Levinas understands obliteration as an ‚unavailable,‘ an uncanny, disruptive concept. In doing so, he turns away from the «ease and lighthearted casualness of the beautiful» and to the processes of material wear and tear and the traces of their repair. He affirms these for their creative potential in developing a uniqueness of presence.<\/p>\n
Translated by Richard Cohen, with a foreword by Johannes Bennke, with an epilogue by Dieter Mersch<\/p>\n
ZHdK: Institut f\u00fcr Theorie \/ Institute for Critical Theory (ITH)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Emmanuel Levinas defines obliteration as a central concept with which to think about art. The interview with Fran\u00e7oise Armengaud is one of Levinas‘ rare statements focusing on the fine arts. Levinas has become influential in various disciplines through his ethics, which he thinks decisively from the face of the other. Yet his reflections on aesthetics are rarely engaged with, and when questions are asked about the face in art-and thus about the interrelationship of ethics and aesthetics-the main focus has been on his comments on literature. In this interview Levinas talks about the work of the French sculptor Sacha Sosno, and the complex relationship between ethics and aesthetics becomes no longer aligned with the face and language, but with iconic thinking and artistic operations and practices. The interview is supplemented by photographs by Andr\u00e9 Villers of Sosno’s works, a foreword by Johannes Bennke and an epilogue by Dieter Mersch.<\/p>\n