A lecture by Dr Christoph Kluetsch at the multimedia room in Centre d’Art on Tuesday the 11th of March at 5pm.
I want to look in the back mirror of modernity, directing the gaze to a speculation about aesthetic experiences prior to the written word. The power of prehistoric art places us within the cosmos, connects us with the animal kingdom, the sky, the human kingdom, the gods, the energies and forces, it evokes rituals, and archetypes: We imagine there was sound, rhythm, and vibration; there are marks etched on ancient walls, figurines carved from wood, stone, and clay. There would have been storytelling and stargazing. — So we ask: When did the first human feel that transcendent shiver beneath a starlit sky? When did the primordial dance to the pulsating rhythms of clapping hands and beating sticks begin, and when was the inaugural object fashioned solely for its beauty? What is this spark in human consciousness—a spark that transcends mere survival and hints at a higher, transformative becoming, a state of infinite creativity that both Sri Aurobindo and Deleuze so profoundly evoke?
