GMU:Sustainable Aesthetics/Cosmo Niklas Schüppel/A few thoughts on the terms “aesthetics” and “sustainability…

A few thoughts on the terms “aesthetics” and “sustainability”…

If you go by the definition of aesthetics by Erika Fischer-Lichte, an aesthetic experience is not anymore defined by the beauty of the perceived. In her understanding an aesthetic experience is the conscious perception on an object, while simultaneously experiencing yourself - it is you experiencing that you are experiencing - this is also what defines a breathtaking moment. Aesthetic moments are - in her philosophy, orienting herself strongly on the ancient greek origins of the term “aesthetic”- fundamentally connected to self-aware perception and so to the entangling of subject-object-relationships.

Concerning the term “sustainable” it is important for me to stress not only the environmental factor of sustainability, but the principle of self-sustainability itself - wich can be seen as the most complete form of a sustaining system. Concerning a work this could mean, that it would not dependent on outer influence or stimuli. It would sustain itself for ever. Its decay would be its source of energy - materialistic and conceptually. Systems that build upon these principles are e.g.: Masanobu Fukuoka’s Natural-“do nothing”-Farming-Method, or these terrestrial micro-ecosystems in sealed glas vessels. But although there are many attempts to build a system that complete sustains itself - it is nearly impossible.