Petr Rezek, “Phenomenology of Pop Art,” translated from Czech by Eva Spišiaková, originally published as “Fenomenologie pop-artu,” in Tělo, věc a skutečnost v současném umění (1982), 11–28

Abstract

The original context of Petr Rezek’s essay is his series of clandestine or semi-clandestine lectures on philosophy of art held in 1976–1981, after his graduation in philosophy, psychology, and aesthetics. In these lectures on American Pop art, Conceptual art, and Minimalism, subsequently published in samizdat and also by the semi-legal publisher Jazzpetit, Rezek bases his argument on recent phenomenologically-minded criticism and inquiring into the role of myth, tradition, and Europe in contemporary art. Pop art is a turn into this direction because it allows itself to be fascinated by the presence of things that Europe’s humanistic ideals consider lowly, base. Biemel’s primary hypothesis is that Pop art shows us the world of our lives, the natural world. According to Biemel, it is a critical turn against the natural world, with the goal to bring about a reflection. Pop art only seems to be repeating Husserl’s studies of the natural world and Heidegger’s analysis from Sein und Zeit.