Defining a Regional Sublime
The Institute's program in Mid-American Aesthetics begins by challenging the traditional categories of the beautiful and the sublime, which are often rooted in European landscapes of mountains and seascapes. Instead, we ask: What inspires awe, contemplation, and a sense of profound connection here? We propose a distinct regional sublime found in the vast, flat horizon of a cornfield at sunset, inducing a feeling of both insignificance and expansive possibility. We find it in the violent beauty of a Great Lakes storm, or in the haunting, cathedral-like silence of an abandoned auto plant. This aesthetic is not picturesque; it is often austere, demanding, and tinged with melancholy. Students learn to articulate the aesthetic experience of space, weather, and industrial history that defines the sensory world of the interior.
The Ethics and Aesthetics of Decay
A major focus is the philosophical consideration of ruins and decay, particularly in the Rust Belt. Led by faculty like Dr. Fischer, students grapple with questions that blur the line between ethics and aesthetics. Is it morally permissible to find beauty in the decay of structures that represent economic collapse and human suffering? Does documenting this beauty aestheticize poverty, or can it be an act of witness and memorial? We study the work of 'ruin photographers' and poets of industrial decline, analyzing their gaze. Conversely, we examine artistic and architectural practices of 'adaptive reuse'—turning factories into lofts or breweries—and debate the aesthetics of renewal. Does gentrification clean away the authentic aesthetic of a place? These discussions force students to confront the deep entanglement of beauty, memory, economics, and justice.
Vernacular Beauty and Everyday Design
Moving from the monumental to the mundane, the program celebrates vernacular aesthetics—the beauty found in ordinary, functional objects and spaces of Mid-American life. This includes the sleek, utilitarian design of a John Deere tractor, the patterned brickwork of a century-old Main Street building, the intricate geometry of a quilt from an Amish community, or the neon glow of a vintage roadside motel sign. Students engage in fieldwork, documenting and analyzing these forms, asking how design reflects values like efficiency, durability, community pride, and hopeful hospitality. A popular seminar, 'The Diner as Philosophical Space,' examines how the architecture, menu design, and social layout of these ubiquitous institutions foster a particular aesthetic of casual democracy, comfort, and cross-class encounter.
Creating New Aesthetic Frameworks
The ultimate goal of the program is not just analysis but creation. Advanced students in aesthetics are encouraged to produce their own artistic or design projects that embody and interrogate Mid-American aesthetic principles. This might be a series of paintings exploring the color palette of the seasonal farm cycle, a sound installation built from recordings of foundries and wetlands, a proposal for a public sculpture that engages with a city's industrial history, or a video game narrative set in a fictional Mid-American town. These projects are critiqued in a studio-style format, where philosophical rigor is applied to creative choices. The Institute regularly hosts exhibitions and performances of this student work, arguing that the creation of new beauty, informed by a deep understanding of place, is a vital philosophical act that contributes to the cultural health and self-understanding of the region.