080068 PS "Ornament and...". On the Edge of Aesthetic Theories and Practices (2012W)

It may well be that ornament owes its significance in such diversely oriented aesthetic discussions at the beginning of modernity up until today to its precarious status: because it was always seen as a supplement, as a parergon that was subordinated both aesthetically and semantically to the actual work, it was easy to detach it from that work, all the more since it generally was found at the edges: as a decorative border, a picture frame or a seam on an article of clothing. But as an articulation of the border ornament not only constitutes the unity of an artwork, it might as well act as an intermediate between: the inside and the outside, words and images, figuration and abstraction, orient and occident, the here and now and the beyond. These thoughts are the point of departure of a seminar that will endeavor to think about ornament not only in terms of its aesthetic function in the theory and practice of modernism, but also take a broader look at its role as a theoretical token, through which historical and cultural differences and interferences can be explored.