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Single Idea 7980

[filed under theme 21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 6. Value of Art ]

Full Idea

Since the nineteenth century it has been art's claim that it is useless...so it is enough to elevate any object to uselessness to turn it into a work of art...and obsolete useless objects automatically acquire an aesthetic aura.

Gist of Idea

In modern times, being useless is the essential aesthetic ingredient for an object

Source

Jean Baudrillard (The Intelligence of Evil [2004], p.111)

Book Ref

Baudrillard,Jean: 'The Intelligence of Evil or The Lucidity Pact' [Berg 2005], p.111

A Reaction

Art is 'purposive without purpose' (Kant). An nice summary of the situation, and this seems to explain the role of Duchamp's famous urinal, up on the wall and rendered useless. The obvious rebellion, though, is Arts and Crafts.

The 16 ideas from Jean Baudrillard

7974 Without God we faced reality: what do we face without reality? [Baudrillard]
7973 There is no longer anything on which there is nothing to say [Baudrillard]
7975 The task of philosophy is to unmask the illusion of objective reality [Baudrillard]
7976 People like democracy because it means they can avoid power [Baudrillard]
7977 Only in the last 200 years have people demanded the democratic privilege of being individuals [Baudrillard]
7978 There is no need to involve the idea of free will to make choices about one's life [Baudrillard]
7979 The arrival of the news media brought history to an end [Baudrillard]
7980 In modern times, being useless is the essential aesthetic ingredient for an object [Baudrillard]
7981 Whole populations are terrorist threats to authorities, who unite against them [Baudrillard]
7982 Instead of thesis and antithesis leading to synthesis, they now cancel out, and the conflict is levelled [Baudrillard]
7983 Good versus evil has been banefully reduced to happiness versus misfortune [Baudrillard]
7984 Suicide is ascribed to depression, with the originality of the act of will ignored [Baudrillard]
7985 Pascal says secular life is acceptable, but more fun with the hypothesis of God [Baudrillard]
7986 Drunken boat pilots are less likely to collide than clearly focused ones [Baudrillard]
7987 Nothing is true, but everything is exact [Baudrillard]
6841 Some continental philosophers are relativists - Baudrillard, for example [Baudrillard, by Critchley]