Assigned Reading
Maggie McBrady
"We have finished with the end of representation, then, with the end of aesthetics, with the end of the image itself in the superficial virtuality of the screens."
Baudrillard is criticizing the direction art is taking by comparing it the the current human desire for the "hyperreal". The hyperreal is when images become more real than the actual objects they represent. For example, an explosion in an action movie seems more real, hyperreal, than an explosion in real life. We have become so used to the explosion we are presented with in movies that we would not be impressed if we saw one happen in front of us. The explosion we see in the movies is the simulacrum. The simulacrum is the substitution of the real object for what we desire in the hyperreal world.
I cannot tell if Baudrillard fears what is coming for art or if he is simply stating what he thinks will happen without emotion. According to Baudrillard artists will cease to serve a purpose because the art they produce won't produce an aesthetic pleasure because we will become desensitized to it and desire the hyperreal. We will no longer look to art to fulfill a greater meaning because all that is left will be images. Baudrillard cites Andy Warhol as evidence that this is already happening. Warhol's famous Campbell's can is just the presentation of an image yet it was well received. The cans don't produce an aesthetic pleasure but are simply there.
I'm not sure I completely agree with Baudrillard. I think, like all things in life, we are in a phase of art. Modern art is seen as hip and so it is payed great admiration. But once we grow tired of a canvas being painted with a single blue strip we will seek out aesthetic art.
I'm not sure I completely agree with Baudrillard. I think, like all things in life, we are in a phase of art. Modern art is seen as hip and so it is payed great admiration. But once we grow tired of a canvas being painted with a single blue strip we will seek out aesthetic art.
No comments:
Post a Comment