"Ett löfte om lycka"

In this essay, I explore an innovative theme in the interfaces between theology, gender studies, aesthetic theory, and literary studies. More specifically, my aim is to shed light on fundamental theological conflicts underlying the immensely complex subject of the elevated status of "the beautiful woman" as image and idea in Western society. This will be implemented through a close reading of the influential short story of French nineteenth-century novelist Honoré de Balzac, Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu (The Unknown Masterpiece), from 1831. By virtue of this theologically informed reading, important facets of modern Western society's fantasy of the beautiful woman come to the fore. The essay discloses how this fantasy has far-reaching tentacles and ramifications, by which the beautiful female becomes identified with beauty per se, with art, nature, the divine, and even with life itself. Balzac's short story presents the reader with a strong statement of the scopophilic tendency of Western visual arts, but in its final peripeteia it also provides us with the tools to bring forth a contrary reading, and a direct confrontation with the traditional understanding of the task of the painter.

Renteng Dance in Saren Village, Nusa Penida as a Source of Inspiration for the Creation of Ceremonial Dances in Bali

This article aims to discuss the Renteng Dance in Saren Village, Nusa Penida, which is actually the forerunner of the Rejang Renteng Dance performance, which is now widely danced by mothers in the context of the dewa yadnya ceremony in Bali. Supposedly, as the forerunner of ceremonial dance performances, the Balinese people know the Renteng Dance. However, in reality, this is not the case. Balinese people seem to know more about the Rejang Renteng Dance than the Renteng Dance. (1) What is the form of the Renteng Dance in Saren Village? (2) Why is the Renteng Dance the source of the creation of ceremonial dance in Bali? This study uses a qualitative method with research data sources such as Renteng Dance performances, dancers, musicians, traditional elders, community leaders, and journals related to research results. Aesthetic theory and structural-functional theory were used to analyze all the data gathered during the observation, interviews, and literature review. The study results show that: (1) the community in Saren Village presents Renteng Dance in the form of a freelance dance (without a play). It can be seen from the way of presentation, the structure of the show, the make-up of clothes, and the musical accompaniment of the performance; and (2) the existence of Renteng Dance is the source of the creation of ceremonial dance in Bali because it has a unique appearance that is easy to imitate, according to their aesthetic taste and faith. The new findings of this research show that the level of conflict, aesthetic taste, and faith of the actors greatly influence the development and preservation of the performing arts.

Immersed, yet distant: Notes for an aesthetic theory of immersive travel films

The purpose of this article is to highlight a few stylistic and aesthetic principles, common to the genre of the travel film (both documentary and fictional), as employed by immersive media and devices from the twentieth century – such as the Hale’s Tours of the World, Todd-AO, and Cinerama – up to today’s digital systems like Virtual Reality and 4D Cinema. I will discuss how the different experiences of simulated travels, proffered by those media, are all related to a broader aesthetic tendency in creating what I label as enveloping tactile images. Such images are programmed to surround the viewer from every side, thus increasing their spectacular dimension, but at the same time they strive to temper and weaken the haptic solicitations aroused in the viewer by the immersive apparatus itself. In this sense I propose that the spectator of immersive travelogue films is ‘immersed, yet distant’: she is tangled in the illusion of traversing an enveloping visual space, but the position she occupies is nonetheless a metaphysical one, not different from that of Renaissance perspective, because even if she can see everything, the possibility to interact with the images is denied, in order to preserve the realistic illusion. By analysing the stylistic techniques employed to foster the viewer’s condition of non-interactive immersion in the enveloping world presented by the medium, I will consequently address the topic of the conflict that such immersive aesthetics establish with traditional forms of audiovisual storytelling.

Reception of Francis Hutcheson’s Views in Immanuel Kant’s Philosophy of the Power of Judgment

The following dissertation aims at presenting the dependencies between the aesthetic theory by the Scottish philosopher Francis Hutcheson and the critic philosophy by Immanuel Kant. Those issues seem to be worth discussing in the light of some new research into the British aesthetics: particularly, for its significance in the field of newly created domain that aesthetic has become after Alexander Baumgarten and, mostly, after critical philosophy by Immanuel Kant. The comparison of the views held by Hutcheson and Kant shows the importance of the theory of beauty presented by the Scottish philosopher that results not only from his acknowledging the epistemological significance of an aesthetic experience and accepting that it is conditioned by disinterestedness of perception. What is important is Hutcheson’s place in the evolution of the concept of aesthetics, which took place in the 18th century and which was crowned by Kant and his Critique of the Power of Judgment.

