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What if history actually did end with the fall of
communism and the end of the cold war, as Fukuyama claimed, and we are now
enjoying some kind paradise of liberal democracy with no better political
framework to strive towards? Or, what if a recognition of exploitation and
social inequities actually is leading to a massive
workers' revolution that will reclaim the means of
production and lead to a more equal distribution of resources and
power—whether Marxist, democratic, or otherwise? Indeed, we are
unsure whether we are still inside of an idea of progressive social
emancipation and human self-realization that defined the modern era, or
whether we have truly, actually surpassed these questions. The popular
uprisings of 2011 only complicate the issue further with their ability to
mobilize massive social movements with a near-total absence of political
ideology in any traditional sense. It almost seems as if the entire world
got the gist of all the postmodern and postcolonial ideas that came after
1968 to theorize an era of dreary political prospects.
What is clear is that, in spite of an enormous amount of action and
movement, we remain unable to think in terms of totality—whether
collectively, socially, or ontologically. And it remains hard to say
whether this is because we choose not to, for fear of authoritarian
implications, or because something much larger has seized us and rendered
us too frightened or simply incapable of thinking and dreaming on such a
scale. In her essay in this issue of e-flux journal, Elizabeth
Povinelli advances a fascinating proposal that, because we are all "trapped
in an enclosure" of a single system now more than ever before, any sensuous
modes of being to be found within this system are tied precisely to
negotiating its horizon. Furthermore, in this issue Boris Groys
interrogates the contemporary artist's reliance on critical theory to
explain what is to be done, how to do it, and why, and he relates this to a
privileging of action hardwired within the ethos of critical theory itself.
In place of philosophical contemplation, theory animates life and performs
the fact that one is alive and full of energy. In place of a rationality
that could extend beyond the self to become total and universal, theory
confronts us with the finiteness of our lives, and thus with a paradoxical
urgency to act now, before it is too late.
—Julieta
Aranda, Brian Kuan Wood, Anton Vidokle
In this
issue:
Elizabeth A.
Povinelli—After the Last Man: Images and Ethics of Becoming
Otherwise
If democracy is the back of
history, there seems to be no front to neoliberal being. How do we think
about the sources of the political otherwise when being seems trapped in an
enclosure rather than having a front or a back? Where are the sensuous
modes of becoming within the global circulations of being that have defined
modern politics and markets, if not in a horizon?
Bilal
Khbeiz—Dubai: A City Manufactured by
Curiosity
To employ engineers, educators,
and doctors as the makers of the future, is to transform them into
artists—and they will defend their products like valuable works of
art. In the meantime, the citizen becomes a viewer, watching his or her
country on a screen rather than living in it. Rather than emigrating
abroad, the citizens immigrate inwards, as if into a secret. As they do
this, they cease to be visible, yet they can always see the masterpiece
their land has become.
Boris
Groys—Under the Gaze of Theory
Critical
theory criticizes not only philosophical contemplation, but any kind of
contemplation, including aesthetic contemplation. For critical theory, to
think or contemplate is the same as being dead. In the gaze of the Other,
if a body does not move it can only be a corpse. Philosophy privileges
contemplation. Theory privileges action and practice—and hates
passivity. If I cease to move, I fall off theory's radar—and theory
does not like it.
Sotirios
Bahtsetzis—Eikonomia: Notes on Economy and the Labor of
Art
It is pertinent to us that art
permanently assumes its position as acheiropoieton—a slow and
mute icon—offering the impression that it is situated outside the
world of labor (semio-time) as part of a particular economy. In this
regard, the economy of the artwork might be the hidden equivalent of both
the governmental machinery and the economic control power within our
alienated society.
Irmgard
Emmelhainz—Between Objective Engagement and Engaged Cinema: Jean-Luc
Godard's "Militant Filmmaking" (1967-1974), Part II
For Godard and Miéville, "objectivity" requires that images
hide their own silence, a "silence that is deadly because it impedes
the image from coming out alive." They thus work with the imperative to ask
of images: "Who speaks?" And for them, all images are always addressed
to a third: "Une image c'est un regard sur un autre regard
présenté à un troisième regard."
