They carry a special significance for they conflate the quotidian bourgeois need to escape back to nature and the need to constitute one's subjective or collective identity around a void. In the Slovenian case this void is represented also by photographic depictions of the mountains which have the privilege to be simultaneously a »real« and an imaginary place. As such they represent an almost ideal national common denominator which enables members of various segments of the nation to identity with it and thence be interpellated into Slovenians.The author analyzes the way in which from the end of the previous century on mountain photography helped to constitute and strengthen the so-called Slovenian national identity. He sketches the historical background that enabled the mountains and their representations to attain such a prominence within the more recent national history. He then compares the process of the visual representation within the context of the process of constitution of national identity with those found in some other European countries. Beside the standard carriers of national identity such as language, culture, territory, history, etc., in Slovenia the mountains too serve this function. They carry a special significance for they conflate the quotidian bourgeois need to escape back to nature and the need to constitute one's subjective or collective identity around a void. In the Slovenian case this void is represented also by photographic depictions of the mountains which have the privilege to be simultaneously a »real« and an imaginary place. As such they represent an almost ideal national common denominator which enables members of various segments of the nation to identity with it and thence be interpellated into Slovenians

Aesthetics as Philosophy

Today we are witnessing an enormous reconfiguration of the humanities, which is an essential feature of the present postmodern global condition. Within such a framework new conceptual tools and frameworks have to be established to theoretically grasp the extant social reality and human knowledge. Aesthetics is a paramount example of a modern/ist discipline currently searching for its objects and methods, while reconfiguring its relation to philosophy, which is undergoing similar, albeit perhaps less visible changes as well. The author argues that the prime reasons for this situation are (a) the aforementioned reconfiguration of the humanities, (b) the postmodern reconfiguration of the relationship between art and culture/nature, and (c) the increased globalization and phenomena emerging therefrom, an event perhaps more visible in marginal cultures and situations. It is the author's opinion that the present dynamic and changing situation offers an invaluable opportunity for aesthetics to establish itself as an important realm of essentially philosophical reflection not only upon art, but also culture. We should therefore treat the present aesthetics as an almost empty signifier waiting to be invested with new significations.Today we are witnessing an enormous reconfiguration of the humanities, which is an essential feature of the present postmodern global condition. Within such a framework new conceptual tools and frameworks have to be established to theoretically grasp the extant social reality and human knowledge. Aesthetics is a paramount example of a modern/ist discipline currently searching for its objects and methods, while reconfiguring its relation to philosophy, which is undergoing similar, albeit perhaps less visible changes as well. The author argues that the prime reasons for this situation are (a) the aforementioned reconfiguration of the humanities, (b) the postmodern reconfiguration of the relationship between art and culture/nature, and (c) the increased globalization and phenomena emerging therefrom, an event perhaps more visible in marginal cultures and situations. It is the author's opinion that the present dynamic and changing situation offers an invaluable opportunity for aesthetics to establish itself as an important realm of essentially philosophical reflection not only upon art, but also culture. We should therefore treat the present aesthetics as an almost empty signifier waiting to be invested with new significations

Preface

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The Seen - Le Vu

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Uvodnik

Due to its varied and contradictory history and to its uncertain present status and content we have invited new reflection on the notion of modernism as a historicizing, periodizing, and/or geographical-historical framework. We wanted to attract boldly speculative, polemical essays that will set out new directions and spur further discussion and debate

