Week 34 - 3rd Period in Philosophy Class
Week 34 - 3rd Period in Philosophy Class
Socratic Circle in regards to beauty & aesthetics
Attendance taken: 16/08/2024 at 10:37 am
Text analysed: Azazel (2021)
Transcript starts: 10:50 am
Tutor: So, we’re looking at our chosen text, Azazel, through the lens of beauty and aesthetics. Our opening question is ‘What is Azazel trying to say about beauty?’
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Jump in whenever you guys are ready.
A: I’m happy to start. One of the texts that resonated with Azazel was ‘The Revival of Beauty’…it was by… (paper shuffling) Catherine Wesselinoff1… The first part was on Anti-aesthetic movements. We’re in post-modernism…(looks at tutor)
Tutor: Let’s say that for now.
A: Cool. And so it’s safe to assume that Azazel influences the postmodern worldview to understand that beauty is nothing. The reading had a line that post-modernism engages in a “denial” of aesthetics. Azazel isn’t representing beauty, they’re representing the socio/political beliefs surrounding certain features. They’re distorted, heightened. Azazel is taking a Kalliphobic2 response to beauty.
J: I’m going to have to disagree with that statement. Because Azazel is using beauty, it’s a tool. It’s a protest and it’s a tool. And the sculpture for the most part was beautiful. So what Azazel’s doing with the sculpture is toying with our aesthetic experiences. I segued from the recommended readings to look at capitalism a bit. There was this article, ‘Aesthetics of the Flesh’,3 that had sentiment like there’s a generation of people who are framed as intelligent because they have the time and money to ‘take care of themselves’ by going to a variety of specialists. Education assures that at a ‘perfect body shape’ we’ll have minimal issues. We have drawn a line between beauty, health, intelligence and morality.
Azazel knows this, because they made themselves worse and worse and worse to heighten the contrast between them before, and after.
C: This is kind of funny considering the end of the exhibit. If Azazel truly has the belief that beauty is a capitalist device and a tool, the conclusion being that they… disappear?4 Azazel has then completely rejected it. The sculpture is no longer perceivable in its final form, we don’t know if Azazel won or lost this battle.
P: I think capitalism would have won if they were observable to the public-
Tutor: -No ‘I think’ statements
P: Sorry. Capitalism wins if the year of… meddling(?) and perfecting is now able to be used as an exemplar. Had it ended any other way, it would’ve been co-opted further by the market that tried to sell a misreading of it.
And sorry, if I can go down this route a little further with authorial intent. The incident on 30th June… the one that went on to become the reason the live stream ended5. Had Azazel not made the statement of performing trans-affirming surgeries, it still could have.
Capitalist havens… well more the American neoliberal far-right currently, hates trans people. They disproportionately represent a lot of intersections, are impacted by violence, and are used as a crutch to show what’s wrong with the country. Bringing trans identities into a piece about aesthetics is no mistake, and Azazel is using a collaboration of the two as a critique of the obsession with gender presentation. Aesthetic agency is one of the very few outlets trans people have.
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References & notes:
Wesselinoff, C. (2023). The Revival of Beauty: Aesthetics, Experience, and Philosophy (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au/10.4324/9781003387282
Kalliphobia refers to a term created by Arthur Danto, and merges the Greek words for ‘beauty’ (kalos) and ‘fear’ (phobia)
Roseiro, S. Z., Rodrigues, A., & Alvim, D. M. (2018). Estéticas da Carne: insurreições curriculares do corpo feio. [Aesthetics of the Flesh: curricular insurrection of the ugly body Esthétique de la Viande: insurrection curriculaire des corps laid] Revista Brasileira De Estudos Da Presença, 8(2), 277-300,277A-300A. https://doi.org/10.1590/2237-266075881
This is still being debated as of 18/03/24