lT
WAs. T ls AND lI WlLL BE VoL,3
LosT ART AND THE cRlsls
OF THE PHlLOSOPHY OF PRESENCE
Cezary Wąs
lnstitute of History of Art,
The University of Wroclaw
lntroduction
The concept of lost art evokes various associations. The first of them concerns the point of VieW characteristic of art history and brings to mind works
of art lost or destroyed during war conflicts. Famous past cases of works lost
by cultures that are the legal heirs of their ancient predecessors include the
works of the so-called Napoleon Museum, i,e. part of the Louvre's collection of war booty, including in particular the Egyptian campaign of 1798-'180'l.
None of the demands made so far to return the works that had been taken
away at that time led to their return to Egypt. A similar case is in the United
Kingdom, where, am9n9 hundreds of thousands of works acquired in similar
circumstances, there are the Elgin marbles, which formerly decorated the
Parthenon in Athens, removed in a barbaric way between 18O'l and1812 and
now kept in the British Museum. The looting of works of art took place in all
epochs of human history and is also documented in works themselves, as in
a relief of the Arch of Titus in Rome presentin9 a procession with treasures
stolen from the Temple of Solomon.
During the second world war, a portrait by Raphael, some of Durer's
graphics and several thousand paintings were lost from Polish collections.
These works were the subject of an educational film entitled "Memory is the
Key". The term used in the film transfers the issue of "lost art" into the sphere
of metaphysical considerations declaring that the source of the existence of
a work of art is memory. However, when we formulate the problem in such
a way, the questions about each individual part of the previous sentence, usually overlooked, appear: what do we know about memory, about the source of
a
work of ań, about the existence and being constitution of a work of art, about
existence in general, about Being of being (das Seln des Seienden, Heidegger),
about being of things in relation to conscious being (Dasein, Heidegger), but
also about the relationship of consciousness, thinking and memory with time,
the concept of which also reappears during sculptural meetings in the palace
in Muhrau. Nowadays philosophy distinguishes itself f rom its earlier tradition
by questioning the obviousness of most of these concepts and indicatin9
how they struggle with their negations, with | ogical correctness, with the
147
T WAs, lT ls AND lT WlLL
BE VoL.3
correctness of logic itself and especially with their very existence, which
has also lost the status of a certain thing or the thing in general.
Problems of memory
Assuming that art is rooted in memory requires reflection on the phenomenon
of memory itse| f. ln the history of philosophy many concepts of memory have
manifested themselves, but when we look back to the oldest, we can come
across a problem that was never f inally solved. ln Plato's Theaetetus there
is a view on memory, which turned out to be convincing and valid until the
present day] . This view assumes that memory resembles a plate of pure wax
on which information derived f rom the experience of the external world is
recorded. We are dealing here with the assumption that memory is to a large
extent passive and receptive, although it can be perfected or manipulated.
Memory may also be recorded in writing or works of art, but in the dia-
logue Phaedrus Plato points out that such activities lead to a weakening
of mental memory2. And it was precisely with this observation that the
problem emerged, which was taken up by modern philosophy. For if first
the expressions of speech and then their record in writing detaches the
individual from the directness of their experiences and transfers their permanence into the artificial and external world of the signs of writing, then
such an activity leads to the fact that writing separates itself from iis original context and is subject to endless attempts to change its original sense.
The detachment of writing f rom its source origin also contributes to the
fact that its expressions lose their connection with reality and that beings
that do not exist in reality can function freely in the language, while the existing ones can be equally freely denied the right to exist. Writing creates
a separate world which is constantly evolving without any connection to
concrete reality and its experience. Written culture analyzes the contents
and senses generated within writing and is the basic support and necessity for the processes of adapting the individual to life in communities. Such
a culture is based on the repetition of certain contents and the depreciation of everything that introduces content that is overly direct and hi9hly
individualised. The way of defending against the uniformisation attempts
of writing becomes the area of art in which directness and uniqueness are
maintained. A single painting, such as Raphael's lost work, is endowed
with an aura of exceptional value precisely because of its polemic features
in relation to the discursive language. Therefore, all contemporary ref lections on writing, emphasizing its arbitrariness and lack of an unambiguous
1
2
149
Plato, Theaetetus,'l
91 D.
Plato, Phaedrus,274A-275B; cf. J. Derrida, Plato's Pharmacy, | in:l idem, Dissemination,
transl. B. Johnson, London'l981, pp. 6'1-172.