Estetska revolucija: Schlegel, Malraux in Rancière s Schillerjem

In his recent works Jacques Rancière has frequently discussed the notion of the “aesthetic revolution,” which was in his view indirectly announced by Friedrich Schiller in his On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795). It purportedly signified the advent of new art or, rather, its new “aesthetic regime” with which Rancière wished to replace in his view the incorrect but solidly established notions of modernism and postmodernism. The article points out some of the interpretations of the “aesthetic revolution” as it can be found in Friedrich Schlegel and in André Malraux and which contain some similarities with Rancière’s designation. The author at the same time points out the significance of the “aesthetic revolution” in plural, with the aid of which we can in his opinion productively explain the plurality of such revolutions in the previous century which exist in the intermediate space between art and politics and between artistic autonomy and heteronomy.Jacques Rancière je v svojih novejših delih pogosto obravnaval pojem »estetske revolucije«, ki naj bi jo posredno razglasil Friedrich Schiller v delu O estetski vzgoji človeka (1795). Pomenila naj bi nastop nove umetnosti, oziroma njenega »estetskega režima«, s katerim je želel Rancière nadomestiti po njegovem mnenju neustrezna, čeprav močno uveljavljena, koncepta modernizma in postmodernizma. V članku avtor opozori na nekatere interpretacije »estetske revolucije« kot jih najdemo pri Friedrichu Schleglu in Andréju Malrauxu in ki vsebujejo nekatere podobnosti z Rancièrovo razlago. Avtor hkrati opozori na pomen estetske revolucije v množini, s pomočjo katere lahko po njegovem mnenju produktivno razložimo mnoštvo tovrstnih revolucij v preteklem stoletju in ki se gibljejo v vmesnem prostoru med umetnostjo in politiko ter umetnostno avtonomijo in heteronomijo

Umetniška avtonomija in heteronomija

In the article, the author discusses the so-called aesthetic (or heteronomous artistic) avant-gardes, i.e. those that in the previous century insisted on the fusion of art and “life”. The author discusses one of the first such outstanding examples, namely Russian constructivism, which was often (Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Boris Groys, Jacques Rancière, etc.) the subject of such discussion. The author shares with the mentioned writers the opinion that in the cases noted the established “formation paradigm” is insufficient for it limits the designation of modernism to its “Western” (autonomous) part. The author mostly confirms Rancière’s views on this topic and draws attention to the third variant of heteronomy, namely that which was developed by the Situationist movement.V članku avtor obravnava t. i. estetske (ali heteronomne umetniške) avantgarde, torej tiste, ki so v preteklem stoletju vztrajale pri zlitju umetnosti in »življenja«. Ukvarja se z enim prvih takih primerov, namreč ruskim konstruktivizmom, ki je bil večkrat (Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Boris Groys, Jacques Rancière itd.) predmet tovrstne obravnave. Avtor z navedenimi pisci deli mnenje, da je v tovrstnih primerih uveljavljena »formacijska paradigma« (Buchloh) nezadostna, saj omejuje označbo modernizma le na njegov »zahodni« (avtonomistični) del. Avtor v članku v glavnem potrjuje Rancièrove trditve o tej temi, ob čemer pa opozori še na tretjo različico heteronomije, namreč ono, ki jo je razdelalo situacionistično gibanje

Umetnost in politika

The author explores the relationship between art and politics from a historical perspective. His starting point is the appearance of the notion of the artistic avant-garde in the 1820s. He argues that the political role of art emerged together with the emergence of the modern state, and especially in relation to the French Revolution and its politicized artistic representations. In the author’s view, the debates concerning art and politics have drastically changed in the last few decades. Nonetheless, the basic “aesthetic dimension” of art is still one of its main determining features, even if it is designated within a different historical and theoretical framework.Avtor raziskuje razmerje med umetnostjo in politiko iz zgodovinske perspektive. Njegova izhodiščna točka je pojav pojma umetniške avantgarde v dvajsetih letih devetnajstega stoletja. Pokaže, da se je politična vloga umetnosti pojavila skupaj s pojavom moderne države in predvsem v zvezi s francosko revolucijo ter njenimi politiziranimi umetniškimi reprezentacijami. Po avtorjevem mnenju so se debate v zvezi z umetnostjo in politiko v zadnjih nekaj desetletjih drastično spremenile. Navkljub vsemu, osnovna »estetska razsežnost« umetnosti je še vedno ena od njenih določujočih potez, tudi če je izrisana znotraj drugačnega zgodovinskega in teoretskega okvira