KITSCH HAPPENS. ON THE KITSCH EXPERIENCE OF NATURE (HOMMAGE À TOMÁŠ KULKA)

Tomáš Kulka notes in Kitsch and Art, that natural landscape cannot be called kitsch. The kitsch needs to be produced by a human being, he says. I agree with that. Experience-wise it is more complicated, though. Sometimes kitsch affects our experience of landscapes. It is not just that our overwhelming culture of images affects how we see nature, but that also sugared, sentimental and stereotypical kitsch images of nature, that we see in postcards and social media, affect our experience of e.g. sunsets and picturesque landscapes. We might desire to fight back, but at least we need to understand and to some extent accept our situation. The kitsch is in our experience even when there is no kitsch around, and our experiences of nature prove that.