Spaces of Appearance: Aesthetics and Politics After Analogy

Often cited, rarely explained, never applied ‒ Arendt’s ›space of appearance‹ reinterpreted as a framework for the humanities. Present whenever people act together and yet never seen for what they do, spaces of appearance come in many guises: a car crash in Vienna, a discussion forum in Dresden, a baker’s queue in Paris, an art festival in Shiraz, an unbuilt house in Istanbul, a law court in Berlin, a photograph from Arkansas. Taking their cue from Hannah Arendt’s famous concept, the case studies in this volume, written in close collaboration, examine how the perceptive standards of a given political situation may subtly change or consolidate. Supported by a wealth of images, this volume demonstrates how the concept can be activated for innovative research ‒ especially in cases where an understanding of aesthetics and politics needs to go beyond their analogization. Featuring an essay by Susan Buck-Morss.