Aesthetic Economy Sander Kadajane For some time, I have been fascinated by the question of value. Not only economic value, but also aesthetical – and the connection between them. How is aesthetic value defined and recognized? Where does its value come from? When it comes to aesthetics, weird things happen in economy. For example – one of the most valuable mobile phone application, „Instagram“, was sold (to Facebook) for $1 Billion in 2012. The application is basically offering different photo filters which should emulate aesthetics of different old and nostalgic cameras. It does not improve the quality of the actual picture, but still, somehow, seems to give it more value. Rationality is clearly not the first and most important aspect …show more content…
For businesses, aesthetics (designing interiors, identity etc.) is not a matter of esoteric art theory anymore – it is the way we communicate through our senses, the art of creating reactions without any words. Aesthetics is the way for us to make the world special. Successful businesses understand that aesthetics is more pervasive than it used to be – it is not restricted to a social, economic or artistic elite; not limited to only a few specific industries. It is not for communicating with power and wealth only. The huge global competition nowadays may drive down the prices, but it also raises expectations - not just and only for service, function, and reliability, but also for sensory experience. The look and feel increasingly drives economic value. Aesthetics and style have become a critical source of economic value and product identity. The desire for interesting, enjoyable and meaningful sensory experiences is everywhere around us. The lion’s share of the theories in regards to aesthetic values appears in the context of (classical) art and paintings. Using these theories as the base of my essay is still relevant, I believe, for the reason that the examples of modern aesthetic subjects, their values and unpredictable market behaviors brought forth above - vinyl records, Instagram apps and cameras – belong to the field of senses, …show more content…
The idea that esthetic perception is an affair for odd moments is one reason for the backwardness of the arts among us. The eye and the visual apparatus may be intact; the object may be physically there, the cathedral of Notre Dame, or Rembrandt's portrait of Hendrik Stoeffel. [...] But for lack of continuous interaction between the total organism and the objects, they are not perceived, certainly not esthetically [...] For to perceive, a beholder must create his own experience. And his creation must include relations comparable to those which the original producer underwent. [...] Without an act of recreation the object is not perceived as a work of art.“ (Dewey, 1958) We were not blessed with this capacity by nature to produce art. It seems that we could never find our way in this world if we were not adapted to relationships and dialogues. The pleasure extracted from the constructed activities involved in relating to a work of art we should pay attention to the fact that these activities are involved in all cases of perception, not only of paintings, poems and books but also of random objects and environments – halls, tools, buildings and
Mitchell, Helen Buss. "Aesthetic Experience." Roots of Wisdom: A Tapestry of Philosophical Traditions. 6th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2011. 303-24. Print.
ABSTRACT: British Avant-Garde art, poses a challenge to traditional aesthetic analysis. This paper will argue that such art is best understood in terms of Wittgenstein¡¦s concept of "seeing-as," and will point out that the artists often use this concept in describing their work. This is significant in that if we are to understand art in terms of cultural practice, then we must actually look at the practice. We will discuss initiatives such as the work of Damien Hirst, most famous for his animals in formaldehyde series, and that of Simon Patterson, who warps diagrams, e.g., replacing the names of stops on London Underground maps with those of philosophers. Cornelia Parker¡¦s idea that visual appeal is not the most important thing, but rather that the questions that are set up in an attempt to create an "almost invisible" art are what are central, will also be discussed. Also, if we concur with Danto¡¦s claims that "contemporary art no longer allows itself to be represented by master narratives," that Nothing is ruled out.", then it is indeed fruitful to understand art in terms of seeing-as. For application of this concept to art explains what occurs conceptually when the viewer shifts from identifying a work, as an art object, and then as not an art object, and explains why nothing is ruled out.
Though most works of art have some underlying, deeper meaning attached to them, our first impression of their significance comes through our initial visual interpretation. When we first view a painting or a statue or other piece of art, we notice first the visual details – its size, its medium, its color, and its condition, for example – before we begin to ponder its greater significance. Indeed, these visual clues are just as important as any other interpretation or meaning of a work, for they allow us to understand just what that deeper meaning is. The expression on a statue’s face tells us the emotion and message that the artist is trying to convey. Its color, too, can provide clues: darker or lighter colors can play a role in how we judge a piece of art. The type of lines used in a piece can send different messages. A sculpture, for example, may have been carved with hard, rough lines or it may have been carved with smoother, more flowing lines that portray a kind of gentleness.
