The Aesthetics of Self-Becoming: How Art Forms Empower

This book shows that art involves an aesthetics of self-becoming, wherein we do not simply consume artistic meaning, but become empowered—by adapting ourselves to what creation in the different art forms makes possible. Paul Crowther argues that the great political task in aesthetics is no longer the creation of political art as such, but rather the winning back of art and aesthetics as central societal concerns. This involves the overcoming of neo-liberal treatments of art as mere commodity and misguided attitudes that dismiss it as the product of dead white European males. The book begins with a theory of self-consciousness which reveals the necessary role played by the aesthetic in personal identity. It then emphasises how art forms empower through processes of making and aesthetic effects that are unique to them individually. To show this, he considers the ontology of pictorial art, sculpture, installation and assemblage works, architecture, literature, cinema, and music. His arguments concerning these are supported, throughout, by in-depth discussions of specific artworks. The book’s effect, overall is to reorientate aesthetics by showing how art empowers through its revelation of new possibilities of experience.

The Aesthetics of Self-Becoming will appeal to philosophers of art and aesthetics, as well as scholars in art history, literary studies, film studies, and music theory who are interested in the book’s central concerns.

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The Aesthetics of Self-Becoming: How Art Forms Empower

This book shows that art involves an aesthetics of self-becoming, wherein we do not simply consume artistic meaning, but become empowered—by adapting ourselves to what creation in the different art forms makes possible. Paul Crowther argues that the great political task in aesthetics is no longer the creation of political art as such, but rather the winning back of art and aesthetics as central societal concerns. This involves the overcoming of neo-liberal treatments of art as mere commodity and misguided attitudes that dismiss it as the product of dead white European males. The book begins with a theory of self-consciousness which reveals the necessary role played by the aesthetic in personal identity. It then emphasises how art forms empower through processes of making and aesthetic effects that are unique to them individually. To show this, he considers the ontology of pictorial art, sculpture, installation and assemblage works, architecture, literature, cinema, and music. His arguments concerning these are supported, throughout, by in-depth discussions of specific artworks. The book’s effect, overall is to reorientate aesthetics by showing how art empowers through its revelation of new possibilities of experience.

The Aesthetics of Self-Becoming will appeal to philosophers of art and aesthetics, as well as scholars in art history, literary studies, film studies, and music theory who are interested in the book’s central concerns.

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The Aesthetics of Self-Becoming: How Art Forms Empower

The Aesthetics of Self-Becoming: How Art Forms Empower

by Paul Crowther
The Aesthetics of Self-Becoming: How Art Forms Empower

The Aesthetics of Self-Becoming: How Art Forms Empower

by Paul Crowther

eBook

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Overview

This book shows that art involves an aesthetics of self-becoming, wherein we do not simply consume artistic meaning, but become empowered—by adapting ourselves to what creation in the different art forms makes possible. Paul Crowther argues that the great political task in aesthetics is no longer the creation of political art as such, but rather the winning back of art and aesthetics as central societal concerns. This involves the overcoming of neo-liberal treatments of art as mere commodity and misguided attitudes that dismiss it as the product of dead white European males. The book begins with a theory of self-consciousness which reveals the necessary role played by the aesthetic in personal identity. It then emphasises how art forms empower through processes of making and aesthetic effects that are unique to them individually. To show this, he considers the ontology of pictorial art, sculpture, installation and assemblage works, architecture, literature, cinema, and music. His arguments concerning these are supported, throughout, by in-depth discussions of specific artworks. The book’s effect, overall is to reorientate aesthetics by showing how art empowers through its revelation of new possibilities of experience.

The Aesthetics of Self-Becoming will appeal to philosophers of art and aesthetics, as well as scholars in art history, literary studies, film studies, and music theory who are interested in the book’s central concerns.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780429581311
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Publication date: 03/20/2019
Series: Routledge Research in Aesthetics
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 170
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Paul Crowther is Professor of Philosophy at Alma Mater Europaea – Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis in Ljubljana, Slovenia. His recent books include Digital Art, Aesthetic Creation: The Birth of a Medium (Routledge, 2019) and What Drawing and Painting Really Mean: The Phenomenology of Image and Gesture (Routledge, 2017)

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Politics of Artistic Creation

Chapter 1 - Conditions of Self-Consciousness: The Necessity of the Aesthetic

Chapter 2 – The Depths of Pictorial Art

Chapter 3 - Hyperbodiment and Aesthetic Meaning in Film

Chapter 4 - The Intimacy of Reading: Literature as Art

Chapter 5 – A Little Theatre…

Chapter 6 – Music As Education

Chapter 7 - Arts in the Digital Age

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