Content and objectives
The depiction of the ugliness of illness, accident, death, misfortune, destruction, war and catastrophe is not only a contemporary phenomenon that turns the media into mass media, but is equally present throughout cultural history. God and the devil, good and evil, heaven and hell, life and death form indissoluble pairs of opposites through which an understanding of our existence in the environment can only develop.
Visual culture vividly illustrates the process of cross-generational confrontation with the existential dimension of life. It stimulates our feelings of grandeur and greatness, of love, trust and confidence, as well as hate, envy, jealousy, fear, panic, disgust and despair.
A contemporary aesthetic involves a holistic approach to all significant aspects of our existence. It is based on the ability to verbally and visually recognize, thematize and communicate all relevant information in classic and new media.
Seminar schedule
Introduction, presentation and assignment of topics, discourse on objectives, presentation by Axel Buether
A Ugly new world – changes in self-perception and environmental perception with scientific and technological progress
The concept of beauty through the ages – cultural history of ugliness
Modern societies and technological anxiety – aesthetics and perception
Visual reflection of existence – aesthetics and awareness-raising
B All senses go crazy – aesthetics of the incomprehensible and inharmonious
Noise and discords – new music and the setting of all existence to music
Horror and terror – literature and film
Aesthetics of immorality and evil – literature and language
Breaking taboos and hypermedia – film and multimedia
C Quite old and terribly new – democratization of visual culture
Traumas and psychoses – action art and art therapy
Immorality and trash – comic and cliché
Art and commerce – pop art and mass media
Consumer frenzy and triviality – kitsch and escapism
