The Slovak Journal of Aesthetics
Kitsch as Experience of the World
Abstract
The term ‘kitsch’, widely laden with negative connotations, has often been used to designate worthless art, synonymous with artistic failure. However, there is something in kitsch that, beyond its apparent poor quality, distinguishes it from other art forms as something novel, peculiar, and even profoundly interesting. Kitsch art generates an irresistible force of attraction towards its spectators that greatly captures attention. This allure belongs to a rarefied nature that brings to light the pleasures and delight of purely aesthetic appeal. Its apparent lack of value is thus mitigated by its promotion of a radically relativistic attitude that establishes a conciliatory balance between attractiveness and horridness. It is here that all its power to shape our experience of the world resides.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDF (English)References
Benjamin, W. (2008). ‘Dream Kitsch. Gloss on surrealism’, in Jennings, M. W., Doherty, B. And Levin, T. Y. (eds.) The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media. Walter Benjamin. Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Hardvard University Press, pp. 236- 239.
Broch, H. (2011). ‘La maldad del Kitsch’, in Laindon, P. (sel.) El Kitsch. Fragment of ‘Das Böse im Wertesystem der Kunst’ translated to spanish by F. Serra Cantarell. Madrid, Spain: Casimiro, pp. 31-38.
Calinescu, M. (2011). ‘El hombre-kitsch, el artista-kitsch’, in Laindon, P. (sel.) El Kitsch. Translated to spanish by P. Laindon. Madrid, Spain: Casimiro, pp. 63-68.
Calinescu, M. (1987). Five faces of Modernity. United States of America: Duke University Press.
Eco, U. (2001). Apocalípticos e integrados. Barcelona, Spain: Editorial Lumen.
Elias, N. (2011). ‘El estilo Kitsch y su época’, in Laindon, P. (sel.) El Kitsch. Translated to spanish by P. Laindon. Madrid, Spain: Casimiro, pp. 39-48.
Flores-Figueroa, J. J. & Balderrama-Armendáriz , C. O. (2018). La tipología del kitsch. La estética del mal gusto. Mexico: Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez.
Giesz, L. (1973). Fenomenología del kitsch. Barcelona, Spain: Tusquets.
Greenberg, C. (1989). Art and Culture. Critical essays. Boston, United States of America: Beacon Press.
Illing, F. (2006). Kitsch, Kommerz und Kult. Soziologie des schlechten Geschmacks. Konstanz: UVK VerlaggesellschaftmbH.
Kulka, T. (2011). ‘El Kitsch’, in Laindon, P. (sel.) El Kitsch. Translated to spanish by P. Laindon. Madrid, Spain: Casimiro, pp. 9-26.
Lucero, G. & Abadi, F. (2017). ’Diez tesis sobre el kitsch’, Instantes y Azares. Escrituras nietzscheanas, 19-20, pp. 19-29.
Mandoky, K. (1994). Introducción a la estética de lo cotidiano. Mexico: Grijalbo.
McBride, P. C. (2005). ‘The Value of Kitsch. Hermann Broch and Robert Musil on Art and Morality’, Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature, 29(2), pp. 282-301. http://dx.doi.org/10.4148/2334-4415.1604.
McHale, J. (1990). ‘Il Partenone plastico’, in G. Dorfles (ed.), Il Kitsch. Antologia del cattivo gusto. Milano: Mazzotta, p. 111.
Mecacci, A. (2018). ‘Kitsch y neokitsch’, Boletín de Estética, 44, pp. 7-32.
Miller, J. A. (2010). Extimidad. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Editorial Paidós.
Moles, A. (2011). ‘Principios y virtudes del Kitsch’, in Laindon, P. (sel.) El Kitsch. Translated to spanish by Josefina Ludmer. Madrid, Spain: Casimiro, pp. 49-62.
Moles, A. (1990). El Kitsch. El arte de la felicidad. Translated to spanish by J. Ludmer. Barcelona: Ediciones Paidós.
Olalquiaga, C. (2007). El reino artificial. Sobre la experiencia kitsch. Barcelona, Spain: Gustavo Gili.
Sachs, H. (1932), ‘Kitsch’, Psychoanalytische Bewegung, 4, pp. 455-461.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14762496
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
ESPES. The Slovak Journal of Aesthetics (ISSN 1339-1119) is published biannually by University of Presov, Slovakia and the Society for Aesthetics in Slovakia. Registration number of the journal in the Register of Periodical Publications of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic: EV173/23/EPP.
This journal is open access and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.