Do espiritual na contemporaneidade artística: a arte pública como religião implícita?

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Abstract

With this paper, we intend to analyze and to discuss the change of paradigm spiritual artistic creation publically displayed undertook, after the impact of modernity and the drift of postmodernity. In order to do so, our argument develops the steinerien thesis of the incompatibility between naturalism and spirituality in art, which can be expressed as follows: if spirituality is the prerequisite for all genuine art, and if this prompts a non-naturalistic aesthetics, then the non-naturalist 20th century art should hold a spiritual dimension, if not stand for some instances of sacredness. Based on this premise, our reflection focus the problem of recognizing spirituality in modern and contemporary art, questions the sense of the non-naturalistic character of 20th century art, and deals with Joseph Beuys’ “social sculpture” ideario as a new paradigm of the quest for sacredness by means of artistic intervention, under the concept of “implicit religion”, proposed by Edward Bailey and developed by the Centre for the Study of Implicit Religion and Contemporary Spirituality (CSIRCS). Finally, it’s pertinent to ask: under the new paradigm, will artistic creation be able to pursuit a quest for sacredness outside any religious doctrine? And if so, can Van Gogh’s visionary painting be seen as a modern instance for an acheiropoietos art, as it happened during the Byzantine Empire? How can nowadays be represented the triangle whose bottom rests on man, and whose top rises to the absolute, as Kandinsky put it in “Concerning The Spiritual in Art”?
Original languagePortuguese
Title of host publicationArte pública na era da criatividade digital
Subtitle of host publicationatas do colóquio internacional 2017
EditorsJosé Guilherme Abreu, Laura Castro
Place of PublicationPorto
PublisherUniversidade Católica Editora - Porto
Pages122-148
Number of pages27
Volume1-2
ISBN (Electronic)9789898835383
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2017
EventColóquio Internacional Arte Pública na Era da Criatividade Digital - Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Porto, Portugal
Duration: 27 Apr 201728 Apr 2017

Conference

ConferenceColóquio Internacional Arte Pública na Era da Criatividade Digital
Country/TerritoryPortugal
CityPorto
Period27/04/1728/04/17

Keywords

  • Public art
  • Contemporary art
  • Sacredness
  • Implicit religion

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