The Anti-Aesthetic

CULTURE ESSAYS POSTMODERN ON

Editedby Hal Foster

BAYPRESS
Seattle,Washington

Contributors
Copy r ig h t 1 9 8 3B a y Pre s s O A ll r ightsre s e rv e dN o p a rt o f th i s b o o k may be . in rcproduccd any trlrm without perntission in wr it ing f r o m th e p u b l i s h e rs . P r int edin th e U n i te dS ta te s f Ame ri c a o F ir s tedi ti o np u b l i s h e d n l 9 u 3 i Nint h P ri n ti n g 1 9 9 5 Bav Press I l- 5W est D e n n yW a y W S c at t le A 9 8 1 1 9 -4 2 0 5 206 284 -I2 IU (fa x ) D i C Libr a ryo f C o n g re s s a ta l o g i n gn P ubl i cati on ata M a i n e n try u n d e rti tl e : T h e An ti -a e s th e ti c . l (Ae s th e ti c s )-A d d re s ses, l. M ode rn i s m essays,ectures. l essays,ectures 2. Civ iliza tro nMo d e rn - I9 5 0 -Ad d re s s es, , I. F o s te r,H a l. 9 0 9 .8 2 83-70650 B H30 r.M5 4 A 5 7 1983 ISBN 0-941920-02-X 1 IS BN 0 -9 41 9 2 0 -0-l (Pbk.)

JEAN BAUDRILLARD, Professor Sociology rhe Univcrsitv Pans, of at o[ is the authorof 7'heMirror of Production(Telos,197-5) For aCritique and LtJ' PoliticaL rhe Economyof the Sign (Telos,l98l). D OU GLA S C R IMP is a cr it ic and Execut ive Edit or ol' O t t ober . IIA L FOS TE R(E dit or )is a cr it ic and SeniorEdit orat Ar t in Ar ner ica. K E N N E TH FR A MPTO N.Pr of essor t heG r aduarSchool r fAr chir ect ur e at e r and Planning,Columbia University. the aurhorof lL4odern is ArLhit(cture (OxfordU ni versi ty ess, 980) . Pr t JU R GE NH A B E R MAS, pr esent ly associat ed h t he M ax Planck nsr it ur e wit I in Starnberg, Germany,is the authorof Knov,ledge urul Human lnterests (Beacon Press, I ), TheoryandPractice (Beacon 197 Press, 1973), g it imaLe tion Crisis (BeaconPress,1975)andCommunicatiott tht' Er,olution untl of Society(Beacon Press,1979). FREDRIC JAMESON, Professor Literatureand Hisrory of Consciousof ness,Universityof Calilbrniaat SantaCruz, is the authorof Mor.ri.sm and Fornt (PrincetonUniversityPress,1971),The Prison-House Languuge of (PrincetonUniversityPress, 1972),FablesoJ'Aggre.ssiort (Universityof CaliforniaPress,1979)and The Rtliticctl(Jnconst:ious (CornellUniversity P ress,1981). ROSALIND KRAUSS. Professor Art History at the Ciry Universityof of New York, is the author of krminal lron Works: The SculptureoJ-David Snrillr(MIT Press,1972)andPassages ModernSculpture (Viking Press, in 1977).She is Co-Editorof October.

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---Modernity An Incomplete Project

IUNCTXHABERMAS
In 1980, architectswere admitted to the Biennial in Venice, following painters filmrnakers. notesounded this lirst Architecture The and at Biennial was one of disappointment. would describe by sayingthat thosewho I it exhibitedin Veniceformed an avant-garde reversed of fronts. I meanthat they sacrificed traditionof modernityin order to make room for a new the hi stori ci sm.U pon t his occasion,a cr it ic of t he G er m an newspaper , FrankfurterAllgemeineZeitung, advanceda thesis whose significance reachesbeyond this particular evenl; it is a diagnosisof our times: "Postmodernity definitely presents itself as Antimodernity."This stateall ment describes emotionalcurrentof our times which has penetrated an spheresof intellectual life. It has placed on the agendatheories of postenlightenment, postmodernity, evenof posthistory. "The Ancientsandthe Moderns."Let From historywe know the'phrase, nre begin by defining these concepts.The term "modern" has a long history,one which has beeninvestigated Hans Robert The word by Jauss.r "modern" in its Latin form "modernus"was usedfor the first time in the late 5th century in order to distinguishthe present,which had become ofticiallyChristian,from the Romanandpaganpast.With varyingcontent, the ofan the term "modern" againandagainexpresses consciousness epoch in thatrelates itselfto the pastof antiquity, orderto view itselfasthe resultof from the old to the new. a transition but Somewritersrestrict thisconcept " modernity"to theRenaissance, of this is historically narrow.People too considered themselves modernduring

w w as 1980w hc n H abermas as aw arded Thi s essay as ori grnal l yd el i v ered a tal k i n S eptember W. theTherxl or A dornopri z eby thec i ty of Frank furt. t w ass ubs equentl y i v ered a i ames l del as i Lectureof the N ew Y ork I ns ti tutefor the H umani ti es N ew Y ork U ni v ers i ty n Marc h l 9l tl at underthc titl e "ModernrtyV ers us os tmoderni tyrn N ew (i erman C rrti que22 P " and publ i shed (Wi nter, l 9ttl ). It i s repri nted of hereby permi s s i on the authorand the publ rs her.

