Theory and Beer : On the Abject and Contemporary Aesthetics with Jaya Beange

On the Abject and Contemporary Aesthetics with Jaya Beange: Thursday, January 15, 2015, 6-8 pm The Royal Canadian Legion, 227 McDermott Ave

The first installment of “Theory and Beer” will focus on the introduction of Kristeva’s essay. We will consider the concept of the abject and how it informs contemporary aesthetics. Feel free to bring in relevant examples of art or complementary texts to share with the group. Julie Kristeva’s writing on abjection in her 1982 Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (1982) influenced an entire movement of “Abject Art”. As she describes it, “Abjection is an extremely strong feeling which is at once somatic and symbolic, and which is above all a revolt of the person against an external menace from which one wants to keep oneself at a distance, but of which one has the impression that it is not only an external menace, but that it may menace us from the inside. Thus abjection carries with it an element of crisis or difficulty.” This causes a questioning of the validity of these boundaries especially when they seem to be socially constructed. For Kristeva, disgust is a bodily feeling, and an association with being “out of bounds”. “The extremely strong feeling raises the subject’s suspicion that psychically established boundaries – as well as those that are socially constructed – are not in fact secure.” Reading: Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (1982) http://seas3.elte.hu/coursematerial/RuttkayVeronika/Kristeva_-_powers_of_horror.pdf Please read (at least!) the introductory chapter, “Approaching Abjection” (p. 10-31). Jaya Beange is a student, teacher, thinker and maker residing in Winnipeg. She is interested in the relationship between ethics and aesthetics, in how a shared appreciation of art in its many forms can serve as a foundation for community. Her background includes studies of Philosophy, Mathematics and Architecture at the University of Winnipeg, University of Manitoba, the Catholic University of Leuven, and McGill University.