CONTRA A MISÉRIA ESTÉTICA

ARTE E SOCIEDADE EM DUAS CARTAS DE VILÉM FLUSSER A MILTON VARGAS

Abstract

Vilém Flusser, who maintained regular correspondence with many relevant intellectuals from the Twentieth Century throughout his life, wrote some hundred letters to his Brazilian closest friend, the engineer, university professor, and historian of the science Milton Vargas. These letters addressed not only personal matters but also some crucial theoretical issues encompassing society, culture, and the arts. Among these discussions, both Flusser and Vargas also approached important topics of philosophical aesthetics. In this article, I analyze two of these Letters in which Flusser, answering the viewpoint of his friend, delves into the relationship between art and society. Flusser addresses mainly the gap between the majority of the people and the predominant culture of their society, claiming that it was always not this way: while in ancestral social groups, their members recognized themselves in their cultural artifacts, the advent of mass culture in modern western societies severed people from their most authentic culture, causing an intense alienation. Another request of this article, following up some of Flusser's clues, is to connect his position in the letters with significant passages of his published work, as well as with viewpoints on art and the economic infrastructure (Marx) and the relationship between art and society in general (Adorno).