Ästhetische Experimente. Zur Ereignishaf igkeit und Funktion von Störungen in den Künsten

Abstract

Disruption is a phenomenon that has gained the attention of a broad and diverse range of academic disciplines. Building on this work we propose that disruptions are by no means solely destructive but rather have productive consequences. We aim to establish disruption as a starting point for the analysis of formulas of societal self-description. In this, epistemological and aesthetic aspects of disturbances will be focused since these moments of interruption or loss of order evoke efforts of theoretical or practical consolidation of the social sphere. After discussing the history of ex-perimentalization of the life sciences, we point out how art can be understood as an experimental system that integrates and explores the function of disruption. Second, the relationship between factual and fictional knowledge and how both impact on society through the fabrication of different worlds are to be questioned. Finally, we will argue that art such as literature, film, modern theatre, or performances use disruptions as a tool, with which the perception of the past, present and future and of the society itself can be shaped. They achieve this by employing powerfully repercussive narratives that construct political and socio-cultural coherence through the symbolic re-integration of imaginary or real disruptive incidents.