Aesthetic Form Research Articles

NEW JOURNALISM AND TRUMAN CAPOTE’S IN COLD BLOOD

New Journalism was a response to the new competitive situation brought about by the new forms of narration in the postwar era introduced by the mass media besides being the successor of a long-term American tradition in literature. Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood (1966) is often considered to be a magnum opus of New Journalism, which attracted considerable attention in terms of the aesthetic and theoretical questions it raised. This article mainly scrutinizes the possibilities of fictionalizing the reality and of the capability of the author to offer a new form of writing reconciling the mass-mediated forms of narration and aesthetics of conventional fiction with references to the Capote’s efforts to transform literary aesthetics.

Food porn 2.0? Definitions, challenges, and potentials of an elusive concept

ABSTRACT Food porn emerged in the 1970s as an academic concept and has since become integrated into everyday social media use. The aim of this article is to analyse the concept of food porn through a critical discussion of the existing literature in cultural and media studies focusing on the definitions of food porn, its uses as an analytical and theoretical lens to explore food aesthetics, and its current relevance. The authors show that the definitions and interpretations vary a great deal and argue that three overarching themes dominate the literature: 1) formal aesthetics; 2) gender, body, and sexuality; 3) excess and transgression. Finally, it is argued that future uses of the concept should either focus on a) an empirically founded approach focusing on the actual use of the concept; or b) a theoretically founded approach with a formal typology focusing on hierarchies and power dynamics.

Formal Aesthetics of Dragon Patterns in Ming Dynasty Clothing

Formal Aesthetics of Dragon Patterns in Ming Dynasty Clothing

Changescapes

Some aesthetic forms ‘dramatise’ change. I call them ‘changescapes’. They help us know mutability by immersing us in it, by letting us be with it. Change is their theme and it is often their matter too, for they are usually of fragile and ephemeral stuff that reacts to altering conditions in the larger world. Transformations happen at their boundaries, at the limits between the inside and the outside of their systems, and then the symptoms of change become manifest in them, palpably available for our contemplation. These aesthetic forms have become plenteous recently because we are ready now to understand them and because we need now to understand mutability with them. Versions of these forms have been in human cultures for ages. For example, in the Chinese shopping district of almost every sizable city in the world, you’ll find a wonderful shop dedicated to ‘live arts’, where you can buy your aquarium, horticultural and water-fountain supplies. But there’s something about the present historical moment that’s calling changescapes forth in greater numbers and greater variety. Assaying these developments, this essay will finish in aesthetics and linguistics. But it starts with a story.

HISTORICAL EVOLUTION AND INNOVATIVE DESIGN OF QIANG COSTUMES

Рurpose. This paper analyzes the evolution process and cultural connotation of Qiang costume form, discusses the application form of Qiang costume elements in modern clothing design, and provides a theoretical basis for the innovative design of national costumes. Methodology. The field research method, literature analysis method, and case study method are used to analyze the evolution process, cultural connotation, and design application of Qiang costumes. Results. By studying the development process and style design changes of the Qiang costumes, it is concluded that its unique cultural connotation and design characteristics are closely related to the social characteristics, production methods and religious beliefs of the Qiang people. It is the materialized expression of the Qiang people's world outlook and national psychology. It reveals the reasons for the change of the Qiang costume modelling and proposes the method of using ethnic elements in modern costume design. Scientific novelty. This paper studies the development process of Qiang costume shape from the perspective of design, history, ethnology and anthropology, and puts forward that Qiang costume is the materialized expression form of local people 's world outlook, values and aesthetics, and clarifies that the change of Qiang costume shape is influenced by religious culture and Han-Tibetan culture. Suggestions are made in the form of integration of national costume elements with modern clothing design. Practical significance. The Qiang costume has been fused with other ethnic cultures in the course of historical changes, which is both inherited and changed, which is very inspiring to modern costume design. Digging deeper into the cultural connotation and design language of Qiang costume, so that it can innovate the design method and explore the design carrier while inheriting the national culture, so as to provide reference for the creation of a costume design that can embody both the traditional Chinese culture and the sense of the times.

