“Aesthetic Network Theory” in Being for Beauty by Dominic Lopes:Aesthetic Evaluation of “Art Project” : A Survey of Prior Attempts 4

ドミニク　ロペス　ビ　ニ　ムカウ　ソンザイ　ニ　オケル　ビテキ　ネットワーク　リロン　アート　プロジェクト　ノ　ビテキ　ヒョウカ　ソノ　リロンテキ　モデル　ヲ　モトメテ　４

Tanaka, Hitoshi

美的ネットワーク理論

美的快楽主義

美的行為／美的価値

art project

aesthetic network theory

aesthetic hedonism

aesthetic practice/ aesthetic value

In this essay, I examine the validity of “aesthetic network theory” by Dominic Lopes as a theory of “art projects” in Japan. Lopes’ “network theory” of aesthetic practice and value explains the specialization of aesthetic domains and activities, scaffolded and conditioned by social structures. He calls the cooperative relations among specialized activities inside and beyond domains “aesthetic network”. One of the merits of “network theory” is its capacity to explain the diversity of aesthetic value systems of participants in collaborative art project with various social backgrounds. I also developed two arguments on aesthetic significance of art project from “network theory”. 1) While Lopes focuses on the one-way transfer of capability of aesthetic evaluation as “core aesthetic capability” from art to other domains, the transfer of capabilities could be twoway and reciprocal for both art and “non-art” domains in collaboration. 2) If Lopes is right in his argument that aesthetic activities can be motivated by the “truly fulfilled feeling” of contribution to communities, collaborative art project should amplify that feeling by letting the participants engage in both art and non-art communities.