Abstract

MORA GALEOTE, Juan José. Supernormal stimuli in aesthetic experimentation: porn and belkitsch. Valenciana [online]. 2022, vol.15, n.30, pp.131-160.  Epub Sep 29, 2022. ISSN 2007-2538.  https://doi.org/10.15174/rv.v15i30.546.

From the discovery of supernormal stimuli to the present day, the variability of its purpose has been compromised by the different sectors or disciplines that have taken advantage of them. They have been utilized sometimes with positive, other with negative effects for the human being, regardless of their purpose. In this paper we point out its use in the aesthetic field in general and artistic in particular, analyzing aesthetic experiences related to advertising, social networks, cinema and, specifically, the case of porn and belkitsch. For this exercise, we make use of the interdisciplinary results of various neuroscientific, psychological, artistic-aesthetic and hermeneutical investigations, as well as a pragmatic and didactic empiricism, utilizing this equation for the explanation of our hypothesis. We understand transversality as the key to processing of any experience in general, especially an aesthetic one. We support the accepted use of supernormal stimuli in art -without harmful consequences-, and we place them as a tool of free choice, releasing it from pejorative connotations. Hence, as belkitsch at the time, evolved from historical kitsch, is transformed into an aesthetic exaptation.

Keywords : Supernormal stimuli; Super-hyperreal experience; Belkitsch; Supernormal aesthetics; Porn.