Contemporary Kitsch: An examination through creative practice

This exegesis examines the theoretical concept of contemporary kitsch within a creative practice that incorporates sculptural and installation art. Kitsch is a distinct aesthetic style. Once designated to the rubbish bin of culture, kitsch was considered to be low class, bad taste cheap fakes and copies (Greenberg, 1961; Adorno & Horkheimer, 1991; Calinescu, 1987; Dorfles, 1969). I argue, however, that this is no longer the case. This research critically examines the way in which contemporary kitsch now plays a vital and positive role in social and individual aesthetic life. Although there are conflicting points of view and distinct variations between recent cultural commentators (Olalquiaga, 1992; Binkley, 2000; Attfield, 2006) on what kitsch is, there is a common sentiment that “the repetitive qualities of kitsch address . . . a general problem of modernity” (Binkley, p. 131). The research aligns the repetitive qualities to what sociologist Anthony Giddens (1991) refers to as “dissembeddedness” (1991) or “the undermining of personal horizons of social and cosmic security” (Binkley, 1991, p.131). The research investigates: how the sensory affect of sentimentality imbued in the kitsch experiences, possessions and material objects people covet and collect, offer a way of the individual moving from disembeddedness to a state of being re-embedded; and locates the ways in which the artist can facilitate the re-embedding experience. Through this lens it is demonstrated that kitsch has become firmly rooted in our “lifeworlds” (Habermas, 1971), as an aesthetic that reveals “how people make sense of the world through artefacts” (Attfield, 2006, p. 201) and everyday objects; that the sensory affect of sentimentality on connections to possessions and material objects that contemporary kitsch offers is shared across cultures and societies

Grantor dc:publisher

Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Stewart, Sally

• Budgietopia
• lotus pond
• lotus flowers
• snow domes
• dream spheres
• visual arts
• Sally Stewart
• artist
• mermaid
• ganesha glory
• sugar britches
• jesus rebotar
• tourist kitsch
• la villa hampster
• art gallery of Western Australia
• PICA
• taste
• sculpture
• installation art
• white monkey holding peach
• little mermaid
• lifeworld and system
• arts practice led research
• authenticity
• performance
• art
• kitsch as art
• Murakami
• Jeff Koons
• experience culture
• Art and Design
• Interactive Arts
• Theatre and Performance Studies

Identifier

https://ro.ecu.edu.au/context/theses/article/2718/filename/4/type/additional/viewcontent/Appendix_1._The_Aquarium.mp4

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ro.ecu.edu.au:theses-2718