The Anti-Aesthettc

o.f in well-as France the the theperiodof Charles Greatin the 12thcentury'as "Querelledes Ancienset des late 17thcenturyat the time of the famous reappeared That rs to ruy, the term "moderni'appearedand Modernes.', of in Europewhen the consciousness a new exactlyduring those periods ancient5-v"hgnto relationship the rhiougtru '"nt*'"i through "fo.tior-"A"itself a antlqultywas considered model to be recovered ever,moreover, so m ek ind of im ita tto n . upon the spirit of of The spell which the classics the ancientworld cast l at er t im es was f i rs td i s s o l v e d w i th th e i d e a l s o ftheFrenchE nl i ghtenment. back to the ancients Sfecifically,the idea of being "modern" by looking in by modernscience' the infiniteprogress .iuni"A *iit ,t. belief, inspiied soci al and moral o l ' k iowledge an d i n th e - i n fi n i i e a d v a n c eto w ards was formed in the inother form of modernistconsciousness betterment. the antlque wake of this change.The romanticmodernistsoughtto oppose epochand found it in for a new historical he idealsof the classicists; looked earlytn this new idealage' established Ages. However, Mi<tdle the idealized th elgt hc ent ur y,d i d n o tre m a i n a fi x e d i d e a l ' In thecourseofthel 9th cent ur y , t her ee m e rg e d o u to fth i s ro m a n ti c s pi ri tthatradi cal i zedconsci ousThis tie.s. nessof modernitywhich freed itself from ill specifichistoric.al opposition between most recent moderntsnrsimply makes an abstract of and'weare, in a way, still the contemporaries traditionand the Present; in which first appeared the midstof the l9th modernity thatkind of aesthetrc which count as century. Since then, the distinguishingmark of works through and madeobsolete nrodernis "the new" which will be overcome w h i l e th a t w h ich i s merel y" styl i sh" w i l l the nov elt yof t h e n e x ts ty l e .Bu t, tie.to the a soonbecomeoutmoded,that which is modernpreserves secret beenconsidered can survivetime hasalways Of classica|' course,whatever borrows to be a classic.But the emphaticallymoderndocumentno longer the authorityof a pastepoch;lnsteao'a this power of being a classicfrom authentically it modern work becomesa classicbecause has once been moder n. O ur s e n s e tl fm o d e rn i ty c re a te s i ts o w nsel f^encl osedcanonsof ot modern e w . b eingc las s icI n th i s s e n s e e s p e a k , ' g .,.i nv i ew of the hi story Th! relation between"modern" and "classiarr, ;f classicalm.dernity. cal" has definitelylost a fixed historicalreference'

The Discipline Aesthetic of Modernity

' Ihe spi ri tanddi sci pline aest het ic oder nit y in of clearcont our s m assum ed the work of Baudelaire. Modernity then unfoldedin variousavant-garde movements finally reached climax in theCafe Voltaire thedadaists and it.s of and in surrealisnr. which Aesthetic modernityis characterized attitudes by fi nd a common l bcus in a changedconsciousness t im e. This t im e of itself throughmetaphors the vanguard consciousness expresses and the of avant-garde. understands The avant-garde itself as invading unknown territory, exposingitself to the dangersof sudden,shockingencounters, conqueringan as yet unoccupied future. The avant-garde nrust find a directionin a landscape to into which no one seems haveyet ventured. futureand But theseforwardgropings,this anticipation an undefined of the cult of the new meanin fact the exaltation the present. The new time of which entersphilosophyin the writings of Bergson, consciousness, does tn of more than express experience mobility in society, acceleration the of history,of discontinuityin everydaylife. The new value placedon the transitory, elusive andtheephemeral, very celebration dynamism, the of the discloses longingfor an undefiled, immaculate and stablepresent. a temper This explains ratherabstract the language which the modernist in has spoken of the "past." lndividual epochslose their distinct tbrces. with the Historicalmemoryis replaced the heroicaffinity of the present by extremes hi story- a senseof t im e wher eindecadence m ediat ely im of t i tsel fi n the bar bar ic,he wild andt he pr im it ive.Weobser vehe t recogni zes anarchistic intentionof blowi.ng the continuumof history,and we can up account for it in terms of the subversiveforce of this new aesthetic consciousness. Modernity revolts againstthe normalizing functionsof tradi ti on; against t hat is all moderni ty iveson t he exper ience r ebelling l of of normative. This revolt is one way to neutralizethe standards b<lth moral i ty and uti l i ty. This aest het ic st a consciousness inuously ages cont dialecticalplay betweensecrecyand public scandal;it is addictedto a and fascination with thathorrorwhichaccompanies actof profaning, yet the is alwaysin flight from the trivial results profanation. of in art On theotherhand,thetime consciousness articulated avant-garde is not simply ahistorical; is directedagainstwhat might be called a false it to normativityin history. The modern,avant-garde spirit hassought usethe past in a different way; it disposes those pastswhich have been made at available theobjectifying by of but scholarship historicism, it opposes the same time a neutralized history which is locked up in the museumof hi stori ci sm. WalterBenjaminconstructs the Drawing upon the spirit of surrealism, relationship modernityto history in what I would call a posthistoricist of

