the significance of the avant-garde for contemporary aesthetics
TRANSCRIPT
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The
Significance
f
the
Avant-Garde
or
Contemporaryesthetics: Reply
to
Jiirgen abermas
by
Peter
Biirger
Ever since the
appearance
of his first
ooks
publishedduring
he
early
1960s,
Jiirgen
abermas
has
devoted his effortsmore than
ny
other
on-
temporaryphilosopher
toward
making
the
tradition f
the
European
Enlightenment
ruitful
or the
thought
nd
practice
of
the
present.
n
Strukturwandel
er
Offentlichkeit*
e uncovered he socio-historicalondi-
tions which
contributed o the
decay
of that
major
politicalcategory
f
bourgeois
society.
Then in
Theorie nd Praxis**
he examined he
changing
relationship
between science
and social action.
In both
works
he
was
concerned withlocatingthe possibilities nd limitationsn regardto a
contemporary
ontinuation
f the
project
of
the
Enlightenment
hich
Kant had described
with the
concept
Miindigkeit,
he
coming
of
age.
Throughout
his studies
Habermas has
never ost
sight
f
the
fact hatthe
efforts o
salvage
the
hopes
of
the
Enlightenment
an
only
be
successful
today
to the
extent
that these endeavors nclude
a
critique
of
bourgeois
society.
t has
always
been self-evident or
Habermas thatMarx's
analysis
of
capitalism
mustnot
only
be taken nto
consideration,
ut must lso be
checked and corrected
n
ight
f
historical
xperience
ince the
end of
the
19thcentury.'
Habermas's
speech
Modernity
versus
Postmodernity,
which
was
given
n
Frankfurt henhe was awarded theAdorno
prize,2
estifieso
the
continuity
f his
thought.
He
takes
a
decisive
stand to
maintain the
project
of
modernity,
nd he is
just
as
decisive n
his
opposition
o the
coalition of
various
types
of
conservatism
hichhe examineswith
imely
diagnostic
precision.
Within
his framework
e
develops
his cultural nd
*
The StructuralransformationfthePublic phere 1962).Notavailablen English.
For
a
summary
ee
Jiurgen
abermas,
ThePublic
phere,
New
German
ritique.
(Fall
1974),
9-55.
**
Theory
nd Practice
1963).
1.
The fact
hat must
xplicitly
tress his
oint
o ounterubtlendnot o
subtle
ttacks
inWest
Germany
n
Habermas's
lleged
ogmatism
s itself
commentary
n
academic
freedom n that
ountry.
2.
See Die
Modemrne:
in
unvollendetes
roject,
ie
Zeit,
Nr.
39,
American
dition r.
39,
September
6,
1980).
19
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20
Biurger
theoretical eflections hich oint o a wayoutofthe ncreasingsotericism
of
art
Esoterisierung
er
Kunst),
nd he elaborates
what
non-specialized
reception
of art would
look like. I
should
like to discuss Habermas's
Frankfurt hesis
n
a critical
way,
but
I want to make
it
clear that
am in
basic
agreement
with the social and scientific
oals
whichhe has
formu-
lated.
I
am also consciousof
the extent
o which
my
own
work s indebted
to Habermas.
Stimulated
by
his
re-examination
f Max Weber's works Habermas
sees
the
development
f the modern
ge
as the differentiation
Ausdif-
ferenzierung) f the value spheresof science,morality,nd art, and he
characterizes
the
project
of
modernity
s the
endeavor
to
develop
the
spheres
in their
respective
nherent
ogic
(Eigensinn)
while
at
the
ame
time
using
their
potential
for a reasonable
(verniinftig)
rganization
f
everyday
ife.
In
this
way
he
can
emphasize
he
continuity
f his cultural
and theoretical
reflectionswith the modernist
roject
by
stressing
he
necessity
f a
specialized
elaboration f
artistic
roblems
while
t
the
ame
time
envisioning type
of
reception
which
uses aesthetic
xperience
exploratively
or he llumination
f a life-historicalituation. abermas's
arguments quite convincingnd consistent ithhisthoughto
the
extent
that
it
suggests
an
outline for
overcoming
he
aporias
of
contemporary
culture,
an
outline derived
precisely
rom he tradition f the
European
modernization
rocess.
