The Idea of the “Lebenskunstwerk“ Anthropological Aspects of Creative Work

After our exploration of the “Idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk in the 20th Century“ in 1999/2000, this course follows up on last year’s concluding discussion and leads into the concept of the “Lebenskunstwerk“ (life art work). While the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk ultimately has to do with the transformation and expansion of creative action into a social, anthropological sphere, the aesthetics of the Lebenskunstwerk explore life as a work of art itself. “When yellow flows into blue, it creates green. When art appears in life, you get life art... an art that grasps and permeates life, so that a new culture emerges“ (Paolo Bianchi, 1999). A central issue to be explored in the course is the extent to which Lebenskunst (life art), as ethical and aesthetic culture, can create new realities in our cultural sphere – especially sound-integrative and body-integrative realities.

Required reading

BIANCHI, Paolo: Lebenskunst als Real Life. Kunstforum, vol. 143, Jan./Feb. 1999