In this episode, we attempt to shore up our remarks on the work of critical theorist Jean Francois Lyotard (who we began discussing in Art Episode # 3). Continuing our interest in Lyotard’s unique take on the formation of a cultural avant garde, we focus in on ideas elaborated in Lyotard’s essay The Sublime and the Avant Garde.
*A program note: We spend some time at the beginning of this episode reviewing Lyotard’s history of the concept of “the sublime” in aesthetics. We might not have had enough Thai iced coffee; but don’t worry, we get juicy after the introduction.
The Sublime and the Avant Garde by Jean Francois Lyotard was originally published in
Art Forum in 1984; you can also find it in the excellently curated anthology The Continental Aesthetics Reader. Edited by Clive Cazeaux, published by Routledge.
In this episode, we also mentioned:
Boileau. On the Sublime (1671)
And the films:
Sans Soleil by Chris Marker
The Conversation by Francis Ford Coppola
John Cassavetes (we were thinking of his movies Faces & Woman Under the Influence)
and lest we forget: Terminator 2 and Avatar by James Cameron
For a list of artists and works that meet Lyotard’s own rigorous standards, click for more after the jump.
Lastly, a request: if you’ve read this essay, or you’ll be reading it now, and you have any idea what what “soldier’s biscuit” is, please post a comment and let us know. Lost on that one.
As we suggested in episode #5, following are some artists and works that did meet the rigorous standards of Jean Francois Lyotard, in the context from which they emerged:
1. Paul Cezanne (a great passage on ‘ascesis’ opens section IV of “The Sublime and the Avant-Garde”)
2. Gertrude Stein (“To write is to write is to write is to write is to write is to write is to write is to write”)
3. Marcel Duchamp
4. Yves Klein
5. Barnett Newman
6. Daniel Buren
7. Shusaku Arakawa (http://www.yoro-park.com/e/rev/index_a_en.html).
Lyotard curated an exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in 1985 which was developed as an exhibition qua presentation of ideas, not just authorial works; concerning humankind’s engagement with nature. Among more and less traditional art objects and activities, “Les Immateriaux” is said to have included:
8. An Egyptian relief of a goddess offering the sign of life to a Pharaoh
9. Photos by Eedweard Muybridge
10. Kevlar (nice touch!)