The “Charm of Distance”: Artistic Experience and Sensory Self-Defense

In my paper, I explore the political potential inherent in social aesthetics. Simmel’s social aesthetics is particularly valued for its ability to encompass both meanings of Kant’s aesthetics. Indeed, it addresses not only (a) the connection between social forms and expressions of beauty but also (b) the social and historical changes in our modes of perception. In my view, social aesthetics reveals its full potential when examined in its political implications. Simmel’s social aesthetics enables us to investigate the sensory component inherent in issues of a political nature. In particular, I argue that (i) the overabundance of stimuli that threatens modern individuals is the sensory manifestation of the overwhelming power of the social typical of modernity, and (ii) modern subjects’ perceptual self-preservation is the sensory consequence of the modern conflict between individuals and society. Defending oneself from modern overstimulation also means protecting oneself from the encroachments of the social sphere and even from other individuals. By integrating both meanings of social aesthetics, in my paper I explore how modern mechanisms of sensory self-defense translate into artistic experience. As Simmel suggests, in the artistic domain, our age is characterized by a widespread «charm of distance», which serves as the counterpart to an endemic «fear of getting into too close contact with objects». As the sensory demands of social life increase and the collective sphere becomes broader and more intrusive, artistic experience tends to become a refuge of disengagement. Social aesthetics offers the opportunity to investigate how the political framework shapes our sensory interaction with the world, both in everyday experience and in art: the quest for distance can thus be used as a paradigm to interpret not only the modern sensorium but also contemporary artistic expression.