In contemporary art astheticized violence and chaotic depiction

The purpose of this study is to investigate the acts of violence and terrorism that has an impact on the entire world, which have become even more unpreventable with developing technology, and how this reflects upon contemporary art. Within the research process, the views of many writers and philosophers, Hannah Arendt, Yves Michaud and Walter Benjamin particularly being in the first place, were made use of. Local and foreign literature was scanned for the artists that deal with violence and chaotic depiction in their works and these artists were included in the thesis work with examples. Prioritizing the relationship of the phenomenon of violence with art, the anthropological, sociological and psychological evaluations of the concept were limited as to contribute to the definition of this relationship. The violence aesthetics in the propaganda films of Hitler's fascism, the aestheticism of politics as Benjamin puts it forward, was scrutinized. Besides, the reasons of using violence in art, which can be seen as the total opposite, were also examined. Among these reasons, the concept of sublime was dealt with particularly in the light of the views of Kant and Burke. The second part endeavors to demonstrate that the tools of mass media renders violence ordinary via excessive use of visuals while art reacts to this with striking examples as well as the importance of highlighting the violence that lies behind the image that can be seen. In the third part, the interaction between war and terrorism, the summit of violence, and art was exemplified. In the light of views of the art theoreticians on the representation of violence in contemporary art, the art branches such as painting, sculpture, performance and cinema, in which violence is involved intensively, were touched upon. In this part, examples of performative body art, in which the artists use their own bodies as the work of art, were given. The works of contemporary artists who deals with violence not as reality but representatively, were included in the last part in detail. Keywords: Violence, Contemporary Art, Chaotic Depiction, Trauma Art, Ineffective Image