The Ontology Of Art At The Age Of Technology

The article initiates by asking three questions:why must we need art;what is the art of necessity,namely,the art we must have;and,finally,how can the art of necessity do;with the purpose of exploring the ontology of art at our contemporary time(that is,the age of technology)-all of which will be discussed under the framework of Heideggerian philosophy.The age,our dis-enchanted world,is characterized typically by its rapid development of science and technology,which have laid the foundation and changed human existence and social modes,as well as the whole cognitive system.At the same time,science and technology bring irrevocable questions:as Heidegger suggests,the essence of modern technology,namely,Enframing(Gestell),has embodied in itself some greatest danger-the danger that in whose midst we find ourselves,as human beings(Dasein),show up as resource that can be controlled and manipulated.However,human cannot,on the one hand,give up what is supposed to be the threat and return to its primitive stage and,on the other hand,control what is going to control itself.For Heidegger,the impasse of technology is actually produced by the long-term misunderstanding of the essence of technology:instead of being the means or the instruments,technology is disclosure(which also makes the question of technology the question of truth);correspondingly,Enframing(Gestell),the essence of technology,is the fate of disclosure.Hence,this is by no means the work of human beings but rather that of the higher "promisor" who tries to "repatriate the fate"-here,the fate of Enframing(Gestell)earns its incipient threat.On the other hand,any kind of disclosure of fate requires,nevertheless,the participation of human beings who belong to,and guard,the promissory.And,this is why the threating point of Enframing(Gestell)also reveals to be that of salvation,even though technology itself cannot guarantee this salvation.Only that which is promised as disclosure,primordially,can leads us to the salvation-that is art.If technology is the disclosure in the sense of monotonous,expansion of truth,art is the disclosure of multiple,the original occurrence of truth.This is why we must need Art!This also leads to the re-definition of art,suggesting by the question:what is the art of necessity,the art that we must have?At the first glance,the works of art are as naturally present as things.Yet,this "thing"(Ding)has been philosophical aporias from ancient times:throughout the whole history of Western Philosophy,the thingness of thing has been understood and interpreted in terms of:the bearer of properties,the unity of a sensory manifold,and the matter-form structure.However,for Heidegger,all of these three main explanations are incorrect insofar as thing is what he called a derivative of equipment.Furthermore,while the equipmentality of equipment consists indeed in its "usefulness",this "usefulness" rests in the fullness of an essential being of the equipment that can be called“reliability”.It is exactly this“reliability”of the equipment,which is hidden in the usefulness of equipment,gives the simple world its security,and thus bears within itself that "referential totalities" of the world.Since the "referential totalities" of the world is,on the other hand,always hidden,it can only be brought forth into the unconcealment"Unverborgenheit")of beings,that is,truth,by the work of art.Accordingly,we have to say,thing displays such an affinity with the artwork that it cannot be“approached”independent of artwork.What implies here is actually the critics of the entire field of aesthetics that used to employ the thingness of.thing to the.aesthetic of art and the essence of artwork-for Heidegger,this approach is failed definitively.On the contrary,it is only when we rely on the "the unconcealed truth"(Being)which steps forward into its unconcealment by the works of art that the "referential totalities" of our world can be revealed,that the questions of“what is a equipment”and“what is a thing”can be subsequently answered.Here,the artwork earns itself a position of truth which is distinct from Hegel's so-called the manifestation of "absolute idea" of truth in sensuous form,which will be sublated(aufheben)sooner or later.In other words,the artwork is,in Heidegger's words,"truth's setting-itself-to-work","the setting-itself-to-work of the truth of beings",that is,“the becoming and happening of truth”.And,as long as the truth of Being(unconcealment)happens,it inevitably becomes the truth of beings-correspondingly,the happening of truth in the works of art is also the process of realization that origins from the strife between clearing and concealing(that is,the truth of Being)to the strife between the world and the earth(the truth of beings).So,we have to say that,the essence of the great works of art is neither something that in conformity with the manifestation of general abstract concept in sensory form,nor that which subjectivism called the form of pure sensible intuition;by contrast,it is the path and process by which the unconcealed truth presents in its presencing.The last question,"How can the art of necessity do?",is a further questioning of art.In the works of Heidegger,two aspects of art can be summarized:"art is the overcoming of aesthetics" and "art is the ground of history".First of all,art contains in itself the processe of creation and preservation:creation refers to production,while preservation to realization.Creation,on the one hand,brings forth what is supposed to be the nature springing of truth into the works of art(that is,the unconcealment of beings);preservation,on the other hand,brings truth into happening insofar as we can bring our essence itself to take a stand withifin the openness of truth.In other words,we can remain in the midst of“nothing”? the“nothing”is never nothing,and neither is it a something in the sense of an object;it is Being itself whose truth will be given over to man.The art as human creation and preservation reveals what Heidegger calls the essence of becoming of this world-and we,as human beings,exist in this world-whereas any kind of essence set itself up in the"nothing";hence,aesthetics also set itself up in the operation of“nothing”.That is to say,art is also the becoming and happening of no-truth,whilst the art as nothing is the overcoming of aesthetic machine of matter-form.Secondly,the Heideggerian idea that art is the ground of history brings art into its most primordial level.While art allows truth to arise,it also brings something into being from out of the essential source of nothing:this is what Heidegger called the“founding"(Stiftung)of Being.Further,the“founding"(Stiftung)of which we refer to is a establishment in the sense of“bestowing"(Schenken),“grounding”(Grunden),and“beginning"(Anfange?While“bestowing”refers to the overflowing of any existed objects,grounding to the clearing of the self-concealment,"bestowing" and“grounding”have in themselves the abruptness of what we call a“beginning”.The genuine beginning is always a leaping-ahead(Sprung),a Vorsprung,in which everything to come is already leapt over;in other sense,the beginning contains already the end.Hence,instead of belonging to any existing ideas or thought,art as the work of beginning always contains thec"thrust" enters history and history either begins or resumes;new thought thus has the chance to emerge.Thus,art is the guide of history and the origin;dwelling near art is also dwelling near the origin.By dealing with these three questions,the article can gradually approach the works of Heidegger,systematically sort out the ways by which we can define the being of art in the age of technology,and can finally bring much more inspiration to contemporary theory and practice of art.