T he A nt i- A e s th e ti c

An Incomplete Project

of attitude.He remindsus of the self-understanding the FrenchRevolution: "The Revolutioncited ancientRome, just as lashion cites an antiquated this moveswithin dress.Fashion hasa scentfor what is current,whenever of concept theJetztzeit, of the thicketof whatwasonce."This is Benjamin's the presentas a moment of revelation;a time in which splintersof a the for presence enmeshed. this sense, Robespierre, antique In messianic are revelations.2 Romewas a pastladenwith monrenlary to Now, this spirit of aesthetic modernityhas recentlybe-qun age.It has been recitedonce more in the 1960s;after the 1970s,however,we must a admit to ourselves that this modernismarouses much fainter response of today than it did fifteen years ago. Octavio Paz, a fellow-traveller of that "the avant-garde modernity, notedalreadyin the middleof the 1960s the We 1967repeats deeds andgestures ofthoseof 1917. areexperiencing the Biirgerhassincetaughtus end of the ideaof modernart." The work of Peter the to to speak "post-avant-garde" this term is chosen indicate failure of art; of the surrealistrebellion.3 what is the meaningof this failure?Doesit But doestheexistence signala farewellto modernity? Thinking moregenerally, phenomenon of a post-avant-garde meanthereis a transition thatbroader to calledpostmodernity? This is in fact how Daniel Bell, the most brilliant of the American Contradicneoconservatives, interprets matters.In his book, The CuLtural of sclcieties tions o,fCapitalism,Bell argues that the crisesof the developed the West are to be traced back to a split betweenculture and society. life; thelifethe of Modernistculturehascometo penetrate values everyday the world is infectedby modernism.Because the forcesof modernism, of principle of unlimited self-realization, the demand for authenticselfhavecome experience the subjectivism a hyperstimulated sensitivity and of hedonistic motivesirreconcilto be dominant.This temperament unleashes lit'e Bell says.Moreover, able with the disciplineof professional in society, modernist culture is altogetherincompatiblewith the moral basis of a the of purposive, Bell places burden rationalconductof life. In this manner, ethic (a phenomenon responsibilitylbr the dissolutionof the Protestant which had already disturbed Max Weber) on the "adversaryculture." and the against conventions virtues Culturein its modernform stirsup hatred of of everydaylife, which has become rationalizedunder the pressures ec onom ic m and a d n ri n i s tra ti vi e p e ra ti v e s . I wouldcall your attention a complexwrinkle in this view.The impulse to anyonewho of modernity,we are told on the other hand, is exhausted; considers can himselfavant-garde readhis own deathwarrant.Althoughthe no avant-garde still considered be expanding,it is supposedly longer is to the creative.Modernism is dominant but dead. For the neoconservative question then arises: how can norms arise in society which will limit libertinism,reestablish ethic of disciplineand work? What new norms the

will put a brakeon thelevellingcaused the socialwelfare by state thatthe so virtuesof individualcompetition achievement againdominate? for can Bell sees religious a revivalto be the only solution.Religious faithtied to a faith in tradition will provide individualswith clearly defineclidentitiesand existential security.

