The Subsumption of Art by Capital – lecture Mars 18
Thursday Mars 18 at 7 pm, admission free
Aesthetics researcher Stewart Martin from the journal Radical Philosophy and Middlesex University in London and film scholar Miriam von Schantz from Stockholm University lectures and talks on the relationship between contemporary art, political discourse and the logic of capital.
On the basis of her essay Territorial Pissing, a performative deconstruction of the public sphere’s political discourse Miriam von Schantz analyzes the artwork Territorial Pissing by the artist NUG:
“The question is not ’what does this work of art say?’, but ’what does it do?’ As I see it, ‘Territorial Pissing’ performativly reveals the construction of the discourse that regulate public space and who has access to speak therein. Interestingly this could not be done without the interaction of the spectator. This work of art doesn’t ’speak of’ the discourse, it provokes the discourse to unmask itself.”
Stewart Martin will address a decisive question for the critical theory and practice of contemporary art:
“What is the relation between the nominalism of contemporary art and the subsumption of life by capitalism? That is to say, what is the relation between the indeterminacy of art and non-art or life, on the one hand, and on the other, the extension of the subsumption of labour by capitalism to the point of subsuming life itself?”
Tonight's lectures is the fourth and final part of a series of lectures on publications related to artistic production, curated by choreographer Malin Elgán and freelance writer Josefine Wikström, at Weld during 2009-2010. To broaden the aesthetic discourse of choreography, they have invited a number of international guests and at each lecture opportunity they also present a new set of texts.
Co-workers are Tove Salmgren and Sara Ludvigsson. Weld produces the lecture in cooperation with Inpex, International Dance Programme at Arts Grants Committee, Mychoreography at University College of Dance and Re Act.
Credit: Cover Radical Philosophy, photo Eric Alliez, State Communism Explained to Children (after Olga Chernysheva)
Miriam von Schantz is currently writing her master thesis in cinema studies at Stockholm University. Before studying cinema she worked teaching languages and media at the upper level of compulsory school as well as at the upper secondary school. She also has a background in popular adult education developing local democracy projects. Similarly, Miriam von Schantz has worked in practice with film and explored performative artistic processes such as through the installation Yrrefleción (1999) at Gallery El Cíclope, in Córdoba, Argentina.
Stewart Martin is a member of the editorial collective of the journal Radical Philosophy, and Senior Lecturer in Aesthetics, Art Theory and Modern European Philosophy at Middlesex University in London. His recent publications concern the relation between contemporary art, aesthetics and capitalism, which is also the topic of a book he is currently writing.