Blog 1

One piece of art I have regularly encountered throughout my life is Mary, atop the Golden Dome on the campus of Notre Dame. As a small child attending football games to a current student walking to class, She stands majestic regardless of the putrid South Bend weather. Replicating the statue of the Column of the Immaculate Conception in the Piazza di Spagna, Rome, Mary is gilded in gold and serves as an encounter unlike any other.

Hans-Georg Gadamer describes the beauty of art having three distinct characteristics: play, symbol, and festival/festivity. Each of these features are ultimately related such that one encounters art in a new and provocative way. First, play is described by Gadamer with regard to beauty as something that is manifested in nature and art alike, which reveals truth to us. Specifically, play through art is participatory. “Play is the order that we impose on our movements when playing” (Gadamer 23). For example, those who attend sports events such as a tennis match can still “play” in the game as spectators. Those watching the game physically move their bodies by: head turning at the slightest movement, cheering, or shaking one’s fist in anger at a poor serve (24). Despite not participating as athletes, play is an active and intentional practice. This applies to the Golden Dome on campus whenever I look up at it. I can choose to idly walk by, staring at the ground, but my choice to look up at the Dome and participate in this work of art is intentional. Furthermore, this artwork is ordered to a particular end. Gold is shiny and sparkles under the sunlight, but as Gadamer reminds us, art is ordered to a higher purpose. It reminds me how grateful and lucky I am to have matriculated to Notre Dame. In this way, this artwork is deliberately ordered towards a higher being, God. As such, beauty is revealed in this way whenever I, or other people, play and revel in the beauty of the Dome.

Gadamer’s second characteristic is symbol. However, this is not “symbol” in the way one would normally understand (as representative of something else). No, Gadamer states, that “the particular represents itself as a fragment of being that promises to complete and make whole whatever corresponds to it” (Gadamer 32). In other words, this definition of symbol is as it attunes one to a greater truth. It begs one to long for more. While not everything about the artwork is revealed immediately, it compels us to go back. The art demands us to find something new and different despite having seen it already. For me, seeing the Dome every day fulfills this symbolic characteristic. For the last seven semesters, I have seen the Dome every single day, and yet I am still inherently drawn to it. As a defining landmark of campus, those who see the Dome can find beauty after a single view. Yet, the Dome represents Notre Dame in its entirety but is not entirely Notre Dame. Symbol, therefore, is a profound way of seeing art. It is not complete the first time around. Symbol as beauty is mysterious and admirable. For example, The Dome is not just a shiny object that people look at on a football Saturday. Looking deeper, there is something more to the cold metal atop the main building. A calling that needs to be felt and understood.

As a student, the Dome resonates strongly with me. It reminds me of my faith and hard work and memories of Notre Dame. A person who did not attend Notre Dame would not get the exact same experience but can still participate with their own experiences. “All art challenges us to listen to the language in which the work of art speaks and to make it our own” (Gadamer 39). As a religious icon, the Dome orders itself towards God. The context surrounding one’s Notre Dame experience or affiliation allows one to intimately partake in Notre Dame’s past, present and future. Just as the non-Notre Dame student does not have the same connection as me, this does not prevent them from equally participating in this art. Symbol challenges us to find the true beauty in the artwork rather than glossing over the familiarities.

Lastly, the third element of beauty in art is festival or festivity. Gadamer explains festival as “we are not primarily separated, but rather gathered together” (Gadamer 40). Festivals are meant to be in community celebrating artistic and material culture. Through this celebration it is meant to evoke and contemplate what art is, to dwell upon it, and to make manifold the riches of work. Pieper augments this fact as festival is meant to celebrate, but it is not supposed to be an escape from the daily work life. “The concept of festivity is inconceivable without an element of contemplation” (Pieper 17). Naturally this is not an escape or in essence, vacation, but rather a festival is good unto itself. Leisure is not detached from work. To do so, is entirely entertainment. Therefore, participating in the contemplative nature of a festival is being receptive to receive what is perceived as gift. In other words, a festival is not simply entertainment. It is enjoying the festival for the purpose of enjoying it as an affirmation of goodness. Celebrating the contextual nature in which the festival was first created and manifested in a sensory way. Festivals, then, are connected to art as it must take a physical form. Pieper states, “the invisible aspect of festivity can be made perceptible to the senses only through the medium of the arts” (Pieper 52–53). As a result, the only true festival is when the response is pure joy. It is not selfish. A true festival makes one contemplate the goodness in the life and in the world.

The Dome manifests this concept of festival through Gadamer through those gathered together. One such example in my mind is the Glee Club’s tradition of serenading people at midnight directly under the dome. At its most basic, this is a concert. However, understanding what a festival is through Gadamer and Pieper, this tradition aligns in a new level. It is more than singing to people for entertainment. Enjoying the festival for what it is — spreading music and celebrating the students of Notre Dame with an understanding of pure joy. Many are drawn to come to these midnight concerts, but why? Especially, in the middle of a cold January winter with a test the following morning. Friendship is one such natural answer, but moreover, the Dome calls and the music evokes a deeply contemplative joy. One of the most powerful moments of the entire night is at the end. Everyone gathered forms a large circle and non-singers and singers alike sing the alma mater together. The Dome, ever present through this all, enriches the Notre Dame experience. As a festival, one is meant to embrace its nature and appreciate its beauty. For those taking part, it is not simply entertainment. Under the Dome, these are memories many will remember for a lifetime. The music, the ambiance, the Dome itself all celebrates a higher order, God. The visual nature of the Dome inherently celebrates Notre Dame, but it contemplates much more than that.

The Dome is a masterful piece of artwork that I believe fits well within the definition of beautiful art as described by Gadamer and the definition of festive through Pieper. Through each: play, symbol, and festival, I am able to reflect on the Dome in a new way; one that is contemplative and participatory.