connection with the rea ex stence ofthe ] ndividua] , undermine the concept
of Writ ng as a system of evoking real beings and thus co-create a critical
undersianding of presence, A] ong Wjth the
cLimate of neqatlon ofthe indisputabilityof being, based on a reflection on
the questionable re ationship of the concept of being and theWho e sphere
of notions describing it with the indiv dually experienced realily, the posi
tion of art, in Which respeci for the directness of experiencing has never
disappeared, becomes stronger, HoWeVer, in accepting such a thes s, ihe
rneaning of the analyses of art shou d be suspended earlier, asihey emphasize the imporiance of numerous steleotypes and conventions that bring
aititude towards
th e trad ition al
ań closer lo the svstem of writ n9,
The statement that memory can be peńected led Plato io the thought
pre§ented in the dia ogues Meno3, a| d Phaedo4, that ] n the processes of
recollection there are sometimes di§coveries that exceed the acqUired
knowledge5. lt is therefore possible to recall the know edge rnore deeply
rooted in the hurnan soUl, t may concern rnathernatics, geometry or moral,
ity, lt is lherefore possib e to divide the area of memory into a pań gaihering knowledge (eplstć me) and a part contain ng irue beliefs (orthe dóksa).
Knowledge is an arrangemeni of gathered ] nformat] on, While beliefs resu t
from pure reasoning, so posing questions and Verify] ng answers. HoWeVer,
ihis division does noi exhaustthe probler. of memory, because beliefs can
be obtained not only on the basi§ of reasonin9, but also in ecstasy6, Which
integrates the soul into a certain originary whole. This kind of cogn] tion is
charactelist] c ofthe prophets and ańists, it also has erotic and rnysterious
features?. The recollection in qUesiion. linked by Plato io the concepts of
anamnósls3, anź jbasis' an d epanodosla. eads to the most or ginal knowledge
\ ó Ydp 1ąrEiV ópd G] ń lovedv. V dvą] vnolś ó^ ov aorlv', I nl id6m,
Lacheś . Prctagórus- Meno. Elthydemuś , nansl, W R, M. Lamb, camblidge (Mass,)alń ń9 areWho y recollecton",
London1952, p,302 (in Gleek),303| "research and l€
d deś (ed,), London-Edinb!r9h ] 363, p,46: "ón ń$v ń
The Phaedo af Plato,w.D. G€
ld€
n oĘ oUK iiMo I i ovópvqolś I !\ \ ó| tl ói] oo"- Plato Phaedo, trans , D. Ga op, oxford
1975. p, ] 9: "our learninq is actUa y nothina but reco ection',
E. wo aka. P] atahś kie rczlagi pamięci 'znak" 2oo9, ńó. 4 | 64', pp. o9-] ] 6
ońe of its
s reJerred to aś el/ amps's, ihe term Which can be associaled Wilh
of Plato's Letler Vll (344B7-a),
afragm€
n t 'orms
n
The cogn tive abililios described by plato are dir6ct6d by human reason, but ev€
single ńento.s and metaphors juxtapos nq philosophy wilh myste.ies kesp phae-
Plato, Mero,8] D:
]
6
dlUś 25aB-c, syńpósjun 21oA. Gorciaś 497c, Euthydeń !s 277D-E) 6ncoUraged
nterpreters to atlribute eś oterictendenciesto l. However ś uć htheses,procaim6d
byrepresentatveś oftheso-cóLedTiibingenschool, inc uding NansJoachiń Krańer
and Thoma9 Aleksandersż lezek, arouse strong oppo§itión, cf,, amon9 others, ż . Danek,
P] atońska kóńcep.ja paznania inmanentnegó, czyli epistemólógia po2ytywńa Listu vll,
'collactanea Philolog ć a' 2006, no 9. pp 3-2] ,
P ato preseńted lhe conceptofanź mnes,ś in Menoń 868, Phaado 668 DandPhaedrus
247D-E, see ańo.g others, c. E, Hlber, ,4namńesls be' P/ ato, Monchen 1964,
Platon, Rep!b/ '., 5] ] b, 517b,
czao ńska. Piatońska epan odas, cż yli ńiezwykł a pó.lróż dus2y, Rozwój kóhcepcii,
"NoWy Filomata" 2005,.o, 9, pp, n-2] ,
M,
] 5]
ofthe source olallexistence, Wh ch even precede§ its very ex sience, EVen
knowing God's matters would therefore be only a prelude to knowing the
reservoir of forces prior to the appearance of the World of ideas and the
Demiurge that created the world according to their model, Plato described
the p] ace of these or ginary forces as the chóra, and the ref] ection on it
leturned in the descriptions of the disturb ng nature of art made by JUlia
Kri§ieva in her book La róvalutian du langage poć tiquell. A reco leciion in
this case Would concern something thatdoes notex st, but does exist in the
existence in order to distort its existence, To put it more clearly, it should
be said thatthe destiny of the great ańists isto direct thernselves towards
a lecollection of the §ource of all ex stence, Which has not yet invoked own
existence tself, but which subsequently padicipates in the manifestat] ons
of the World already created as afactor that disrupt§ its ceńainty and pel,
manenc€ and encourages to recur With the thought (rscollection) of nonexistenc6 as th€ formula fol the moś t oliginary activity ol forc€
