Posted: June 20th, 2015

Research essay_1500 words “Is there still space for creative practice against contemporary world of human and violence, is it still relevant …?”

Research essay_1500 words “Is there still space for creative practice against contemporary world of human and violence, is it still relevant …?”

my friend,There??s no room for the poem on this earth,Is there any room for this earth in the poem, after Iraq??? Mahmoud Darwish, ??Faras li-l-ghar??b?? (??A Horse for the Stranger??) 1991

In 1949, after living in exile in California during the Second World War, Theodore Adorno returned to Germany where he continued to write many polemical and critical essays. Amongst them was the often repeated and infamous dictum ??to write a poem after Auschwitz is barbaric?? (Adorno [1949]). There are many interpretations of Adorno??s statement (and also many different translations). Does he mean that to participate in all cultural production is unthinkable because it perpetuates the society that lead to Auschwitz? Does he want us to think about how creative works can obscure history? Is he asking us about how we live and make in a contemporary world seemingly founded on violence and barbarity? Or does he want us to prove him wrong and show that continued participation in culture as a critical force is necessary? Does this mean that creative practice cannot change or alter society?

Later in the mid-1960s Adorno writes ??Perennial suffering has as much right to expression as a tortured man has to scream; hence it may have been wrong to say that after Auschwitz you could no longer write poems?? (??Negative Dialectics?? p.362). Does this mean that Adorno has changed his mind? Or is he suggesting that suffering has spread to include other horrors like the massacres in Rwanda and Vietnam? How is remembering an ethical act? Can creative practice help us remember?
(those are the statement from Adorno, what you need to do is base on Adorno’s statement and find the researched case study, It can be a poem, a play, prose, a poster, an advertising campaign, a work of visual art, a work of media art, a performance.)

For this research essay you must use two case studies to demonstrate the relevance of Adorno??s statement for today??s contemporary practice.

To write this essay you need to:

1. select two contemporary creative arts case studies (these could be something discussed in lectures or tutorials, but needs to be either very late 20th or early 21st century case studies: post 1995) ?C you should discuss your case studies with your tutor to check they are appropriate, (you cannot use commercial film releases). They can be examples from the lectures. If you are unsure please ask your tutor.
2. think about whether the two case studies are connected or opposed.
3. think broadly about the relation between contemporary creative practice and history and society.
4. formulate a critical response to Adorno??s statement.
5. use your case studies to support your response.