Abstract
The chapter focuses on two distinct tendencies in contemporary Russian thought regarding its approach to art. The first is exemplified in the original method developed by the philosopher Valery Podoroga, namely, his analytical anthropology of literature and art. Offering a fresh reading of the Russian formalists as well as of phenomenology, Podoroga develops his own conception of mimesis and what he terms as “Work.” The second trend has to do with the understanding of art as a phenomenon of mass societies. This approach emphasizes collective affectivity and is associated with the work of Oleg Aronson and the ideas of the composer Vladimir Martynov. Here art is no longer the object of reflection, but a new ground for thinking itself. The same perspective is shared by younger scholars, such as Alexandra Volodina and Denis Larionov, who explore the various manifestations of “minor” art.
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Change history
27 August 2021
An older version of the abstract has been published online erroneously which is corrected now and given below.
Notes
- 1.
For a clash of various approaches, see the seminal roundtable discussion “Chto takoe iskusstvo?” [“What Is Art?”] held at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Bakshtein et al. 2016, 18–47).
- 2.
Presently, he is acting head of the department of the same name at the Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences.
- 3.
For an English translation of a shortened version of Antropogrammy. Opyt samokritiki [Anthropograms: An Essay in Self-Criticism], see the special issue of Russian Studies in Philosophy (Peter Golub offers a different translation for the second part of the title) (Podoroga 2016).
- 4.
See Paul Ricœur’s fundamental Time and Narrative in three volumes, originally published in French as Temps et récit (Ricœur 1983–1985).
- 5.
Among other writings, see, for example, their influential and widely cited book Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature (Deleuze and Guattari 1986).
- 6.
- 7.
An available and highly competent English translation of an earlier version of Podoroga’stext on Platonov is “The Eunuch of the Soul: Positions of Reading and the World of Platonov” made by Gene Kuperman (Podoroga 1991).
- 8.
For a description of the course itself and other forms of joint collaboration, see Buck-Morss’s Dreamworld and Catastrophe. The Passing of Mass Utopia in East and West (Buck-Morss 2000, 230 ff.).
- 9.
One important landmark is the book Avto-bio-grafiia. K voprosu o metode. Tetradi po analiticheskoi antropologii. № 1 [Auto-bio-graphy. On the Question of Method. Papers on Analytical Anthropology. № 1]. In addition to Podoroga, who was also editor of the volume, it was coauthored by his pupils and/or members of his department at the time, including, among others, Mikhail Ryklin, Oleg Aronson, Elena Oznobkina, Andrei Paramonov, Oleg Nikiforov, and myself(Podoroga et al. 2001).
- 10.
On the connection between Podoroga’s conception of mimesis and the problematic of death and, more generally, for an introduction to his thinking, see Oleg Aronson’s article “Forms of Thought within the Limits of the Body (On the Analytical Metaphysics of Valery Podoroga)” (Aronson 2016b).
- 11.
One of the latest translations of “technische Reproduzierbarkeit” is “technological reproducibility,” which is probably closer to the point.
- 12.
He is senior research associate of the Department of Aesthetics of the Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences.
- 13.
See, for example, Metakino [Metacinema] (Aronson 2003).
- 14.
Although a great deal has been published on this book worldwide, one of the few competent Russian commentaries to date is Aronson’s foreword “Iazyk vremeni” [“The Language of Time”] to its Russian edition (Aronson 2004).
- 15.
The thesis reappears and is further developed in his most recent book Kino i filosofiia: ot teksta k obrazu [Cinema and Philosophy: From Text to Image] (Aronson 2018). This is close to my own understanding of photography, which is instrumental in uncovering spaces of collective affectivity (Petrovsky 2015).
- 16.
See Aronson’s compelling contribution “Maidan: Redefining Democracy” (tr. Peter Golub) to the special issue of Russian Studies in Philosophy on the pivotal events in Ukraine that commenced in the Fall of 2013 (Aronson 2016a).
- 17.
His famous book What Is Art? (1897) was first published in English due to difficulties with the Russian censors.
- 18.
For an explicit critique of the economic, or financial, dimension of art in the contemporary world, see Aronson’s chapter “Iskusstvo i abstraktnyi kapitalism” [“Art and Abstract Capitalism”] in our joint book Chto ostaetsia ot iskusstva [What Remains of Art] (Aronson and Petrovsky 2015, 172–189).
- 19.
See, among her other books, the posthumously published Izbrannoe [Selected Writings] (Cherednichenko 2012).
- 20.
All the while he is supported by a group of talented and versatile musicians, including his future wife, the violinist Tatiana Grindenko, who will later set up her own ensemble of the same name (Opus Posth 1999). In 2002, Martynov and Grindenko were awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation for their outstanding musical achievements.
- 21.
It is interesting that Martynov’s latest experimental book Kniga peremen [Book of Changes] (2016a), named after the famous Chinese divination text, is more like a music score. Consisting of various “samples” or “blocks,” among them excerpts from Proust, Joyce, and family diaries, as well as the Composers’ Union directives and newspaper dating ads, this masterfully structured oeuvre is meant for meditation rather than linear reading. In Martynov’s own words, he “would like to be a DJ in literature” (Martynov 2016). For an account of Martynov’s ideas on visuality and its social implications, see my book Bezymiannye soobshchestva [Anonymous Communities] (Petrovsky 2012, 178–186).
- 22.
See, for example, my analysis of Pussy Riot and their actionism in terms of Bakhtin’s philosophy of the act (Pyotrovsky [Petrovsky] 2017, 70–81). Actionism of this kind is not just political art engaged in the moment. It serves as a catalyst for the emergence of the new (new social interactions), for which we necessarily lack designations or names.
- 23.
For a discussion of these and other closely related issues, see the special issue of my theoretical and philosophical journalSinii divan [Blue Couch] on contemporary art (Petrovsky 2016).
- 24.
She is preparing her dissertation in the Department of Aesthetics of the RAS Institute of Philosophy. See, for example, one of her most recent articles: “Estetika Zhilia Deleza: k immanentistskoi filosofii iskusstva” (Volodina 2018, 49–63).
- 25.
Besides being a post-graduate student in the Department of Aesthetics of the RAS Institute of Philosophy, Larionov is a poet and literary critic.
- 26.
Both Alexandra Volodina and Denis Larionov took part in an extensive roundtable discussion on the social function of contemporary art organized and conducted by a group of young scholars from various establishments (Petrovsky 2016, 83–113).
- 27.
A reference to the Deleuzian philosophy of immanence. For an elucidation of the term, see Pure Immanence: Essays on A Life (Deleuze 2001).
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Petrovsky, H. (2021). Art as an Instrument of Philosophy. In: Bykova, M.F., Forster, M.N., Steiner, L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Russian Thought. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62982-3_35
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