The Contemporary Visual Culture Under The View Of Esthetic Modernity

There are two different modernity trends in the development of modern society. One is enlightening modernity, the other is esthetic modernity. The former represents the establishment of subjectivity and nationality, which produce a great impact and restriction on every aspect of social life, while the other puts the stress on the natural instinct, spiritual emotion of human beings. Esthetic modernity agrees with enlightening modernity, both of them defending subjectivity. However, esthetic modernity sets enlightening modernity as its antithesis against the domination of rationality based on perception at the same time. As organic parts of modernity, these two modernity trends should work in coordination, according to the logic of each of these two trends evolving into a relationship full of strains and conflicts along with the development of the society.Esthetic modernity doesn't have such superiorities in the fight against enlightening modernity and undue stress on the rationality, being tools and means, in the critique of enlightening rationality; holds the extreme negative to rationality in the relationship between rationality and perception; the weaker of self-examination of esthetic modernity in the context of post-modernist; the commercial and marketable mode of modern production of esthetic modernity promotes the esthetical of ordinary life but gives more emphasis on the materialism of ordinary life.The contemporary visual culture began with the birth of the movie art in which the image occupies an important position. The leading position of the contemporary visual culture owe to the Science and technology which promoted the visual culture directly .The mechanism copy technology forced the art become a daily action and commodity, Meanwhile the application of technology establish a broad foundation and firm substance for the contemporary visual culture. The consumer society and the mass culture are the realistic foundations. Agree with the logic of the consumer society and the mass culture, the contemporary visual culture became the main culture form. But his change was not according to the imagination of enlightening modernity, because of the stress on visual culture conformed to the developed logic and trend of the consumer society and the mass culture. However, the contemporary visual culture has the obvious traits itself .It is a kind of synthetic art which has powerful expressive force and f inspires the imaginations of human beings.The contemporary visual culture is a huge pressure and a valuable challenge to esthetic modernity, for the contemporary visual culture is a result of the enlightening modernity, and the contemporary visual culture has same goals with the esthetic modernity. There are two modernity spirits on the contemporary visual culture. The special position of contemporary visual culture will enhance the relationship between the enlightening and esthetic modernity and will make improvements on the mass foundation and supply of a new angle of self-examination for esthetic modernity; revealing the colorful inner world of human beings which the esthetic modernity assiduously sees with the fantastic power.