,
Th6 3ourc6 ol th6 wolk ol an and lts b6lng con3tltutlon
ln the well-established opinion, art manifeś tsitself primarily n th6 folm of
Works of art, .e, ob] ects charactelised by ae§thetic values, such an under,
standing of ań has been questioned in the field of artist c practice since
the late 18th ceniUry, When the dominance of the Vai!e of beauty in art Was
sUpplgmented by Kant With the in§tance of subliriity. s!ch a sUpp ement
led to ths bloadenin9 of aesthetic Va ues, Which since then have been con,
stantly updated With new f€
atUres to distinguish Works of art, since these
Valuosal€ oft€
n more and mor6 d9€
p ly oppos€
d to beauty, such as u9lness,
n t6d, among otherś , by the so"called abjsct
lepulsion or drsgust (r9pr6s€
an), it can be stated that this resujled in th6 neqation of aesthetlc§ as a sgt
of features that aroLlse common iking, on€ of th6 long€
st-d9t€
r mining
characteristics of a Work of arl has been und6lmin6d, At th9 same t me,
the necessity of artigtsto prodUce Works of art Was also quest oned, stańing With Duchamp's readymades (dating back tothe second decade oi the
20th centuryI a bicyc] e Wheel mounted on a stool from 19] 3, a bottle rack
from ] 9] 4. a snow shove] from ] 9] 5 or a ur na from 19] 7), fol] owed by Andy
Walhol's pop art and cardboard Brillo Boxes from ] 964, Then there Was
even the negation of the very necessity of the existence of a Wolk of art as
an ob] ect and linal] y of the very exi§tence of a Work of ań. Today, iherefore,
a Work of art not only does not have to be beautifulol ugly, it also does noi
have to be an object and, moreover, it does not have to be at all, A Work of
art without Being is analogous in its new being status to God without Being,
1]
J. Krist€
va, L6 rć Volltio, du lanqaqe poć tiąue: ] 'avaht- garde a la lin du XlXesić cle:
Lautrć amont et Mallarme, Pal s 1914.
Wh ch has lón9 been of
inlelest to apophat] c theo 09ians and has foUnd ils
cUrrent man fesiat on in Jean Luc Mar on's pUblication "Die! sans / 'elre"
(] 982). Wha1 s ol can it be a Work ihai does not ex st? The Way lo an§Wer
this qUestion s thlough a ph !osophy thai has be9!n to ask qUestions about
the posit on oi the object ln irUrnan tho!9ht especjajly aboUt tlre ob] ectLfi
cation oi ae ng, Whlch has become a habit of thoUght so long lasting that it
seems to be out of history and Unchangeab e,
The historica nature of th ngs Was described ln Mari n Heide9gels lec
iure 'The Ęstabl shin9 by Metaphysics ol ihe Moclern World PictUre" (D'e
Begrirnclun9 des neuzeitlichen Weltbtdesdurch die Meiaphysik, JUne ] 938),
WhichWasp!bislred!nderlhetllle The Age ol the Wor d P ct!re (D'eZe] l
d,-s weltbildes)'2 Heidegger said that the Way of referr ng to Bein9 n Greek
or mec] ieval tinres Was Very d] fferent from the Way Wh ch lras been lornred
] . modern time§ and cont] nUes to the Present day, Nowadays ] ts percep,
tion s shaped by the nf uence of §c ence, Which n many components s
diffelent from Greek ep,steme or medieva doctrtna and scieni/ a Modern
sclence is a sUmmary of the attitUdeS that have led io ihe establishment of
the pl macy of obiect V ty in the percepiion oi 1he wor d, hurnan and even
God, These ait tudes ale based on a str ct del neaiion ol the area that w lL
attract nteresi we are ta k n9 then about the establislrment of an objeci
oi research and the inst tutional maniie§tat on oi th s attilude s the establlshment of l elds of science or iacUlt es at universities The Sepalation ol
a sc entific fie d is accompanied by tlre establishment of str ct lUles ol re
search, proced!res of conduct in a spec fic scope of resealclr A ready at
this stage of the de§cr pt on of science t can be seen that What becomes
the object of research s devo d ol the features of mot on Therefole i Being
Was !nderstood as constanl y chang ng then the bein9 s as f it Were dead,
permanent and LlnclranqeabLe. The re§earch procedUles are based on the
compalison, Which ass!mes tlrat What s Unknown mUst be blo!ght clown to
What is known and can be tJnderstood An exam ned th nq athouqh t mav
a so be a ] ruman be ng, becomes sc ent fica ly importanl i t can be under
standable Tnerefore the reasonableness of 1h ngs aclrieves a Va Ue ihat is
h 9h above everyth ng ihat is ncomprehens ble. At the same time, it s nol
nol ced that reasonabieness, as redUcing the !nknown 10 1lre known, causes
the loss of What § except ona or Un que A l know edge s a s] mp if cation
and its or9an zat on is hand ed by nstitLrtlonslhat are g!ided by the ic] eas oi
5 mp] e Ut lty n th s Way, techn calsc ences become soc aly more ] mpoltant
than art, Wh ch itse f js also often lequ red io be lsefu , At the same t me,
