The Banality as a Mood of Contemporary Society in Contrast to the Artist's Mood

Abstract

Contemporary times witness significant transformations in economic organisation, deeply influencing social dynamics and emotional frameworks. This study aimed to elucidate banality as the prevailing mood of contemporary society, delineating two perspectives through art: one defined by a banal emotional framework and the other advocating innocence. Inspired by Heidegger and Nietzsche, an inquiry unfolded to reveal the emotional and affective aspects of the examined phenomenon, enriched by perspectives from acclaimed artists. Consequently, the findings established banality affective disposition characteristics as a hallmark of contemporary comprehensiveness, encompassing instrumental engagement with the world, acceptance, and incapacity to perceive its banal condition. In contrast, the banality of the broader world was juxtaposed with that of the artist, who focused on innocence as a manifestation of their being in the world. The outlined approach derived, in methodological terms, from a phenomenological-hermeneutic procedure anchored in the Heideggerian framework, which analysed the "mood" (Stimmung) as a determinant in the interpretation and unfolding of the world. The findings proposed alternative understandings of contemporary life as the result of the conquest of the banality of average mood and contrast it with the character of the artist who resists falling into the overarching banality of our time. The results reflected the difficulty of the current era, from which hopeful aspects of transformation are not evident. Conversely, resistance is concentrated in isolated occurrences that reclaim life and its evolution. This work sought to establish new avenues of research that enable the exploration of multiple contemporary phenomena, in addition to indicating paths of inquiry that link the thoughts of artists and their expressions.