The Aesthetics of Imperfection in Music and the Arts: Spontaneity, Flaws and the Unfinished

The Aesthetics of Imperfection in Music and the Arts explores the meaning, experience, and value of improvisation and spontaneous creation across different artistic media, bringing together contributions from theoreticians and practitioners. It offers a wider range of perspectives on the issues involved and considers divergent definitions of aesthetics, employing both 18th-century philosophy and more recent socially and historically situated conceptions.

Format: Paperback
Length: 416 pages
Publication date: 21 April 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)

The aesthetics of imperfection, which emphasizes spontaneity, disruption, process, and energy over formal perfection, is often overlooked or seen only in improvisation. This comprehensive collection, the first of its kind, explores the meaning, experience, and value of improvisation and spontaneous creation across various artistic media, including music, visual art, dance, comedy, architecture, and design. It brings together contributions from theoreticians and practitioners, presenting a wider range of perspectives on the issues involved. Contributors look at performance and practice across Western and non-Western musical, artistic, and craft forms, offering a perspective on what is 'imperfect or improvisatory within their work. The volume features 39 chapters organised into eight sections, written by a diverse group of scholars and performers. They consider divergent definitions of aesthetics, employing both 18th-century philosophy and more recent socially and historically situated conceptions, making it an essential, up-to-date resource for anyone working on either side of the perfection-imperfection debate.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350331037