Autonomy as Aesthetic Practice

This essay examines various conceptions of autonomy in relation to recent artistic practices. Starting from the apparent opposition between modernist notions of the autonomy of art and theorizations of political autonomy, the text problematizes the notion of the autonomy of art by using Jacques Ranc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTheory, culture & society Vol. 31; no. 7-8; pp. 81 - 95
Main Author Lutticken, Sven
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.12.2014
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Aesthetics
Art Works
Artists
Autonomy
Esthetics
Philosophy
Political Opposition
Rancière, Jacques
Sovereignty
Studies
aesthetics
autonomy
art
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Summary:This essay examines various conceptions of autonomy in relation to recent artistic practices. Starting from the apparent opposition between modernist notions of the autonomy of art and theorizations of political autonomy, the text problematizes the notion of the autonomy of art by using Jacques Rancière’s notion of the aesthetic regime. Focusing on the importance of the act and performance in the art of the last decades, it is argued that while political and artistic autonomy may never quite converge, aesthetic acts can under certain circumstances function in both the political and the artistic register, simultaneously or successively. The aesthetic act thus stages a passage from the artistic to the political, and vice versa.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:0263-2764
1460-3616
DOI:10.1177/0263276413496853