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Arts & Communication Kitsch and art

an all too human one, that accompanies it like a sweet theory. 31-34 Originally, the term was used to encompass “a
innuendo and a sour noise: kitsch.” Or, to put it less variety of interconnected meanings: a fluid that quickly
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poetically: “most of the authors who have dealt with this tends to spill, a taste such as sour, sweet, or salty, the soul or
issue believe that kitsch is indeed a relatively recent arrival essence of something, a desire, a power, a chemical agent
in Western culture,” attributed, e.g., to the emergence of a used in changing one metal to another, the life-giving sap
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middle class, who had more time for leisure. in plants, and even poison.” Thus, it is about a specific
Sometimes, the beginnings of kitsch are also seen in the experience. The rasa school emphasizes the experiential
art of Romanticism, which is “without being kitsch itself side of art, that it “must be directly experienced in order not
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[…] the mother of kitsch.” Further, it has been stressed to confuse it with an aggregate of its natural constituents.”
A picture, for example, is thus first and foremost to be
that kitsch is born with(in) mass culture and thus not seen and to be experienced as a whole and should not be
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only relates to the taste of the masses but also to mass broken down into its components, which are then analyzed
production. Consequently, Cilliers suggests as a working separately.
definition of kitsch “the reduction or inversion of aesthetic
objects or ideas into easily marketable forms.” 26 Bharata Muni, the “Father of Indian Theatrical Art
Form,” laid the foundation of Indian dramaturgy in
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Kitsch has to appeal to the masses, but its “artistic
inadequacy” 27,28 has been criticized. Thus, one can conclude his Natyashastra, which includes suggestions for body
postures, eye movements, makeup, costumes, as well
that the masses have an uneducated, if not bad taste, which as the production and direction of plays. At the heart
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points out to an “ethical problem:” Kitsch is about making of Muni’s theory is the distinction of various emotions.
money without delivering something valuable and about These emotions are linked to colors and gods, and are
the fetishization of profane objects. 29
discussed with respect to their dominant, transitory, and
With regard to kitsch’s appearance and content, it temperamental states.
has been said that it distracts people from what is really Even though sentiments are achieved in certain ways,
important by merely addressing their emotions without the experience is far from being technical: “Rasa is regarded
giving intellectual impulses to think. By solely addressing as extraordinary and unworldly; the pleasure which
emotions, it keeps people calm instead of making them accompanies it is as transcendental.” Further, it would
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aware of social and political conditions, thereby stopping be short-sighted to say that it is only about the recipient:
people from actively changing while fleeing into the overly the experience of rasas unites the creator, the work, and
beautiful world of kitsch. In this political context, kitsch has the recipients. However, it has been criticized that many
also been described as “anti-feminist thought by appearing “Sanskritists have started looking upon the theory as a
as a stereotypical symbol of female ridiculousness.” 27 sacred relic of the past which has to be studied, labeled,
All these definitions have one thing in common: they and preserved in a museum but which is not supposed
carry a pejorative undertone. to be put to mundane uses.” Recently, nevertheless, rasa
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theory has been explored for new purposes, e.g., for online
3. New perspectives on kitsch learning. 36
In the following section, I will argue that the aforementioned As stated above, rasa is “basically the esthetic experience.”
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definitions of kitsch are ethnocentric and fail to recognize If sentiment is now at the center of art theory, the question
some of the characteristics of kitsch. The separation of of its relation to kitsch arises all the more – how would rasa
kitsch resonates with a division into “high, valuable” and theory understands kitsch, as kitsch seems to be able to convey
“low, worthless” art – a way of thinking that corresponds to emotions very effectively. Concerning rasa, it has been stated
critical theory but has been questioned in postmodernism. that “the arts generate and consolidate moods, sentiments,
In this context, I would also like to invoke South Asian art and transient emotions […], freed from the fluctuations of
theory – without implying that South Asian artworks are fleeting desires and impulses, focus and diffuse these in the
to be understood as kitsch. However, this art theory offers minds and hearts of the people.” Rather than a superficial
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a completely different approach to the aforementioned distraction, this is understood as liberation. It is also
connection between emotions and the work. about “minds and hearts,” i.e., being completely moved. In
addition, the reference to the plural also emphasizes unity
3.1. South Asian art theory – the unity of various recipients, but also the unity with art.
In centuries-old classical South Asian texts, “kala” is In a way, a meta-level is included, as suggested by Milan
translated as “art” with its purpose of achieving supreme Kundera, who famously states: “Kitsch causes two tears to
bliss. “Rasa” is the central concept of South Asian art flow in quick succession. The first tear says: how nice to see
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Volume 2 Issue 3 (2024) 3 doi: 10.36922/ac.2990