The Meaning of Human Relations in Existential Philosophy and Its Reflection in Contemporary Art

Abstract

The features of human intercourse in contemporary consumerist society are at the centre of philosophical thought on personal existence; therefore, the first part of this article deals with the concepts of human relations in most distinctive existentialisms, i.e., Jacques Maritain’s Christian existentialism, Karl Jaspers and Albert Camus’s laic philosophies. The philosophical thought on alienation, consumerist attitude to others and even oneself is reflected in a lot of contemporary art movements as well. The creation of art is reconsidered as thematization of a lack of human inward and intimate touch, as relationist activity, as an involvement of publics into the communication and joint search for new existential experiences, for changes in our understanding of ourselves and of the world around us (Participatory art, some works of Transgressive art and Transhumanist art). There are art movements especially commissioned to reinstate of confidence, mobilize of coherence in transforming crisis. The engagement in community art practices helps a person to break the continuity of the flow of suspiciousness, hostility, and despair as well as to regain awareness in the meaningfulness of being together.