HOW TO KISS THE SKY. GYÖRGY KEPES’ AESTHETIC PROGRAM IN VIEW OF THE COLD WAR CRISIS OF TRUST TOWARDS SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS Cover Image

JAK POCAŁOWAĆ NIEBO. PROGRAM ESTETYCZNY GYÖRGYA KEPESA W KONTEKŚCIE POWOJENNEGO KRYZYSU ZAUFANIA DO INSTYTUCJI NAUKOWYCH
HOW TO KISS THE SKY. GYÖRGY KEPES’ AESTHETIC PROGRAM IN VIEW OF THE COLD WAR CRISIS OF TRUST TOWARDS SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS

Author(s): Arkadiusz Półtorak
Subject(s): Photography, Aesthetics, Military history, Evaluation research, History of Art
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: ecocriticism; curatorial studies; aesthetics; military-industrial complex;

Summary/Abstract: The central aim of this article is to situate the curatorial and artistic practice, ecosophy and aesthetic thought of György Kepes within the political landscape of the cold war United States. Półtorak discusses multiple manifestations of Kepes’ ecological thinking in the 1960s in view of the artist’s pacifist turn, one responding to the complicity of his prior didactic and design-related activities with imperialist politics. György Kepes’ political position in the postwar years is compared to stances embraced by such scientists as Norbert Wiener or Lewis Mumford, who sustained an ambiguous attitude towards their host institutions – embedded within the military-industrial complex – in the cold war years. In the last part of the article Półtorak points at contemporary continuations of Kepes’ ecosophy and the model of cultural practice he proffered in the 1960s.

  • Issue Year: 36/2018
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 161-181
  • Page Count: 21
  • Language: Polish