The work of art has two aspects, one that is turned towards representation and one that is turning away from it. We may call…
The work of art has two aspects, one that is turned towards representation and one that is turning away from it. We may call them the pheno-layer and the geno-layer respectively. Art that is leaning towards discourse, art that moralizes and politicizes, has no geno-layer. It has opinions but no desire. The geno-layer, the place of the secret, resists the assignment of meaning, and so lends the work of art the aura of the NON-THING. The NON-THING impressesbecause it does not inform. It is the reverse, the mysterious backyard, the ‘subtle beyond’ ( borschamp subtil) of the artwork, even its unconscious. It resists the disenchantment of art.
Byung-Chul Han. 2022. Non-things: Upheaval in the Lifeworld. Cambridge: Polity Press.