living art s dominatecl by the siudy of ań, and c!ltUre, Whiclr is sUb] ect lo
]2 M
Hedegger Djeż eł des Wellb'/ des (J rstpublshed] 950) tln:] ] dem, Ho/ zwege (] 935
lhć lge
] 946)'Gesamtalsgab€ vo.5 Frankfuńa,M ] 977,pp,75 l] 3 Eńo| slr
athel Essays,
af the Wan.l Plcture | in-) illeń fhe Qlestrón cóncelning Technalagy and 'dóm
ł ans W Lovili NeWYo.k] 977 pp l] 5 54 Jdem The Age ól lhe wór1.1 PjCtDre I drdem,
all lhe Beateń tack, 1lans and ed J Young. K Haynes cańbr dge 2002. pp 57,8tj
the pr nc p e of comn] o| !se. becomes a prodUct on of enterta nrnent that
] lsi makes le more p easant, A Lc l | q example of change n art 5 the case
of arch tecture Wlrere 1r] c Va Uc oi beauty has beei degrac] ecl n favour
ol ts
ty as G ovanni MichclUcc exp] i.it y commenter] n his st.tement
that the greale§t ach evement ot modclnist archńectUre s the Water c oset
lhe ref e.t on on the pos t!on of ciraracLcr st cs oi
th nk n9 ] ntrodUces n!m_Aro!s deta s to the 9eneraL, mctaphys ca stalc
mcnt concern n9 the ob] ect f cat on oJ a be ng ancl the downgrad ng of
evcryth n9 lhat.annot be made V s ble treated a5 Vlslb e, made an image
or prcsonled in a y otlrer Way, The Wol d, as the t tle of He degger s essay
staLcs b.comes an mage or preseniat on
belng acqu res ts Va id ty n is
^
rcplcscntaljon, wh] clr uses rationa ity as a too of thai represent.t on Th 5
means that the bein9 can be apprcc atcd whcn it bc.om€
s compr.hens b e,
so that Whai s incompreirenslble ol cannol bc !ndcrstood .] ocs not deserve
attent on, norto be noticed ol coLlrse modeln rat onalty s not comp.tc] y
new aid had prece.] e.i§ n ts element§ ln the Antiqu ty and the Nlidd c
A9es, so th_. for9ett ng of Be ng as someth n9 abyssa danqeroUS and Un
pred ctab e can lre dated back to trre nrnes ol Socratcs al] d P ato, Heideggel
lrowever comlrines the ntens ficat on, stlen9Lhenin9 and popu al ż at on oi
the objectiJ cat on ol the be ng W th the mo.lcrn tlmes When ś Lch tho!9ht
nc nat ons fo!nd the r 5tron9 adVocates, He sees a ceńain C] octl na] c osUlc
oi lire ob] ect i catlon of the being espec a y n th_A thought ot Descartes,
Who part cUlal y cleal y procla n] ed that only statements characte. sed by
the certa nty of thc r rcf.lonce to bein9s as ob] ects are t.!_A The tr!th of
poets, artists or prophets cou d on y be r_Aappr_Ac ated after cr i c sm of
thls adVanced rat ona sn] espec a ly in the plr losophica hermeneui cs of
l] ejdeg9erandGadamcl ony ithesecondhaf of the2OthceniL] rydidthe
excesses of rat ona lsm makc lt possible to not ce that hUmans have a need
totranscend lheir nte ectua] irab ls. to rcv Ve the rth nk n9 by descen.] n9
into the areas ol the abyss, Wir e pocts or art sts n general have access
to truths that are noi prov ,] ed by sc encc n such a case, t s not an ob
] ect i _.d b_. ng, bui a lunclamental non beng | Abgrlnd) W th ts fr ghten
ing aspe.ls thnt has become a hope ior thc future in ph osophy CLtrent
.ationa ty, iher_Afole, means reaclr ng nto noth n9ness that precedes all
forn,s of Be i9 and the b_A n9 Th s changes the pos t on of art sts Wlrose
arl rath.. than ph osophy is a too] for iranscend ng nte lectual and mora
norms and stlug9l n9 Wlth What creaies tlr_. 9reatest res stance,
The current y Undcrslood sUbl m ty means d rect ng ań towards phe
nornena tirat make thcmsclVes pań cU arly d ff cU t to represent or even
magine, cnt ca reilect on on the metaphys cs of presence is dent ca W th
the analys s oi the negat Ve s des ot lhe dom nat on of reason n the ex st
ence ol the nd V dUal and the society A] so ln l] T is case art, as a Splrere of
act V ty less sUbjeci to ihe pressUre oi reason, may be a too to go beyond
ts jm tations, such a d rect on, however, s not an abandonment oi reascn
tLrnct ona
] 57
and a shift towards irrational Values, but an entry inio spheres not yei en
compa§sed by reason but yet being demanded bythis reason, A lresearch
into reason and the Ways in Which concepts emerge has equiva enis in art
that attempts to enter the World beyond the imaginat ons and thejr closing
n expressions of lan9Uage- A more lim ted forrnu a of polem cs Wiih the
recording of be ng in lan9Uage Undertaken by contemporary art concerns
polem] cs Wiih tradiiiona forms of soc ial existence, !t can be ass!med that
the formulas oftheformer metaphysics of presence had a decisive inrpaci
ontheshape oftradtiona, hi9hly interna ly niegrated sociei es, Therelore,
any art that exceeds social habits is in its core an express on of resisiance
to the persistence of nolms resuliing from meiaphysics, Which is d s nte
graiing n ihe plocesses of ihe current phi osophical ana ysis.
Since the ] gth centLlly, ntel] ectual creations, especial y the| rforrn materia ż ed in techn ca products, have become the greatest pr de of Western World cu] t!res, Heidegger's philosophy Was one of the first to atternpt
to po nt out the dangers of such a h gh pos tion of leason that had lost its
purpose of siruggling With the unknoWn and stiffened in 1he Wolld of nst] tut ons, Trad t onal formu as of reasoning ntens fy the exploitat] Ve approach tothe World and rnake it a collection of certain and fuly recogn zable
things, Heideggeas philosophy, however, Was an attempt to show that the
World is insp red by a conil ct in Wh] ch the LJnknowable and the hidden are
the deeper source of all existence and constantly underrnine all certainty,
Truth, therefore, cannot be defined, as in Descartes' t ho ug ht or in scientil c
proceed ngs, as the certainty of ajUdgemeni referring to a limited sphere
of reality, bUt raiher as go ng beyond any limits, Thus, n art too, truth is not
based on the repre§entation of realty and the consolidation of the knoWn,
but on reachin9 oUt to What constitUtes the source of reasonableness,
Wh ch precedes al common ex stence and is attractive because ol ts unaVailability, can a spher€ towards Which human act Vity sho!ld be directed
be called sacled or divine? This is not necessary because the path to the
abso utely unknown is anagogica, ascending one, and consists of numen
ous nterrnediaie stages, among Which Heidegger poinied toihe search by
art forthe truth of Bein9, The term "truth of Being" @iewahlheitdes seins,
He degger) is an unclear and largely inexplicable term because it refers to
the pre-conceptual rea ty and Which is merely obscUred by the concept,
According to Heideg9er, art s pańicu arly cal ed upon to reveal and unve l
this Very realm of rea] ] ty, Wh ch is identical to the beauty that evokes as
tonishment and adm ration,
The attempt to speak oul about the unspeakable s not unUsual and
logicaly incorrect, bui is aconstant human tendencyio9o beyond Whatis
eas ly aiiainable, Go ng beyond the World of concepts is, therefore, a trad tional praciice n poetry, art and philosophy, Undoubted y, however, art
is an €
xceptionally Useful tool in these maiters, since in its character it has
retained rnostofthe possjbilii es of us ng p re,conceptual th nklng associated
] 59
W] th fantasy, imag nation, or intu tlon, ancl cl rectin9 onese f towards areas
not covered by trad t onal cogniiion When the thes s is pUt forwarclihat
ań gives pr Vileged access io the trUth of Bein9, the answer can escap,.
