CONTEMPORARY ART ETHIC AND ESTHETIC ARTMEDIA X

CONTEMPORARY ART ESTHETIC AND ETHIC

Edgar MORIN, Thierry DE DUVE, Jean-michel RABATE, Jean-Pierre FAYE, Pierre-Damien HUYGUES, Dominique CHATEAU, Jose JIMENEZ, Anne CAUQUELIN, Mario COSTA, Fred FOREST...

Begun 25 years ago, ARTMEDIA will bring its work to a conclusion with its tenth edition international colloquium, under the direction of MARIO COSTA and FRED FOREST. The colloquium will take place in Paris on Friday, 12th December at the Mauriac site of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF) and Saturday, 13th December, 2008 in the auditorium of the Institut National d’Histoire de l'Art (INHA). Leonardo/Olats is responsible for the colloquium website and the online publication of the proceedings. The Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA) and L'Harmattan are the publishers of the print edition of the proceedings. Video recordings of the presentations will be made available at the BNF and the INA. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Institut National d’Histoire de l'Art proudly support the scientific mission of this exceptional event.

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Éthique, esthétique, communication technologique ou le destin du sens
Etica, estetica, comunicazione tecnologica : il destino del senso
Ethics, esthetics, techno-communication: the future of meaning


We have called upon specialists from many different fields to offer their reflections at a wide-ranging colloquium whose specific themes have been deliberately left open in order to give each participant full freedom to offer his or her own unique points of reference. It should be noted, however, that the general theme of the colloquium encompasses a number of issues that have been examined in one way or another by Artmedia since its inception. Indeed, the issues that have been at the core of each of the nine preceding editions of Artmedia can all be placed under the general heading of the relationship between ethics and esthetics. These topics of investigation and critical reflection have yet to be exhausted and remain open-ended. It is our intention to wrap up our work at Artmedia by focusing our attention on a general theme of critical importance to the present and future evolution of art in our society.




" Supposing that there is such a thing as art, then where is the proof of its influence, the tangible proof of any influence whatsoever on its part? " asked Nietzsche in 1878 (Human, All Too Human, I, 22). Forty years later, Gabo, one of the artists most imbued with the spirit of modernity, wondered: " What contribution does art make to the current era of human history? " (Manifesto of Realism, 1920). More recently, a great public controversy in France near the end of the 1990s called contemporary art into question—a controversy whose chief merit was to once again raise the same sort of questions. Nonetheless, before we go off in search of hypothetical proof of art’s " influence " we must first bluntly ask an equally radical question:

What does art matter in our world?

A question of this order has been raised numerous times with respect to modern art (Ortega, Berdyaev, Sedlmayr, Thode, Bloch, Ellul…) and continues to be raised even more frequently in our day in reference to contemporary art by critics (Baudrillard, Virilio, Clair, Hartford…, and even more recently by Michel Gauthier, in Fresh Théorie, II, 2006 and Elisabeth Wetterwald in 20/27, n.1, 2007) who have gone as far as to describe it in terms of " vapidity, " " solitude, " " absence ", " nothingness, " " nullity "….

Indeed, what do the “quasi-pathological” workings of the art market and the broader “art system” matter to the 2 million artists worldwide who inhabit the terrain of contemporary art in light of the various theoretical positions that prompt us to rethink the history of art (Belting, Danto…)? What does the upheaval caused by so many new technologies, and by the artists who work with them, matter? What do the vast sums of money invested in contemporary art by public institutions on the basis of the speculated present and future worth of works matter? Should we, like Gabo, simply keep asking what contribution art—in this case, " contemporary art "—makes to the current era of human history? What does the ethics of social responsibility matter to the increasingly cynical “system” that has filled our public spaces with the dubious output of contemporary art, all with the help of taxpayer money? In a time when cynicism and business as usual have spoiled and rendered obsolete our quaint idea of democracy, what potential does artistic practice still have restore life and meaning to the public arena?