CulturalModernityand Societal Modernization

One can certainlynot conjureup by magic the compeltingbeliefswhich commandauthority. Analyseslike Bell's, therefore, only resultin an attitudewhich is spreading Germany lessthanin theStates: intellectual in no an and political confrontation with the carriersof cultural modernity.I cite PeterSteinfels,an observer the new style which the neoconservatives of haveimposeduponthe intellectual scene the 1970s: in
The struggle takesthe form ofexposingeverymanifestation ofwhat couldbe considered oppositionist an mentality andtracingits "logic" so asto link it to variousformsof extremism: drawingtheconnection between modernism anc n i h i l i s m . . . b e t w e e ng o ve r n m e n tr e g u l a ti o na n d to ta l i ta r i a n i smb e tw e e n , criticism of arms expenditures and subservience communism,between to Women's liberation homosexual or rightsandthe destruction thetamily. . . of between Left gencrallyand terrorism,anti-semitism, fascism.. ,a the and The ad hominem approach and the bitterness of these intellectual accusations have also been trumpeted loudly in Germany. They should not be explained so much in terms of the psychology of neoconservativewriters; rather, they are rooted in the analytical weaknessesof neoconservatlve doctrine itself. Neoconservatism shifts onto cultural modernisnr the uncomfortable burdensof a nrore or less successfulcapitalist modernization ofthe economy and society.The neoconservativedoctrine blurs the relationshin between the welcomed process of societal modernization on the one hind, and the lamented cultural development on the other. The neoconservativedoes not uncover the economic and social causes for the altered attitudes towards work, consumption, achievement and leisure. Consequently, he attributes all of the following-hedonism, the lack of social identilication, the lack of obedience, narcissism, the withdrawal from status and achievement competition-to the domain of "culture." In fact, however, culture is intervening in the creation of all these problems in only a very indirect and mediated fashion. In the neoconservativeview, those intellectuals who still f-eelthemselves committed to the project of modernity are then presentedas taking the place

The Anti-Aesthetic

An Incomplete Project 9

today causes. The mood which feedsneoconservatism of thoseunanalyzed of consequences aboutthe antinomian from discontent in no way originates into the streamof ordinarylife. This a culturebreakingfrom the museums It intellectuals. is rooted has discontent not beencalledinto life by modernist reactionsagainstthe processof societal modernization. in deep-seated of Underthe pressures the dynamicsof economicgrowth and the organlzapenetrates of tional accomplishments the state,this social modernization I forms of humanexistence. would describe anddeeper into previous deeper as of this subordination the life-worlds under the system'simperatives a of infrastructure everydaylife. matterof disturbingthe communicative a protests in only express pointedfashion Thus, for example,neopopulist widespread fear regarding the destruction of the urban and natural and of fbrms of human sociability.There is a certain irony environment The tasks of passing about these protestsin terms of neoconservatism. require integrationand of socialization on a cultural tradition, of social for rationality.But the occasions to adherence what I call communicative of protestand discontent originatepreciselywhen spheres communicative of and transmission valuesand norms, on action.centered the reproduction of are penetrated a form of modernizationguided by standards economtc by of rationality-in otherwords,by standards rationalizaand administrative rationalityon which those tion quitedifferentfrom thoseof communicative precisely doctrinesturn our attention depend.But neoconservative spheres which they do they projectthe causes, away from such societalprocessesl cultureand its advocates. not bring to light, onto the planeof a subversive i T o be s ur e , c u l tu ra l m o d e rn i ty g e n e ra te s ts ow n apori as as w el l . and from the consequences societalmodernization within of Independently itself. thereoriginatemotivesfor of the perspective cultural development doubting the project of modernity. Having dealt with a feeble kind of criticism of modernity-that of neoconservatism-let me now move our into a difl'erentdomain that of discussion modernity and its discontents only on aporias touches these ofcultural modernity-issues thatoftenserve as a pretensetbr those positionswhich either call for a postmodernity, or recommenda return to son)eform of premodernity, throw modernity radicallyoverboard.

The Projectof Enlightenment

art, of The ideaof nrodernity intimatelytied to the development Europcan is but what I call "the projectof modernity" comesonly into focuswhen we upon art. Let nte start a different dispensewith the usual concentration

