Salvation of Beauty
 |
Description
Book Introduction
Today we face a crisis of beauty.
The beauty of 'smoothness' that removes all negativity
When you're frozen and dead, you become a zombie!
Rescuing today's beauty from being reduced to an object of consumption
Sharp advice to regain true beauty
Professor Han Byeong-cheol, who has consistently published books that analyze and address the issues facing our society from a unique perspective, has published his latest work, "Salvation of Beauty" (translated by Lee Jae-young).
This time, we delve into the problems of modern society with the topic of ‘beauty.’
Han Byung-chul says that the 'beauty' pursued in capitalist society has become nothing more than the beauty of 'smoothness' in which all negativity and unfamiliarity are removed and only positivity and self-identity float.
And then we talk about what true beauty we must save.
Just as Germany's most authoritative newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, called Han Byung-chul an "innovator of cultural criticism," in this book he presents an innovative cultural critique that extends from observations of today's standards of beauty to keen insights into the characteristics of neoliberalism.
Moreover, this book arouses curiosity as it is the first art theory by Han Byung-chul to be introduced in Korea.
It goes without saying that Han Byung-chul's unique and attractive writing style, which condenses deep thoughts into short and powerful sentences, shines.
The beauty of 'smoothness' that removes all negativity
When you're frozen and dead, you become a zombie!
Rescuing today's beauty from being reduced to an object of consumption
Sharp advice to regain true beauty
Professor Han Byeong-cheol, who has consistently published books that analyze and address the issues facing our society from a unique perspective, has published his latest work, "Salvation of Beauty" (translated by Lee Jae-young).
This time, we delve into the problems of modern society with the topic of ‘beauty.’
Han Byung-chul says that the 'beauty' pursued in capitalist society has become nothing more than the beauty of 'smoothness' in which all negativity and unfamiliarity are removed and only positivity and self-identity float.
And then we talk about what true beauty we must save.
Just as Germany's most authoritative newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, called Han Byung-chul an "innovator of cultural criticism," in this book he presents an innovative cultural critique that extends from observations of today's standards of beauty to keen insights into the characteristics of neoliberalism.
Moreover, this book arouses curiosity as it is the first art theory by Han Byung-chul to be introduced in Korea.
It goes without saying that Han Byung-chul's unique and attractive writing style, which condenses deep thoughts into short and powerful sentences, shines.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
lubricity
smooth body
The aesthetics of smoothness
Digital beauty
The aesthetics of concealment
The aesthetics of wounds
The aesthetics of disaster
Ideal of beauty
Beauty as Truth
The politics of beauty
Pornographic play
Stay in beauty
Beauty as Reminiscence
Production in Beauty
Americas
Translator's Note
smooth body
The aesthetics of smoothness
Digital beauty
The aesthetics of concealment
The aesthetics of wounds
The aesthetics of disaster
Ideal of beauty
Beauty as Truth
The politics of beauty
Pornographic play
Stay in beauty
Beauty as Reminiscence
Production in Beauty
Americas
Translator's Note
Into the book
Standing in front of smooth sculptures, one develops a “tactile compulsion” to touch them, and even a desire to lick them.
His art lacks the negativity that keeps one at a distance.
Only the positivity of smoothness evokes tactile compulsion.
This positivity leads the observer to distance himself, to touch.
However, aesthetic judgment requires contemplative distance.
The art of smoothness eliminates this distance.
---From "Smoothness"
To cover up the inner emptiness, the subject of the selfie tries in vain to produce himself.
A selfie is an empty form of self.
Selfies reproduce emptiness.
It's not narcissistic self-love or vanity, but an inner emptiness that breeds selfie addiction.
There is no stable narcissistic self here that loves itself.
Rather, what we can see here is negative narcissism.
---From "Smooth Body"
Neither beauty nor the sublime are the other of the subject.
Conversely, they are absorbed into the subject's inner self.
Only when a space outside of narcissistic subjectivity is allowed can other beauty, and even the beauty of the Other, be secured again.
It is not very helpful to view the entire beauty as a sprout of consumer culture and to try to oppose the sublime to beauty in a postmodern way.
Beauty and the sublime have the same source.
