Culture refers to the totality of the various kinds of human activity, including economy, education, religion, science, and art, among which the most central is art. In other words, art is the essence of culture. And yet, art today shows a tendency toward decadence on a global scale, whether in democratic or Communist nations, or whether in more developed or in less developed nations. Decadent art generates decadent culture. In such circumstances, culture cannot but decline in the whole world. Clearly, then, in order to create a new culture in the world, the restoration of art must be undertaken. And to do that, we must establish what true art is. It is for this purpose that we need a new theory of art.

The dawn new eras in the past has always been preceded by a new spirit in art. During the Renaissance period, for instance, artists had a leading role. In Communist revolutions as well, great was the contribution by artists. It is well known that Maxim Gorky's works in the Russian Revolution and Lu Xun's works in the Chinese Proletarian Revolution greatly contributed to those revolutionary movements. Therefore, in creating a new culture, new art must be created.

Consider, for example, the role that art played in the establishment of Communism. Communist art is called "socialist realism," which seeks to expose the contradictions of capitalist society and to drive people toward the revolution. With the fall of Communism, however, socialist realism is fading away. Nevertheless, socialist realism which is based on the theories of materialist dialectic and historical materialism, can easily overpower the theories of art of free societies, whose philosophical grounds are weak. Thus, again, a new theory of art becomes necessary in order to overcome socialist realism.

In such a context, I will present the theory of art of Unification Thought, or the Unification Theory of Art, as a new theory of art. The Unification Theory of Art aims to reverse today's trend toward decadence in art. Also, it is presented as a critique of Socialist Realism and as a counterproposal based on sound philosophical and theological principles. This theory is for the purpose of contributing to the creation and establishment of a new culture in the world.

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