Nowa Krytyka

I would like to consider the motif of trichophilia in a contemporary art. I think that a hair (taken as the medium or the main/contextual object of representation) not only becomes more influential and meaningful in the artistic universe of various media or symbols, but it also helps to transcend the traditional visual hegemony because of its multidimensional and intersensory status. I am trying to establish a preliminary typology of hair fetishization strategies in contemporary visual arts (painting, collage, assemblage, sculpture, installation, photography, video, media art), showing that a hair can be used as the aesthetic attractor (focus) or distractor (context); the abject; and the symbol. The ambivalence of hair symbolics and materiality is now preoccupying the aesthetics and anthropology of artistic experience which I am trying to show by referring to Böhme’s, Menninghaus’, Kristeva’s and Goodman’s theories as well as to some examples and illustrations taken from contemporary arts and literature.