Against interpretation:Susan Sontag

Form vs. content

In her essay against interpretation, sontag starts with introducing various ways of looking at art. according to Plato's aesthetics and the theory of mimesis, art is an imitation, and there is no particular value to art, nor is it truth.Plato challenges art to justify itself.

Aristotle too talks from a similar point of view but according to him, art is not useless and its value lies in a certain catharsis, and a purging of dangerous emotions.

According to these western theories or ways of looking at art, art is in a constant struggle to justify itself.And its this need of justification that has led us to seperate form from something that we have learned to call content. And this way of looking at things always looks at content as the main thing, and form as accessory.

Sontag argues that there is a need to revive that innocence of the time when art did not have to justify itself. when it wasnt about what X is trying to say etc.. but rather a wholesome experience of the form and content as one.

According to sontag, this is the intellect's revenge on art. it has always tried to pin an artwork down to its content.this according to sontag its only a hindrance. and in the current scheme of things, there is a need for art to be more experiential. as many times, and even i have experienced this myself, i try to intellectualize the artwork to an extent that i cant feel anything from it. at times art as made me uncomfortable, and pinning down meanings becomes a way of putting aside that discomfort.it seems to me an escape.

When i read this article, what came to mind was the use of metaphors. from the previous work i have done, i realise now that i have used metaphors in a narrative for what they signify, and that to some extent is the job of metaphors. but i in the past at times was too obsessed with meanings. and now when i look at such work, i see the metaphor first. its like woah! metaphor. even though it might not fit into the poetics of the narrative.

honestly, its safe to say that i am a little confused at this point. although i agree with sontag completely, there are a lot of questions in my mind. for example, if art does'nt need a justification, then can anything be art?

i guess i will abstain from too much intellectualizing for now, and hopefully some answers will emerge through my practice.