gratia/grace/grâce (ATOPIA no. 12 - 07/2008)
Grace, this seemingly unredeemable concept, has
recently received renewed attention both in the aesthetical and in the
political field. Located on the intersection between Western religion and
aesthetics, grace is a notion implying resistance to conceptualization. In
fact, its question goes beyond the history of the term "grace" and
its vernacular versions. Castiglione's sprezzatura, Luther's Gnade,
the early modern je-ne-sais-quoi and Schiller's Anmut are all but
metamorphoses of the same attempt to grasp grace in its very evasiveness. The
complexity of grace, one might argue, stems precisely from the blend of the
religious, social, artistic, aesthetic, and political aspects that grace brings
together. ATOPIA 12 offers a
collection of essays on the various and sometimes conflicting facets of grace,
some of which delve into moments of grace's Western tradition, while others
explore the potential relevance of grace as a category in non-Western cultures.
Between the articles openly advocating its rehabilitation and its critical
opponents, grace demonstrates its unbroken attractive force.
Responsible Editors: Fabian Goppelsröder & David Marno Artwork: Sybill Kalff Living sculptures (1990)
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Fashion and Grace. On the Function of Glamour in the Political Theology of Liberalism |
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Written by Johannes Thumfart (Berlin)
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Glamour - Johannes Thumfart provocatively asserts - is the form under which the eschatological notion of grace survives in postmodern liberal economies. Just as grace functions as a powerful equalizing instance in the theological-political oikonomia of salvation, glamour converts social friction into cohesive forces. Through a comparison of Patristic doctrinces on grace and contemporary descriptions of the logics of glam, Thumfahrt argues that glam must be acknowledged at the survival of theological concepts in secularized Liberalism, indicating how rhetorics of freedom rest on a well-working mechanism of working hierarchies. |
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Peindre la grâce à la Renaissance |
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Written by Thomas Golsenne (Paris)
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L'historien de l'art Thomas Golsenne rappelle que si le concept de grâce est souvent ramené à celui de beauté, les deux ne sauraient être confondus. Car tandis que la notion de Beauté entraîne, avec son incarnation dans Vénus, un canon de proportion qui se traduit par une hiérarchie esthétique, les trois Grâces qui dansent autour de Vénus font plutôt signe vers un don circulatoire qui transite entre l'artiste, l'oeuvre et le spectateur. Revenant sur certaines oeuvres bien connues de la Renaissance ainsi que des commentaires contemporains qui y firent écho, Golsenne propose de cerner les moments de cette grâce transitoire. |
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Charis kenosis. Grazia del Vuoto |
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Written by Matteo Veronesi (Bologna)
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In questo suo percorso teologico-poetico, Matteo Veronesi cerca le tracce della faccia oscura della grazia, di una grazia cioè non riassumibile nella pienezza armoniosa, ma che comporta anche sempre la sua controparte di perdita o svuotamento. La duplicità insita in ogni concetto di grazia non sarebbe perciò quella tra teologico ed estetico, indissolubilmente legati in Occidente, ma tra una gratia pensata come candore e pleroma e una gratia concepita come annientamento e kenosis. Il filo di questa charis kenosis, sostiene Veronesi, va da Eschilo e S. Paolo a Dante e i medievali sino a Ungaretti, Pasolini, Luzi e la poetica novecentesca. |
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Le trublion de la grâce : à l’écoute du duende |
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Written by Mathilde Branthomme (Montréal)
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Avec García Lorca, on peut affirmer que le duende est le daïmon de la culture andalouse qui vient hanter dans des moments privilégiés les hommes et les femmes. Parler du duende, c’est reconnaître le paradoxe d’une
notion profondément liée à une culture qui, dans la musique, la danse ou la tauromachie tire des tréfonds de l'âme une noirceur qui vient éclabousser la blancheur de la grâce. Réfléchir sur le duende, c’est penser une notion qui
tire ses racines de la tradition andalouse et qui remet en cause tant
les présupposés de la morale chrétienne que la philosophie moderne
européenne. |
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Subtlety - Grace in Chinese aesthetics |
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Written by Noreen Khawaja (Stanford)
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A famous passage of the Chuang Tzu tells the story of a butcher whose skills are so advanced that simply watching him work supposedly makes one attain enlightenment. What makes the butcher's movements so subtle and attractive? What gives his description of them such rhetorical power? Focusing on the role of the infinitesimal, Noreen Khawaja examines the way in which Chuang tzu's text turns on the presentation and detection of a concept central to Chinese aesthetics: the potency of the imperceptible.
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12-GRATIA 