The Concept of Atmosphere as a New Approach in the Theory of Decorative and Applied Arts
Keywords:
atmosphere, aesthetics of atmospheres, atmospherology, Tonino Griffero, Gernot Böhme, ecstasy of things, affordances, mood Stimmung, material in art, decorative and applied artsAbstract
Since the 1950s there have been an ongoing debate among the researchers in the field of Russian art history and art criticism regarding the status of decorative and applied arts, as well as the correctness of the term itself. In general, decorative and applied arts were usually viewed as the peripheral area of study; the trend continues to this day. At the same time, it is applied arts that remain “closest” to man. However, in recent decades the growing scientific interest towards the phenomenon of aestheticization of everyday life has once again raised the issue of the peripherality of decorative and applied arts and has stimulated the search for new approaches to their study. The present paper proposes to apply the theory of the atmosphere as a new methodological move. The aim of the article is to substantiate the resourcefulness of the atmospheric theory for the study of objects of decorative and applied arts. The main methodological sources include the concepts of the Italian aesthetician Tonino Griffero, as well as the German philosopher Gernot Böhme. The author marks out the main concepts of atmospheric theory suitable for productive analysis of objects of decorative and applied art such as ecstaticity and affordances. The relevance of atmospheric theory is largely due to attention it pays to form and material, a category crucial for the studied area. It was revealed that the compatibility of materials can be viewed as one of the strong and promising aspects of atmospheric theory; however, it remains understudied. This gap can be bridged by further research within the field of decorative and applied arts that has a high atmospheric potential.
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