From Contemplation to Rausch. The Modern Forms of Aesthetic Experience 3800-NZ-S3-26

The seminar is devoted to examining various modalities of aesthetic experience. We will
especially take a look at those kinds of experience which are often treated as marginalia:
dreaming, nostalgia, melancholia, pathos, noise, neutral states and intoxication. We will look
at various forms of attention, different kinds of sensitivity and the role of the senses in the
experience of the world - from a “remote” experience to one of complete immersion. Besides
the traditional problems related to the investigation of aesthetic experience, our analyses will
aim to elicit the consequences of each particular state, especially as these result from the
corresponding relationship to reality. These might include: expressing the phenomenon of
childhood, the attempt to regain a direct relationship with things, capturing the meaning of the
phenomenon of being lost, the lack of a sense of support, the creative aspect of the habit of
wandering around.