Lukas Treiber

PhD Candidate

Department of Aesthetics and Philosophy of Culture

treiber.lukaswebde

 

Dissertation project

Based on the criticism that discursive, i.e. conceptual and fact-oriented language in democratic public spheres cannot fulfil the normative demand for inclusivity and participation of all those involved in the deliberative process due to its rhetorical over-forming, I am investigating the significance of aesthetic forms of expression in the sphere of the political public sphere in my doctoral project ‘On the Language of Art - Aesthetic Openness and the Political Public Sphere’. 

The guiding hypothesis here is that the languages of art, with their ambiguity, openness of interpretation and contradictory nature, represent complementary perspectives that can supplement discursive language.

A comprehensive theoretical approach to the mode of communication of art and artworks is based on a detailed reconstruction of Walter Benjamin's considerations (Denkbild, Dialektisches Bild) and Umberto Eco's (Offene Kunstwerke), taking into account contemporary reception and critical objections.

In detailed individual analyses of Hate Radio (‘Genocide in Rwanda’), artworks from Guantanámo (‘Ode to the Sea’) and the artistic practice of ‘Black Lives Matter’, I ultimately pursue the goal of working out how artistic forms of expression contribute to a reflexive constitution of the political public sphere. In doing so, I am concerned with the question of how repressed groups and perspectives can achieve visibility and recognition in the political public sphere through artistic/aesthetic practices.

Publications (Selection)