However,
ask
myself
whether his
onsistency
f
argument
oes not demand
too
high prize:
the
moothing
ut of
ruptures
in the
development
of culture.
Ruptures,
fter
ll,
can be
key points
of
knowledge
because
they
reveal
the
contradictionsf culture. should ike
to summarize
my
deas
in
the
following
hree
paragraphs.
1.
I
am not
certainwhether
ne
can talk about
a
paralleldevelopment
of the
three
spheres science,morality,
nd
art)
as
Habermasdoes
when
he
posits
sublation claims
(Aufhebungsansprciche)
n the
spheres
of the-
oretical
knowledge
nd
morality
whichwould
parallel
the
sublation laim
of
the
avant-garde.
Habermas
neglects
he fact that there are
structural
differences etween
the
respective pheres
nd
that
he
pheres
hemselves
differn
social
tatus.
While
utonomousrt arries
ith
t the deaof ts
self-transcendencehis
cannot be said
to
be true of science
in
the same
way.
And
morality, ontrary
o
autonomous
art,
has
always
claimed to
guide
human
practice.
This
then
focuses
ttention
n
what the
Weberian
differentiationmodel
conceals:
the
different
mpact potential
of the
separate spheres
and their
nterdependence.
ere
it seems
to me
that
he
primacy
f science vis
vis
theother wo
realms
s
a central
roblem
within
the
social modernization
rocess.
When
autonomous
rt
constituted
tself
at
the
end of the 18th
century,
his was also
an
attempt
o counter
he
advance of
empirical
cientific
rocesses
n
the treatment f nature.
2.
Both
sides of
what Habermas calls the
project
of
modernitythe
development
of the
separate spheres ccording
o their wn
logic
and the
use
of
their
potential
for
reasonable
organization
f
everyday
ife)
have
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Avant-garde
nd
Contemporary
estletics
21
manifested
hemselves,
t least
n therealm f
iterature,
ot
s
parts
f
uniformrojectbutrathers a historical ovementfconflictingnd
antagonistic
endencies.
gainst
ourtly
ivertissement
ndthe ulture
f
representation
he
Enlightenment
eveloped
concept
f
iterature
hich
declared
the
reasonable
rganization
f
everyday
ife
s its
goal.
The
notion f
practical
se became
he
guiding
rinciple
f
iterary
roduction
and
reception.
twas under
onditions
f
decisively
ewhistorical
xperi-
ences
the ossof
validity
f
religious
orld
iews,
he
fragmentation
f
human
ctivities,
ndthe
discernment
f
the
negative
onsequences
fa
rapidly xpanding rofit-oriented
ook
market
that
art
constituted
itselfs autonomoust the ndof he18thentury.herewas n nsistence
on
the nternal
ogic
Eigensinn)
f
the rtistic
phere
hichrom
hat
ime
on
rejected
he
Enlightenment's
esthetics
f
mpact
y harplypposing
thenotion
hat rthadto
fulfill
ractical
eeds f
veryday
ife.3
ver ince
the
aesthetics
f
autonomy
as
nstitutionalized,
ttempts
o ink
p
with
the
Enlightenment's
oncept
f literature
nd to
include
ognitive
nd
moral
uestions
nart
have
been
fought
y
writers
nd
critics
examples
would
be
the
rejection
f
Zola's naturalism
nd
of Sartre's
ittirature
engagde).Only
in the field
of
commercial
nd
popular
iterature
s
a
reception
rom he
perspective
f individualifehistoryllowedand
therebymplicitly
enigrated.
n
fullyeveloped
ourgeois
ociety
auton-
omy
nd
use of
art
have
ncreasingly
ome o
oppose
ach
other,
hey
will not
be
so
easily
reconciled
s Habermas'
onstruction
f
modernity
suggests.