Therefore, instead of opposing the sublime to the beautiful, what we need to do is to return the non-internalizable, non-subjective sublime to the beautiful, and to abolish the separation between the beautiful and the sublime.
---From "The Aesthetics of Smoothness"
Digital beauty banishes all negativity of non-identity.
And it only allows for differences that can be consumed and used.
Non-identity is replaced by variety.
The digitalized world is, so to speak, a world that humans have covered with their retinas.
The world, surrounded by the curtains laid out by humans, leads to permanent self-reflection.
The tighter the curtain becomes, the more thoroughly the world is cut off from others and from the outside world.
---From "Digital Me"
Today's positive society increasingly reduces the negativity of wounds.
This is also true with regard to love.
Any big gambles that could result in injury are avoided.
The energy of sexual impulses is diversified, just as in the case of capital investments, to avoid bankruptcy.
Perception also increasingly avoids negativity.
Likes rule perception.
[… … ] If you want to avoid getting hurt, you can’t look at it any other way.
Seeing presupposes the possibility of being hurt.
Otherwise, the same thing will just happen again and again.
---From "The Aesthetics of Wounds"
He who hates destruction must also hate life.
Only the dead are a metaphor for the living without being distorted.
Today's rule of beauty, which absolutizes health and smoothness, is precisely what abolishes beauty.
And today, the simple, healthy life that has taken on the appearance of hysterical survival is dead, it turns into a zombie.
So we are too dead to live today, and too alive to die.
---From "The Aesthetics of Disaster"
Beauty is not subject to any external purpose or any external use.
Because beauty exists only for itself.
Beauty resides within oneself.
Hegel would not have said that any practical object, any object of consumption, any commodity is beautiful.
They lack the inner independence and freedom that are essential to the construction of beauty.
---From "Beauty as Truth"
Today's aesthetic experience is dominated not by laterality but by narcissistic centrality.
And we fall into consumerism.
We occupy a central position in the objects of consumption.
This consumerist attitude destroys the otherness of the other.
We do not step aside or retreat for the sake of the typist.
A consumerist attitude destroys the otherness and non-identity of the other.
---From "The Politics of Beauty"
Now, the whole society has become volatile.
Nothing is constant and lasting.
Faced with radical contingency, we feel a yearning for a constraint that transcends the everyday.
Beauty is smoothly refined into an object of satisfaction, an object of liking, something arbitrary and comfortable.
In this respect, we are facing a crisis of beauty today.
The salvation of beauty is the salvation of redemption.
His art lacks the negativity that keeps one at a distance.
Only the positivity of smoothness evokes tactile compulsion.
This positivity leads the observer to distance himself, to touch.
However, aesthetic judgment requires contemplative distance.
The art of smoothness eliminates this distance.
---From "Smoothness"
To cover up the inner emptiness, the subject of the selfie tries in vain to produce himself.
A selfie is an empty form of self.
Selfies reproduce emptiness.
It's not narcissistic self-love or vanity, but an inner emptiness that breeds selfie addiction.
There is no stable narcissistic self here that loves itself.
Rather, what we can see here is negative narcissism.
---From "Smooth Body"
Neither beauty nor the sublime are the other of the subject.
Conversely, they are absorbed into the subject's inner self.
Only when a space outside of narcissistic subjectivity is allowed can other beauty, and even the beauty of the Other, be secured again.
It is not very helpful to view the entire beauty as a sprout of consumer culture and to try to oppose the sublime to beauty in a postmodern way.
Beauty and the sublime have the same source.
Therefore, instead of opposing the sublime to the beautiful, what we need to do is to return the non-internalizable, non-subjective sublime to the beautiful, and to abolish the separation between the beautiful and the sublime.
---From "The Aesthetics of Smoothness"
Digital beauty banishes all negativity of non-identity.
And it only allows for differences that can be consumed and used.
Non-identity is replaced by variety.
The digitalized world is, so to speak, a world that humans have covered with their retinas.
The world, surrounded by the curtains laid out by humans, leads to permanent self-reflection.
The tighter the curtain becomes, the more thoroughly the world is cut off from others and from the outside world.
---From "Digital Me"
Today's positive society increasingly reduces the negativity of wounds.
This is also true with regard to love.
Any big gambles that could result in injury are avoided.