Revealing the synergy between formal aesthetics and product semantics: Exploring the impact of visual form on product perception

This study investigates the relationships between visual form attributes (height, shape, and curvature) and product perception, particularly exploring the dynamic interplay between formal aesthetics and product semantics. The challenge of effectively incorporating formal aesthetic characteristics into the design process is addressed by adopting Gestalt theory as a guiding framework. Drawing on the Gestalt principle of Prägnanz, this research investigates the role of primary visual attributes of form on perceived Complexity, Symmetry, Harmony, and Regularity of kettle images. A central aspect of this investigation is the recognition of a product's form, which possesses the potential to influence the symbolism associated with the product's personality traits attributed by users. To this end, the study aims to acquire deeper insights into the perception of familiarity, prototypicality, beauty, and attractiveness to comprehensively analyze the overall product perception while unravelling the underlying significance of emotional responses through the product's personality. The goal of this study is to deconstruct the form attributes exhibited by eight kettles of various designs. By doing so, we seek to understand how these form attributes synergistically contribute to creating a unified perceptual whole to convey a specific character or identity. The findings offer insights into the influence of form on a product's aesthetic perception and perceived personality and how form contributes to a product's symbolic meaning. By grasping the intricacies of product perception, designers can create products that cater to the diverse needs of different user groups, ultimately leading to increased market acceptance and commercial success.

Civil Service Rules: (Post)Colonial Memoir and the Raj Revival, 1970–1985

In the 1970s, the India Office Archive within the British Library began inviting the last generation of the Indian Civil Service and Indian Political Service to commit their experiences to written record. Running until the mid-1980s and eventually producing 135 manuscript memoirs, this archive offers a unique insight into the end of the British Empire, as seen a generation hence. This article argues that these memoirs, generated in a time of crisis and fracture within British national identity, are not only vital historical sources but are a significant body of creative work within the context of acute cultural production of narratives of Empire known as the ‘Raj Revival’. Moreover, in their acknowledgement, inclusion and direct dialogue with colonial fictions from Kipling to Forster, as well as their own aesthetic form, these memoirs are part of the long tendency towards the blurring of the boundaries between fiction and life writing within the historical publishing cultures of British India.

当代景德镇刻划花技艺的发展研究

This article analyzes the development context, technological changes, and aesthetic forms of contemporary Jingdezhen carved flowers, and explores their current development status. The interactive relationship formed between technology and aesthetics reflects the integration of other fields with ceramic art, as well as the inheritance and innovative forms of carved flowers. Through comparative analysis of technology and art, the article proposes an innovative path for carved flowers with aesthetics and materials as the core and inheritance and introspection as the soul.

Jugong as Traditional Fishermen's Formal Aesthetics in Karangtalun Village, Cilacap

Jugong as Traditional Fishermen's Formal Aesthetics in Karangtalun Village, Cilacap

Co-creating Sustainability Science Communication Through Aesthetic Formats: This is What a Transdisciplinary Moment Looks Like

Sustainability science calls for new methodologies and collaborations that go beyond disciplinary boundaries. This points to a new role for sustainability science communication. Here, we explore how science communication can employ aesthetic formats (e.g., storytelling, performance, artistic installations) to promote transdisciplinary collaborations. We conducted a series of experiments in a master-level science communication course at the University of Copenhagen, engaging students, practitioners and researchers in experimental collaborations and qualitative data collection. Through thematic analysis of classroom observations and interviews, five elements of transdisciplinarity emerged: Acknowledgement of disciplinary identities, negotiation of diverse vocabularies, disruption of hierarchical structures, experience of novel insights and evident learning processes among participants. These moments challenged direct observation but became discernible through post hoc analysis. We suggest they constitute a sequence that together describes a transdisciplinary moment. We thus conclude that the aesthetic formats we employed were instrumental in disrupting conventional boundaries and enhancing collaboration across disciplines. However, we also acknowledge the complexities of achieving transdisciplinary moments and emphasize the importance of reflective practice.