The Geological Present: A Critique of the Aesthetic Anthropocene

<p>This thesis is a response to an emergent discourse on the relationship between the visual arts and the Anthropocene. The latter—the stratigraphic designation for a new geological epoch—has accrued a popularity within the contemporary art-world that is rarely afforded to a concept from the earth sciences. The uptake in Anthropocene-themed exhibitions, publications, and think-pieces reflects the concept’s promise of an art-making and art-critical methodology that may foster a revised relationship to nature in the age of climate change. Despite the new-found fashionability of the term, this relationship between art and the Anthropocene has neither been comprehensively demonstrated, nor disproved. Consequently, the purpose of this thesis is to undertake this necessary interrogation. Firstly, this is an engagement with the competing philosophies and intentions that have attached themselves to the Anthropocene label as it progressed from a straightforward geological statement, into a profound suite of assertions regarding the relationship of humanity to our planet. The influence of the posthumanist ecological philosopher, Timothy Morton, is a particular focus for understanding what the aesthetic theory of the Anthropocene consists of. Taken together, this theory is a promise of a new relationship with the natural world through the jettisoning of Romantic fantasies of nature in favour of an engagement with a sub-discursive, material world. Secondly, this theory is read against ecologically conscious contemporary art works. The practices of Pierre Huyghe, Simon Starling, and Conor Clarke speak to the same concerns as the aesthetic Anthropocene. Reading these works through the lens offered by the stratigraphic concept investigates and tests the capability of the aesthetic Anthropocene for delivering its promises of an art without nature, and a new engagement with our environments. Ultimately, the innovations of the aesthetic Anthropocene are novel, plentiful, but unconvincing. As a theory, it is beset by flaws and contradictions which undermine its applicability and critical potential. Consequently, ecologically conscious art does little to reflect the aims and aspirations of the aesthetic Anthropocene, rendering it an unhelpful tool for understanding the geological present.</p>

The Geological Present: A Critique of the Aesthetic Anthropocene

<p>This thesis is a response to an emergent discourse on the relationship between the visual arts and the Anthropocene. The latter—the stratigraphic designation for a new geological epoch—has accrued a popularity within the contemporary art-world that is rarely afforded to a concept from the earth sciences. The uptake in Anthropocene-themed exhibitions, publications, and think-pieces reflects the concept’s promise of an art-making and art-critical methodology that may foster a revised relationship to nature in the age of climate change. Despite the new-found fashionability of the term, this relationship between art and the Anthropocene has neither been comprehensively demonstrated, nor disproved. Consequently, the purpose of this thesis is to undertake this necessary interrogation. Firstly, this is an engagement with the competing philosophies and intentions that have attached themselves to the Anthropocene label as it progressed from a straightforward geological statement, into a profound suite of assertions regarding the relationship of humanity to our planet. The influence of the posthumanist ecological philosopher, Timothy Morton, is a particular focus for understanding what the aesthetic theory of the Anthropocene consists of. Taken together, this theory is a promise of a new relationship with the natural world through the jettisoning of Romantic fantasies of nature in favour of an engagement with a sub-discursive, material world. Secondly, this theory is read against ecologically conscious contemporary art works. The practices of Pierre Huyghe, Simon Starling, and Conor Clarke speak to the same concerns as the aesthetic Anthropocene. Reading these works through the lens offered by the stratigraphic concept investigates and tests the capability of the aesthetic Anthropocene for delivering its promises of an art without nature, and a new engagement with our environments. Ultimately, the innovations of the aesthetic Anthropocene are novel, plentiful, but unconvincing. As a theory, it is beset by flaws and contradictions which undermine its applicability and critical potential. Consequently, ecologically conscious art does little to reflect the aims and aspirations of the aesthetic Anthropocene, rendering it an unhelpful tool for understanding the geological present.</p>

