Reframe continued.
I recently read a very thought-provoking book by Korean-born philosopher Byung-Chul Han called Saving Beauty. Han is occupied with how our late-modern need for smoothness and convenience has destroyed beauty in the sense that beauty has turned into nothing but
Han’s book on beauty starts like this: “The smooth is the signature of the present time. It connects the sculptures of Jeff Koons, iPhones and Brazilian waxing. Why do we today find what is smooth beautiful? Beyond its aesthetic effect, it reflects a general social imperative. It embodies today’s society of positivity. What is smooth does not injure. Nor does it offer any resistance. It is looking for Like. The smooth object deletes its Against. Any form of negativity is removed.”
No, Han is not a big fan of Koons. He later writes that Koons’ smooth sculptures cause a haptic compulsion to touch them, even the desire to suck them. This is not a good thing in Han’s world. Not at all. In order to save beauty - and reunite with all facets of beauty; not only the smooth ones, but also rawness, the anti-smoothness, complexity, the sublime - we must salvage negativity.
The aesthetics of beauty in modern times equals smoothification. And the aesthetic of the smooth is embodied in Koons’ smooth, shiny sculptures: they lack negativity and are reduced to beauty, joy and communication. They are shiny as mirrors - and isn’t that all we want now-a-days? A mirror that we can meet ourselves in, admire ourselves in, be confirmed within (- otherness, rawness, decay, danger, diversity, negativity is absent). As Han. puts it: The beautiful is exhausted in a Like-it culture.
(too long, continues in comments...)
#reframe #rebel #rewild #design #sustainability #beauty #aeathetics #aestheticsustainability #raw