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\u201eThe relationship between \u201eaesthetics and politics\u201c is often discussed below the level of the problem. People like to take the artist's opinion for the politics of art. Some artists also sail in these waters, which can be desirable if one equates the \u201eattitude\u201c of the artist with that of every citizen. But the political in art is far more complicated. It is multi-layered and cannot simply be read off a surface. <\/p>\n Konrad Paul Liessmann<\/strong>, born in Villach in 1953, is a retired professor of philosophy at the University of Vienna, essayist, literary critic and cultural journalist. He received the Austrian Book Trade Prize of Honour for Tolerance in Thought and Action in 2004, the Donauland Non-Fiction Prize in 2010 and the Paul Watzlawick Ring of Honour in 2016. He publishes the Philosophicum Lech series at Zsolnay Verlag. Most recently published by Zsolnay Geisterstunde. The practice of uneducation. Eine Streitschrift (2014), Bildung als Provokation (2017), Alle Lust will Ewigkeit. Mittern\u00e4chtliche Versuchungen (2021) and Lauter L\u00fcgen (2023), as well as Der werfe den ersten Stein (2019) published by Hanser (together with Michael K\u00f6hlmeier).<\/p>\n
\nA few months ago, Konrad Paul Liessmann wrote in the Neue Z\u00fcrcher Zeitung<\/em> published an essay that uses a specific case to illustrate how the relationship between politics and aesthetics can be discussed in an exemplary way: \u201aIt is no coincidence\u2018, it was said in the NZZ<\/em>, Prigozhin's brutal mercenary troop operated under the name of the composer Richard Wagner. They thus participated in a vulgar way in his fascist nimbus. But how do the spirit and form of Wagner's work relate to this abuse?\u201a
\nLiessmann's essay is the occasion and foundation for a conversation about the aestheticisation of politics, the political impact of which, it seems, is currently underestimated by many politicians.\u201c Franz Schuh<\/em><\/p>\n