2026 № 1 (56)
Art as Vehicle by J. Grotowski in the Mirror of Neoplatonic Aesthetics
UDC 740
LBC 87.8
DOI: 10.51678/2226-0072-2026-1-166-191
For cit.: Kulikov P.V. Art as Vehicle by J. Grotowski in the Mirror of Neoplatonic Aesthetics. Hudozhestvennaya kul’tura [Art & Culture Studies], 2026, no. 1, pp. 166–191. https://doi.org/10.51678/2226-0072-2026-1-166-191. (In Russian)
Kulikov Petr V.
PhD Student, Sector of Aesthetics, Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 12 bld. 1 Goncharnaya Str., Moscow, 109240, Russia
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9071-2332
kultura_log@mail.ru
Art as Vehicle by J. Grotowski in the Mirror of Neoplatonic Aesthetics
Abstract. The article analyses the aesthetics of Plotinus and his doctrine of intelligible ‘agalmata’ as a special form of unmediated experience, in which the formative creative energy unfolds as an act of contemplation. A hypothesis is formulated that Neoplatonic aesthetics provides unique conceptual opportunities that open access to understanding some areas of the theatrical avant-garde in which theatre converges with ‘spiritual practice’, in particular, the paratheatrical experiments of J. Grotowski. On the example of J. Grotowski’s Performer (1987) such basic terms of his working vocabulary as essence, process, openness, meeting, and act are analysed. It is shown that the motive of paratheatrical experiences turns out to be the practice of ‘care of self’, known since Antiquity. Avant-garde theatre, seeking the experience of openness and the essential manifestation of man in the act of meeting, becomes one of the forms of such practice.
Keywords: philosophy, theater, metaphysics, presence, Neoplatonism, J. Grotowski
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Received 01.08.2025
Revised 10.12.2025
Accepted 24.12.2025
