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+ (presences of art)<br />
modernitæflii, precum øi a responsabilitæflilor intelectuale pe care acestea<br />
le suscitæ, øi contribuind astfel la atitudinea de compromis care fasoneazæ<br />
actuala ideologie consensualistæ, în mod feroce univocæ, din care istoria<br />
lipseøte, fiindcæ aceasta devenea cel mult – aøa cum o doveøte øcoala Analelor<br />
începînd tocmai cu anii aceia – o coroniflæ de hobbies, butterfly’s collections<br />
lipsite de importanflæ.<br />
Pornind de la aceste constatæri, pentru care stau mærturie cærflile mele,<br />
am trecut progresiv de la studiul antropologic al ritului la o reflecflie „postantropologicæ“<br />
a estetizærii, spontane sau profesionale (întîi øi-ntîi în artele<br />
plastice), a lumii contemporane. În fond, dincolo de toate provocærile sale,<br />
arta anilor øaizeci øi øaptezeci a participat totuøi, de bine, de ræu, la un discurs<br />
contestatar care dispæruse de mult din societate. În paralel, aceastæ<br />
formæ de artæ a demonstrat cæ actul estetic e mereu un act de credinflæ,<br />
chiar øi dacæ el nu mai are un raport direct cu o mimesis astæzi în agonie<br />
– în vreme ce se uzeazæ øi abuzeazæ de remake sau mai exact de reciclare.<br />
Mai tîrziu, în decursul anilor care ajung pînæ la criza actualæ, care nu<br />
e doar una de piaflæ – øi care nu e defel dezminflitæ de muzeofilia întreflinutæ<br />
„faraonic“, în Franfla cel puflin, de autoritæflile publice –, autori ca Beuys,<br />
Richter, Polke, Naumann øi alfli martori ai deceniilor precedente au sævîrøit<br />
incontestabil o întoarcere la picturæ. Inspiraflia ritualistæ din asta ræmîne<br />
puternicæ, cu hibridæri între dans øi teatru, confirmînd astfel raporturile strînse<br />
dintre rit øi esteticæ în era „spectacularului integrat“, cum zice Debord. Unde<br />
se mai piteøte ritul e øi în relaflia cu credinfla, în referinfla la misticæ din tradiflia<br />
semiticæ sau asiaticæ, în cæutarea de epifanii în cotidianul cel mai trivial, care,<br />
de la arte povera la grafitism, la neoprimitivism, la imaginea fotograficæ sau<br />
video, menfline aceastæ exigenflæ pre- sau extraesteticæ, a cærei vatræ e ritul.<br />
Sînt manifestæri care mobilizeazæ privitul, dar care reclamæ o participare,<br />
adesea naivæ, însæ realæ, ce nu se opreøte la retinianul despre care vorbea<br />
cu justificatæ ironie Marcel Duchamp. Adaug cæ toate astea nu se mai<br />
înscriu deloc în ceea ce au fost primele realizæri ale avangardelor istorice.<br />
Nu mai sîntem moøtenitorii lui Picasso, nici ai lui Duchamp, nici ai øcolii<br />
de la New York de dupæ ræzboi.<br />
¬ Aceastæ artæ contestataræ pe care o evocafli mai poate fi ea consideratæ<br />
ca o mærturie criticæ a vremurilor noastre? Nu asistæm oare mai degrabæ<br />
la „sfîrøitul avangardelor“? Øi ce sens dafli dumneavoastræ acestui ultim concept,<br />
mai ales în raporturile sale cu o modernitate pe care afli putut-o califica<br />
drept „amalgam de ignobil øi sublim“?<br />
√ Adorno, tot el, afirma cæ estetica închide în ea ceva enigmatic – el îi<br />
spunea “momentul egiptean al artei moderne”. Enigmæ a depæøirii dificultæflii<br />
de identificare a lucrului. Dar, totodatæ, enigmæ plinæ de fægæduinfla unui<br />
ræspuns. Poate chiar cæ enigma nu existæ decît în fægæduinfla acestui ræspuns<br />
– un pic în felul frazelor pronunflate de Pitia? Pentru filosof, enigma nu e<br />
faptul unei epoci anume. Øi totuøi enigma contemporanæ e o sfidare ce ia<br />
înfæfliøarea unui pariu în orb, pe care orice om dornic sæ-øi exprime prezenfla<br />
pe lume trebuie sæ-l riøte. Însæ doar pentru-atîta eu nu-s convins cæ<br />
enigma ca sfidare ar da cu necesitate loc unui discurs critic asupra prezentului,<br />
aøa cum a crezut toatæ lumea de-a lungul anilor ’70, care au fost deceniul<br />
de afirmare al „Extremului Occident“ ca modelul unic. Un discurs critic<br />
se construieøte cu cuvinte, iar cuvintele revin mereu la cuvinte, niciodatæ<br />
la imagine. Beuys sau Yves Klein nu aveau un discurs critic, aøa cum îl înfleleg<br />
eu. „Profetismul“ lui Beuys traducea un raport trauer cu istoria. El privea<br />
Rana cu care Germania copleøise lumea øi pe care o suferea ea însæøi de<br />
