Abstract
Art After Loss: Aestheticized Memory, Auratic Capability and Affect Through Post-Holocaust Representation
By Dan Elborne, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
The paper summarizes ongoing research currently being developed within a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) via the University of Southern Queensland, Australia, which involves both a ‘written’ and ‘creative works’ component: a thesis and the production of artwork relating to the theoretical research. The PhD broadly investigates how to effectively address events of war and traumatic memory, with particular focus on the Holocaust and its subsequent representation through visual art. This enquiry responds to 3 foundational research areas: firstly, German Philosopher, Theodor Adorno’s (later retracted) statement that there can be “no poetry (art) after Auschwitz,” which opens discussion into the problematics of post-Holocaust representation. Secondly, ideas established by French Philosopher, Jean- Francois Lyotard regarding the sublime as a way of visually “presenting the unpresentable,” and lastly, German Jewish Philosopher, Walter Benjamin’s theory concerning the affecting, transcendental qualities of art (‘aura’). These 3 research areas culminate in order to establish theoretical framework for positioning the new term ‘negative aura’ within the field of art theory. This intervention aims to challenge the existing field of ‘aura theory’ in order to develop a term directly associated to the affecting qualities of art that is catalysed by traumatic memory and extreme, seemingly incomprehensible human capability/experience.
Author keywords
Memorialisation, Remembrance, Memory Theory, Aura Theory, Negative Aura, The Sublime, Post-Holocaust Representation, Art as Catalyst