On the Sublime

mickyates Aesthetics, Art, Critical Theory, Genocide, Holocaust, Ideas, Landscape, Media Theory, Mick's Photo Blog, Photography, Post-Modern Leave a Comment

The Sublime has long held fascination for me, as it applies to both landscapes and The Holocaust / Genocide. Adorno suggested that after Auschwitz, the Sublime is associated with images of genocide and atrocity. He also suggested that after Auschwitz, art is not possible. But that is another story. An excellent reader is Simon Morley’s volume The Sublime (2010) with a …

Adorno and Aesthetics

mickyates Aesthetics, Art, Critical Theory, Ideas, Mick's Photo Blog, Philosophy, Photography, Post-Modern, Realism Leave a Comment

I have been reading Theodor Adorno of late, and in particular Brian O’Connor’s excellent introduction to his work. Here are a few of the many notes that I have taken on O’Connor’s book and others. I am particularily taken with his approach to ‘mimesis’. ‘Mimesis … is not another name for the subject-object relationship. It is the pre-conceptual human desire to …