From freedom to equality: Ranciere and the aesthetic experience of equality

This article examines RanciSre's political reading of aesthetics through a historical analysis into the two aesthetic theories of freedom at work in RanciSre's philosophy; Kant's freedom as self-governance and Schiller's freedom as harmony. While aesthetic experience is considered morally conducive through its association with freedom, this article argues that RanciSre translates such discussions of freedom into that of equality by extracting the political dimensions of aesthetic experience. Given that art has the unique ability to empower the spectator through its aesthetic experience of equality, the true political potential of art arises from its power to redistribute the sensible rather than through the overt expression of political themes. By juxtaposing RanciSre's politics of art with Kant's beauty as the symbol of morality, this article argues that art becomes a symbol of political emancipation for RanciSre in its capacity to generate the experience of equality. Inasmuch as RanciSre attributes the aesthetic revolution to the eighteenth century, it becomes evident that the empowerment of the spectator has been central to art since the inauguration of the aesthetic regime.