The Power of Art

Art has never been so visible, present and malleable as it is today, and at the same time it has also never been part of such a sheer number of social processes: art is a commodity, a conversation, an opinion, an awareness, an act. The societal omnipresence of art accompanies the increasing lack of that we might call aesthetic power.

»Power« – distinct from our »rational powers« – refers here to the unconscious, playful, enthusiastic condition that art requires in order to exist. Philosophical reflection on this condition leads Christoph Menke to the designation of aesthetic categories – artwork, beauty, judgment – and to a sketch of an aesthetic politics, meaning a politics of freedom from social practice, and equality without provisions.

The Power of Art is about our power. It is about the freedom from the social practice of subjectivity. The Power of Art is about our freedom.

»Art is ›the art of the passage between ability and power, between power and ability.‹ On this principle, Menke assembles a theory of art that is compulsory reading for anyone concerned with aesthetics.« DIE ZEIT