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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi, Trebor and all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I do not have an answer to Trebor's question
if life beyond utility is possible today. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thinking about this particular issue has brougt me
to the theories on bare life</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>and their use within contemporary art practices.
Perhaps one way of seeing life </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>beyond utility could be found in artistic
strategies that focus on theories of bare </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>life as a way of critical engagement with
contemporary society... as the way of </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>exlproring capsularity of the world we live
in...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>There are two projects I'd like to stress
attention:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Documenta 12 Magazine project around a theme
bare life</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>http://</FONT><A
href="http://www.documenta12.de/english/magazines.html"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>www.documenta12.de/english/magazines.html</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial
size=2> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The main topic of the project was described as
follows:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>What is bare
life?<BR>This question underscores the sheer vulnerability and complete
<BR>exposure of being. Bare life deals with that part of our existence
<BR>from which no measure of security will ever protect us. But as in
<BR>sexuality, absolute exposure is intricately connected with infinite
<BR>pleasure. There is an apocalyptic and obviously political dimension
<BR>to bare life (brought out by torture and the concentration camp).
<BR>There is, however, also a lyrical or even ecstatic dimension to it –
<BR>a freedom for new and unexpected possibilities (in human relations as
<BR>well as in our relationship to nature or, more generally, the world
<BR>in which we live). Here and there, art dissolves the radical
<BR>separation between painful subjection and joyous liberation. But what
<BR>does that mean for its audiences?"</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><BR> </DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The second project, focused on Agamben's conception
of bare life,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>which opens some postcolonial and gender theories
as well is called </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><STRONG>FWC </STRONG>First Wolrd Camp,
by Slovene artists Emil Hrvatin and Peter Senk:</FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://www.fwc.si/">http://www.fwc.si/</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><EM>The objective of the FWC platform is artistic
research in the demilitarisation </EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><EM>of isolated communities. FWC research is
focusing on refugee camps, military </EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><EM>bases, gated communities and other
modes of capsularity. </EM>The question is: </FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><EM>can a concept of a "camp" serve as a role model
for any kind of capsularity we </EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><EM>are looking
at?</EM><BR></FONT></FONT></DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Best,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ksenija</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>