Furthermore, is it true that the products and practices making use of new technologies have the potential to open up new frontiers for the rejuvenation of art? Is one to believe that esthetic and ethical tensions will be resolved solely by virtue of better communication, as the promoters of networked products and practices seem to suggest?

Do today’s artists still have the capacity to symbolize, which has always been seen as one of the most basic functions of art?

Ultimately, does meaning still matter in our world?

The time has come to think more deeply about such issues and to ask ourselves big questions in which the esthetic, the ethical, the pragmatic, and the philosophical are inextricably bound together.

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With this final edition in December 2008, nearly 25 years after its creation (May 1985), Artmedia intends to solidify its historical status as the first and the foremost scholarly forum dedicated to exploring the relationship between techno-science, philosophy, and esthetics—a status to which it lays claim on the basis of the intellectual rigor and prestige of its successive editions over the years and the number of its international participants:

- Artmedia has gained an international reputation, not to mention the longstanding support of many foreign universities via its affiliation with the University of Salerno;
- the preceding edition, Artmedia VIII (November 2002), was held in very prestigious venues in Paris (Le Centre National du Commerce Extérieur and L’Ecole Normale Supérieure) and benefited from the sponsorship of numerous international institutions (www.olats.org/projetpart/artmedia/2002/mono_index.php) . It involved the participation of fifty artists and theorists from around the world and received broad coverage in the media (a special edition of the journal " Art Press " published the texts of the papers presented and " Ligeia ", a French CNRS-affiliated art journal with an international readership, also published its proceedings);
- a large number of articles appeared in the French and Italian press, the multilingual online bibliography was particularly rich, a video recording of the entire proceedings is now in the archives if the INA (National Audiovisual Institute) and is also available to researchers and students at the BNF.

Finally, the latest and final edition of Artmedia, in December 2008, is certain to garner much attention due to the timely nature of its theme and the excellent reputation of the scholars who are participating in it. Its success will surely be saluted by the international community of scholars and intellectuals. Its contributions to critical thinking and further research come at a time of exceptional visibility in Europe and promise to reflect most favorably on the image of the institutions that have contributed to its organization.

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Historical Note : The organizers wish to recognize the related series of fifty seminars on topics like technological and communication art, the uses of the Internet, and the Esthetics of Communication that were organized between 1985 and 1994 by Professor FRED FOREST (holder of a state doctorate from the Sorbonne, formerly professor at the Ecole Supérieure Nationale de Cergy, professor emeritus at University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis) and held at the University Paris I-Sorbonne, the University of Paris VIII, the University of Nice, and Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Nice (MAMAC).

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INTERVENANTS


Maurizio Bolognini
Italie, Artiste et théoricien de l'art génératif
De l'interaction à la démocratie. Vers un art génératif post-digital

* Anne Cauquelin
France, Prof. émérite de Philosophie à l'Université de Picardie, Directrice de la Nouvelle Revue d'Esthétique
Ethique et multivers

* Daniel Charles
( Août 2008  )
France, Prof. émérite d'Esthétique à l'Université de Nice
De la polyagogie chez Cage et Xenakis

* Dominique Chateau
France, Prof. d'Esthétique et de Philosophie de l'art à l'Université de Paris 1 - Sorbonne
L'esthétisation de l'art et ses conséquences éthiques

* Mario Costa
Italie, Prof. d'Esthétique à l'Université de Salerne

* Edmond Couchot
France, Prof. émérite à l'Université de Paris VIII, Directeur de la formation en Arts et technologies de l'image
Nouvelles temporalités dans les arts et la communication

* Vincenzo Cuomo
Italie, Université de Salerno
Au delà de la 'maison de l'être' : l'expérience esthétique du non-symbolique

* Paolo D'Angelo
Italie, Prof. d'Esthétique à l'Université de Rome 3
Sur quelques phénomènes d'esthétisation dans l'art contemporain

* Fabrizio Desideri
Italie, Prof. d'Esthétique à l'Université de Firenze
L'image dit-elle encore soi même ? Pour en finir avec la philosophie de l'art

