Through the Prism of Aesthetics

Interview given to Rapsódia, a journal from the Department of Philosophy of the University of São Paulo (FFLCH-USP), in 2002. In this interview, Otília recalls her academic and intellectual journey while sharing her thoughts on various topics that she had addressed until then, from Mário Pedrosa’s criticism to postmodern art, from the exhaustion of modern architecture to culture’s central role in new urban strategies, the new museums, the cultural industry and the culture of the spectacle, the role of criticism, and the central issue that permeates the whole interview: the death or endurance of art, and consequently of Aesthetics.

Originally published in 2002: Rapsódia: almanaque de filosofia e arte, n.2. São Paulo: Departamento de Filosofia FFLCH-USP, p. 221-264.

Keywords: Aesthetics, FFLCH USP, CEAC, Visual Arts, Modern Architecture, Gilda de Mello e Souza, Mário Pedrosa, Charles Baudelaire, Habermas, Roberto Schwarz, Aesthetic experience, Death of art, Hegel, Spectacle, Cities, Guy Débord, Adorno, Museums, Curatorship, Fashion.