Jeffrey L. Kosky
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226451060
- eISBN:
- 9780226451084
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226451084.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by “the disenchantment of the world.” Max Weber’s statement remains a dominant interpretation of the ...
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The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by “the disenchantment of the world.” Max Weber’s statement remains a dominant interpretation of the modern condition: the increasing capabilities of knowledge and science have banished mysteries, leaving a world that can be mastered technically and intellectually. And though this idea seems empowering, many people have faced modern disenchantment. Using intimate encounters with works of art to explore disenchantment and the possibilities of re-enchantment, this book addresses questions about the nature of humanity, the world, and God in the wake of Weber’s diagnosis of modernity. It focuses on a handful of artists—Walter De Maria, Diller and Scofidio, James Turrell, and Andy Goldworthy—to show how they introduce spaces hospitable to mystery and wonder, redemption and revelation, and transcendence and creation. What might be thought of as religious longings, the book argues, are crucial aspects of enchanting secularity when developed through encounters with these works of art. Developing a model of religion that might be significant to secular culture, it shows how this model can be employed to deepen interpretation of the art we usually view as representing secular modernity.Less
The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by “the disenchantment of the world.” Max Weber’s statement remains a dominant interpretation of the modern condition: the increasing capabilities of knowledge and science have banished mysteries, leaving a world that can be mastered technically and intellectually. And though this idea seems empowering, many people have faced modern disenchantment. Using intimate encounters with works of art to explore disenchantment and the possibilities of re-enchantment, this book addresses questions about the nature of humanity, the world, and God in the wake of Weber’s diagnosis of modernity. It focuses on a handful of artists—Walter De Maria, Diller and Scofidio, James Turrell, and Andy Goldworthy—to show how they introduce spaces hospitable to mystery and wonder, redemption and revelation, and transcendence and creation. What might be thought of as religious longings, the book argues, are crucial aspects of enchanting secularity when developed through encounters with these works of art. Developing a model of religion that might be significant to secular culture, it shows how this model can be employed to deepen interpretation of the art we usually view as representing secular modernity.
Douglas Kahn
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780520257801
- eISBN:
- 9780520956834
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257801.003.0020
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
The Australian artist Joyce Hinterding and her use of electromagnetism, natural radio, antennas, and the electrical conductivity of graphite are discussed through four works: Electrical Storms, ...
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The Australian artist Joyce Hinterding and her use of electromagnetism, natural radio, antennas, and the electrical conductivity of graphite are discussed through four works: Electrical Storms, Aeriology, The Oscillators, and Large Ulam VLF Loop, with attention to the development during an arts residency in New York City and visit to Walter De Maria’s The Lightning Field. “Drawing energy” refers to the electrical properties of graphite to draw circuits and antennas, carrying on themes found in inscriptive and transmissional media: light in photography as a “pencil of nature” and thus of carbon in transducers. Shorter discussions of the artists and musicians Shintaro Miyazaki, Peter Blamey, Christina Kubisch, John Bischoff, and Tom Zahuranec and their approach to electromagnetic energies are included.Less
The Australian artist Joyce Hinterding and her use of electromagnetism, natural radio, antennas, and the electrical conductivity of graphite are discussed through four works: Electrical Storms, Aeriology, The Oscillators, and Large Ulam VLF Loop, with attention to the development during an arts residency in New York City and visit to Walter De Maria’s The Lightning Field. “Drawing energy” refers to the electrical properties of graphite to draw circuits and antennas, carrying on themes found in inscriptive and transmissional media: light in photography as a “pencil of nature” and thus of carbon in transducers. Shorter discussions of the artists and musicians Shintaro Miyazaki, Peter Blamey, Christina Kubisch, John Bischoff, and Tom Zahuranec and their approach to electromagnetic energies are included.