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SFB 1391:  Different Aesthetics

Subject Area Humanities
Term since 2019
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 405662736
 
In recent years, questions of the aesthetic have become surprisingly prominent. Public, and at times heated, debates on art and aesthetic impact catch our attention. In the current time of crisis, we have become acutely aware of art as an agent and symbol of social dynamics. Aesthetic disputes, however, are not only pertinent to the culture of public debate but also to academic research. At times, even an 'aesthetic turn' has been proclaimed. It seems paradoxical, however, that this turn has mainly taken place in fields outside the humanities, e. g. in the social sciences, the neurosciences, and biology. These approaches, like the public debates, obviously react to a pressing need for and interest in the aesthetic. But often their answers draw on premises that go back to frequently unnamed concepts of aesthetic autonomy from the 18th and early 19th centuries, which entails the risk of losing sight again of the functions of art in a social as well as an anthropological perspective. Against this background, it appears to be even more urgent to discover and reflect alternative aesthetic practices, manifestations, and concepts that are not predicated on positions of aesthetic autonomy. Such a Different Aesthetics can prominently be found, as CRC claims, in the pre-modern period, i.e. before the age of philosophical aesthetics. This claim is what motivates the genuinely humanities-oriented program of the CRC. It takes up (1) debates on the social and anthropological foundation of the aesthetic, but correlates it (2) with a fundamental discussion on the understanding of aesthetic processes that is to be derived systematically from (3) the dynamic interaction between the inner logic of artistic processes and techniques (autological dimension) and social practice (heterological dimension). To be able to analyze this interaction, the CRC has developed the model of a praxeological aesthetics that is centered on the concept of ‘figures of aesthetic reflection.’ In this way, it offers a heuristic tool that allows for a sophisticated, as well as comprehensive, description of the dynamic entanglement between the two dimensions. It is thus our first aim to establish the social relevance of the aesthetic by following a plausible method. Secondly, by means of a research program that fosters interdisciplinary connections, the CRC aims at giving a new role to pre-modern aesthetic acts and artefacts in current aesthetic research. Thirdly, it is the long-term objective of the CRC to put current debates on the relevance of the aesthetic on a new basis by offering a deep cultural historical perspective. This will also help us fruitfully develop current questions of art and society.
DFG Programme Collaborative Research Centres
International Connection USA

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