ordinary VocabL] lary and obV] ousness The answer s a| so d sturbed by ihe
hab tihat ad oilen recreaies the Visjb e realty, ca.es about the stat!s of an
object and i§ proies§ ona ] y producec] W thin the ln§t t!tions of the artist c
ndUsiry, However, When the characlel §tics of d ff cultie5 n deScrib ng
tlre phenomenon of revealin9 the 1rUth of Being n ań are taken Up, certa n
paths of Undersiandjn9 this phenomenon appear, The explanation shou cl
beg n Wiih a reminder that every ordinary thinkin9 s a im tation, because
only Whai can be encompass€
d , def necl and c] escr] bed can be thought of
Descrb n9itsef salsoaiormof separation,beca!sebothspeechandWrt
c!lations, e formsofdivision Bothspeechanc] Wriing
are tools by Whiclr anothel division is made, name y separaiing from direct
experience and !nclucl ng it !n the parts of speech and anguage expressions
that constitUte the second Wor c] for hUman, An, be n9 a trans9less on oi
th nking, reaches into Bein9 mole d rect y and is more a connect on tlran
a separai on, t s a perception of the wor d as a whole,
The 1rLrUr Heideg9er Wrote about s aboUi Be ng d fferent from beings
leduced to the evel of ob] ects, because ] t is dynam c, mobi e and manifests
nt
itself as being marked by contrad ct ons, t is thelefore a un] ty of diffel€
cornponents, lormin9 a kind oi con/ c/ .Jenlia opposiiorum, S!ch Be ng ls an
equ Valent of the fate captured !n a Greek drama, bUt it also refers to ihe
d V ne aspects of the logos, Moreover, it s agonic, levea ng its (own?) existence While h d ng it, lts man fe§tation ha5 the charactel slics of an event
ing are based on ari
(Ereignis, He] degger), in Which dangerous and threaten n9 components must
be sUppressed by people's social behavioUr, an9uage and cu t,] re, cUlture
therefole concealsthe horrorof Lfe, of Being orof God, creat!ng a Wor cl of
llUsions and ] m tation§ that are necessary for co ect] Ve l fe but mUst a so
be transgressed S!ch imitations, even the lan9uage tse l (anc] not on y
lelLgioUs or mora norms), create the fettels fol the most bas c charactersl cs of Be ng. Artists, l ke propheis ol myst cs are obli9ed to 1ranscend
al rUles so that the lorce§ of Being can reneW tlreir lllluence on the V s b e
lealńy, The art oJ levolt s a kind of a channe of transitLon from Non-Be n9,
i e, a deeper ayer of Bein9, to Bein9lhat levea] s ord nary beings Whose
tendency s to fa l into obieciif cat on, ThUs, any a,list ć act Viiy thal algues
W th the ob] ect statUs of a Work of
ari ncludes the need io renew contaci
Wth the metaphys calsource ofal Be n9
AssUm ng that an event (Ereignis) s a manifestat on ol Bejng a so prompts
to reflect on a time which n a newer sense, oses ts §ubstantiv€ and
obiectlVe feaiures, An event always has a certain spatial dimension and
With it ] ts own iime. such an assumption is not acomplete novelty, because
the departure from the substantial and linear concept of time has been in
human thouqhtforaVery long timeand an importani stage oflh] s path Was
the dispute between Newton and Leibniż , in Which Newton represented
the subsiantive position, Whi e Leibniż represented the relationa position.
The problematic natule of time Was expressed ear ier in the statement of
st. Augustine proclaiming:
What, then, is time? lf no one asks me, l know what it is, lf lwish to exp ain it
to him who asks me, do not know Yei l say with coniidence that knów that il
nothińg passed away' there Wo!ld be no pasi tińe| and ii nothińg were si] lco_
ming, thereWoU d b€ no luture time] and ii lhereWere nothing at al, there WoU d
be no presenttime,
Bul, then, how is it that there are the two t mes, past ańd luture, When gven
the past is now no lonaer andtheiut!le is now not yet? But ii lhe present Were
always present, and did not pass inlo paś l time, it obvious y would not be tińe
buteternity.lf, then, time present, ilitbet me, comes inio exisien.e on y because
passes intoiime past, howcan w€ §ay thai even 1his is, s nce the caus€ of ts
being isthat itWillceaseto be?ThUs, ć an We not truly say ihat time s only as it
t
tend5 toward nonbe ng?!,
Thec!rrent situation of difficulty in def n ng tir.e is identical lo that described
by Augustine, but is condiiioned by other prem] ses. The criticism of the
objectificaiion of Being js part of a rnore generalcritic sm of existence ihat
has revealed iis dependence on expressions of speech and anguage and
thus its dependenceon hunran, something "exisis" or "is" also becaus,Aihe
language contains the expression "is", but What is this "something" apart
from that What We desclibe in ii as existing, We do noi knowl4, Analogica] ly,
therefore, it is with time ihat exists only for humans, lt ] s not poss] ble to
assume that there ] s t] me Wiihout humans, because ihis time exisis on y
for humans, lf it has dimensions, they are onI y ihose that ale given io ii by
humans. Therefore, allforms oftime are der ved from memory, thinking ol
consciousness, The belonging of time to a s ngle person is so significant
that individual times cannot be defined more precisely, bUt soc] a] life and
culture a so bring forrnulas of time, Which create a common, historically
determ] ned time, For Hussen stilL, two plus two equalled four regardless of
Auglstine, confess'ons and Enchr'dion, Bookx| ,14,trańs, A, c, oUtle., Lońdon1955,
jdeń, ofl tha Beateń Track tlańs .
