
Viktor Shklovsky and the horror behind ‘ostranenie’ - acsillag
http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1676451.ece
======
iokevins
Wikipedia:

"Defamiliarization or _ostranenie (остранение)_ is the artistic technique of
presenting to audiences common things in an unfamiliar or strange way in order
to enhance perception of the familiar. A central concept in 20th-century art
and theory, ranging over movements including Dada, postmodernism, epic
theatre, and science fiction, it is also used as a tactic by recent movements
such as culture jamming."

The article notes the rough approximation of 100 years since Shklovsky and
company began using the term, in 1916.

The horror, in this case, represents the violence around us, and the varying
degrees to which we become numbed to it. Ostranenie, as an art form, I believe
tried to raise this horror (and joy) back to the observer's consciousness.

The article discusses various artists: Tolstoy, Vonnegut, Twain, and others.

~~~
theoh
"Making strange" is a popular pedagogical technique in architecture (a highly
formalistic activity). For example, students on a field trip to a site will
construct a "device" which they will use to examine/measure/represent some
conditions on the site. It's a way of both getting started with the making of
an object, and of more closely engaging with the environment, hopefully
prompting an inventive architectural response. Shklovsky is a common point of
reference.