analysisby recallingan idea from Max Weber.He characterized cultural modernityas the separation the substantive of reason expressed religion in andmetaphysics threeautonomous into spheres. They are:science, morality and art. Thesecameto be differentiated because unifiedworld-views the of religion and metaphysics apart. Since the lSth century,the problems fell inheritedfrom theseolder world-viewscould be arranged as to fall under so specificaspects validity: truth, normativerightness,authenticity of and beauty. They couldthenbe handled questions as ofknowledge,or ofjustice and morality, or of taste. Scientific discourse,theories of morality, jurisprudence, and the productionand criticism of art coulclin turn be institutionalized. Eachdomainof culturecould be madeto correspond to culturalprofessions which problems in could be dealtwith as theconcern of specialexperts.This professionalized treatmentof the cultural tradition bringsto the fore the intrinsicstructures eachof the threedimensions of of culture. There appearthe structures cognitive-instrumental, moralof of practicaland of aesthetic-expressive rationality,each of theseunder the control of specialists who seem more adept at being logical in these particular ways than other people are. As a result, the distancegrows between culture theexperts the of andthatof the largerpublic. Whataccrues to culturethrough specialized treatment reflection and doesnot immediately and necessarily becomethe property of everydaypraxis. With cultural rationalization this sort, the threatincreases of that the life-world, whose traditionalsubstance alreadybeen devalued,will becomemore and has more impoverished. The proj ect ol moder nit y f or m ulat ed in t he l8t h cent ur y by t he philosophers the Enlightenment of consisred their efforts to develop in objectivescience, universal morality and law, and autonomous accordart ing to their inner logic. At the sametime, this projectintended release to the cognitivepotentials eachof these of domainsfrom theiresoteric lbrms. The Enlightenment philosophers wantedto utilize this accunrulation of specialized culturefor the enrichment everydaylife-that is to say.for of the rationalorganization everyday of sociallife. Enlightenment thinkersof the cast of mind of Condorcet still had the extravagant expectation that the arts and scicnces would promotenot only the controlof naturalforcesbut also understanding the worl<J of the of and self, moral progress,the justice of institutionsand even the happiness of human beings. The 20th century has shattered this optimism. The differentiation science, of moralityand art hascometo meanthe autonomy of the segments treatedby the specialistand their separation from the hermeneutics everydav of communication. This splittingoff is the problem that has given rise to effbrtsto "negate" the cultureof expertise. But the problemwon't go away: shouldwe try to hold on to the intention.r the of Enlightenment, feebleas they may be, or should we declarethe entire

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T he A nt i- A e s th e ti c

An Incomplete Project I I

I projectof modernitya lost cause? now want to returnto the problemof modernityis aesthetic artisticculture.having explainedwhy, historically, in general' only a part of culturalmodernity

of of The FalsePrograms the Negation Culture

Greatlyoversimptifying.I would say that in the historyof modernart one can detect a trend towards ever greaterautonomyin the definition and practiceof art. The category of "beauty" and the domain of beautiful In in bUi..tr were first constituaed the Renaissance. the courseof the l8th as the ."n,ury, literaturc, fine artsand musicwereinstitutionalized activities aroundthemiddle of the and courtly life. Finally, from sacred independent concepiionof art emerged,which encouraged lgth centuryan aestheticist of to h r o pr o d u c e i s w o rk a c c o rd i n g th e di sti nctconsci ousness art t he ar t is t could then becomea sphere for art's sake.The autonomyof the aesthetic to expression those artistcouldlendauthentic project: talented the deliberate subjectivity, he had in encounteringhis own de-centered experiences actlon. cognitionandeveryday of frornthe constraints routinized detached began a I n r he m id- l9 th c e n tu ry ,i n p a i n ti n ga n d l i t erature, movement e p i to m i z e d a l rc a cl yi n the art cri ti crsm of whic h oc t av io Pa z fi n d s to color, lines, soundsand movementceased serveprlmarlly Baudelaire. of and the techniques the the causeof representation; mediaof expression object. Theodor W. Adorno becamethe aesthetic productionthemselves "lt Theory with the followingsentence: begin hts Aesthetic d couf therefore art is now taken for grantedthat nothing which concerns can be ti*en for tcl granteduny ,no.", neitherart itself, nor art in its relationship the whole. thendenied: exist." And this is what surrealism the rigtrtof art to io, "u"n der Existenzrechr Kunst als Kunst.To be sure, surrealismwould not das have challengedthe right of art to exist, if modern art no longer had "to the concerningits own relationship a advanced piorniseof happiness a promise was deliveredby aesthetic whole" of life. For Schiller, such int uit ion. but n tttfu l fi l l e d b y i t.s c h i l l e r' s L e ttersontheA estheri cE dur-ttti on beyondart itself.But by the tinreof ro of Man speaks us of a uropiareaching via who repeatedthit pro^rtte tle b<tnheur art, the utopiaof Baudelaire. had sour.A relationof oppt'lsites come with societyhad gone reconciliation had become a critical mirror. showing the irreconcilable into being; art transformation and of nature ihe aesthetic the socialworlds.This modernist itself lrorn life was all the more paintully realized,the more art alienated out of such autonomy. of complete and withdrewinto the untouchableness Iinally gatheredthose explosiveenergieswhich unemotional currents