John
Miller—Politics of Hate in the USA, Part III: Posse Comitatus,
Grassroots Rebellion, and Secret Societies
Of
all the far right factions, the Posse Comitatus may be the largest. A true
grassroots movement, it is also the most amorphous and the hardest to pin
down. James Ridgeway compares its organizational flexibility with that
pioneered by the SDS, yet it also takes the anti-Federalist logic of
states' rights to a topical extreme. "Posse Comitatus" literally means
"power of the county" in Latin. The name refers to the Posse Comitatus Act
of 1878, which forbids the use of US military and national guard forces as
civilian police forces.
The print edition of e-flux
journal can now be found at:
Amsterdam: De Appel /
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten Andratx: CCA
Andratx Antwerp: M HKA Museum van Hedendaagse
Kunst Athens: OMMU Auckland:
split/fountain Austin: Arthouse at the Jones
Center Baden-Baden: Staatliche Kunsthalle
Baden-Baden Belgrade: Cultural Centre of Belgrade Banff:
Walter Phillips Gallery, The Banff Centre Barcelona: Arts Santa
Monica / MACBA Basel: Kunsthalle Basel, Museum fur
Gegenwartskunst Beijing and Guangzhou: Vitamin Creative
Space Beirut: 98weeks Belgrade: Cultural Center of
Belgrade Bergen: Bergen Kunsthall / Rakett Berlin:
b_books / Berliner Künstlerprogramm – DAAD / do you read me? /
NBK, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein / Pro qm Berlin and Zurich:
Motto Bern: Kunsthalle Bern Bialystok: Arsenal
Gallery Bielefeld: Bielefelder
Kunstverein Birmingham: Eastside Projects / Ikon
Gallery Bologna: MAMbo – Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna
Bregenz: Kunsthaus Bregenz Bristol:
Arnolfini Brussels: Wiels Bucharest: National
Museum of Contemporary Art Bucharest (MNAC) / Pavilion
Unicredit Cairo: Contemporary Image Collective (CIC) /
Townhouse Gallery Calgary: The New
Gallery Cambridge: Wysing Arts Center Castello:
Espai d´art contemporani de Castelló
(EACC) Chicago: Graham Foundation / The Renaissance
Society Cologne: Kölnischer
Kunstverein Copenhagen: Overgaden Derry: CCA
Derry~Londonderry Dubai: Traffic Dublin: Dublin City,
The Hugh Lane / Project Arts Centre Dusseldorf: Kunstverein
für die Rheinlande und Westfalen Eindhoven: Van
Abbemuseum Farsta: Konsthall C Frankfurt:
Städelschule / Portikus Gdansk: Centrum Sztuki
Współczesnej Łaźnia Ghent: S.M.A.K Glasgow:
CCA Centre for Contemporary Arts / Sculpture Studios Graz:
Grazer Kunstverein / Kunsthaus Graz / para_SITE Gallery Grijon:
LABoral Centre for Art and Creative Industries Hamburg:
Kunstverein Helsinki: Museum of Contemporary Art
KIASMA Hobart: CAST Gallery / INFLIGHT Hong Kong:
Asia Art Archive Istanbul: BAS / CDA – Projects / DEPO /
SALT Innsbruck: Galerie im
Taxispalais Johannesburg: Center for Historical
Reenactments Kristiansand: SKMU Sørlandet Art
Museum Kansas City: La Cucaracha Press Klagenfurt:
Press Kunstraum Lakeside Leeds: Pavilion Lisbon:
Maumaus, Escola de Artes Visuais /
Oporto Loughborough: Radar, Loughborough
University Ljubljana: Moderna
Galerija LLandudno: Mostyn London: Architectural
Association/Bedford Press / Gasworks / ICA / Serpentine Gallery/ The
Showroom / Visiting Arts Los Angeles:
REDCAT Luxembourg: Casino Luxembourg Madrid:
Brumaria / CA2M / Pensart Maastricht: Jan van Eyck