Even though an individual’s response is subjective, hermeneutical aesthetics focuses on interpretive incompleteness as part of the way human, viewers of artworks included, are in the world. An artwork is always experienced in the present from a particular present point of view and its interpretation is the transmission of meanings across time. In this way the artworks discussed in this thesis bear witness to particular historical events and allow for possible projections of those past events into the future. Contemporary life is permeated with a diversity of visual information. In such an atmosphere the hermeneutic approach provides a way of understanding the applications of the meaning we make of visual input. In light of it, the responsibility of both artist and viewer is among the issues discussed in the last part ‘Beyond Horizons’. Here the perspective moves to weave together the threads of ideas and issues that have been identified in the ‘Fusion of Horizons’ section, and reflects on aspects that reverberate beyond the shifting possibilities within the
The nature of aesthetics has puzzled many, where questions and reflections about art, beauty, and taste have intersected with our understanding of what a real art experience truly is. The notion of the aesthetic experience, an experience that differs from the everyday experiences, has been given great consideration by English art critic Clive Bell and American philosopher John Dewey since the beginning of the 20th century. Both have spent much deliberation on the distinctive character of aesthetic experience; yet have complete opposing ideas on how to go about understanding aesthetic experience’s ecosystem. Bell takes a formalist approach, as he thinks that to understand everything about a work of art, one has to only look at the work of art.
The first theory argues that art is an imitation of reality. The inability to represent reality flawlessly results in a piece of...
From the creation of art to its modern understanding, artists have strived to perform and perfect a photo realistic painting with the use of complex lines, blend of colors, and captivating subjects. This is not the case anymore due to the invention of the camera in 1827, since it will always be the ultimate form of realism. Due to this, artists had the opportunities to branch away from the classical formation of realism, and venture into new forms such as what is known today as modern art. In the examination of two well known artists, Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock, we can see that the artist doesn’t only intend for the painting to be just a painting, but more of a form of telling a scene through challenging thoughts, and expressing of the artists emotion in their creation.
The aesthetic form may be “tentatively define[d] as the result of the transformation of a given content (actual or historical, personal or social fact) into a self-contained whole,”. Art, when created in accordance to the aesthetic form, is the channeling of an experience into a subjective format, i.e. a novel, a painting, a piece of music, or any of the many different art forms. The reality of an event is translated into the chosen medium, and in this sublimation of the event, it is modified in accordance to the “demands of the art form” and the subjective perspective of the individual. The re-presentation of this event serves to “invoke the need for hope- a need rooted in the new consciousness embodied in the work of art”. When an event or object becomes the subject of a piece of art, it is necessarily changed according to the restrictions of the art form, artist, and veiwer. This change creates a new reality in where the event may take on a new meaning, thus challenging the original content of the event. This meaning is further influenced by subjectivity of the
... over time – and the viewer’s personal experience, essentially her history. This gets very near to a common sense perspective – what we look at, and what we think about what we see has much to do with who we are and what we have experienced in life. Thus, art may be described as an interaction between the viewer, influenced by her experiences, with the work of art, inclusive of its history and the stories built up around it over time. When we look at art, we must acknowledge that the image is temporally stretched – there is more to it than meets the eye at present. What we learn from Didi-Huberman’s approach is to give this temporal ‘tension’ its due. Didi-Huberman describes and defends the importance of of how we look at artistic works: images that represent something determinate, while always remaining open to the presentation of something new and different.
Just as other works that reflect art, pieces in the category of fine arts serve the important message of passing certain messages or portraying a special feeling towards a particular person, function or activity. At times due to the nature of a particular work, it can become so valuable that its viewers cannot place a price on it. It is not the nature or texture of an art that qualifies it, but the appreciation by those who look at it (Lewis & Lewis, 2008).
“There is nothing outside contingent discourses to which a discourse of values can be grounded—no eternal truths, no universal human experience, no universal human rights, no overriding narrative of human progress. This assumption carries many radical implications. The foundational concepts associated with artistic judgment such as “universal value” and “intrinsic merit,” with science such as “truth” and “objectivity,” and with ethics and law such as “rights” and “freedoms” suddenly have no meaning outside of particular discourse and are deeply involved in the qualities they are alleged to be describing objectively’’ (Faigley 1992, p. 8).
Solso, Robert L. The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Concious Brain. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT P. 13-21.
It is difficult to define or explain the artistic impulse, even today, and it is even more difficult to pinpoint the one point in history when human beings developed a desire for aesthetically pleasing objects. However, several trends that have endured for thousands of years, particularly the decoration of vessels, textiles, and jewelry, and the creation of drawings and sculpture even today when they are no longer the easiest way to tell a story, leads me to believe that there is something in the human spirit that has always sought out the beautiful, whether in concord or conflict with the practical. And although the role of art and artists has changed drastically in the past and will likely continue to do so in the future, there will always be an impulse, whether admired and supported or looked down upon by society, to make life just a little bit brighter.
Among the many theories of art that have emerged over time, the theory I will defend in this paper is the Neo-Wittgensteinian theory of Art. I will defend this view against the following (two) objections: a) The “open concept” idea of art is too expansive, and b) the “family resemblance” theory of artworks is also too expansive.
Aesthetics (visual appeal and entertainment) –This value has two major features. One is perceived experience through the senses (e.g. sight, hearing, taste and touch), which may offer...