Aesthetic Practice and Theory

Where perception, design, craft and reflection mesh to create a developed form, we speak of aesthetic practice. Aesthetic practice is the cultural space where material is translated into meaning, a stage where culture is remodelled or created anew. Aesthetic practices provide the basis for the creation of works, artefacts and objects in art and design.

Aesthetic skills primarily draw upon focused action, experience and presentation, while verbalized knowledge as applied in design concepts, treatises, doctrines, recipes, descriptions and manuals is only of secondary significance. Words and action, theory and practice are engaged in a lively dialogue. However, aesthetic theory is regularly outrun by aesthetic practice, and therefore needs to be constantly reformulated. Herein lies one of the main challenges the Institute of Aesthetic Practice and Theory faces.

Up to now, the analysis and critique of aesthetic objects and processes was based on language. Here the Institute of Aesthetic Practice and Theory goes new ways: by coupling aesthetic reflection and aesthetic action, the Institute develops new practices of critique and positions aesthetic practice as a subject in its own right.

Monday Programme

In collaboration with the Institute for Critical Media Studies, the Institute of Aesthetic Praxis offers an interdisciplinary teaching programme that takes place every Monday. You can find the programme for the lectures in aesthetic praxis here.