Jacinto Lageira, who
has recently published a book on the derealization of the world,
is known for his texts about contemporary art and about theoretical
reflections upon it. Lageira studies for us here how the considerable
broadening of the notions of aesthetics and the artistic
has had its effects on all sorts of objects. At first sight, this
is a good piece of news, much hoped for since the beginning of
the twentieth century. Looked at more closely, this situation
obliges one to rethink the traditional system of evaluation from
top to bottom while escaping the trap of a universal ecumenical
attitude that would, in the final analysis, result only in tepid
indifference within a world where art would operate within a closed
circuit and without any living connection to society.