borrowed: a formalistic gadget, and not what sciences really are: the running<br />
engine of development and its contradictions: techno-science.<br />
This created a new type of disentanglement, through the invention of an archaic<br />
hybrid, a remote and simplified refuge, more cunning than stoïcian (i.e., French),<br />
which allows one to avoid the genuine stakes and threats of modernity and the<br />
intellectual responsibilities subsequently created. This contributed to a compromised<br />
attitude which had shaped the present day consensual ferocious ideology,<br />
from which history is missing, as it used to become at most – as the school of the<br />
Annales showed at that time – a wreath of insignificant butterfly collections.<br />
Starting from these observations, I gradually turned away from the anthropological<br />
exploration of the ritual to some “pre-” and at the same time “postanthropological”<br />
reflections about the impulsive or committed aestheticization<br />
of the contemporary world, particularly through the present art scene. Somehow,<br />
apart from its provocations, the ’60s and ’70s arts participated to a contesting<br />
discourse, a kind of “negative theory” applied to the arts. These arts<br />
showed that the aesthetic will, often, is an act of faith indirectly related to the<br />
present agonizing mimesis – while the remake, and more, the recycling is being<br />
used and worn out. During the period reaching to the present crisis, which is not<br />
only connected to the market – but also enhanced by the “pharaoh-like” museophilia,<br />
(our overcoming and encompassing “museum cult” supported by the<br />
establishement in France and elsewhere) – authors like Beuys, Richter, Polke,<br />
Naumann and others, witnesses of the former decades, have performed an<br />
incontestable shift towards painting.<br />
The ritual inspiration in this remains strong, with hybrid attempts between dance<br />
and theatre confirming the close relationships between ritual forms and aesthetics<br />
in the era of our present “integrated spectacular” (in Debord’s terms). Where<br />
such presumptive rite does hide is in the relationship with the faith, in some<br />
mystical semitic or far-eastern references, searching epiphanies among the most<br />
trivial events, from Arte Povera to graffiti, neo-primitivism, photography, video<br />
image, which retains this pre- or extra-aesthetic request, whose central point is<br />
the ritual. These are manifestations which engage the sight but whose request,<br />
often naive, for an authentic participation, seems overcomed by the “retinian”<br />
of which Duchamp talked about with a disquieting irony. Those essays have<br />
nothing to do with the achievements of the historical avant-gardes. We are neither<br />
the heirs of Picasso, nor of Duchamp, nor even of the post-war New York<br />
School anymore.<br />
¬ May this challenging art which you evoke be considered a critical testimony<br />
of today’s times? Aren’t we the witnesses of the end of the avant-gardes? Do you<br />
consider it related to a modernity which is, as you could have called it, “a mixture<br />
of ignoble and sublime”?<br />
√ As Adorno stated, modern aesthetics has something of an enigma in it.<br />
He called it “the Egyptian moment of the modern art”. An enigma of overcoming<br />
the difficulty and the complexity in acknowledging anything and any event.<br />
But an enigma puffing the promise of an answer. The enigma exists maybe only<br />
in the promise to get an answer like the “bewildered sentences” of Pythia which<br />
were incomprehensibly true. For the philosopher the enigma doesn’t belong to<br />
a specific epoch or a favourable context where doubts and uncertainties prevail.<br />
Enigmatic is, in itself, a state of mind, reactive as well active, and apparently<br />
more archaic than modern. Interrogative, suspicious, unfasten. However, the<br />
contemporary enigma is taking the form of a blind gamble in which everyone<br />
have to risk to express one’s presence into the world. I’m not convinced that<br />
a defiant enigma engenders a critical discourse on the present, as everyone<br />
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