* Thierry de Duve
Prof. de Théorie de l'Art moderne et contemporain à l'Université de Lille
L'esthétique comme quasi-éthique

* Jean-Pierre Faye
Co-fondateur du Collège Internationale de Philosophie, Directeur de l'Université Européenne de la Recherche
Transformations et éthique des langages

* Maurizio Ferraris
Italie, Prof. de Philosophie théorétique à l'Université de Turin
Pleurer et rire "vraiment"

* Mariapaola Fimiani
Italie, Prof. de Philosophie Morale et vice-recteur de l'Université de Salerne
Le sommeil événementiel

* Fred Forest
France, Artiste et théoricien de l'art sociologique et de l'esthétique de la communication, Prof. émérite à l'Université de Nice
Entre esthétique et éthique, le Beau et le Vrai, la voie étroite de l'utopie réaliste

* Pierre-Damien Huyghe
France, Prof. d'Esthétique à l'Université de Paris I - Sorbonne)
La morale des objets

* José Jimenez
Espagne, Prof. d'Esthétique et Théorie des Arts à l'Université Autonome de Madrid, Directeur de l'Institut Cervantes de Paris, Directeur Général des Beaux Arts au Ministère de la Culture espagnol
L'image esthétique

* Jorge Latorre Izquierdo
Espagne, Prof. de Culture de l'image à l'Université de Navarre
Hight Tech au Musée : tradition et innovation dans les œuvres de Bill Viola et Lozano-Hemmer

* Sophie Lavaud
France, Artiste et théoricienne des arts interactifs, enseignante-chercheure à l'Université Jean Monnet de Saint-Etienne
Esthétique et éthique : la responsabilite de l'artiste aujourd'hui

* Michael F. Leruth
Etats-Unis, Professeur associé de français, The College of William and Mary, Virginie, USA
Quelques réflexions sur l'art, l'utopie et l'interface

* Louis-José Lestocart
France, Critique d'art et de cinéma à Art Press, NRF
Théorie de la prédiction. L'intelligible connaissance esthétique

* Rudolf zur Lippe
Allemagne, Prof. de Philosophie à l'Université de Francfort
L'éthique fondée sur la perception consciente, c'est-à-dire l'esthétique

* Pierre Moeglin
France, Prof. de Sciences de l'Information et de la Communication à l'Université de Paris-Nord

* Robert C. Morgan
Etats-Unis, Critique d'art à NYArt, Art Press…
Vidéo neo-métaphysique

* Edgar Morin
France, CNRS, philosophe et sociologue

* Jean-Michel Rabaté
Etats-Unis, Prof. d'Anglais et de Littératures Comparées à l'Université de la Pennsylvanie
Les couleurs du mensonge ; vers une éthique

* Isabelle Rieusset-Lemarié
France, Université de Paris 10
Fonder un monde commun sur une éthique de la liberté : la voie privilégiée de l'esthétique

* Maryvonne Saison
France, Prof. d'Esthétique à l'Université de Paris X Nanterre, Directrice de la Société Française d'Esthétique
Les défis du temps réel

* François Soulages
France, Prof. d'Esthétique et Sciences de l'Art à l'Université de Paris 8
Esthétique & existence

* Carole Talon-Hugon
France, Prof. d'Esthétique et Théorie des arts à l'Université de Nice - Directrice de la Société Azuréenne de Philosophie
Transgression et extraterritorialité

* Serge Tisseron
France, Université de Paris VII - Psychiatre et psychanalyste
L'œuvre, le désir et le traumatisme

CONTEMPORARY ART BETWEEN AESTHETICS AND ETHICS


BETWEEN AESTHETICS AND ETHICS, BEAUTY AND TRUTH, THE NARROX PATH OF A REALIQTIC UTOPIA

BY FRED FOREST

Michel Onfray calls for "a philosophy rooted in action rather than closed rooms, in everyday life rather than the lecture hall or the university library, a form of philosophy capable of giving new to a discipline that would henceforth break out of the ghetto to which the defenders of theoretical purity would have it confined."(1).