The aesthetics and imaginaries of Uyghur heritage, Chinese Tourism, and the Xinjiang dance craze

ABSTRACT In parks and town squares across China in 2023, amateur dance enthusiasts engaged in a nationwide ‘Xinjiang dance’ craze, a phenomenon reflected and amplified on social media. For outside observers this might seem a bizarre development following the Chinese media discourses of terrorism, and the intense securitisation of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which so recently preceded it, but it aligned neatly with new initiatives across Chinese government, media and heritage to promote the region’s burgeoning tourism industry, to fundamentally shift perceptions of the region in the national imagination, and to counter revelations of mass incarceration and cultural erasure in international media. This article highlights the ways that Uyghur heritage, music and dance have been harnessed in government projects to remodel the region’s history and situate its peoples more firmly within the sphere of the Chinese nation, thinking through the ways in which the aesthetic formations and imaginaries of Uyghur heritage articulate the links between tourism and territory, colonialism and desire.

The Place and Importance of the Preserved Tablet (Levh-i-Mahfuz) in Terms of the Contribution of the Qur'an to the Arabic Language and the Conversion of Sharia Concepts into Verse

This article examines the contributions of the Quran to the Arabic language and its role in transforming Sharia concepts into poetic form. Additionally, it discusses the place and significance of the Preserved Tablet (Levh-i Mahfûz) in Islamic tradition. The focal points of this study include how the Quran enriched the richness and depth of the Arabic language, how Sharia concepts were transformed into aesthetic forms, and the contributions of the Preserved Tablet to the belief system. By discussing how the Quran reflects the organic relationship between language and religion, and how the Preserved Tablet, an important element in Islamic thought, should be understood, this article aims to provide a broader understanding of these topics.

The Enjoyment of Being Had: The Aesthetics of Masquerade in The Confidence-Man

Impostors, confidence artists, and artful deceivers seem to have achieved a strange kind of popularity and even prestige in our contemporary political landscape, for reasons that remain elusive, especially given how harmful and socially unwanted such behaviors ostensibly are. Herman Melville’s 1857 novel, The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade, helps us shift our perspective on this seemingly irrational phenomenon because it points out how being susceptible to dupery is linked to the enjoyment of fiction itself. This insight also highlights the importance of epistemological failure in the recent “return to aesthetics” in literary studies, where the positive dimension of unconsciously “willing one’s dupery” directly links aesthetic form to politics. The logic that connects aesthetics to unconscious enjoyment is then elaborated in the work of psychoanalytic thinkers such as Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, Helene Deutsch and others to raise particular questions about how and why the enjoyment of being duped has been associated with feminine sexuality. Reading Melville’s novel while considering psychoanalytic concepts such as the “as if” personality, imposture, and interpassivity illuminates how confidence games play upon the ruses of sexuality, which have profound implications for why the public remains in thrall to the workings of known deceivers.

Objective form: the brief story of a critical struggle

Amidst debates in the sixties regarding late modernisation in peripheral countries, Roberto Schwarz came to define objective form (1991) as a construct that provides the rhythmic and invisible links between the social-historical domain and the aesthetic. It consists, said Schwarz, of a form comprising ‘a practical and historical substance’ acting also as the ‘social core of the art form’ (1997). By connecting the preexistent social experience to the aesthetically built form, the objective form works as a social contract legitimating the aesthetic form. Socially and historically ordered by a collective and impersonal subject, such construct distinguishes itself from postmodern eclecticism disconnected from the historical process. The objective form offers critical intelligibility before the historical-social matter, but only if taken as a form that is intrinsic to the aesthetic sphere. Thus, the problem of the aesthetic condensation of the social rhythms is therefore concretely and ceaselessly reoccurring—in production and reception—whenever necessary to retrace the reciprocal links between social-historical and artistic forms. Accordingly, the exercise of aesthetic intuition and the critical act in the infighting with the art materials are required to synthesise the structures of the social-historical matter—otherwise inapprehensible in the intrinsic connections to the perception and reflexion about the historical objectivity and dynamics. There are things that only in art emerge and make it an indispensable tool for dialectical historical reflexion. In this sense, this paper will revisit some critical responses that Brazilian art (Antonio Dias, Amilcar de Castro, Mendes da Rocha) gave to the civil-military coup of 1964 and to the late accelerated economic modernisation that ensued. And finally, it will also revisit the contemporary installation Big Wheel (2019, Carmela Gross)—a negative architectural construct that totalised Brazil’s tragic moment with rare clarity and epic poignancy.

