The weirdness–openness paradigm in contemporary aesthetics

Abstract

<p>This study is devoted to the phenomenon of weirdness in contemporary Western culture, which is often coupled with breaking existing social norms while inviting us to revise our understanding of the good and beautiful. The punk fashion of ripped clothing and body piercing, for instance, is married to a wish to metaphorically ‘open up’ the social system and introduce progressive goals such as women’s rights, political liberalism, and sexual freedom. ‘Punks’ have encouraged frankness in behavior and presented views against social normativism through deliberately strange, ugly looks and screaming sounds in music. The symbiotic ensemble of weirdness, openness, and breaking out is also visible in other areas of contemporary culture, like hacking in art, pop music, street art, AI, and animation. The authors of the study wish to develop the topic of weirdness by demonstrating its relationship to a liberating mindset and its historical background with the goal of improving acceptance of modern cultural phenomena. Nevertheless, weirdness is not a stable category and has to be constantly redefined according to the cultural and social contexts of the object that might be considered weird.</p>