Beyond the Aesthetic and the Anti-Aesthetic

247 Pages·2013·1.09 MB·English

by  James Elkins

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Michael Kelly, Grant Kester, edited by James elkins, Zhivka
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Valiavicharska, and Alice Kim

Meredith Kooi, Cary Levine, t the Aesthetic
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Sunil Manghani, William e
What Is an Image?
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Mazzarella, Justin McKeown, edited by James elkins and e
Maja naef s
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Andrew McNamara, Eve Meltzer, (2011)
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Nadja Millner-Larsen, Maria
What Do Artists Know? t Each of the five volumes in the Stone Art Theory
edited by James elkins i
Filomena Molder, Carrie Noland, c Institutes series—and the seminars on which they
(2012)
A are based—brings together a range of scholars
Gary Peters, Aaron Richmond, n
Anti-Aesthetic who are not always directly familiar with one
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Lauren Ross, Toni Ross, Eva another’s work. The outcome of each of these
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h convergences is an extensive and “unpredictable
Schürmann, Gregory Sholette,
e conversation” on knotty and provocative issues

Noah Simblist, Jon Simons, A about art. This fourth volume in the series,
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Beyond the Aesthetic and the Anti-Aesthetic,
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Robert Storr, Martin Sundberg,
i focuses on questions revolving around the
-
A concepts of the aesthetic, the anti-aesthetic,
Timotheus Vermeulen, and
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and the political. The book is about the fact that
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Rebecca Zorach. t now, over thirty years after Hal Foster defined the
h edited by James elkins
anti-aesthetic, there is still no viable alternative
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t and harper Montgomery to the dichotomy between aesthetics and anti-
i
James Elkins is E. C. Chadbourne Professor in the c or nonaesthetic art. The impasse is made more
Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the the stone ARt theoRy institutes isbn 978-0-271-06072-9 difficult by the proliferation of identity politics,
School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He coedited the
and it is made less negotiable by the hegemony
first two volumes in the series, Art and Globalization the PennsylVAniA stAte uniVeRsity PRess
of anti-aesthetics in academic discourse on art.
(Penn State, 2010) and What Is an Image? (Penn State, uniVeRsity PARK, PennsylVAniA
www.PsuPRess.oRg The central question of this book is whether
2011), and edited the third, What Do Artists Know?
(Penn State, 2012). artists and academicians are free of this choice
Penn
in practice, in pedagogy, and in theory.
stAte
Harper Montgomery is the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros jacket illustration: Eve Meltzer, 2010.
PRess
Professor of Modern and Contemporary Latin American Photo by James Elkins.
Art and Distinguished Lecturer at Hunter College.
Beyond the Aesthetic And
the Anti-Aesthetic
The STone ArT Theory InSTITuTeS
Edited by James Elkins
Vol. 1
Art And GloBAlizAtion
Vol. 2
WhAt is An imAGe?
Vol. 3
WhAt do Artists KnoW?
Vol. 4
Beyond the Aesthetic And the
Anti-Aesthetic
The Stone Art Theory This series is dedicated to
Institutes is a series Howard and Donna Stone,
of books on five of the longtime friends of the
principal unresolved School of the Art Institute
problems in contemporary of Chicago.
art theory. The series
attempts to be as
international, inclusive,
and conversational as
possible in order to give
a comprehensive sense
of the state of thinking on
each issue. All together,
the series involves more
than three hundred
scholars from more than
sixty countries.
the stone Art theory institutes Volume 4
Beyond The
AeSTheTIc And
The AnTI-AeSTheTIc
edited by james elkins and harper montgomery
The PennsylVania sTaTe UniVersiTy Press, UniVersiTy Park, PennsylVania
Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Copyright © 2013 The Pennsylvania State University
Publication Data The Pennsylvania State University Press is a member of the Associa-
All rights reserved tion of American University Presses.
Beyond the aesthetic and the anti- Printed in the
aesthetic / edited by James Elkins United States of America It is the policy of The Pennsyl-
and Harper Montgomery. Published by The Pennsylvania vania State University Press to
p. cm.—(The stone art State University Press, use acid-free paper. Publications
theory institutes ; volume 4) University Park, PA 16802-1003 on uncoated stock satisfy the
Conversations from a series of minimum requirements of American
seminars held at the School of the National Standard for Informa-
Art Institute of Chicago, July 18–24, tion Sciences—Permanence of
2010. Paper for Printed Library Material,
Summary: “Gathers historians, ansi z39.48–1992.
philosophers, critics, curators, and
artists to explore the divisions in This book is printed on paper that
teaching, practice, and theoriza- contains 30% post-consumer
tion of art created by the choice waste.
between continuations of Modern-
ism, with its aesthetic values, and
the many kinds of postmodernism,
which privilege issues outside
aesthetics, including politics,
gender, and identity”— Provided by
publisher.
Includes bibliographical references
and index.
isbn 978-0-271-06072-9 (cloth :
alk. paper)
1. Art—Philosophy— Congresses.
2. Aesthetics— Congresses.
3. Modernism (Aesthetics)—
Congresses.
4. Postmodernism— Congresses.
I. Elkins, James, 1955– , editor of
compilation.
II. Montgomery, Harper, editor of
compilation.
III. Art Institute of Chicago. School,
host institution.
IV. Series: Stone art theory insti-
tutes (Series) ; v. 4.
N70.B4714 2013
701’.17— dc23
2013015335
This series is dedicated to
howard and donna sTone,
long-time friends of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

