The Work of Art as Historical Event

Any work on aesthetics necessarily deals with the questions 'why does art exist?' and 'why is it important?'. In this book Dr. Anastasia Ladopoulou outlines an aesthetic theory derived from Heidegger's later philosophy that attempts to address core issues in aesthetics as ontological rather than metaphysical questions. The debate concerning Heidegger's success or lack thereof in overcoming metaphysics with regard to questions of aesthetics is one at the heart of Heidegger studies and in this volume Dr. Ladopoulou argues that so long as we focus primarily on Heidegger's later philosophy many possibilities open for the construction of a post-metaphysical aesthetic theory which can lead the way out of the aporia historically associated with this subject area. She elaborates this argument with a detailed case study of the Arte Povera movement looking especially at the work of Giulio Paolini.