Echoing Michel Onfray, I have long advocated a new status for the artist, one that calls him to a specific form of praxis engaged in the realities of our time. A modus operandi that enables him to carry out, in his own way, the ideal of philosophy in action--in other words, a call to become an agent of change and an inventor of new aesthetic and ethical forms of reality.(2) The sociological art movement that we launched in 1974 with the creation of the Sociological Art Collective, as well as the International Group for the Aesthetics of Communication, co-founded with Mario Costa, corresponded to these criteria.


Other participants in this colloquium will not fail to address the pressing issue in our age of the implications of technological developments hold for the future of aesthetics (the production of symbolic objects) and ethics (social morality). It is my intention to first take inventory of the current state of observations and critical analyses of the inner workings of the contemporary art system as pertains to aesthetics and ethics, then to outline the only course of action that I believe open to the artist of today, working in society such as we know it.


I am motivated by the fact that the system in question has prospered and generated enormous profits for over thirty years without offering us many examples of philosophers, art critics, or intellectuals in its midst who have tried to cast a critical light on the system and denounce its ethical lapses, aesthetic aridity, or the social alienation embodied by the vast majority of its production. If one takes a closer look at it, the figure of the artist appears little more than a public jester (Ben), a conceptual decorator (Buren (3), or a creature of the establishment, in service to and served by the system (Sophie Calle). It is as if one has already conceded, on the basis of art history, that the artist was forever confined to certain predefined roles without possibility to escape from this destiny. I am among those who believe, on the contrary, that our mutating society promises to offer artists the opportunity to acquire a more meaningful status that will allow them to assume real responsibilities and play a major role in this society.


This colloquium is timely because after decades of unrivaled hegemony, one has finally started to detect some cracks in the contemporary art system. We will not go into detail about the controversy surrounding contemporary art in France in the 90s, (4) which was, in reality, little more than a blip on the screen. The formalist defenders of orthodoxy who came together on that occasion, like Jean-Philippe Domecq, Jean Clair, Marc Fumaroli, now appear, rightly or wrongly, as nostalgic for outmoded forms of expression belonging to the past. In reality, in the blunt discourse of these critics, there is no mention of the ideological, social, and technological mutations that affect our society and, as a result, alter its collective imagination, its artistic and symbolic forms. Nor is there any allusion in their discourse to a significant shift from aesthetics to ethics, a shift that the art critic Pierre Restany was among the earliest to signal in his writings. (5)


For so many reasons, I am convinced that this colloquium will make a mark. It will play the role of catalyst. It will be a historic occasion. By virtue of its chosen theme, it will help clear the way for a new critical stance regarding contemporary art, which has been dominant for many years, but whose modes of operation now show certain signs of obsolescence.


The artist who doesn't enjoy the support of the market or cultural institutions can now make use of the new forms of expression that the information revolution has made possible. If he masters these new forms, he has certain advantages over the economic and political powers that be: rapid execution, a pragmatic sense of imagination, a strategic approach to creativity, complete freedom of initiative, without obligation to defer to some hierarchy or system before going into action.


In a striking new development, the first signs of cracks in the contemporary art system are now starting to become visible. It's not so much a matter of aesthetic breaches like as those made by the avant-garde throughout the last century, each new movement pushing aside those that preceded it with aesthetic propositions always presented as newer and more innovative. It's more like a nagging sense of doubt that has taken hold, swelled, and spread. Second thoughts left in the wake of the triumphal arrogance of contemporary art, which, like an irresistible tidal wave, has inundated our museums and minds several decades running. The marketing machine of art has our art schools marching to its beat and has successfully placed several generations of art students under its influence. Succumbing to the temptation of financial windfall, art journals have succeeded in getting their readers jump on the band wagon by giving currency to the idea that anyone who didn't like contemporary art was simply an imbecile, if not a reactionary stooge. In this context, aesthetics have been relegated to a minor role and ethical considerations have been completely erased. Commodification and instrumentalization have ended up leveling the aesthetic dimension and, even more so, the ethical purpose of art. The marketplace, the economy, high finance, speculation, and marketing have not only become the driving force of so-called contemporary art but also, far worse, its sole creative outlet. In a world in rapid mutation and never-ending crisis, (true) artists cannot afford to remain confined to a ghetto, where aesthetic issues have become a joke, and ethical considerations are practically absent.