contents
Series Preface aSSeSSmenTS Robert Storr
ix 184
Preface
inTrodUcTion Harper Montgomery William Mazzarella
James Elkins 117 190
1 Grant Kester Luis Camnitzer
122 195
Alexander Dumbadze Jon Simons
125 198
The SeminarS Geng Youzhuang Angela Dimitrikaki
129 201
1 Introductory Seminar
23 Cary Levine
132
2 The Anti-Aesthetic in the
Boris Groys
1980s: Craig Owens’s “The
135 afTerword
Allegorical Impulse”
Gretchen Bakke
37 Gregory Sholette 205
139
3 The Anti-Aesthetic in the Notes on the Contributors
Eva Schürmann
1990s: The Body 221
143
47
Index
Maria Filomena Molder
4 Theory and Criticism 145 227
57
Gary Peters
5 Theoretical Positions: 147
Critical Theory Andrew McNamara
67 151
6 Theoretical Positions: Gordon Hughes
Rancière, Deleuze, 155
Relational Aesthetics Toni Ross
77 159
7 Theoretical Positions: Affect Justin McKeown
Theory in Art History 164
91 Timotheus Vermeulen
168
8 Theoretical Positions: Affect
Theory at Large Noah Simblist
99 171
Rebecca Zorach
9 Things Missing from This
175
Book
109 Carrie Noland
179

series preface
In the usual course of things, art theory happens invisibly, without attracting
attention. Concepts like picture, visual art, and realism circulate in newspapers,
galleries, and museums as if they were as obvious and natural as words like dog,
cat, and goldfish. Art theory is the air the art world breathes, and it is breathed
carelessly, without thought. It is the formless stuff out of which so many justi-
fications are conjured. Art theory also happens in universities and art schools,
where it is studied and nurtured like a rare orchid. And art theory happens in
innumerable academic conferences, which are sometimes studded with insights
but are more often provisional and inconclusive. In those academic settings,
words like picture, visual art, and realism are treated like impossibly complicated
machines whose workings can hardly be understood. Sometimes, then, what
counts as art theory is simple and normal, and other times it seems to be the
most difficult subject in visual art.
A similarity links these different ways of using theory. In the art world as in
academia, it often feels right just to allude to an concept like picture, and let its
flavor seep into the surrounding conversation. That is strange because picture
is so important to so many people, and it leads to wayward conversations. The
books in this series are intended to push hard on that strangeness, by spending
as much time as necessary on individual concepts and the texts that exemplify
them. Some books are more or less dedicated to particular words: volume 1
focuses on globalization, translation, governmentality, and hybridity; volume 2
explores image, picture, and icon. Volume 3 is concerned with the idea that art is
research, which produces knowledge. Volume 4 is about the aesthetic, the anti-
aesthetic, and the political; and volume 5 concentrates on visual studies, visual
culture, and visuality. This series is like an interminable conversation around a
dictionary—or like the world’s most prolix glossary of art. That isn’t to say that
the purposes of these conversations is to fix meanings: on the contrary, the idea
is to work hard enough so that what seemed obdurate and slippery, as Wittgen-
stein said, begins to fracture and crack.
Each book in this series started as a week-long event, held in Chicago.
No papers were given (except as evening lectures, which are not recorded in
these books). For a week, five faculty and a group of twenty-five scholars met in
closed seminars. In preparation for the week they had read over eight hundred
pages of assigned texts. The week opened with a three hour panel discussion
among the faculty, continued with four and a half days of seminars (six hours