잔혹한 신체성의 표상: 아브젝트 개념을 중심으로

초록

As contemporary art has undergone a fundamental change in the perception of the human “body” after modernism, it has projected varied body images in a different way onto social and cultural issues, instead of seeking a perfect and ideal body image. This study focuses on the phenomenon that as grotesque body images, which incorporate hatred and displeasure as aesthetic tools, pass through the theory of the Abject by Julia Kristva, they trigger a new self-reflection on the long philosophical question regarding the boundaries between the subject and others and the “fixed truth” or taboos. Especially, it stems from the idea that it is necessary to newly recognize the existential reality of an individual who is sacrificed due to social oppression or discrimination with “the critical mind of the contemporary era.” Thus, this study aims to analyze the sociopolitical orientations and expressional processes through which contemporary artworks that have offered innovative themes and created a world of pluralism by taking “the body” as the tool for artistic expression have obtained aesthetic values. For the methodology, the study provides a fresh perspective on the theory of Julia Kristva within the paradigm on the body that has been extended from the mid-20th century to today, and through this, contemplates on the main discourse on the Abject and body art. Moreover, the intention is to reconstruct the close aesthetic interrelation between the main issues of the contemporary world and the brutal and humble corporeality by analyzing artworks dealing with feminism, racism and genetic modification in that such body art serves as “a critical tool” as to identity and independence. As a result, this study can understand the artistic goals of contemporary artists who have presented Abject Art with the ambivalent attributes of displeasure and attrition and locate its significance within the suggestion of an extended perspective to contemporary body art through social and cultural discussions presented from various perspectives.

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