Application of Floral Elements in Fabric Remanufacturing

To explore innovative applications of floral elements in modern fashion design, this study addresses the challenge of traditional flat printing patterns being the predominant form of incorporating floral elements into clothing design. Building upon the fundamental concepts and characteristics of floral elements, the paper analyzes the transformation of floral elements from figurative to abstract perspectives. It delves into the expressive modes of floral elements in fabric remanufacturing and explores various application forms. Through a detailed analysis of specific cases, the study summarizes that abstract floral elements predominantly manifest as form abstraction and texture abstraction in fabric remanufacturing. Additionally, it presents the principles of aesthetic forms for floral elements to provide valuable references for the utilization of floral elements in clothing design.

Art Gallery Education Between Translation and Dialogism: Artwork, Learning and Pedagogy

ABSTRACT Drawing on insights drawn from multidisciplinary studies of the arts and translation studies, this article aims to conceptualize the work of translation within art gallery education. It unpacks and characterizes a mode of translation that is unique and necessary for an engaging art gallery education, taking multiple and subtle forms, operating on different facets of the conception and delivery of art gallery education activities. This includes a resourceful way of translating different values that could pull art gallery education in different directions, i.e. making different values translatable into one another, including the aesthetic value of the artwork, the value of learning and education for diverse and multiple users and participants, as well as the values that participants bring into an art gallery education. An indispensable component of art gallery education still consists of bringing into play an element of propositional knowledge about art, not as an end in itself based on the traditional parameters of the cultivation of taste and appreciation, but to develop experimental and creative dialogical forms of engagement and relational aesthetics. The ultimate aim is to use the arts as a platform for a pedagogic translation driven by the principles of dialogism and a collaborative ethos.

Experiencing Literary Audiobooks: A Framework for Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of the Auditory Reception of Literature

Abstract While the act of listening to narratives has deep historical roots, it has gained renewed prominence in the contemporary literary landscape through the rise of audiobooks. Despite their resurgence, research on literary audiobooks, particularly within the realm of literary studies, remains notably limited. The audiobook has struggled to gain acceptance among the humanities as a legitimate aesthetic form, which can be attributed to the fact that it is often compared to the printed book as the leading medium for experiencing literature. By transforming a written text through the performativity of the voice into a spoken, analog, or digitally recorded, repeatable audio text, it becomes a completely different object of research that must be analyzed with different premises and approaches than the underlying written literary work. Nevertheless, literary analysis has predominantly focused on the visual and cognitive aspects of reading, thereby overlooking the auditory dimension. Especially in literary theory, there is a lack of both differentiated, proven descriptive criteria that take into account the specific auditory signification processes, including all the relevant paralinguistic features, and a theoretical foundation. This article aims to address this gap by developing a comprehensive framework for investigating the auditory reception of literature that seeks to elucidate the transition from reading to listening and its profound implications for the literary experience. By delving into the intricacies of auditory reception, literary theory can gain deeper insight into the cognitive and emotional facets of literary experiences, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of how individuals engage with literary works. Reviewing the still fragmented and nascent state of audiobook research, which barely focuses on the aspect of reception, the proposed framework explores five key dimensions: text, medium, listeners, situations and practices, and the resulting effects of auditory engagement with literature. Through a meticulous examination of these multifaceted factors, this article endeavors to provide a holistic understanding of the auditory reception of literary texts. Moreover, this avenue of research underscores the dynamic nature of literature, providing a richer perspective on the interplay between text, medium, recipients, situational context, and practices, thereby enriching the tapestry of literary theory. For example, a reexamination and customization of narratological categories is crucial, particularly concerning the incorporation of the physical voice, which is now actually present and independent of Genette’s category ›voice‹. Similarly, the transition into the auditory medium necessitates a reevaluation of situational context and its associated practices. This reassessment is driven by the temporal co-occurrence of cognitive processes and physical activities, facilitated by the liberation of hands and eyes from their prior engagement with printed books. This contribution does not solely aim to establish a theoretical foundation for the research field and identify essential factors related to literary listening; instead, the framework is substantiated with empirical evidence drawn from diverse academic disciplines. This synthesis of empirical data and theory sheds light on audiobooks, offering an approach that transcends conventional research paradigms. Moreover, it underscores the need for interdisciplinary collaboration in the investigation of audiobooks. Ultimately, the integrative framework presented here serves as a foundation for further research, offering a nuanced and comprehensive approach and terminology for exploring the evolving landscape of listening to literature.

