Kyle Chayka described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as the first “Tik Tok war,” in which “social media’s aesthetic norms are shaping how Ukrainians document the Russian invasion.” He asks, “Is it a new form of citizen war journalism or just an invitation to keep clicking?” Departing away from a war aesthetic such as propaganda, the notion of “aesthetic war” involves the marketing practices pioneered by Edward Bernays for peace-time propaganda, psychological operations promoting Abstract Expressionism and conducted by the C.I.A. during the Cold War, or as Bernard Stiegler argued, both a term that describes the appropriation of aesthetics as the theater and a weapon in an economic war.

 

The editors of this forthcoming volume of The Polish Journal of Aesthetics invite researchers to submit relevant articles replying to the question above within the domains of art and aesthetics, especially including analyses of Ukrainian artists and art practices. The main questions of this issue concern the role of art and aesthetics within the domain of their media and political conflicts and struggles. The volume focuses on how others exploit creative and fictive processes. This planned volume provides an opportunity for describing new modes of perception, artists, and media through in-depth reflections on and interpretations of modern culture.

 

We invite authors to reflect on relevant themes. They may include questions about military and economic wars and their aesthetics, the meaning or legitimacy of art in culture, art theory and practice, the role of artists, symbols and techniques, the category of “aesthetic war,” the art market and profitability, industrialization and media theory, censorship, acceptability, performance, entertainment, judgment, propaganda, and any other area that can be argued to be formative of feeling, emotion, or cognition. This list is not exhaustive, and other submissions relevant to the title Aesthetic War will also be considered.