Abstract
Processes observable in contemporary Russian aesthetics are the result of the transformation of the very notion of aesthetics following the emergence of a number of new “aesthetic” objects as well as ways of describing them. The scope of questions studied by aesthetics in its broader interpretation concerns not just professional philosophers in academic institutions, but also researchers whose works formally belong to different disciplines, some close to, some quite distant from aesthetics. The present article offers an overview of contemporary aesthetic theory as well as a general prognostic analysis of the latest trends in this field.
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Notes
The notion of implicit aesthetics has been elaborated on by V. V. Bychkov, who interprets it as a “semi-theoretical freeform conceptualization of the aesthetic experience from within other disciplines such as philosophy, rhetoric, philology, theology, etc.” (Bychkov and Bychkov 2010).
Workerism (or Operaismo) is a trend in contemporary Marxism that emerged in Italy in the 1960s. The research of Workerists and Post-Workerists focus on the analysis of new types of labour (“precarity” and “immaterial labour” as described by M. Hardt and A. Negri and the “virtuosity” of P. Virno), and the forms of social and political existence in the post-Industrialist era. The most prominent representatives of post-Workerism are M. Hardt, A. Negri, P. Virno, and M. Lazzarato. In general, a growing interest in Marxism can be explained by the emerging need for a socially-oriented critical theory.
The Lifshits Institute project, founded as a social movement in 1994 by Dmitry Gutov and Konstantin Bokhorov, needs to be mentioned in this respect. One of its initial goals was the rediscovery of the phenomenon of Soviet Marxism and finding a means of bringing together artists and theoreticians sharing Communist views on art. Apart from work with the archive of Lifshits, the Institute’s activities include the organisation of exhibitions and public discussion events.
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Petrovsky, H., Volodina, A.V. Aesthetics in Russia: looking toward the twenty-first century. Stud East Eur Thought 66, 165–179 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-014-9207-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-014-9207-0