PEMBARUAN UBRUG SENTRA AGATA MELALUI KOLABORASI: TELAAH BENTUK ESTETIS THE “UBRUG” RENEWAL OF SENTRA AGATA THROUGH C

The current study aims at (1) describing any collaborated arts elements in the ubrug renewal carried out by arts extracurricular activities of Sentra Agata in SMAN 2 Pandeglang Banten, and (2) analysing the aesthetic form of "ubrug” renewal using the principles of unity, theme, thematic variations, balance, evolution, and hierarchy. The techniques of analysis include doing ubrug-related library research, interviewing ubrug doers and arts academics, and applying aesthetic form theory to analyze the seen performances. The findings of this study demonstrate that renewals are carried out through “ubrug” collaboration with the arts of puppetry that is present as a source of stories, the narration of “murwa” puppet style in the opening scene, the figure of Semar in the form of “golek” puppets, and the arts of “bedug” in the composition of music for “tatalu” and “lalaguan”, the action of “ngadu bedug”, and “bedug rampak” at the end of the performances. The “ubrug” renewal through collaboration, correspondingly, justifies all principles of aesthetic form characteristic so that the blend of performance could be produced.

1965. Рем Колхас в Советском Союзе

The article examines the formative interrelations between the phenomenology of impressions and the formation of a projective approach to architecture based on the fact of the journey of the Dutch architect R. Koolhaas to the Soviet Union (1965). The conducted research involves a textual analysis of the facts in the architect’s biography, which directionally reveals the specifics of the influence of the “phenomenology of impressions”. The article clarifies the significance of the architect’s visit to the USSR, and establishes the formation features of a design approach to architecture. For the Dutch architect, the avant-garde architecture of the Soviet Russia and, in particular, constructivism, represented the basis and the vector of influences that determined the formation of the professional value orientations reflected in the specific concept of the purified formal aesthetics of architecture. The author of the article determines the factors in the formation of R. Koolhaas’ approach related to the experience of conceptual projects of V. Tatlin, K. Malevich, M. Ginzburg, and I. Leonidov. The cited sources (interviews, statements, and lectures) document the pragmatics of the experience of the Soviet constructivist architecture in the context of modern conceptual reality of the deconstruction movement and global architecture. Conclusions are drawn about the relationship between the phenomenon of the Soviet avant-garde architecture (genetic continuity, reception of ideas) and the modern architecture of the deconstruction movement.

Revisiting the Realism/Modernism Debate: Marxist Thought and the Ethics of Representation

In Utopian Generations: The Political Horizon of Twentieth-Century Literature (2005), Nicholas Brown remarks on the difference between realism and modernism as one that expresses a conflict between “a responsibility to historical truth” and “a fidelity to the formal energies released by the emergence of a form of subjectivity liberated (or alienated) from historical consciousness” (182). This raises several issues that might be useful for us to develop since, despite the emergence of diverse critical lines of thought since the development of postwar critical theory, realism and modernism have continued to affect the intricately interconnected modes of philosophical and political attitudes towards the relation between aesthetics and politics. Marxist thinkers, Georg Lukács, Theodor Adorno, and Fredric Jameson, among others, explored the dichotomy of realism and modernism in terms of the dialectic of form and content. While they shared that there is an essentially inextricable relationship between literature and the underlying contradictions of our society, how they described the aesthetic expression of social contradictions was distinct, leaving the important question unanswered: “what does it mean to be ‘real’?” In this paper, I revisit the realism-modernism debate to explore this fundamental antagonism to see how these thinkers help clarify the following issues: what is realist form, and what are its features? How does realism negotiate the history of aesthetic forms? Are “formal energies,” as Brown puts it, by themselves an attempt to be free of “historical consciousness” or ones that, as form, highlight historical consciousness? And finally, how does realist form make political action possible? These questions also help us see what it means that the aesthetic choices of an older realism have been persistently replicated after modernism in the global periphery.