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1 Junk aesthetics in a throwaway age

Abstract

For Arendt, the fragile balance between labour, work and action that lies at the heart of the human condition was fundamentally endangered by the planned obsolescence characteristic of the new post-war consumer capitalism. Artworks displaying a ‘junk’ aesthetic produced on the East and West Coasts of the United States in the period between 1957 and 1962 can be read in light of Arendt’s perspective, which intersected with both sociological critiques of the new capitalism and the writings of Zen master D.T. Suzuki and other popularisers of Zen Buddhism. Jack Kerouac’s 1958 novel The Dharma Bums resonated with both critiques of consumer society and newly discovered Zen alternatives. This chapter outlines some of the links between Kerouac’s Beat aesthetic and the assemblage and happenings of the early 1960s, by analysing the reception of landmark exhibitions such as The Art of Assemblage in 1961, and the practices of Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, Bruce Conner and Allan Kaprow.

Abstract

For Arendt, the fragile balance between labour, work and action that lies at the heart of the human condition was fundamentally endangered by the planned obsolescence characteristic of the new post-war consumer capitalism. Artworks displaying a ‘junk’ aesthetic produced on the East and West Coasts of the United States in the period between 1957 and 1962 can be read in light of Arendt’s perspective, which intersected with both sociological critiques of the new capitalism and the writings of Zen master D.T. Suzuki and other popularisers of Zen Buddhism. Jack Kerouac’s 1958 novel The Dharma Bums resonated with both critiques of consumer society and newly discovered Zen alternatives. This chapter outlines some of the links between Kerouac’s Beat aesthetic and the assemblage and happenings of the early 1960s, by analysing the reception of landmark exhibitions such as The Art of Assemblage in 1961, and the practices of Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, Bruce Conner and Allan Kaprow.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of figures vi
  4. Acknowledgements xii
  5. Introduction: almost nothing 1
  6. Part I ‘Dharma bums’, 1958–71
  7. 1 Junk aesthetics in a throwaway age 39
  8. 2 ‘At the point of imperceptibility’ 78
  9. 3 ‘Good-for-nothing’ 118
  10. Part II The light years, 1991–2009
  11. 4 Joins in the age of ‘liquid modernity’ 169
  12. 5 Futility and precarity 229
  13. Postscript 289
  14. Select bibliography 306
  15. Index 319
Almost nothing
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Almost nothing
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526123497.00007

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of figures vi
  4. Acknowledgements xii
  5. Introduction: almost nothing 1
  6. Part I ‘Dharma bums’, 1958–71
  7. 1 Junk aesthetics in a throwaway age 39
  8. 2 ‘At the point of imperceptibility’ 78
  9. 3 ‘Good-for-nothing’ 118
  10. Part II The light years, 1991–2009
  11. 4 Joins in the age of ‘liquid modernity’ 169
  12. 5 Futility and precarity 229
  13. Postscript 289
  14. Select bibliography 306
  15. Index 319
Heruntergeladen am 29.4.2026 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.7765/9781526123497.00007/html?lang=de
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