M, Heidegger The or,gin of t he Work ot Art, | iń:)
J, Yo!n9, K. Hayneś , cańblidge 2002, p,29| "There is mlch in beings mań cańnot
maste. BUt tllecomesto be knowń. The known rema nsan approx mation, What is
, Never sabeing- asit might, a tooeas y, app6ar- somelhing of
mastered ins6cUr€
our ńaking or merelyour representation". Der ursprung des kuństwerł as are three
ectU16spresentedinNovemberandDeć ember] 936,
163
human exisience's, but now We ale inclined to assurne that count ng methods
have a social history and are based on the needs of common l] fe, The same
istrue of t me, Whose ceńa n folmulas are noi so much complete] y objective
but lather soc al, However, ihis does not obscure the fact ihat t me in its
basic form is the dimension of the individua 's existence, his or her fear of
h s or herown iate and hiś or her da ly concern, certain y, therefore, it is not
something that exisis on its own, w thout a conneć tion to Being of human,
The relat onsh p between time and memory can be explained by simple
observaiions. Time is the resuli of hUman experience constanily encoun,
tering movement and Var abil ty. The rea] isation that one ih ng has passed
and another is on y ] Usi noW, creates a strUcture of tinre, Accord ng io
Aristotle, memory is the absence of a certain state of ih ngs, Which has
preserved itself as its image and can be recalled] 6, The prob em is that an
image is always a distońion, an active operation that tUrns a certain reality
into 1he property of a specific person. A though the patterns result ng from
social experi€
n ces play a decisive role in the assim lation of reality and the
irnagination also has the characteristics of habits that bring the ind Vidual
c| oser to the other members of the communily, yet what is personal in the
imagination results from ind v dual experiences and transforms an image
of rea ity nto ils interpretation. Sirnilarly, reco ection, i.e, evoking the image of the past, is another distort on, l] ecause memory is s!bject 1o constant modif cai on and Updating ihe magination conta ned n memory is, to
a large exient, the cleaiion of someihing new Also, What s seen direcily,
even before it is remembered. is a so based on ihe transformation and
ad] ustment of a certa n rea ity to someone's own percepiua capabiliiies,
lt fo ows that We never come nto contaci W th a permanent realiiy, but
only With its chang n9 imaginat] ons, those of the present (prlmo), those of
the remembered (secuńdo) and those of the reca ] ed (tert;o), n each case
there is a mod] ficat on of rea ity and the creation of an imag] nation, Which
is neces§arily diiferent from the origina reality, Therefore, We ] Ve n the
circle of oUr oWn imaginat ons modified by co lective habiis, li a so means
that ihe art of inrages, the art of menrory, js never perrnaneni and does not
exist as someth ng unchangeab e, Ań is always doomed to a certain loss,
because t redUces the decisiVe part of the mpressions from the original
]5
] 65
Hussel'sv ewś ć ońtaned I Lagical lnvestigations { Loglsche Unterś u.hungen,
190o/ 190] ) Were presenled by Kolakowsk as follows] 'Thal t is lrue that 2 + 2= 4
doeś not dependon whelllelorńóttheleare ob] eclsio be counted;the law'either p
ól nol p", does noidependon whelheror nol theleale peoplewholh nkand reaś on".
seeL (olakowsk, Hlsser/ ał dthe searchfar cert] tude,st Augustine's Press, soulh
Be.d, ndiana 2002, p 20
Arś lotLe De memoria efreninesć erlia (n.pipvi| Jiś xoloYouvlio.Uś ) 1,451ala 16 lińl
Aliś tótle óń Meńary an.l Recallectbn: Text, franslalion, ] nterpretation, and Recaptian
in Western schólaś ti.iś m,D. Boch (ed ). Leden_Boslon 2007, p 35 "Wehavenow
slaledwhatmeńoryańdreńemberingiś lhatit s the siaie ol having an image, taken
aś a lepreseńlanon of lhaiof Wh ch ii san image" The fina defi.iton ó' memory
reality, when duling mernorizing and recolleciing, it adapts tto a particu ar
human existence (Dasein), ln each case t is an active operation, Thus, ań,
accompanying the forms of changeabiliy, impermanence and non,existence,
itse] f fal s into non-existence and loss, lt a Ways exists on y as an irnag] na_
tion that precedes rather ihe phenomenon of iime than sUccUmbs to it,
Understanding t] me as a process ofchan9es taking place in consc] oUsness
disturbs iis presence and prompts to search in ari for iis adequate repre,
seniaiions in the form ofWorks being in the process of creation ratherthan
finally created, inclUd ng those that are Unique events, as happens in the
ań of action (happenings and performances),
A more thorolgh analys] s of innerconsciousnessoftime ndicatesthat
its beginning is a ceńain initial impre§sion ihai is captured as the presentrl,
The source irnpr€
ssion
capiured by con§c] ousness lo§es its directness,
c o§ss itsolf to the imaginat on, becomes the property of memory and al
most mmediably passes ] ntothe past. The presont s an e§cap n9 or rather
elusive plesence, immed] ate y rep aced by is consciousness, i,e. a recol ec_
tion, However, one cannot say that m6mory sonlyamatterofWhaipasses,
becal] se human existenco is saturated W th fear of the future, anxiety, but
also With the thou9ht runnin9 out into unatiainable spheres] 6,
The past Was sometimes the area of the mysterium tremendum et
f8sclnosum (RLldolf o1to), so a state of drsad'9 thai iurn€
d time back inio
polit
repress
ve
a
trad tion and turned nto a conservative
cal utop a, such
phenomena ] ntensif edespec allyafterthe French Revolut on and reached
theil peak around the midd] e of the ] gth century, since romantic art made
fear the ob] ect of its interest, t has been tamed and even made a §phele
of pleasure, However, art that glorified the past and comb ned the apology
of the idea of nat on With the motils of traditional religions
tiv€
n ess
lost ts attrac-
at the end of ihe 1gth century. The art of the 20th century r€
p 16-
sented a ś ianilar enthusiasm, but directed towards the presenl, also taking
into account th6 admirat] on for ] ts Various politicalconsequences, sinco
the late ] 960s, hoW6Vel Western culture has been saturated With doubts
abolt many of its ma n d€a§, and moreover With the percept on of threats
resulting flom the sliff6ning of rat] onalisl c concepts, and in particularfrom
]8
]9
E Husser , vóllesungen zur Phenamenalagie des inneren zeibew!] 3tselns. Hrsa M He .
