I just read the philosopher Alain Badiou’s essay in the new book Intersubjectivity Vol. 1: Language and Misunderstanding, published by Sternberg Press. There is lots to chew on in this exciting volume – and I am sure to return to it. It includues Cory Arcangel on misunderstanding, another ‘variation from Paul Chan’s New New Testament (Variation on 8.0083), an example of and commentary on Hito Steyerl’s ongoing Lorem Ipsum project and an essay by Abraham Adams which begins with the provocation: ‘Artworks are books’. But for today I want to dwell on how Badiou announces what he calls the ‘New Classicism’ as part of a playful reworking of the title of a talk, originally delivered at the end of December 2015 at the Miguel Abreu Gallery in New York (here is the video in case you want to see for yourself). While there is a lot that can be said about Badiou’s talk and essay (his comments on Donald Trump and the Spanish Civil War in particular), in what follows I will merely intersperse his changing title with some leading photographs of my own, taken in my campus office, amid my books (ranging from Badiou’s own reimagining of Plato’s Republic to my students’ altered book project with the same text).
1. Contemporary Art Facing Historical Tragedies
2. Contemporary Art and Historical Tragedies
3. The Art of the Final Sequence of Modern Art, Just Before the Birth of a New Classicism, Confronted with (etc.)
4. The Art of the Final Sequence of Modern Art, Just Before the Birth of a New Classicism, in the Face of Tragedies in Relation to Power, Wars, Revolutions, and, Finally, Class Struggle
5. The art of the final sequence of modern art, just before the birth of a new classicism, confronted to events recognized as such by a clear majority of people, events which are in relationship to power, wars, revolutions, and finally class struggle
Pingback: Cicero in Junktime: Hito Steyerl’s Lorem Ipsum – Minus Plato