Anti-kitsch uglism

Abstract

Abstract

Among the different definitions of classicism, here we will understand classicism as the cultural stage characterized by a categorical stability and the univocity of language, to which it corresponds the artistic form of the unity of coherence and homogeneity. This artistic form is doomed to repetition once of the possibilities of the classical formal systems are exhausted, and reaches crisis point both by effect of the characteristic closure of representation in advanced cultural stages, and the gap with respect to the Weltanschauung derived of the crisis of referentiality. The opening of the new artistic spaces requires the introduction of dissonance or the rupture of the classical unity, which leads to the collage work as a juxtaposition of fragments, which is in its turn a representation of the “baroque” sensibility fostered by the closure of representation. On the other hand, the repetition of well-known forms leads to a kitsch enjoyment of the artistic object. The collage form allows to avoid the danger of kitsch in three ways: its harshness and violence persuade of a self-complacent enjoyment of the work, the opening of the space of artistic possibilities allows for the creation of new forms without repetition, and the allegoric character of the collage yields a richness of contents that is opposed to the fast consumption of the kitsch of the industry of culture.