Chytry & Benjamin

At the heart of both of our texts for this week, we saw a concern for shifts in the way aesthetic objects are produced (more evident in Benjamin) and the consequences of this production on humanity and on freedom.

Chytry's text, essentially a pulling-together of Marxist aesthetic theory, attempts to outline the key aspects of some Marxian aesthetic thought. Here's what I took from that:

-Marx moves away from Hegel by focusing on the "sensuous nature" which places a restored emphasis on the site of production and labor. I'd be interested in discussing how this is in tension (and not) with Hegel's notion of the aesthetic as man-made objects since, aesthetic drive, for Marx, is natural.

-A new notion of "communality" is exhibited where the goal of the society is to have individuals work toward developing their aesthetic selves. This idea, although it relies heavily on individuals, does provide a space to talk about aesthetics as operating within a community. What feels very comfortable for me in all of this is that aesthetics become a part of the masses instead of a means to separate out the masses and create social hierarchy.

-The idea that capitalism will play its part in a history that will eventually give rise to an aesthetic ideal. The below quote better illustrates this idea:

In short, the Aufhebung of capitalism is to usher in an 'aesthetic utopia': 'economic activity will turn into artistic activity, with industry as the supreme avenue of creation, and the planet itsel will become the new man's work of art. The alienated world will give way to the aesthetic world,' (233). I'm interested here in the phrase "industry as the supreme avenue of creation"--what exactly does this quote mean and what are the implications of this?

Benjamin, like Marx, is very preoccupied with the notion of history and how the particular historical climate (the Age of the Mechanical) is diminishing the "aura" of art allowing for us to think in new ways about art and the aesthetic. I think what Benjamin is arguing for is the moving away from a social tradition or ritual as shaping the critical or pleasurable potential of art. I'm very interested in the concept of the "aura" and I'd like to talk more about this in class--particularly in the way that it determines what we are able to perceive and not perceive. The notion of the "aura" in general seems valuable to me because it complicates the notion of the subject viewing the object by inserting a layer or culture and the social.

Anyway, I can't think of anything very interesting to say about the audiences for these pieces: academics interested in political and social aspects of aesthetic theory; in Chytry's case, those who were familiar, but not experts in Marxian thought; those who were particularly interested in drawing up aesthetic theory and looking at it through the lens of contemporary production/politics; I could probably go on and on here. It seems more difficult to write about audience as we move forward because it seems like for the more contemporary pieces, the notion of audience is becoming less visible because we, as writers, share some of these assumptions.

Concerns:

1) I have mention some points that I'm interested in discussion above; however, I'm also interested in further thinking through the human-nature relationship in both Benjamin and Marx (via Chytry).