Will to power" and the coordinates of modernity in the philosophy of art of Boris Groys

The authors approach one of the fundamental issues of culture theory and the philosophy of art -the issue of the coordinates of modernity, which determine the artistic experience of "modern art", and define the close connection between cultural, social and historical processes. The issue is considered from the perspective of the concept of "will to power", which can become not only one of the most important discourses of modernity, but also a discourse defining contemporaneity at present. The concept of «will to power» is considered to be created by Friedrich Nietzsche, who believed the idea of "life" to be almost equal to that of "will to power". According to Nietzsche, it is a creative, liberating power, the power of assertiveness. The ideas of Nietzsche are connected with the modern situation, where they acquire their cultural meaning. According to classical philosophy, besides the connection between the concept of will to power and nihilism, there is a concept of difference between the features of will to power with its tendency to create and give, and those of will to dominate with its violence and acquisition. The perspective of a modern philosopher and art theorist Boris Groys, who emphasizes the logic of modernity as a crossing point of the art, creating it, and social and historical dynamics, is thought to be the most interesting. According to Groys, the concept of will to power is mostly reflected in the reaction of European avant-garde to cultural and historical events, and the tendency to radical transformation of human mentality by means of art. At the same time, the concept of will to power is reflected in transformation of artistic means, methods and space. There is one more idea of Boris Groys, which develops the concept of will to power as a tendency to transform, which is reflected in art by means of representing the direct power of art in reference to public values, which causes tendency to devalue one things and evaluate others. The concept of will to power is reflected in art in the trend to build a new worldview, where the expression of the will of the representatives of art leads them to the search of new artistic forms. Art is oriented on compensating the destructiveness of contemporary social, cultural and historical events, and building a new world at the same time. According to Groys, we can conclude that the concept of will to power finally led the art of avant-garde to the aesthetics of denial and self-destruction. Studying the links between art, history and politics, Boris Groys defines the art of the middle of XX c. as propagandistic, considering it a form of political design. Moreover, he developes a convincing suggestion that the concept of will to power looses its relevance in these conditions. Despite the fact that the aesthetics of new avant-garde in the end of XX c., devided into many trends and continuing the ideas of the beginning of the century, is often as scandalous as the aesthetics of classic avant-garde, new avant-garde is not oriented on radical transformation of the world, it only tries to invent something new and stand out.

Keywords

Authors

References