In cinema, as in theatre (as Peter Brook) argues, the crucial ‘character’ is the spectator. We can remark, in passing, that this is also the case with VR. All three of these art forms require a consciousness, a discerning subject, to exist (in the human sense). Put another way, and to widen the scope of …
Author Archives: ashleyg60
How is Cinema?
OR Cinema, Perception and ‘Reality’… What do we see when we go to the cinema? What can we see when we go to the cinema? What distinguishes this from ‘reality’? Firstly, we see a re-presentation of the real; this is a standard response, yet it assumes that what we see as the ‘real’ has points …
The (E)valuation of Art 2
So, if we formulate Benjamin’s concept of the aura of a work as static, then does this mean that the relevance of a work of Art in our contemporary present is meaningless? If we have a “static model”, there seems to a certain implication that the artefact belongs to its own time, which it undoubtedly, …
The (E)valuation of Art
The first ‘problem’ here seems quite trivial: What are we doing when we engage with an artefact, and what should we call this: Critique? Analysis? Interpretation? Commentary? Engagement? Evaluation? Judgement? Is there any discernible difference between these terms? Are some disqualified because they can be used in other contexts? Take ‘interpretation’ for example: we can …
The Value of the (Artistic) Self
So what is the definition, and the value, of the self in artistic terms? First, and foremost, is that “the self” is defined by caring for others, by prioritising that care for others above care for oneself (freed from the neoliberal/anarcho-capitalist model, this is not problematic) which enables freedom in the widest sense of the …
The Value of (Artistic) Knowledge
Can we make a distinction between ‘knowledge’ and “artistic knowledge”? Are they different kinds of things? Can we connect them to different kinds of truth, in that, is it the case that artistic truth is qualitatively different to truth in other fields? What would an artistic truth be like?…These aren’t rhetorical questions (no Aquinas here), …
The Value(s) of the Critic
In Waiting for Godot, when Vladimir and Estragon have the insult competition, the ultimate insult is…critic. Yes, it’s a joke, but at the same time it isn’t. There’s a long tradition of seeing the role of critic as…what?…Contemptible? As someone who is unable to create, so they take on the lesser role of critic, but …
The Valuation of Art
In our contemporary present, the value of Art has become simple valuation. Whereas we once would value the contribution that Art makes to human society, a quality we might say that is ‘measured’ in the amount of thought it causes (which cannot be measured because…well, even thought I’ve typed the phrase “the amount of thought”, …
The Values of Value
In one sense, a ‘definition’ of the concept of value has now begun to emerge, on the whole by suggesting what value is not. I’ve also begun to suggest the kind of grounds we need to establish value. I want to limit this though, in regard to the specific case (I’ll come back to the …
The Discourse(s) of Value 2
Must any discussion of value necessarily be moral? What I mean by that is can we discuss value without introducing ideas of good and bad, “better than”, “worse in comparison to…” OR should we go with the postmodern notion of simply saying “X is different to Y”? In regard to the latter though, is simply …
Murmurs from the Forest 