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loadedin the surrealist attemptto blow up the autarkical sphere art and of to forcea reconciliation art ancllife. of But all thoseattempts levelart andlife, fiction and praxis,appearance to and reality to one plane;the attempts rernovethe distinctionbetween to artifact and objcct of use, betweenconsci<lus stagingand spontaneous excltement: attempts declare the to everything be art andeverl'one be an to to artrst, to retract all criteria and to equateaesthetic judgment with the expression subjective of experiences-all theseundertakings haveproved themselves be sort of nonsense to experiments. TheseexJeriments have served bri ng backto lif e, andt o illur ninat e he m or eglar ingly. to allt exact ly thosestructures art which they weremeantto dissolve. of They give a new legitimacy, endsin themselves, appearance themediumof fiction,to as to as the transcendence the artwork over society,to the concentrated of and plannedcharacter artisticproduction well as to the special of as cognitive status judgments tasre. of of The radicalattemptto negate hasencled irt up i roni cal l y gi vi ng dueexacr ly o t hese egor ies ough by r car r hr which Enlighr enment aesthetics had circumscribed object domain. The surrealists its wagedthe most extremewarfare,but t\r,omistakes particular in destroyed their revolt. First, when the containers an autonomously of developed culturalsphereare shattered, contents dispersed. the get Nothing remains from a desublimated meani or a destructured ng form; an emancipatory eft'ect doesnot lbllow. Their secondmistakehas more importantconsequences. everyday In communi cati on,cogn it ive m eanings.m or al expect at ions, subject ive expresslons and evaluations must relate to one another.communicatren processes needa culturaltraditioncovcringall spheres-cognitive,moralpracticaland expressive. rationalrz.ed A everydaylif-e, thirefore, could hardly be savedfrom cultural impoverishment throughbreal<ing open a single cultural sphere-art--and .soproviding access just one of the to speci al i zedknow l edgecor nplexes. The sur r ealistr evoit would have repl aced y one abst r aclion. onl In thespheres theoretical of knowledge morality, and thereareparallels to this failedattempt whatwe might call the fa.lse of negation cuiture.only of theyarel esspronounced. Sincet hedaysof t he youngHegelians, t her ehas beental k aboutrhenegat ion philosophy. of SinceM ar x, t he quest ion t he of relationshipof theory and practicehas been posed. However,Marxrst joined a socialmovement; only at its peripheries intellectuals and werethere sectarian attemptsto carry out a programof the negationof philosophy similar to the surrealist programto negate arr. A parallelro thc r;urr.ilirr mi stakesbecomesvi sible in t hese pr ogr am swhen one obser vest he consequences dogmatism of and of moral riqorism. A reifiedeverydaypraxiscan be cured onty t,y creatingunconstrained l nteracti on the cognit ivewit h t he m or al- pr act ical of and t he aest het r c-

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12 T he A nt i- A e s th e ti c

An Incomplete Project l3

expressive elements. by Reification cannotbe overcome tbrcingjust one of those highly stylized cultural spheresto open up and become more accessible. Instead, we see under certain circumstances relationship a emerge terroristicactivitiesand the over-extension any one of of between to t hes e s pher esi n to o th e r d o m a i n s : e x a m p l esw oul d be tendenci es politics,or to replace politicsby moralrigorismor to submitit to aestheticize the dogrnatismof a doctrine. These phenomenashould not lead us, however.into denouncingthe intentionsof the surviving Enlightenment t r adit ionas inte n ti o n s o te di n a " te rro ri s ti creason." s Thosew ho l ump ro and together very projectof modernitywith the stateof consciousness the than thespectacular actionofthe individualterroristareno lessshort-sighted thosewho would claim that the incomparably morepersistent extenslve and bur eauc r at ic rro rp ra c ti c e dn th e d a rk , i n the cel l ars the mi l i tary and te i of secretpolice, and in carnpsand institutions,is the raison d'|trc of the modernstate,only because this kind of administrative terror makesuseof the coercive meansof modernbureaucracies.

Al te rn a ti v e s I think that instead giving up modernityand its projectas a lostcause, we of shouldlearn ltom the mistakes thoseextravagant programs which have of tried to negate modernity. Perhaps typesof reception art may offer an the of examplewhich at leastindicates directionof a way out. the Bourgeois hadtwo expectations oncefrom its audiences. theone art On at hand, the laynranwho enjoyedart should educatehimself to becomean expert.On the otherhand, he shouldalsobehave a competent consumer as who uses andrelates This art aesthetic experiences his own life problems. to second,and seeminglyharmless,mannerof experiencing has lost its art radicalimplications to it relation theattitude exactlybecause hada confused of being expertand professional. To be sure,artisticproductionwould dry up, if it werenot carriedout in the form of a specialized problems treatment autonomous of andif it wereto ceaseto be the concernof expertswho do not pay so much attentionto exotericquestions. Both artistsand critics accepttherebythe fact that such pr oblenr f all u n d e rth e s p e l lo f w h a t I e a rl i e rcal l ed " i nner l ogi c" ofa s the c ult ur al on concentrati on dom a i n .B u t th i s s h a rp e l i n e a ti o nth i sexcl usi ve d , oneas pecc f v a l i d i ty a l o n e n dth ee x c l u s i o n t a ofaspects oftruth andj usti ce, breakdown as soonas aesthetic experience drawn into an individuallife is historyandis absorbed ordinarylife. The reception art by thelayman, into of or by the "everydayexpert," goes in a ratherdiffcrcnt directionthan the reception art by the professional of critic.

