Research

Summary

Being in Art and Things: From Heidegger and Šliogeris till Mačiūnas Fluxus Art Philosophy

The article philosophizes whether it is possible to find being as such in art. According to Arvydas Šliogeris‘ art philosophy, which is very Heideggerian, being is in Paul Cezane‘s painting, specifically in the picture of a pine tree. According to Martin Heidegger‘s art philosophy, being is in Vincent van Gogh‘s pictures of shoes. However, this article argues that these paintings are from the same art direction of the same time period. It is also argued that in art philosophy it is necessary to respect art directions, their styles, schools, different time periods marked with the spirit of their epoch, before anyone starts philosophizing whether certain pictures have being or not. Instead it is suggested to search for being in the very life of an artist, his own relationship with his creation. One of such examples could be Jurgis Mačiūnas and his art of Fluxus that included life style. The article also analyzes the philosophy of a thing that we find in Mačiūnas and Heidegger and highlights their differences. At the end of the article the author finds more similarities between Jonas Mekas‘ and Heidegger‘s attitude towards a thing as the un-closedness (aletheia) of its own story.