I used the Robert Mapplethorpe Archive to identify and analyze an aesthetics of submission. As a sociologist I ask myself to what extend such an aesthetic experience can be conductive for the exercise of power. Sociology often investigates the concept of power, but largely has neglected its converse: submission. This is astonishing, especially since Max Weber stated that it is the follower who provides the legitimation to the leader, and that without such legitimation the exercise of power is extremely fragile. Even when alarmed by the excesses of power, we have neglected to investigate submission as the cause of unchecked power. For example, Leni Riefenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will” and the Italian Futurism are controversial examples of depraved power. I work on a perspective that allows the question if a “Triumph of the Will” might be equally well be seen as a “Triumph of Submission.”
Sorry, these are just images of the stunning work environment that the Getty offered me. It is a pity that for copyright reasons I cannot show you examples of the images provided to me. So just some ideas:
Concept of Aesthetics
In the tradition of Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Schiller, esthetics can be seen as shared rules of interpretation that establish contexts and elicit affective experiences. The aesthetic experience hereby entails both, a repository of significance or value, and a sensory experience – a synthesis summarized in Hegel’s theory of art as “the sensuous embodiment of the idea.”
Methodological Model
In my project I analyzed photographic images of the Robert Mapplethorpe Archive. With a sample of imagery depicting the aesthetics of submission established in this collection, I then further investigated how this aesthetic experience is provided by other artists and in different contexts. Visual sociology is a relatively new field that provides tools for investigating photographic images for common components. I selected photographs of submissive practices that allow the analysis of body composure and gestures. Looking down, kneeling, bowing are examples of gestures I expect to be typical in acts of submission.
My work at the Getty is part of a research project that seeks to establish of sets of images that represent an aesthetic experience of submission. These images can be used as stimuli for future research in which affective measurements are used to make individual experiences numerically comparable.
Well this work environment stimulated indeed:
I rented an apartment in a house in just a few blocks away form the beach in the heart of Venice Beach. About 8 miles from my workplace this was a perfect location. It came with a bicycle which I immediately used as my main mode of transportation.
I picked up my son Odin at LAX to spend a couple of days in LA. He roamed Venice Beach as he were a local, so I had time to get work done. Skateboarding from our home right to the beach he certainly fit in:
Santa Monica Pier -- easy to reach with a bike:
LA has more than 100 miles of bike trails and we made it from Malibu all the way to Hermosa Beach.
LA, San Diego, I8 along the border to Yuma. Then to Organ Pipe National Monument, Tucson, White Sands National Monument, Cloudcroft, and home to Lubbock.
First, however, basic training driving a stick in Malibu:
Organ Pipe National Monument, AZ:
White Sands National Monument, NM:
