While Heidegger identified art as the beacon of hope amidst the technological era's crises, his action of inscribing a cross over the word “art” in his 1950s manuscript, “Notes on Klee,” symbolizes a profound and creative engagement with art's essence and its paradoxes. Through analyzing “Notes on Klee” and other related texts, it can be found that this “cross on art” has two opposite but complementary meanings. Negatively, it signifies art's resistance to metaphysical representation and experiential modalities. Positively, it suggests art's potential for self-referential transformation towards its essence as “
” (techne).Thus it embodies the antinomy in Heidegger's philosophy of art, namely, two respectively established but contradictory propositions, “art itself having the essence of metaphysics” and “art itself having the opportunity for transformation.” This antinomy, deeply embedded in Heidegger's later thought, highlights the philosophical stakes of Heidegger's engagement with art. It serves as a critical reflection on and a cautionary note about contemporary art's evolution, offering insights into the enduring complexities art faces in transcending its metaphysical constraints while seeking authentic transformation.