Al6rechtwellmer has drawn my attention one way that an aesthetic to experience which is not framedaroundthe experts'critical judgmentsof taste.can haveits significance altered: soonas suchun as is used "^prii"ni. to i l l umi natea l i fe- hist or ical uat ion sit and is r elat edt o lif e pr oblem s, ir entersinto a language game which is no longerthat of the aesihetic critic. The aesthetic experience thennot only renewJthe interpretation ofourneeds in whoseiight we perceive the world. It permeates well our cognitive as significations our normativeexpectations changes marinerin and and the which all thesemoments refer to one another. Let me giu. an exanrple of this process. This mannerof receivingand relating to art is suggested the first in volumeof the work The Aesthetics Resistance the German-swedish of by writer Peterweiss. weiss describes process reappropriating by the of art knowledge-hung.y *oik.,. ,n PI:t_.ltilC 1 C.9,! of politically motivared. 1937in Berlin.6Thesewere youngpeoplewho, throughan eveninghigh_ schooleducation, acquired intellectual the means fathomthe seneialand to soci alhi storyof E urr pean r . out of t he r esilient ar edif ice t his obiecr ir e of mind' embodiedin works of art which they saw again and again in the museums Berlin, they started in removingtheir own chipsof stone,which they gathered together and reassembled the contextof theirown milrcu. in This milieu was far removedlrom that of traditionaleducation well as as from the then existingregime. Theseyoung workerswent back and forth between edifice European andtheiriwn milieu until theywereable the of art to i l l umi nate both. In examples like this which illustrate reappropriation the expert's the of culturefrom the srandpoint the life-world, we can discernan element of which does justice to the intentionsof the hopelesssurrealistrev<>lts, perhaps evenmore to Brecht's and Benjamin's interests how art works, in which havinglosttheiraura,couldyet be received illuminatingways. In in sum, the projectof modernityhasnot ycr beenfulfilled. And thJreception of art is only one of at least three of its aspects. The project aims at a differentiated relinking of modern culture with an eueiyoaypraxis that still tlepends viral heritages, wourd be impoverished on but ihroughmere traditionalism.This new connection,however,can only be established under the conditionthat societalmodernization will also be steered a in differentdirection. The life-worldhasto beconre ableto develop institurrrns out of i tsel t' w hi ch lim ir sr o t he int er nal set dvnam ics and im per at ives an of almostautonomous econonric system and its administrative iomolenrents. If I am not mistaken, chances thistodayarenot very goo.l. Mor" o. the fbr less in the entire \4'estern world a climate has developedthat furthers capi tal i st moderni za t ion ocesses well as t r endscr it ical r f cult ur al pr as modernism. The disillusionment with the very fairures thoseprograms of that called for the negationof art and philosophyhas come to scru! as a