degger, Ha o a,d,s 1923 pp, 390-39] ; idem, Lecllfes an the Pheńońehólógy ól the
cónscioOsnessal lntelnal lińe tlans, J, s, churchi , Bloominglon ] 964, pp 50-52]
ideh,ońthe Phehómanalogy af the canś ciousness oI lntelnal Time (893-] 9r1, kans
J, B, arough Dordrecht-Boston.London ] 99l pp,30 32,
M Heidegger, sein !ńdZ6't, Ti] b] ng€n 1967 p, 329: "Das pr mere Phanońen der
UrspnjnglichenUndegentlichenZel chkeit isl d] e Z!kunft" ldeń, Beinq and Tima
transl byJ. Macquafie, E, Róbińś on, oxford2oo1, p,37a] "Theprim6ryphenomenon
of plimordiaLand authenlic tempora!ly is the luture". see a so/ deń op, ć it., tlaisl
J, slanbaugh, rev sed D. J schmdl,NeWYork20] 0 o,314
The memory ol the past aroused fear a ready nsl August ne. who Wrote: "Great s
fh 9 pow6rofmemory exceed n9y 9real, o my God, a argeańd bóundless nnerhall]
Wholrasp] !mbedthedeplhsól
167
it?'
ś ee ideń,op,
cil,.p.252.
making science the backbone of tech nology and nd ustriaL production. ldeas
critical of rationalism, but also ihose pojnting to the separation of humani-
ties from contemporary problems, rnanifested themselves already in the
] 930s, amon9 others ln the ph] losoph] es of Husserl and Heidegger, bui
their signiflcance grew only at the end of the 20th century, Along Wiih the
development of objections to rnany iundamental phenomena of contemporary times, irony about the phenomena of makin9 all beings and Values
markeiable goodsjoined the ań of sublimating ihe present. The art of the
preseni has lost its simplicity and has eniered a critical phase. ln philosophy, the main manifestation of comparable changes Was the crisis of many
concepis of traditionalmetaphysics, especiallythe crisis of the phi] osophy
of presence. However, ihe deconstruction of metaphysics, along With its
development, abandoned its destructive core and developed a more affirmative refI ection, Along W] th this phenomenon, the fuiure began to be
interesting as an area of absolute otherness and impossibility, dangerous,
but arousing ihe desire, The human tendency to iranscend Was renewed
at the tUrn of the 2oih 6nd 2] st centurles and the future became the only
notewońhy dil.ilens] on ofthetime,ln such a sitUation, the search for radical
otherness and imposs bility, affected by the crisis of faiih in the possibili,
t es of the intellect, movesfrorn thefield of pure philosophy ] nto the space
ofart, Which s as if more called to explore Whaicannot be said to exist nor
cannot be said to not exist'ó.
20
] 69
However. the problem ofthe mU] tjpl] cily ol Ways of ex] stence and non existeńceoi
beings is not onlya problem of cuffent philosophy, but has a leady appeared in Plalo's
sophist (259b): "l...] lhere s therólore ńodoubtthatthere are thousands and ihousandsofth ń9ś which being is not, andiust soal otherthings,bothindivdlallyand
collectively, in many re ations are, and in manyare noi'(Plato, soph'st, linl ideń, Theaetetuś , sopńist, lransl. H. N, Fowler, London New York 1921, p, 423)i Plalo, soph/ sb
(259b),I n:l Platońiś oDera, J- Burnet (ed,), Vo,l, oxford ] 900 k6pr 1967):'óde,óóv
dvd!9@pirńroś oJ luplo dnl uupiolE ol] K iml, ki Tó^ / 6 ói xdo' Łxoorov oijr@ xqi onprofo
no\ ^ oxń ltv ć d , nd\ ^ oxń 6'oiJx Ćd v". Hege al6o r6fer6d to this sś Ue, c'. G, W F, Hege ,
vanesungen i)ber dią Geschichte del Philósóphie, zweiler Tei , Hrsg, c L, Michelet,