The energy of sexual impulses is diversified, just as in the case of capital investments, to avoid bankruptcy.
Perception also increasingly avoids negativity.
Likes rule perception.
[… … ] If you want to avoid getting hurt, you can’t look at it any other way.
Seeing presupposes the possibility of being hurt.
Otherwise, the same thing will just happen again and again.
---From "The Aesthetics of Wounds"
He who hates destruction must also hate life.
Only the dead are a metaphor for the living without being distorted.
Today's rule of beauty, which absolutizes health and smoothness, is precisely what abolishes beauty.
And today, the simple, healthy life that has taken on the appearance of hysterical survival is dead, it turns into a zombie.
So we are too dead to live today, and too alive to die.
---From "The Aesthetics of Disaster"
Beauty is not subject to any external purpose or any external use.
Because beauty exists only for itself.
Beauty resides within oneself.
Hegel would not have said that any practical object, any object of consumption, any commodity is beautiful.
They lack the inner independence and freedom that are essential to the construction of beauty.
---From "Beauty as Truth"
Today's aesthetic experience is dominated not by laterality but by narcissistic centrality.
And we fall into consumerism.
We occupy a central position in the objects of consumption.
This consumerist attitude destroys the otherness of the other.
We do not step aside or retreat for the sake of the typist.
A consumerist attitude destroys the otherness and non-identity of the other.
---From "The Politics of Beauty"
Now, the whole society has become volatile.
Nothing is constant and lasting.
Faced with radical contingency, we feel a yearning for a constraint that transcends the everyday.
Beauty is smoothly refined into an object of satisfaction, an object of liking, something arbitrary and comfortable.
In this respect, we are facing a crisis of beauty today.
The salvation of beauty is the salvation of redemption.
---From "Production in Beauty"
Publisher's Review
Jeff Koons' "Balloon Dog," Brazilian waxing, touchscreens, pornography...
The beauty of today's positive society is its smoothness.
What do people today find beautiful? Something balanced, harmonious, peaceful, and free, a positive utopia free from the negativity of reality—this is the prevailing aesthetic today.
In today's positive society, anything that hurts or causes pain is considered not beautiful.
Facebook's 'Like' button is a symbolic example of this.
Han Byung-chul links contemporary art, represented by Jeff Koons, smartphones, Brazilian waxing, hygiene obsession, and selfies into a single phenomenon.
Beauty has now been reduced to an object of pleasure, an object of pleasure, smoothed out and stripped of all negativity.
In this way, all aesthetics only contribute to the subject's self-affirmation, and do not truly shake or negate the subject.
Even ugliness is smoothed out.
The demonic, the macabre, the horrific are also smoothly refined to fit the formula of consumption and enjoyment, losing the negativity that evokes fear and awe.
However, the modern standard of beauty that considers smooth surfaces, such as a body with hair removed, a DS car, or a smartphone touchscreen, to be beautiful is not beautiful at all in Han Byung-chul's eyes.
He sees what is truly beautiful, what is a true work of art, as containing a secret, something concealed, a metaphor, a negativity that cannot be revealed.
Han Byung-chul's claim that negativity is beautiful goes so far as to say that "beauty is a disease."
So, Han Byung-chul points out that “a simple and healthy life that takes on the appearance of hysterical survival is like being dead, like a zombie.”
Thus, we have entered an era of 'reign of beauty' in which all products and environments are being transformed to meet the standards of beauty. However, Han Byung-chul considers our era to be 'an era in which beauty is being abolished' in that it is dominated solely by the aesthetics of positivity.
He summons Blanchot, Baudelaire, Rilke, Adorno, Benjamin, Barthes, and others as witnesses to the ‘aesthetics of negativity.’
We also find elements such as resistance to consumption and instrumentalization, and respect for others in the aesthetics of Kant and Hegel.
Based on this aesthetics of negativity, Han Byung-chul comprehensively criticizes modern phenomena such as narcissistic tendencies, a consumer culture that pursues instant gratification, and communication patterns obsessed with superficial positivity.
This book concisely connects the theories of various thinkers, leading readers into increasingly interesting and profound reflections.
True beauty can never be reconciled with capitalism!
In today's beauty, a great deal of stimulation is produced.
