Invitation to the Defense of Max Jorge Hinderer
The Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna kindly invites you to the defense of Max Jorge Hinderer´s dissertation project Political aesthetics. A global take on Modern Aesthetics in the 16th, 18th, and 20th century.
The Examination Panel is made up of: PD Dr.habil. Jens Kastner (chair), Univ.-Prof. Diedrich Diederichsen (first supervisor), Univ.Prof. Dr. Ruth Sonderegger (second supervisor), Univ.Prof. Dr. Stefano Harney (external appraiser).
Abstract
The present work deals with Modern Aesthetics. At its core lies an understanding of Modern Aesthetics, that contrasts with many theories related to both terms, first, in relation to a definition of Modernity, and, second, in relation to a definition of Aesthetics. Commonly the history of Modern Aesthetics is identified with that of philosophical Aesthetics – the systematic efforts to formalize a theory of aesthetic perception, art, and the judgment of beauty, starting with 18th century German philosophy (Baumgarten/Kant). In contrast, the present text proposes to think the category of political aesthetics – the formalization of a politics of sense perception – a governmental technology that has profoundly shaped colonial economy, the emergence of liberalism and its bourgeois revolutions, and global history in general since the 16th century. Philosophical Aesthetics and political aesthetics are understood as two different modus operandi, yet irreducible elements, of Modern Aesthetics. Focusing on historical, economical and political categories and case studies of the 16th, 18th, and 20th century, the present text points at the urgency to develop new, anticolonial perspectives and narratives on what we understand as Modern Aesthetics.
Short biography
Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz (La Paz, Bolivia) is director of the Independent Studies Program (PEI) at the Museum of Contemporary Art Barcelona (MACBA). Previously he was director of the National Museum of Art (MNA) in La Paz, and Artistic Director of Akademie der Künste der Welt (ADKDW) in Cologne. His recent publications include the books “LA DEUDA CON LA BELLEZA. Textos 2019-2021” published by PCP-Programa Cultura Política, La Paz, 2022; and (as editor) Elvira Espejo Ayca, "YANAK UYWAÑA. The Mutual Nurturing of the Arts", transversal texts, Vienna, 2023.
The thesis defense will be in English and will take place online.
Zoom meeting link: https://akbild-ac-at.zoom.us/j/66223047629
We are looking forward to welcoming you.