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Informationen zum Autor Dr Zoltán Somhegyi is aHungarian art historian, holding a Ph.D in aesthetics, currently working at the University of Sharjah, UAE. As a researcher, he specialises in 18th-19th century art and theory. His other fields of interest are contemporary fine arts and art criticism. He is the the Secretary General and Website Editor of the International Association for Aesthetics. Klappentext Though constantly in decay, ruins continue to fascinate the observer. Their still-standing survival is a loud affirmation of their presence, in which we can admire the struggle against the power of Nature aesthetically manifested during the decay. This volume takes a thematic approach to examining the aesthetics of ruins. It looks at the general aspects of architectural decay and its classical forms of admiration and then turns towards ruins from both classical and contemporary periods, from both Western and non-Western areas, and with examples from "high art" as well as popular culture. Combining the methodologies of art history, aesthetics and cultural history, this book opens up new ways of looking at the phenomenon of ruins. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction / Part I Classical Tendancies / 1. The fragile presence of ruins. General aspects of the aesthetics of architectural decay / 2. The golden age and fall of ruins / 3. In front of ruins / Part II Modern Appearances / 4. Ruins in East-West perspective / 5. Contemporary ruins. Investigations into a contradiction in terms / 6. "Learning from Detroit?" - From materialised dreams to bitter awakening. Aesthetics around decayed shopping malls / Part III When in Works / 7. Cracks in the walls / 8. Eulogy to the fragment. Artworks and ruination / 9. Ruins as context and scenery. Temporal interference as source of aesthetic experience / Part IV Afterlife 10. Mall with lamassu. Imitated decay and aesthetic education in thematic commercial centres / 11. What remains of that which has remained? Against the eradication of ruins / 12. "Time transformed into Space". Orhan Pamuk and the museums of remembrance...
About the author
Zoltán Somhegyi is an art historian and associate professor of art history at the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary. Previously he was based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates and was working as chair of the department of fine arts of the College of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Sharjah. He was the secretary general (2016–2022) and still is the website editor of the International Association for Aesthetics (IAA), member of the Executive Committee of the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH) and consultant of Art Market Budapest: International Contemporary Art Fair. He is advisory and editorial board member of numerous academic journals of aesthetics. His recent books include Reviewing the Past: The Presence of Ruins, Aesthetics in Dialogue: Applying Philosophy of Art in a Global World, Learning from Decay: Essays on the Aesthetics of Architectural Dereliction and Its Consumption and Retracing the Past: Historical Continuity in Aesthetics from a Global Perspective.
