Gaga Aesthetics

Adam Geczy is an artist and writer who teaches at Sydney College of the Arts at the University of Sydney, Australia.Vicki Karaminas is Professor of Fashion and Director of Doctoral Studies in the School of Design, Massey University, New Zealand, and Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre of Visual Arts, University of Melbourne, Australia.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgementsIntroduction 1. Culture and the Up-Ending of Tradition 2. Hegel, Art and Adequation3. Adorno, The Constriction of the Aesthetic and Difficult Art4. Modern Music and the Pact with the Devil5. At the Precipice of Pop Culture: Wagner and Mahler 6. Art Beyond the Horizon 7. The Culture Industry and Popular Culture 8. Light Music and Lazy Listening 9. Jazz and “Jazz” 10. Ugliness and Kitsch 11. Aesthetics of Alienation 12. “Fashion Theory”: A Philosophy of Dress 13. Lady Gaga’s Gaga Aesthetics 14. Madonna to the Power of X 15. Fashion and the Redeployment of Kitsch 16. Philosophy in Fabric: Deconstruction in Contemporary Fashion Conclusion NotesBibliographyIndex

Starting from the question of culture and the up-ending of tradition, passing through Hegel, Adorno, the culture industry, light music, jazz and fashion, examining closely the aesthetics of alienation, ugliness and kitsch, and finally arriving to Madonna and Lady Gaga, Gaga Aesthetics offers a convincing and fascinating interpretation of leading trends and fundamental aspects of both contemporary art and everyday life, which can be of the greatest concern not only for academic scholars but also, in general, for all readers genuinely interested in understanding our time.