Art experience as source of utopian dreaming
Keywords:
art, utopia, political imagination, imagined futures, Ernst Bloch, phenomenological psychologyAbstract
This article explores whether the experience of works of art with utopian themes can give rise to utopian dreaming. Despite numerous global crises, an imaginary deadlock around new forms of social organization appears to permeate Western political consciousness. Through the utopian philosophy of Ernst Bloch and a phenomenological study, I investigate the connection between utopian dreaming and art experience. Five young adults were shown the movie Cinema Paradiso, a work of art that in the terminology of Bloch presents an image of concrete utopia. They were interviewed about their experience of the movie following phenomenological principles. Based on phenomenological analysis, I present five descriptive cases that constitute empirical examples of utopian dreaming following the watching of Cinema Paradiso. These show that it is in fact possible for utopian dreaming to be elicited by certain works of art. Findings are discussed through Bloch’s thinking and an important distinction between dreaming and hoping is drawn.
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