Contemporary art: an elitist universe, closed off from the rest of the world. Locked tight. A universe that now operates solely according the laws of commerce. A universe centered on prefabricated commercial values assigned and manipulated by the most influential players in the marketplace. Men and women in the know, who profit from at every level of the power structure that governs the system--from the lowly artist-producers at the bottom to the very summit of glory, where the ultimate value of the work is determined as a function of the price it has fetched at Christie's. These players are so powerful in France that they are in a position to put on their payroll, according to their whim, ex-Ministers of culture and ex-Presidents of the Centre Pompidou, or, if it's low-level handymen that they need, former officials from the government-run cultural centers or Regional Funds for Contemporary Art (Fracs). Players whose sheer financial power determines the aesthetic worth of works of art and who benefit from their connections in the state cultural bureaucracy and the administration of public museum, who only strengthen their already formidable aesthetic and economic power.


It is this world without transparence that contemporary artists must navigate by sight, at the mercy of their handlers. What else can these unfortunate souls do, these men and women who are both victims and mercenaries of contemporary art, often in spite of themselves, as they claim? The answer is really quite simple, as I myself have publicly declared on numerous occasions, most notably in the context of the colloquium on The State and Contemporary Art, (6) before an illustrious assembly that included now less then ten high-ranking government officials: the artists must seize power!


The entire system of contemporary art is based on, revolves around, and is structured solely in terms of a business ideology. Once this basic fact is made known (or recognized for what it is), it then becomes a question of neutralizing it by developing creative strategies relying on the resources made available by digital technologies, information networks, techniques for the dissemination of disinformation, and even hacking.


One observation to be made is that nearly every field of human activity is now dominated by an economic logic that has transformed the lives of individuals, turning them into what one might call citizen-consumers. However, in direct response to this tendency, one has observed over the past fifteen or so years (since the advent of the Internet), any number of cultural communities instigating movements designed to free them from the stranglehold of the marketplace. Open source software emerged in the middle of the 1990s. Finally, numerous artists’ groups have developed forums for thinking about “generic infrastructures,” open access to public services online, and new approaches to development, or collaborative “de-development,” offering alternatives to unfettered capitalism.


Why shouldn't artists be the creators, collaborators, and defenders of these new instruments of widely shared collective power? After all, artistic practice is both the last rampart and the first indicator of the health and wellbeing of democracy and of a certain level of existential authenticity. In a society such as ours, where every one of our movements is under observation, analyzed, and scrutinized in the minutest details, the artistic act still stands as a highly symbolic exercise in liberty.


The power of artists, which derives from aesthetics and ethics, could be limitless if only artists became aware of it. It's at arm's reach. They only need to bend down to take it and make it their own. The will is the way! They just don't always realize it. Tomorrow, already, they will because in a world in crisis, they are the only ones who are capable of restore MEANING where there is no longer any, and give back to the word POWER the full force of its positive connotations in order to change the world. This is the new revolution in art that is to be brought about in this beginning of the 21st century, one that I ardently yearn for and call my own: the realistic utopia.