3. Habermas
s correct
n
rguing
hat ate
19-century
estheticism
olds
a
keyposition
or
n
understanding
f he
development
f rt n
bourgeois
society.
he
process
oward
ver
more
adical
utonomy
eaches
ts
high
point
n aestheticism
here
hedemand
or
utonomy
ecomes
ffective
andmanifestnthe evel f rtisticontent.utthismeans andhere
disagree
with
Habermas
that
he
development
f art
according
o
its
internal
ogicgives
ise o a
problem:
he
danger
f
semantic
trophy
f
the
works.
The
avant-garde's
evolt
esponds
o
aestheticism's
adical
claim
for
utonomy
ith n
attempt
hich
s
no
lessradical.
t
is
the
attempt
o sublate
he
autonomy
laims
ndto
reintegrate
rt nto
he
practice
f
everyday
ife.
Habermas
uses
the
terms
modernity
nd
avant-garde
s
syno-
nyms,
ollowing
dorno'susage.Thisterminology,owever, eilsthe
historical
chievements
f the
avant-garde
ovements.
nsofar
s
they
produced
works
which re
recognized
oday,
hey
re
ntegrated
nto
he
movement
f
modernity.
ut
their adical
emand
o
reintegrate
rt
nto
everyday
ife
s
rejected
s
a
false ublation.
ere
Habermas
s
just
as
3. See
Aufkliirung
nd
iterarische
ffentlichkeit,
d.
by
Christa
irger,
eter
Birger,
and
Jochen
chulte-Sasse
Frankfurt
m
Main,
1980).
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Bi'irger
explicit s Adorno: Nothingremainsfrom desublimatedmeaning r a
destructured
orm;
n
emancipatory
ffect oes
notfollow. As
a
result
we
are leftwith
a
question:
what does the failure f the sublation laims of
avant-garde
movementsmean? Habermas
recognizes
hat he
demand for
sublation carries a
legitimate rotest gainst
world n which
happiness
evidently
s neither
rovided
nor
anticipated.
He
nevertheless
ondemns
t
unrelentingly.
f the
outlined historical
rgument
s correct
the
avant-
gardist
revolt
as an
answer to aestheticism's adical
demand for auton-
omy),
then the
avant-garde
ttackon
the
autonomous tatus
f
art results
fromthe logic of artistic evelopmentsn bourgeois ociety.This attack
then
contains
he same
contradictions
s
aestheticism,
ut
t
resolved hem
in an
opposite
direction;
t
s
extremelymportant
o understand
his
f
we
are to
comprehend
he
meaning
f art
n
our
society.
Even
the
failure f the demand for ublation houldnot
be
regarded
s
a mistakewithout
esults.On the
contrary.
f
it
is
possible
today
to think
about
free
productivity
or
veryone,
hen t
s
certainly
ue to the
fact hat
the
avant-gardistsuestioned
the
egitimacy
f the term
great
rtwork.
The
&critureutomatique
till ontains
possibilities
or
he
development
f
a freeproductivity hichgoes farbeyondthe surrealists' wnendeavors.
Finally,
without he
avant-gardist
otionof
montage
numerous
ealmsof
contemporary
esthetic
xperience
would
be
inaccessible.
To sum
up.
The
unsuccessful ttackon the autonomous tatus
fart s
that vent n
the
development
f
art
which
irst roke
with he
esthetics
f
autonomy,
nd it
has
provided
us
with he
possibility
or
overcoming
he
latter's limitations.
ven Habermas's and Wellmer's
dea that
aesthetic
experience
can be
used to illuminateife-historicalituations nd
to
change
cognitive
nterpretations
nd
normative rientations
even
this
reliance
on pre-autonomous enlightened) esthetics s unthinkablewithout he
avant-gardist
ssault
which
hook
up
the
aesthetics f
autonomy.
Without
denying
he
importance
which
theory
f
continuity
olds for n
under-
standing
f
the
modernization
rocess,
would nsist hat
contemporary
theory
of
culture cannot
do without
dialectical
omprehension f
rup-
tures,
specially
because
it
s
important
o
prevent
his
mportant
istorical
category
from
becoming pawn
in the
theories f the
Young
Conserva-
tives.
Translated
yAndreasHuyssen nd JackZipes