Falk Heinrich is professor at Aalborg University. He holds a PhD in interactive installation art. His research focuses on (1) participatory art and experiential culture with a focus on aesthetic and performative aspects and (2) development of methodologies that integrate artistic and academic approaches. He is the author of the books Interaktiv Digital Installationkunst (2008), Performing Beauty in Participatory Art and Culture (2014) and A Somaesthetics of Performative Beauty – Tangoing Desire and Nostalgia (2023). He is the editor-in-chief of The Journal of Somaesthetics. He has an artistic background as a theatre actor/director and installation artist and his theoretical investigations have developed in close relation with practical artistic work.

Beauty and Crisis, a (Recent) Crisis of Beauty

The notion of beauty is notoriously difficult despite––or maybe because ––of that most philosophical approaches assert that beauty is an immediate verdict accompanied by sentiments of pleasure. The immediacy of aesthetic judgments of beauty points towards beauty’s biological function in terms of evolution and homeostasis. Human capability to recognize something as beautiful seems hard-wired; biology determines the bandwidth for cultural specifications of what we judge as beautiful and life giving or not. Our aesthetic nature is strong in that our cravings for aesthetic objects (including beautiful persons) is a major driver in the prevailing consumer and experience culture. The ongoing beautification of all life domains­, epitomised by design products such as furniture, apparel, cars, houses, and experience products such as travels, hotels, and even the human body as design object spur aesthetic pleasures through (over-)consumption. Consumption has proven to be a threat to sustainability.  Can our inherited notion of beauty favouring harmony and life in general become a menace for life on earth? The talk will trace the Western heritage of beauty by uncovering its epistemological foundations and blind spots. This will serve as a launch pad for a presentation and discussion of somaesthetic aspects of beauty experiences that are not bound to the observational distinction between subject and object.