It is in this flood of stimulation and excitement that beauty disappears.
A contemplative distance from the object becomes impossible, and the object is given over to consumption.
The beauty industry exploits the body by turning it into a sexual object and something to be consumed.
Consumer culture increasingly subordinates beauty to a schema of stimulation and excitement.
The standard for a great work of art is that it gives us visual pleasure, and its selling price is converted into the value of the work.
But true beauty cannot be consumed.
“Consumption and beauty are mutually exclusive.
Beauty does not tempt us to enjoy or possess.
Rather, beauty invites a contemplative stay.” Thus, the powerful message that Han Byung-chul gives us is that beauty can never be reconciled with capitalism.
Thoughts on aesthetics in the consumer society or digital age
The power of beauty to restore the typist and lead us to open reflection
“The ability to converse, to relate to others, and even to listen are disappearing at every level.
Today's narcissistic subject perceives everything only in his own shadow.
He has no ability to see the batter.”
So what, then, is the salvation of beauty that Han Byung-chul speaks of? The author seems to be seeking to reintegrate not only the beauty and sublime, which were separated in modern aesthetics, but also the ethical and cognitive within beauty.
Beauty has the power to transcend sensory gratification and lead us into an open, indefinite reflection on the object and the self.
A true work of art is something that 'shocks and knocks down the observer', 'shakes me up, digs me up, questions me, and warns me that you must change your life.'
Only when the subject ceases to use beautiful objects as tools for self-affirmation, satisfaction, and enjoyment, and instead accepts them as things that shock, thrill, anxiety, pain, and wound him, can he finally recognize the otherness of the other and open himself to the other.
Ultimately, the ‘salvation of beauty’ that Han Byung-chul talks about is ‘salvation of others.’
Han Byeong-cheol's writing is characterized by accurately pointing out the problems of our time while maintaining a contemplative distance that is neither too close nor too far.
It is expected that this 'beautiful' book by Han Byung-chul will provide many readers with another opportunity for reflection.
Meanwhile, Professor Han Byung-chul's books have been introduced in over 15 countries, including the United States, Italy, France, Turkey, and Greece, and have recently gained unusual popularity in places like Spain.
In 2015, his essay "In the Crowd" won the Prix des Lumières de Bristol (foreign essay category) in France.
Reviews from major German media outlets
Unhesitatingly making bold claims, this book will save not only our aesthetic vision but also the humanities.
A passionate and truly successful work! Die Tagespost
A book that clearly explains why beauty has become so strangely alien to us.
Der Spiegel
This book, Han Byung-chul's latest work, is as recommended as his previous works.
This book deals with the process of secularization of beauty, showing that beauty is both an object of exalted worship and, on the other hand, a product for consumption.
Neue Zurich Zeitung
Han Byung-chul's "Salvation of Beauty" revives a tradition now forgotten and mistakenly considered unscholarly.
A tradition that doesn't even require a hundred pages to think of something new.
Philosopher's Stone
The beauty of today's positive society is its smoothness.
What do people today find beautiful? Something balanced, harmonious, peaceful, and free, a positive utopia free from the negativity of reality—this is the prevailing aesthetic today.
In today's positive society, anything that hurts or causes pain is considered not beautiful.
Facebook's 'Like' button is a symbolic example of this.
Han Byung-chul links contemporary art, represented by Jeff Koons, smartphones, Brazilian waxing, hygiene obsession, and selfies into a single phenomenon.
Beauty has now been reduced to an object of pleasure, an object of pleasure, smoothed out and stripped of all negativity.
In this way, all aesthetics only contribute to the subject's self-affirmation, and do not truly shake or negate the subject.
Even ugliness is smoothed out.
The demonic, the macabre, the horrific are also smoothly refined to fit the formula of consumption and enjoyment, losing the negativity that evokes fear and awe.
However, the modern standard of beauty that considers smooth surfaces, such as a body with hair removed, a DS car, or a smartphone touchscreen, to be beautiful is not beautiful at all in Han Byung-chul's eyes.
He sees what is truly beautiful, what is a true work of art, as containing a secret, something concealed, a metaphor, a negativity that cannot be revealed.
