[iDC] Art

[rherbst at journalofaestheticsandprotest.org]

-What is really interesting about this thread is that spontaniety, 
resistance, activism, media, etc. are being fetishized, while no one has 
raised the question of political program and leadership.  Are these 
unnecessary in our fragmented and decentered world, or is the type of 
essentialism that these decontextualized categories of reaction 
represent,  along with the desire to relocate the political to the 
cultural sphere a sign that we have not moved beyond the reified 
modernist vision of the enlightenment project. (Sual’s comments from this
list)

All of these conversation bubbling up on this IDC list are really
fascinating. I'll touch on two threads of this 
conversation, one very breifly the other at greater length. 

Last month my co-editors from the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest and
myself, were writing on the empyre list 
about technology and digital activism and broadly democracy. It's a treat
to be able to hear this conversation 
continue. Rather than rehashing those comments I'll refer folks to that
website (https://mail.cofa.unsw.edu.au/
pipermail/empyre/2005-November/date.html). Several folks there I felt were
mis-reading my latter comments on 
empyre as anti-technological, however I was hoping to develope a healthy
skepticism towards certain aesthetics 
tendencies when they rub up against the political, these are simular to
some of the skepticism I see peaking out on 
this list. This line of this skepticism tracks into the criticism our
Journal is trying to explore in relationship to 
"adbusting" and "interventionist art" in our current issue (www.joaap.org).

 I would strongly agree with Saul that there is a strong tendency towards
fetishization of spontaneity, resistance, and 
activism within spheres of fine art today (including both formal and
conceptual practices). So much political speeah 
that I see has a sum value of "resistance". Don't get me wrong, I would
much rather have an unfocused resistance 
with in culture than many other states of being, however the popular
political aesthetics of "invervention" can be so 
shallow that it is hard to differentiate them for a stunt.  While I am a
huge fan of the "great refusal", absent an 
inherent cultural or political agenda like the one encoded within Marcuse,
this refusal ad nausea becomes such a 
sign of lack of imagination- rather than a freeing of the imagination which
it was meant to be. 

This kind of empty gesture to "revolution" seemed very satisfying a couple
years ago when the than insurgent 
European and US globalization movements had incorporated within their
social and political structures a logic of 
party of resistance. a "carnival against capital", in the realm of the
possible. However with the neo-con 
counteroffensive in the guise of the war on terror, political and social
possibilities have been put into extreme relief. 

As to conversations about "leadership" within the bohemian/artist left
today - I think part of the argument that I was 
making on empyre, about the individualizing effect of communication
technology within this culture coupled with a 
stress on individuality and skepticism towards group process within our
"ownership society” is really instructive - 
(here I am also thinking critically of the "flexible individuals" which
Brian talks about).  

Setting an agenda and naming cultural and social positions is a strong
preoccupation of our Journal's publishing and 
social practice, as it is often a subject of our writers. Developing a
shared sense of purpose amongst a population 
that is rewarded as artists for their individuality is difficult. Creating
an Anti-War Culture is an ongoing discussion 
series off ours, even this term causes division. 

       Are these unnecessary in our fragmented and decentered world, or is
the type of 
       essentialism that these decontextualized categories of reaction 
       represent,  along with the desire to relocate the political to the 
       cultural sphere a sign that we have not moved beyond the reified 
      modernist vision of the enlightenment project. (Saul's Post)

I often reflect upon the Democratic Party and the political left in
particular as the positive heir and evolving product 
of postmodernist culture. The thing I always come up against is how the
tools of deconstruction generally have been 
applied against structures and ideologies that encourage sociail cohesion
and homogeniety. This stuff has been 
going on at least since the time of Nixon. I often think of the punk
aesthetic as a high and (I hope) early 
postmodernism of (generally- not without exception) political dispersal and
cynicism. Sometimes I think that one of 
the reason that social politics in the United States are in such a sad
state is becuase we all are just now trying to 
begin to learn how to speak in a way that is postmodern
(anti-hierarchical), yet able to affirm neccesary political, 
social and cultural structures and neccesities.  I think that it is a case
of  our language and tools being forced to  
play a catch up game with political realities. 



--------------------------------------------------------------------
mail2web - Check your email from the web at
http://mail2web.com/ .