Academie Marfa: Ballroom Marfa Melbourne: Monash
University Museum of Art / World Food Books Mexico City:
Proyectos Monclova Milan: Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Hangar
Bicocca, Milton Keynes: Milton Keynes
Gallery Minneapolis: Walker Arts Center Moncton:
Fixed Cog Hero (a bicycle courier company) Montreal: Canadian Centre
for Architecture Moscow: Garage Center for Contemporary
Culture Munich: Museum Villa Stuck / Walther Koenig Bookshop,
Haus der Kunst Munich New Delhi: Sarai CSDS New
York: e-flux / Independent Curators International (ICI) / Printed
Matter, Inc Nottingham: Nottingham
Contemporary Omaha: Bemis Center for Contemporary
Arts Oslo: Kunstnernes hus Oxford: Modern Art
Oxford Padona: Fondazione March Paris:
castillo/corrales – Section 7 Books / Centre Pompidou / Les
Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers Philadelphia:
Bodega Pori: Pori Art Museum Porto: Museu de Arte
Contemporânea de Serralves Portland: Portland Institute
for Contemporary Art, (PICA) / Publication Studio Prague: Dox
Centre for Contemporary Art Prishtina: Stacion – Center
for Contemporary Art Prishtina Providence:
AS220 Reykjavik: Reykjavik Art Museum Riga:
Kim? Rio de Janeiro: Capacete / A Gentil Carioca
Rome: MACRO Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma / Opera
Rebis Rotterdam: Piet Zwart Institute / Witte de
With Saint-Nazaire: Le Grand Cafe, Centre D'art
Contemporain Salzburg: Salzburger Kunstverein San
Antonio: Artpace São Paulo: Master in Visual Arts,
Faculdade Santa Marcelina Sarajevo: Sarajevo Center for
Contemporary Art Seoul: The Books / The Book
Society Sherbrooke: Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop's
University Skopje: Press to Exit Project
Space Sofia: ICA Sofia / Sofia Art Gallery St Erme
Outre et Ramecourt: Performing Arts Forum St Louis: White
Flag Projects Stockholm: Bonniers Konsthall / IASPIS / Index /
Konstfack, University College of Art, Craft and
Design Stuttgart: Württembergischer Kunstverein
Stuttgart Sydney: Artspace Tallinn: Kumu Art Museum
of Estonia The Hague: Stroom Den Haag Toronto:
Mercer Union / The Power Plant Torun: Centre of Contemporary
Art Znaki Czasu in Torun Umeå: Bildmuseet,
Umeå University Utrecht: BAK, basis voor actuele kunst /
Casco-Office for Art, Design and Theory Vaduz:
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein Valletta: Malta Contemporary Art
Foundation Vancouver: ARTSPEAK / Morris and Helen Belkin Art
Gallery, University of British Columbia / Fillip / Motto / READ Books,
Charles H. Scott Gallery, Emily Carr University of Art and
Design Vienna: Salon für Kunstbuch, Belvedere Gallery
Vigo: MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporanea de
Vigo Vilnius: Contemporary Art Centre
(CAC) Vitoria-Gasteiz: Montehermoso
Kulturunea Visby: BAC, Baltic Art Center Warsaw:
Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki / Zachęta National Gallery of
Art Wiesbaden: Nassauischer Kunstverein
(NKV) Yerevan: Armenian Center For Contemporary Experimental
Art, NPAK Zagreb: Galerija Miroslav Kraljevic / Gallery Nova /
Institute for Duration, Location and Variables, DeLVe Zurich:
Postgraduate Program in Curating, Zürich University of the Arts /
Shedhalle / White Space.
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