Art without the Aesthetics. Defining Conceptual and Post-Conceptual Art Practices in 2010 - Paperback

by Cyrus Manasseh (Author)

Academic Paper from the year 2010 in the subject Art - Art Theory, General, The University of Western Australia, language: English, abstract: The paper focuses on explaining why today (conceptual) and post-conceptual art practices generated from specific theories during the 1960s and 1970s would precipitate the need for the decline of philosophical aesthetics in discussing today's contemporary art. Today, since "aesthetic experience is to be conceived as conforming to the ruling cultural ideology" much of the "visual turn", would derive from street artists, sub-cultures and darker cultures who, rebellious by nature use (conceptual) and post-conceptual art practices, which increasingly produce theoretical positions, which contribute to the discursive paradigms adopted by today's theoreticians of visual culture. Also contributing to the "visual turn", is the active role played by gallery audiences who help to produce the meaning of the work itself-their role now has largely changed from passive contemplation to active participation. The paper defines why the preponderance of perspectives accumulated today (used by theoreticians of visual culture) informed by the artist's intention as a new theory in itself and the audience as "participant" is currently outweighing the significance of aesthetic theory. In the paper, I define and evaluate why philosophical aesthetics is no longer being seen as necessary to provide critical reflection of new media, post-conceptual art practices and the digital revolution.

Author Biography

Cyrus Manasseh is a novelist, essayist, philosopher, historian and musician. He teaches in universities and privately as a higher education consultant. Prof. Cyrus Manasseh PhD is also a Freelance Researcher and author of the books 'The Lead Guitarist'; 'The Island Library'; and 'The Problematic of Video Art in the Museum 1968-90'. He is an international scholar and has presented his ideas in a number of countries. He is author of numerous essays and scientific articles in the field of art history, film, music. architecture, video, museums, evolving media and theatre-drama. His published essays and articles include: 'The Words of Gandhi and How the Libertarian Collectivist Anti-individualistic Post-Modern Turn has Shaped our World, ' 'Against Roland Barthes. Why Ibsen's "A Doll's House" is Not a Feminist Text, but a Humanist one, ' 'Revising Animation Genres: Jan Svankmajer, Tim Burton and James Cameron and the Study of Myth, ' 'Cinema and Mass Media in Modernity. Walter Benjamin and the Reproducible Image, ' 'The Problem with the Influence of the Moving Image in Society Today, the Alter-Modern and the Disappearance of a Focus on the Internal', The Art Museum in the 19th Century J. J. Winckelmann's Influence on the Establishing of the Classical Paradigm of the Art Museum; Art without the Aesthetic? Defining Conceptual & Post-Conceptual Practices'; 'Art, Language & Machines: Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia & Raymond Roussel' and many others. He has presented his research at international academic forums in London, Sydney, Perth, Venice, Prague and Harvard where he was session chair and has lectured and has taught extensively in Italian, Irish and Australian Universities and Colleges. He was a finalist for the International Award for Excellence in the Constructed Environment Journal Writers Award Annual Prize for the academic essay 'An Inquiry into the Design and the Aesthetics of the Venice Biennale Pavilions and Film'. He is particularly focused on the problematic of post-modernism for culture and society. His novels 'The Lead Guitarist' and 'The Island Library' are currently available on Amazon.