Jakub Szczesny, The 4th S is the Symbolic

The usual antinomy of pragmatic versus symbolic is strongly embedded in art theory, literary history and in the teaching system. The binary perception of the two ?oppositions? is thus an academic or cultural simplification: our contemporaneity as well as our European past suggest that there’s no socio-technical tool more useful than the symbolic. It is perfectly visible in today’s ?engineered history,? skillfully created and disseminated by various political powers of radically different societies, from Russia and China through to Europe and both Americas. The practice of shaping symbolic meaning grows in importance when embodied as commemoration and participation. Architecture, public art or mere monument-making achieve a new-found importance for past-oriented powers who treat cities as their battle-grounds and as starting points for media-run propaganda. How can we unravel these manipulations, unveil the weaknesses of these constructs and propose our own symbolic strategies?

Morning Lecture in the framework of the Autumn School “Approaching the 3S. The Spatial, the Social, and the Sensorium”, programmed by Eva Kernbauer, Luise Reitstätter and Hans Schabus, Department of Sculpture and Space in cooperation with the Department of Art History.