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Buzz McCall
An Aesthetic
Intent
The impoverished metaphor and the “Living City”
There is a a a a clear and undeniable need for sub- stantive discourse and and understanding of a a a a real and ongoing conceptual dilemma – the interstices of modern modern and postmodern art and the future of art in in in an an an increasingly urban- ized world However before we we tackle these con- cepts either as abstract theory or or in their very assimilation in our varied cultures we should broaden the frame work of under- standing cultural history by tracing our indi- vidual and collective evolutionary journeys back to their roots After all
the the good and the great literature art music and ideas have always transcended our surroundings albeit evidence by the inconsistency of fits and starts This has been so since the beginning of thinking interactive man Before Homer to Dante Chaucer Cervantes Shakespeare Goethe Emerson Baudelaire Bergson Flaubert Dostoezsky Belinsky Turgenev Proust Joyce Beckett and so many others Any definition of modernity and the modernity dilemma will be impossible to broach or or integrate into present or or future evolution unless the past is directly honestly and and fairly addressed and and embraced If this reads like a a a a a preamble to an indictment of lack of of collective understanding of of cultural history and its import – that is is is precisely what it it is is is Art and culture not unlike cities are never finished they are always becoming something even though it may appear diffi- cult to perceive how and why this occurs The dilemma that confronts the modern- ity is how to embrace our past Which way the city? Major metropolitan cities resemble the shifting paradigms of time Similar to to tectonic plate movements of the earth our cultural anchors are not in a a a a a meltdown but rather reflect the the heavy dross and peregrinations over time undergoing the the power to renew through the the alchemy of change The emergence of the city is an epic event Over centuries it has emerged as as the major antidote to the the poverty of the the ideas The Greek city of Athens should always be held as an an exemplar template The first and continuing examples of a a a town or later city by a group of people with vested interests
is by its very nature “epic” for it it implied and demonstrated a a purpose beyond mere self- preservation It represented the establishment and furtherance of the the collective ”we” to protect distribute produce foodstuffs and other necessities But it it it also initiated the the nurturing and and sharing of ideas and and the first flames of historical imagination was born here This historical imagination and the centuries long episodic revelations that subsequently accompanied it are part of a a a a a magnanimous continuum continuum a a a continuum continuum often punctuated by volatile cultural swings The Age of Enlightenment: Its enduring significance for the present day and beyond Disputation process and knowledge assimi- lation both came of of age with the likes of of Diderot Rousseau Condorcet Emilie du Chatelet Voltaire and many others Life as part enterprise of the mind converges with the the city as enterprise of the the mind A new realization that literally and metaphorically the the city serves as a a a bridge joining the the arts and the sciences connecting diverse modes of inquiry and and casting light and and wonder on on a a a a mystery and complexity of of life of of civilization maturing This did not occur because of idol eyes or idol minds What are the intrinsic values and attributes of creativity in an an urbanized world?
They should be about nurturing the relationship of collective knowledge and individual meaning and the endless pursuit to attain the collective knowledge and indi- vidual meaning There is no simple present or future bub- ble of of virtual reality That mistaken notion of of virtual reality cuts a a a a major divide between experience learned and directly felt as oppo- sed to a a a a world constructed as a a a a semblance of reality The experiential factor grounded in ones own esthetic
perception and realities – not someone else’s and certainly not the illusion- ist bubble of another’s imposed cultural real- ity from intervening and manipulative market /political forces Touching ground ground – your own ground ground based on critical thinking and derived from the authority of personal experience Nothing should or really can override this personal authentic experience Rousseau was and continues to be correct in in his worldly con- cern for personal authenticity and social jus- tice Also Voltaire’s prescience of mind from his Oedipus verses ”what we are feeling our kings can not know they lash at the the innocent
with random blows yes we can have faith but only in ourselves Yes we can look forward But with our own vision alone: Not with False guides Nor with False gods ”
Voltaire We still even with all
the advances and potential of information dissemination via the computer and internet live in in a a a vacuum of knowledge knowledge knowledge knowledge to assimilate
and and empower and and release our own creative
energies The key is to multiply knowledge meaningful knowledge and seriously allow knowledge to enable people people – all
people people The very notion or idea of being sur- rounded by a a a a a culture of great great ideas and great great thinkers is breathtaking and sadly still in in in its early stages – one might even say infancy since the the Enlightenment of the the eighteenth century While all
life’s experiences influence artis- tic
imagination and creative
energy the cities lay their claim to a a a a a particularly unique font of imagination Though true in in in varying degrees historically chiefly through the dissemination of religious art each city is enhanced by the greater context of cities even when viewed in isolation like each artist work This is is is is why the city is is indispensable – it’s continuing not just historical trajectory of a a a a platform for for the arts The city as Emerson discerned ”
lives by remembering” From Rousseau’s epiphany en route from Paris to to Vincennes to to visit Diderot in in prison in the 18th century and his essay SOCIAL CONTRACT to 20th century Sartre Simone de Beauvoir Camus and others to our cur- rent moment of the 21st century Art prece- dents move the the force of intellect and the the will power to proceed The cities are a a stimulus to this activity The cities the good ones like art take on a a a a a a life a a a a a a vibrancy all
their own each revealing a a a a distinct set of flavors unique to its environs The city as as vibrant entity as as well spring for all
sorts of imagination “Imagination is is not just a a a a state it is is human existence itself ”
William Blake
Tell me why we don’t acknowledge the intrinsic creative
self-determination of the individual? And tell me why we don’t teach and respect the intrinsic creative
self-deter- mination of the individual? Could it perhaps be that functional utili- tarianism functional realism has basically subsumed esthetic
esthetic
realism esthetic
esthetic
under- standing and and esthetic
sensibility for Century upon century Century upon century Century upon century How do we vouchsafe each artist’s
adventure? How is the the esthetic
moment best enhanced?
In the the creative
field there are two ener- gies one the process of magniloquence and self-infatuation which struggles to usurp control and all
too frequently succeeds in a a a sadly utilitarian world the the other is a a a a poetic metaphoric sensibility that quietly but per- sistently flowers It is is the the the other energy the the the poetic esthetic
realism that is is all
encom- passing and evident in in all
good art 14