Spinoza’s affective aesthetics: Art and architecture from the viewpoint of life

There is a peculiar aesthetic undercurrent traversing Baruch Spinoza’s philosophy, harbouring untapped potentials and far-reaching consequences for contemporary discussions on aesthetics. The relationship between aesthetics and Spinoza’s philosophy, however, has been nothing but a huge missed encounter, resulting in the publication of only a few books and a handful of articles throughout a vast period of more than three-and-a-half centuries. Which begs the question: might there be, despite our persistent negligence, much more to the relationship of Spinoza and aesthetics than first meets the eye? I will argue that there might be. For once Spinoza’s philosophy as a whole, ranging from his philosophical and political treatises to his private letters and unfinished manuscripts, is read between the lines, latent seeds of a peculiar aesthetic theory become visible—an aesthetic theory that moves beyond subjective and objective approaches that have come to dominate the field, and rather grounds itself on affective interactions and morphogenetic processes. A subterranean journey through Spinoza’s affective aesthetics constitutes the subject matter of this paper, which interweaves subtle aesthetic hints buried deep within his philosophical archive, while unfolding relevant ramifications of these promising discoveries for the current aesthetic discourse.

Ethics in Classical Hindu Philosophy: Provinces of Consequence, Agency, and Value in the Bhagavad Gītā and Other Epic and Śāstric Texts

The idea of a univocal property of ‘goodness’ is not clearly found in classical Sanskrit sources; instead, a common ethical strategy was to clarify the ontological nature of the self or world in such a way that ethical implications naturally flow from the adjustment in our thinking. This article gives a synoptic reading of sources that treat features of ethics—dispositions, agents, causal systems of effect, and even values themselves—as emergent phenomena grounded in complex, shifting, porous configurations. One conclusion of this was that what ‘goodness’ entails varies according to the scope and context of our concern. Firstly, we examine how the Bhagavad Gītā fashions a utilitarianism that assumes no universal intrinsically valuable goal or Good, but aims only to sustain the world as a prerequisite for choice. Recognising that this pushes problems of identifying the Good onto the individual; secondly, we look at accounts of malleable personhood in the Caraka Saṃhitā and Book 12 of the Mahābhārata. Finally, the aesthetic theory of the Nāṭya Śāstra hints at a context-constituted conception of value itself, reminding us that evaluative emotions are themselves complex, curate-able, and can expand beyond egoism to encompass interpersonal concerns. Together these sources show aspects of an ethical worldview for which each case is a nexus in a larger ethical fabric. Each tries to pry us away from our most personal concerns, so we can reach beyond the ego to do what is of value for a wider province of which we are a part.

Coleridge’s Imperfect Circles

<p>This thesis takes as its starting point Coleridge’s assertion that “[t]he common end of all . . . Poems is . . . to make those events which in real or imagined History move in a strait [sic] Line, assume to our Understandings a circular motion” (CL 4: 545). Coleridge’s so-called “Conversation” poems seem to conform most conspicuously to this aesthetic theory, structured as they are to return to their starting points at their conclusions. The assumption, however, that this comforting circular structure is commensurate with the sense of these poems can be questioned, for the conclusions of the “Conversation” poems are rarely, if ever, reassuring. The formal circularity of these poems is frequently achieved more by persuasive rhetoric than by any cohesion of elements. The circular structure encourages the reader’s expectations of unity and synthesis, but ultimately these expectations are disappointed, and instead the reader is surprised by an ending more troubling than the rhetoric of return and reassurance would suggest. Taking three “Conversation” poems as case studies (“The Eolian Harp,” “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison,” and “Frost at Midnight”), this thesis attempts to explicate those tensions which exist in the “Conversation” poems between form and effect, between structure and sense.</p>

Coleridge’s Imperfect Circles

<p>This thesis takes as its starting point Coleridge’s assertion that “[t]he common end of all . . . Poems is . . . to make those events which in real or imagined History move in a strait [sic] Line, assume to our Understandings a circular motion” (CL 4: 545). Coleridge’s so-called “Conversation” poems seem to conform most conspicuously to this aesthetic theory, structured as they are to return to their starting points at their conclusions. The assumption, however, that this comforting circular structure is commensurate with the sense of these poems can be questioned, for the conclusions of the “Conversation” poems are rarely, if ever, reassuring. The formal circularity of these poems is frequently achieved more by persuasive rhetoric than by any cohesion of elements. The circular structure encourages the reader’s expectations of unity and synthesis, but ultimately these expectations are disappointed, and instead the reader is surprised by an ending more troubling than the rhetoric of return and reassurance would suggest. Taking three “Conversation” poems as case studies (“The Eolian Harp,” “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison,” and “Frost at Midnight”), this thesis attempts to explicate those tensions which exist in the “Conversation” poems between form and effect, between structure and sense.</p>