On Tradition and Cultural Memory in Contemporary Art: Theoretical Considerations

• Authors: Maria Alina Asavei

Abstracts

EN

This paper starts with a detailed analysis of Jan Assmann’s qualitative distinction between cultural memory and communicative memory. The purpose of this analysis is to highlight both the strengths and the limitations of this seminal distinction, and to also reflect on what cultural theorists and contemporary artists could learn through Assmann’s distinction since artistic production also employs cultural memory formats that do not exclude cultural traditions in their materializations. In line with these considerations, this paper aims to disentangle what “tradition” means to contemporary artists. Following Edward Shils and Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophy of “tradition,” the paper argues that cultural tradition does not necessarily have an oppressive character and the rebellion and suspicion against it is at the heart of tradition itself. Thus, the traditional/contemporary binary can be precluded by reconsidering how “tradition” and “traditional” are conceptualized considering philosophy of tradition and artistic memory.

Keywords

EN

cultural traditions; cultural memory; communicative memory; contemporary art; tradition; artistic memory

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Warszawski
• Journal: Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 126-139

Contributors

author

Maria Alina Asavei

• Institute of International Studies, Charles University, Prague

• https://orcid.org/0000000242528044

Identifiers

DOI

10.14394/eidos.jpc.2021.0008

Biblioteka Nauki

1357891