l4

The Anti-Aesthetic

An Incomplete Project l5

positions.Let m-ebriefly distinguishthe antlpretense conservative for of from the premodernism the of the "young conservatives" hodernism of the neoconservatlves' "old conservatives" from the postmodernism and ..young of the recapitulate basicexperience aesthettc conservatives" The as their own the revelations of a decentered modernity. ihey claim and from the imperativesof work and usefulness' subjectivity,emancipated world. on the basisof with this ,*p"ri.n.e they step outsid; rhe modern They antimodernism. they justify an irreconcilable attitudes modernistic r em ov eint ot he s p h e re o fth e fa r-a w a y a n d th earchai cthespontaneous and enrotion. To instrurnental po*.., of imagination, self.experience ieason they juxtaposein Manicireantashion a principie on\ accessible Being-or the through euocation,be it the will to power or sovereignty' poetical. In France this line leads from Georges force of the Diony'siac Derrida' Bataillevia Michel Foucaultto Jacques by to do The "old conservatlves" not ailow themselves be contaminated reason,the of substantive cultural modernism.They observethe decline morality and art, the modernworld view and its of differentiation science, to a and with sadness recommend withdrawal rationality, proce<lural merely enjoys in particular, Neo-Aristotelianism, a positionanterior to modernity. ac er t ains uc c e s s to d a y ' In v i e w o fth e p ro b l e mati cofecol ogy,i tal | ow s ethic' (As belongingto this school'which itself to call for a cosmological works of Hans oilg,nu,". with Leo Strausi, one can count the interesting and Rob e rtS Pa c m a n n .) J onas welcome the developmentof modern Finally. the neoconservatives as long as this only gtles beyond its sphereto carry-forward science, Moreover, growthandrationaladministration. capitalist progress, technical the explosivecontentof cultural a rhey recomniend politics of defusing has when properlyunderstood' Accordingto onethesis,science, modernity. A for becomeirrevocabiymeaningless the orientationof the life-world. from the aloof as possible furtherthesisis that politics must be kept as far the justification.And a third thesisasserts pure of denrands moral-practical art, disputesthat it has a utopiancontent,and points to its of immanence (One to experience privacy. illusory characre.n nid", to limit the aesthetic o| the middleperiod. Carl Schmitt could nameherethe early Wittgenstein, of confirrement and GottfriedBennof the Iateperiod.)But with the decisive from-the lifeseparated spheres art to autonomous science,nroralityan<l of from theproject cultural whatremains by world andadministered experts, to give up the project of rnoclernityis only what we would have if we were one points to traditionswhich' As modernity altogether. a replacement justification and of be immuneto demands (normative) are however, treldto validation. not byl a This typologyis like any other,of course, simplification' it may contemporaryintellectualand prove totaliy-iseless for the analysisof

politrcalconliontations. fearthat the ideas antimodernity, I of with together touchof premodernity, becomingpopularin the circlesof an additional are Whenoneobserves transformations consciousness alternative culture. the of within politicalparties Germany, new ideological in a shift (kndenzwende) visible.And this is the allianceof postmodernists premodernbecomes with ists. Il seems me that thereis no party in particular to that monopolizes the abuse intellectuals the positionof neoconservatisnr. of and I therefore have goodreason be thankfulfor the liberalspiritin which thecity ofFrankfurt to offers me a prizebearingthe nameof TheodorAdorno, a mostsignificant sonof this city, who as philosopher writer hasstamped imageof the and the intellectual our country in incomparable in fashion,who, evenmore, has becomethe very imageof emulationfor the intellectual.

'lranslatedbv Sevla Ben-Habib

References
l . Jaussrs a promi nentG erman l i l erary hi s tori anand c ri ti c i nv ol v edrn "the aes theti c ol s recepti on," l ype of c nti c i s m rdl atedto reader-res pons ri ti c i s m i n thi s c ountry .For a a ce discussion "modern" seeJauss,AsthetischeNr,trmen gest'hichtlithe of tn und ReJtexion der des in QuereLle Ancienset desModernes(Munrch, 1964).For a ref-erence English seeJauss. "H i story of A rt and P ragmati c i s tory ,"Ti tw ard A es the t of R ec epti on, H ti trans .Trmothy an B ahtil Mi nneapol i s: n i v ers i ty Mi nnes ota res s ,1982),pp. a6-8. IE d.] U of P 2. S eeB enj ami n,"Theseson the P hi l os ophy H i s tory ,"Il l umi nari ons , of trans .H arry Zohn (N ew Y ork:S chocken 1969),p. 261.tE d.l , 3. For Paz on the avanl-gardesee in particular Chiklren of the Mire; Modern PoetryJrom (C to pp. l a8-64. R omanti ci snt theA vatu-Garde ambri dge: arv ardU ni v ers i ty res s . H P 1974), For Biirger see Theory of the Avant-Carde(Minneapolis: Llniversityof N{innesota Press, Fal l l 98l t IE d ] (N 4. P cterS tei nfel s, The N eoc ons c rv ol l ues ew Y ork :S i mon and S c hus ter, 1979),p. 65. .5. 'l he phrase"to aesthc ti c i z pol i ti c s " ec hrres enj arni n' si ni ous formul ati onof the fal s e e B l soci al programof the fas c i s tsi n "The W rrrk of A rt i n l he A ge of Mec hani c alR eproc ducti on."H abcrmar's ri ti c i s rrhc rc of E nl i ghtenmc ntri ti c ss ec ms rc c tedes sat A dornrr c di l r (B and Max H trrkhei nre than at the c ontc mporary noureuk xphi l os ol thes ernard-H enrr l .i vy, etc.) and thei r (l ermanand A meri c anc ounterparts . d. i IE ( l 9i 6. 'I he retcrences to the n ov el D i c A .s thetide.s ders tund.s 5-i J ) by the authorperhaps i k 14i bestknow n herefor his 1965pl ay Morutl S ade.The w ork ofart "reapproprrated" the hv w orkcrsi s thc P ergl nr on tar,erl bl c m of porv er, l as s i c rs nr rati onal i tyIE d.] al c and .