Han Byung-chul's claim that negativity is beautiful goes so far as to say that "beauty is a disease."
So, Han Byung-chul points out that “a simple and healthy life that takes on the appearance of hysterical survival is like being dead, like a zombie.”
Thus, we have entered an era of 'reign of beauty' in which all products and environments are being transformed to meet the standards of beauty. However, Han Byung-chul considers our era to be 'an era in which beauty is being abolished' in that it is dominated solely by the aesthetics of positivity.
He summons Blanchot, Baudelaire, Rilke, Adorno, Benjamin, Barthes, and others as witnesses to the ‘aesthetics of negativity.’
We also find elements such as resistance to consumption and instrumentalization, and respect for others in the aesthetics of Kant and Hegel.
Based on this aesthetics of negativity, Han Byung-chul comprehensively criticizes modern phenomena such as narcissistic tendencies, a consumer culture that pursues instant gratification, and communication patterns obsessed with superficial positivity.
This book concisely connects the theories of various thinkers, leading readers into increasingly interesting and profound reflections.
True beauty can never be reconciled with capitalism!
In today's beauty, a great deal of stimulation is produced.
It is in this flood of stimulation and excitement that beauty disappears.
A contemplative distance from the object becomes impossible, and the object is given over to consumption.
The beauty industry exploits the body by turning it into a sexual object and something to be consumed.
Consumer culture increasingly subordinates beauty to a schema of stimulation and excitement.
The standard for a great work of art is that it gives us visual pleasure, and its selling price is converted into the value of the work.
But true beauty cannot be consumed.
“Consumption and beauty are mutually exclusive.
Beauty does not tempt us to enjoy or possess.
Rather, beauty invites a contemplative stay.” Thus, the powerful message that Han Byung-chul gives us is that beauty can never be reconciled with capitalism.
Thoughts on aesthetics in the consumer society or digital age
The power of beauty to restore the typist and lead us to open reflection
“The ability to converse, to relate to others, and even to listen are disappearing at every level.
Today's narcissistic subject perceives everything only in his own shadow.
He has no ability to see the batter.”
So what, then, is the salvation of beauty that Han Byung-chul speaks of? The author seems to be seeking to reintegrate not only the beauty and sublime, which were separated in modern aesthetics, but also the ethical and cognitive within beauty.
Beauty has the power to transcend sensory gratification and lead us into an open, indefinite reflection on the object and the self.
A true work of art is something that 'shocks and knocks down the observer', 'shakes me up, digs me up, questions me, and warns me that you must change your life.'
Only when the subject ceases to use beautiful objects as tools for self-affirmation, satisfaction, and enjoyment, and instead accepts them as things that shock, thrill, anxiety, pain, and wound him, can he finally recognize the otherness of the other and open himself to the other.
Ultimately, the ‘salvation of beauty’ that Han Byung-chul talks about is ‘salvation of others.’
Han Byeong-cheol's writing is characterized by accurately pointing out the problems of our time while maintaining a contemplative distance that is neither too close nor too far.
It is expected that this 'beautiful' book by Han Byung-chul will provide many readers with another opportunity for reflection.
Meanwhile, Professor Han Byung-chul's books have been introduced in over 15 countries, including the United States, Italy, France, Turkey, and Greece, and have recently gained unusual popularity in places like Spain.
In 2015, his essay "In the Crowd" won the Prix des Lumières de Bristol (foreign essay category) in France.
Reviews from major German media outlets
Unhesitatingly making bold claims, this book will save not only our aesthetic vision but also the humanities.
A passionate and truly successful work! Die Tagespost
A book that clearly explains why beauty has become so strangely alien to us.
Der Spiegel
This book, Han Byung-chul's latest work, is as recommended as his previous works.
This book deals with the process of secularization of beauty, showing that beauty is both an object of exalted worship and, on the other hand, a product for consumption.
Neue Zurich Zeitung
Han Byung-chul's "Salvation of Beauty" revives a tradition now forgotten and mistakenly considered unscholarly.
A tradition that doesn't even require a hundred pages to think of something new.
Philosopher's Stone
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: May 25, 2016
- Page count, weight, size: 130 pages | 166g | 125*200*20mm
- ISBN13: 9788932028699
- ISBN10: 8932028699
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