“进步”与“终结”:向死而生的艺术及其在今天的命运

Progress Vs.End:The Fate of Art as Being towards Death

艺术的"进步"是一个古老的话题,面对当代艺术的挑战,它又成了一个新问题。我们曾经在"技术"和"视觉的征服"意义上谈论进步。现代主义艺术的出现,使这种谈论方式变得过时,从而出现各种以表现论和符号论为基础的艺术理论。然而,现代主义理论在面临一些具体作品时,又遭遇了新的困境。分析美学则通过对艺术的新定义的寻求来克服这些解释的困难。如果说,现代主义艺术理论,是众多现代美学家借助康德体系而对艺术所作的解释努力的话,那么,丹托等人则借助黑格尔的"进化"思想,发展出了"艺术终结"的观念,并以此既克服康德的主体性,也克服分析美学的间接性。"艺术终结"实际上是一个夸大其辞的说法,其中有学术策略的成分,但也有真实的内容。在今天,我们可以通过对"艺术终结"观念的批判,将艺术的未来放到社会、时代、文明的命运,以及艺术家在艺术生产中的地位等角度来作深入的思考。

This is an article on the possibilities of art history in which the terms＂end＂and ＂progress＂ were discussed in the context of contemporary art. The author first gives a careful analysis of Arthur Danto＇s notion the ＂end of art＂, and comments it in the context of theoretic disputes over contemporary art, showing its merits and defects. The article also traces Danto＇s idea to Hegal and Marx, trying to find the origin of this line of thought. In the end, the article returns to the topic of ＂progress＂ by arguing that, the only way to overcome ＂end＂ is go back to practice and beyond the stands of ＂onlookers＂ and ＂merchants＂.