Kerstin Schoof – Aesthetics of Change. Strategies in Past and Futuren

The new constituted an essential component of any aesthetic in both artistic and pop-cultural modernism of the 20thcentury. Constant change was the driving force behind cultural development; styles, forms, and contents had to be transcended, overturned, and renewed. By now, this automatism has dissolved in many areas, and emancipatory aesthetics operate according to different principles, such as a focus on community and cooperation, intercultural inspiration, or sustainability.

To what extent can contemporary aesthetic strategies accompany current social and ecological changes and make them tangible? How can aesthetics, whose forms of expression interpret progress in very different ways, point beyond loss and renunciation? Using overarching approaches that can be found across various fields – from design, consumption, and everyday culture to contemporary art – this lecture addresses the question of aesthetics that could still, or once again, be called progressive, and their relationship to the possibility of change.

the event is part of the series “the future of history”, which will run throughout the year. click here for the programme!

the lecture will be held in german