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55 EINBLICKE
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EINBLICKE: Do we retain anything of these "ray of light expe-
riences", or do they gradually fade?
KREUZER: We know that what we perceive as everyday
goings-on cannot compare with the ray of light. But we have
this touchstone which allows us to compare our everyday
knowledge with our remembered proof of meaning.And so it
is passed on. And of course it also depends on howconsciously
we deal with these special experiences.
EINBLICKE: For Bloch the not yet is found particularly in art,
as a pre-visualisation of the possible.What is the role of art in
keeping us aware of the touchstone you referred to?
KREUZER: Here we should distinguish between Realität and
Wirklichkeit. Realität is existent and can be empirically deter-
mined. This has
very little to do
with art. Wirklich-
keit on the other
handmeans being aware of the forces that are at work. When
I hear a piece of music and ask myself what I like about it
and what moves me, the answer is not going to be the sine
oscillation of the sound curve. What precisely – to continue
with Bloch‘s terminology – is leading me into the darkness
of the lived moment is, to a certain extent, nothing. Because
"
Utopia is not about adding
something of one‘s own invention.
"
I cannot reify and grab hold of the experience I am having.
EINBLICKE: So why does it feel to me more substantial than
reality?
KREUZER:Because it allows me to observe what structures my
experience, what the conditions of possibility are that allow
us to arrive at experiences. This is about enabling. And this is
where art comes into play. Art is about that which allows the
conditions of theWirklichkeit of experience to become tangi-
ble.Adorno put it very succinctly: "The object of art‘s longing,
the reality of what is not, ismetamorphosed in art into remem-
brance." This is a central sentence in his "Aesthetic Theory".
And one which is not just relevant but also indispensable for
the present and the self-reflexive nature of social experience.
EINBLICKE: What perspectives do you see for research on
Adorno and Bloch at Oldenburg?
KREUZER: We have the critical mass here for focusing research
on the intellectual debates in the first half of the 20th centu-
ry. The activities in and around the Karl-Jaspers House, the
Hannah Ahrendt Centre, the Adorno Research Centre: this is
a broad research basis for the intellectual topography of the
first half of the 20th century.The shared perspective is to bring
all these together, and this indeed looks extremely possible.
Matthias Echterhagen