No. 19 (2019): Issue No. 19, September 2019 - Main Topic: Contemporary Aesthetics of Visual Arts
In choosing the aesthetics of visual arts as the main topic of AM Journal of Art and Media Studies No. 19, we were inspired by the 21st International Congress of Aesthetics that was held in Belgrade, in organization of the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Architecture, the Society for Aesthetics of Architecture and Visual Arts Serbia and the International Association for Aesthetics. The general congress topic – “Possible Worlds of Contemporary Aesthetics: Aesthetics Between History, Geography and Media” – implies a question of how contemporary aesthetics deals with the visual aspects of actuality? In finding the answers to this question we presuppose the thesis that there are not only many possible worlds of contemporary aesthetics, but also the many possible worlds of contemporary visual arts. Because of that, every possible case of visual arts aesthetics appears as an individual theoretical text that needs to solve problems of the relationship and conflicts between the distribution of sensible, visual arts, visual culture and many other aspects of the contemporary worlds.
Within the contexts of the late neoliberal capitalism and the manifestations of nationalism, postcolonialism and globalism, the aesthetics of visual arts today deals with contemporary visual art practices that tend to cope with different social problems (feminist, activist, political, ecological, participatory, appropriative practices). At the same time, aesthetics today mainly theoretically intersects with the art practices that are persistent in crossing the traditional artistic media boundaries. Thus, the contemporary theoretical reflection about visual arts is defined by the self-request to permanently re-define itself in regard to its research objects, theoretical approaches, methodologies and research issues taking into account morphological and ontological plurality as well as the plurality of specific social goals of artistic practices. In the light of all above mentioned, this AM Journal issue should be regarded as a small sample within many possible solutions to theoretically deal with the visual aspects of contemporary worlds and to problematize the actuality through visual arts.
Sanela Nikolić
On the cover: Susan Bee, Votes for Women, 2018, 30” x 40”, oil, enamel, sand on linen.