(1) Le Monde, 11 July 2008, p.8.
(2) Art sociologique vidéo, Fred Forest, UGE 10/18, Paris 1977.
(3) Buren’s position is all the more astounding given the fact that he is perfectly at ease making the following pronouncement without a shadow of self-doubt: “The official artist certainly did exist at one point in history, but no longer exists. I cannot honestly single out a single living artist in France today to whom one could stick this label. When one talks of the official artist, one is really referring to an artist who represents power, whatever form it may take.” For an artist well known for his intellectual rigor, we are, needless to say, obliged to take this remark as an example of cynicism rather than ignorance. We find no fault with Buren on the aesthetic level, as is commonly the case, but rather on the ethical level, for equivocation and a refusal to assume responsibility for what one is. (Le Monde, «Il n’y a plus d’artistes officiels », interview with Harry Bellet, Friday, 25 July 2008.)
(4) La crise de l'art contemporain, Esprit, February 1992 (N°2).
(5) « La révolution de la vérité : vers un nouveau critère fondamental du goût, » public seminar organized by Fred Forest, MAMAC Nice, Friday, 19 May 1999.
(6) “L’Etat et l’art contemporain,” Théâtre du Rond Point, Paris 29 November 2007 (See Art Absolument, no. 22, September 2007 and Artension, no. 4, “La critique dissidente,” May-June 2007.

FRED FOREST DUMP YOUR TRASH ON SECOND LIFE

FOREST DUMP YOUR TRASH ON SECOND LIFE

CREATION FRED FOREST

Fred Forest at “Entropya/Art in progress” Gallery, Naples; Italy May 22nd – July 22nd 2008.

Tel : 00 39 335 80 92 771
Tel : 081 40 94 56

gnapolitano@creasud.it


info@entropyart.net




A French artist on exhibition for the first time in Naples at “Entropya/Art in progress” Gallery offers you the possibility to get rid of your household trash at a most reasonable price! A pioneer of video art (1967) and of Net.Art (1994), Fred Forest is an emblematic artist who headed up the sociological art movement (with the Sociological Art Collective) and Communication aesthetics with Mario Costa.

He has just created the virtual Experimental Territory Center & Social Laboratory on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. The aim of this structure is to produce ideas in order to better cope with the multiple problems affecting our society. The first problem that he has dealt with is sustainable development and the protection of natural resources, though others shall follow: violence, terrorism, poverty, speculation, corruption, etc…

By calling on the expertise and collaboration of the technological hub of Nice Sophia-Antipolis, with its engineers and industry of innovation, he has conceived of a revolutionary trash “disintegrator” the functioning of which requires very little energy. It is, indeed, a very strange and sophisticated machine the workings of which are based on the close intertwining of principles of the mind and of computing. This machine has the surprising capability of dematerialising all objects placed inside its transparent structure. It is for this reason that we recommend that all visitors maintain a respectful distance from the machine so as to avoid an irreversible disintegration accident. The patented secrets of this spectacular invention are jealously guarded and, indeed, it is the subject of a merciless struggle between various actors in European industrial espionage. Gone are thermal combustion incinerators; McDonald’s has recouped them (at an extremely low price) in order to develop a new lighter cuisine to replace the Big Mac in the long term. The trash “disintegrator,” as it is known, garnered instant attention from the city of Naples. An agreement has been struck with the city of Nice in the context of the Mediterranean Union, so dear to the President of the Republic of France, so as to allow the daily ferrying of trash shuttles from Naples to Nice with a compulsory stopover in Tunis. NATO’s maritime fleet has been commissioned to escort this precious merchandise. The unloading of this cargo will take place openly day and night, near the Hôtel Negresco and the WebPalace. Henceforth, individuals from the world over are allowed to arrive on site with their domestic waste in hand – no need for prior attention to recycling – to feed this particularly gluttonous and voracious machine themselves. The operation itself is to be understood in the context of a vast undertaking towards improving public and mental hygiene whereby artists’ utopias purport to resolve the problems that both politicians and scientists have been thus far incapable of appropriately addressing, namely the ever-greater pollution of our planet.

Instructions: Prepare your own individual and portable trash bag. If you are using either the rail or road networks, be sure to open the plastic bag slightly when crossing the border at Vintimille so as to allow enough pestilent odours to escape to ensure that customs recognizes the authenticity of your charge. Create an avatar on Second Life and then go to the following address:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Conway%203/72/180/27

- Curator :
Enrico Pedrini
- Assistante de réalisation :
Wafa Bourkhis
- Maîtrise d'œuvre :
Association Capucine.net