The medium of sensibility also constitutes the paradoxical relationship of art to time—paradoxical because what is experienced through the medium of sensibility is present, while art cannot show the present without showing it as past. What has become form in the work of art has happened: it is recalled, re-presented. The mimesis translates reality into memory. In this remembrance, art has recognized what is and what could be, within and beyond the social conditions. Art has rescued this knowledge from the sphere of abstract concept and embedded it in the realm of sensuousness. Its cognitive power draws its strength from this realm. The sensuous force of the Beautiful keeps the promise alive—memory of the happiness that once was, and that seeks its return.
- Marcuse in The Aesthetic Dimension (note: in the preface of this book, he notes that he is writing about written works. Oh, and this was published in ‘77, part of “that span of time before Internet.”)
