Course detail

Introduction to Philosophy of Art 2

FaVU-1UFIL-LAcad. year: 2023/2024

The course aims at introducing students to basic terminology and issues of philosophical reflection of art. The curriculum combines historical and probem approach: different variants of anwers to the question "what is art", which sprang up during the history of european thinking, are examined in this course both from historical and contemporary perspectives. The course focuses on several topics, for instance art as mimesis, art and aesthetics, art as expression, art as form, art as sign and structure; modernism - avant-garde - neoavant-garde - postmodernism; various definitions of art in the second half of the 20th century will be discussed.

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

3

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

doc. Mgr. Václav Magid

Department

Department of Art History and Theory (KTDU)

Entry knowledge

Basic orientation in the history of (especially modern) art, general view of the main periods and names of european philosophy, graduation in the antecedent class Introduction to Philosophy of Art I. - winter.

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

Oral exam.
Lectures are optional.

Aims

The goal of the class is to introduce students with the basic concepts, methods and topics of the philosopical reflection of art.
The graduate of the class should be capable to interprete the most influential philosophical conceptions of art, to understand basic concepts of the philosophy of art and to be able to place them into the overal framework of the history of art and its theoretical reflection.

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Basic literature

Gordon GRAHAM, Filosofie umění, Brno: Barrister & Principal 2000
Konrad Paul LIESSMANN, Filozofie moderního umění, Olomouc: Votobia 2000
Tomáš KULKA – Denis CIPORANOV (eds.), Co je to umění, Červený Kostelec: Mervart 2010

Recommended reading

Alexander ALBERRO – Blake STIMSON (eds.), Conceptual Art. A Critical Anthology, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 1999, zejména následující texty z antologie: Sol LEWITT, „Paragraphs on Conceptual Art“; Sol LEWITT, „Sentences on Conceptual Art“; Lucy R. LIPPARD – John CHANDLER, „The Dematerialization of Art“; Joseph KOSUTH, „Art after Philosophy“, http://uloz.to/xFWnosv/ebooksclub-org-conceptual-art-a-critical-anthology-pdf
Boris GROYS, Gesamtkunstwerk Stalin, Praha: VVP AVU 2010, především kapitola 1, „Ruská avantgarda: skok přes pokrok“, http://ulozto.cz/xppQCcf/groys-ruska-avantgarda-pdf
Hans-Georg GADAMER, Aktualita krásného. Umění jako hra, symbol a slavnost, Praha: Triáda 2003 nebo Aktualita krásneho. Umenie ako hra, symbol a slavnosť, Bratislava: Archa 1995
Jacques RANCIÈRE, „Estetická revoluce a její důsledky, in: Pavel ZAHRÁDKA (ed.), Estetika na přelomu milénia, Brno: Barrister & Principal 2010, http://ulozto.cz/xiJ4RBS/ranciere-esteticka-revoluce-a-jeji-dusledky-pdf
Jan MUKAŘOVSKÝ, „Umění jako sémiologický fakt“, in: Studie, sv. 1, Brno: Host 2007, http://uloz.to/xbvVNwK/mukarovsky-umeni-jako-semiologicky-fakt-pdf
Nelson GOODMAN, Jazyky umění. Nástin teorie symbolů, Praha: Academia 2007
Peter BÜRGER, „Negace autonomie umění v avantgardě“, Sešit pro umění, teorii a příbuzné zóny, 2007, č. 1–2, http://ulozto.cz/xMpf4QW/buerger-negace-pdf
Rosalind KRAUSS, „Sochařství v rozšířeném poli“, in: Karel CÍSAŘ (ed.), Sochy v ulicích, Brno: Dům umění města Brna 2011, http://ulozto.cz/xssaW3b/krauss-socharstvi-v-rozsirenem-poli-pdf
Terrence HAWKES, Strukturalismus a sémiotika, Brno: Host 1999
Walter BENJAMIN, „Autor jako producent“, in: Agesilaus Santander. Výbor z textů, Praha: Herrmann & synové 1998
Walter BENJAMIN, „Malé dějiny fotografie“, in: Karel CÍSAŘ (ed.), Co je to fotografie, Praha: Herrmann & synové 2004
Walter BENJAMIN, „Umělecké dílo ve věku své technické reprodukovatelnosti“, in: Dílo a jeho zdroj, Praha: Odeon 1979 nebo Literárněvědné studie I, Praha: OIKOYMENH 2009, http://ulozto.cz/xWRWWyJ/benjamin-umelecke-dilo-pdf

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme VUB Bachelor's

    branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory
    branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, summer semester, compulsory

Type of course unit

 

Lecture

52 hod., optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

doc. Mgr. Václav Magid

Syllabus

1. Art as expression. Freud and psychoanalysis: the characteristiscs of the approach and its application to art. Tolstoy and expresivism.
2. The phenomenology of art. Introduction to the phenomenological method. Husserl, Heidegger, Patočka. Phenomenological philosophy of art.
3. Tendencies following phenomenology. Hermeneutics - Gadamer and the revisitation of art as mimesis. Existencialism: Camus, Sartre.
4. Structuralism and aesthetics. The origin and the basic terminology of structuralism and semiotics. Peirce and Saussure. Russian literary formalism. Czech structuralism: Mukařovský.
5. Avant-garde and aesthetics. The origin and history of the notion of avant-garde. The merging of art and life vs aesthetic autonomy. Benjamin, Adorno.
6. Modernist art and formalism. Bell: the "significant form." Greenberg's notion of modernism and avant-garde.
7. Analytic philosophy and art. Introduction to the basic terminology of analytic philosophy - Wittgenstein. Debates on the definition of art in post-war analytic aesthetics: antiessentionalism vs. institutionalism. Goodman and art as a symbol.
8. Conceptualism and the efforts to make art philosophy. LeWitt, Kostuh, Art & Language, Lucy Lippard.The critique of the aesthetic cenception of art. Dematerialization, deskilling.
9. Postwar western marxism and art. The Frankfurt school. Adorno, Marcuse, Bürger. Althusser. Situationist theories.
10. Post-structuralist philosophy and the critique of the modernist notion of art. The essential ideas and thinkers: Lacan, Barthes, Foucault.
11. Postmodernism in philosophy and art: Lyotard: the postmodern and the aesthetics of the non-representable. Postmodern art criticism: Rosalind Krauss, Douglas Crimp, Hal Foster.
12. Philosophy and art after postmodernism: Rancière, Badiou.