On page 29 of No Philosopher King: An Everyday Guide to Art and Life under Trump (which you can order now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or the Wexner Center Store), at the beginning of Chapter 2 (‘Mourning Diary’), you can read:
[w]e knew that we had something very concrete and specific that we could do. We would write and by doing so, we would become a long story, a fiction beyond belief, a book in many chapters. We would become a space for reflection and timely engagement, mobilizing the everyday in contemporary artistic practice and ancient philosophical writing into a form of active resistance.
This realization came after the shock of Trump’s election, which left me at a loss as to how I could resist (I’m sure you felt something similar). Venting on social media just felt too little too late, especially with our twittering Nero sowing mayhem on a daily basis. So, as a classicist obsessed by contemporary art, I decided I had to work with the tools at my disposal, which included the exact place you are reading these words, our blog Minus Plato. Little did I know, however, that those very tools would be transformed in the process. My daily blogging turned not only into a book, but also into a testament to the slow process of unlearning from ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, literature, art and culture.
This process was not only enacted by surviving Trump, but also by experiencing the exhibition documenta 14 in Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany. No Philosopher King turns the everyday process and one-off events of a year of blogging into a guide for anyone who too was (and still is) devastated by Trump’s presidency, on a daily basis. As such, I am honored that my book has been included in the “Non-Fiction” section of the wonderful Two Dollar Radio HQ (go there and find it there – here are the directions).
Yet, as much as No Philosopher King is a guide, it is also a work of fiction. Not only is the ‘we’ of our Minus Plato persona an invented response to our failure to turn this project into a work of collective authorship, but the models that we based the book on across its eleven chapters and the transformative experience at a documenta exhibition are both borrowed from other fictional works. I won’t give away any secrets here, but there are signs that you can follow if you are curious (look at the images and the 40 clues we list below).
I guess what I’m saying is (what I learned is) that resistance to Trump needs to look to and learn from the artists. Luckily for us, here on the south-side of Columbus, we can join the daily struggle with the South Side Progressive Action group as well as learn from the novelists, poets and writers at Two Dollar Radio HQ. It is from here that real change will grow and I am proud to be part of this community.
1. May 4 2012 – Introducing Minus Plato
3. July 18 2012 – The Underdog Speaks: Walker Evans’ Apuleius
5. August 19 2014 – What These Ithacas Mean: At Home with Darboven’s Odyssey and in Fischli & Weiss’ World
7. October 17 2015 – What’s Past is Prologue: 100 Notes – 100 Thoughts – 100 Posts
12. November 25 2016 – The Daily Trick of Looking New: Minus Plato Today = Ch. 2, p. 29
13. November 26 2016 – Las Materias Cubanas: José Manuel Fors between botany, literature and art = Ch. 2, pp. 29-30
14. November 27 2016 – Like something almost being said: Petra Cortright’s HELL_TREE = Ch. 2, pp. 30-31
15. November 28 2016 – Chris Marker’s Homer = Ch. 2, pp. 32-33
16. November 29 2016 – Fifth Test, Day 5: Sophie Von Hellermann’s Cricket = Ch. 2, p. 33
9. November 30 2016 – This is the End…Sorta: Blueprints for a Past Future = Ch. 2, p. 33
17. December 1 2016 – Ancient Mirrors: Sara VanDerBeek in Ostia = Ch. 2, pp. 33-34
18. December 2 2016 – Cheese, Mirrors and Bears: In Frederic Tuten’s Cave = Ch. 2, p. 34
19. December 3 2016 – The Minus Plato Manifesto = Ch. 1, p. 7, p. 34
27. December 31 2016 – Bonne Année (courtesy Minus Plato) = Ch. 2, p. 42
20. January 2 2017 – Every Day Data Diaries: Cory Arcangel’s hypomnemata = Ch. 2, pp. 35-36
21. January 11 2017 – From Semele to Nefertiti: Juliana Huxtable’s Art News Consumer Report = Ch. 2, pp. 36-37
22. January 13 2017 – The Good Lives of Jonathas de Andrade = Ch. 2, pp. 37-38
25. February 16 2017 – Immigrant Song: Jannis Kounellis’ Greek doors and Roman epitaphs = Ch. 2, p. 42
31. March 8 2017 – Come Along With Her: Melissa Vogley Woods’ Drop-In Workshops = Ch. 2, p. 43
26. March 20 2017 – Trisha Brown’s Socratic movements = Ch. 2, p. 42
39. March 24 2017 – Holidays in Hell: Minus Plato’s Instantly Illustrated edition of Apuleius’ “The Golden Ass” = passim
37. March 25 2017 – Book 1: The Second Death of a Fake Socrates = Ch. 1, pp. 10-11
11. March 26 2017 – Book 2: Another Actaeon Attack = Ch. 2, p. 28
29. May 1 2017 – Past the Mission, I Smell the Roses: Tori Amos in Michael Robinson’s “Wild Ladders” = Ch. 2, p. 42
28. May 4 2017 – Minus Plato Turns 5 Years Old Today = Ch. 2, p. 42
33. May 10 2017 – On Three Separate Occasions: Triangles and Trauma in William Kentridge’s Triptychs
= Ch. 2, p. 43
34. June 1 2017 – Out of Servius: Sulpicia and Lee Lozano’s Dropout Politics = Ch. 2, p. 43
35. June 2 2017 – You’re really not going to like it: Peter Fraser’s “Mathematics” for the Impatient
= Ch. 2, p. 43
40. July 27 2017 – Kassel Documenta Diary Day 2: Finding Athens at Gottschalk-Halle = Ch. 8, pp. 246-251
36. August 13 2017 – Blank Books and Yoda’s Bible at Pope. L’s “Black Factory” = Ch. 2, p. 43
23. September 12 2017 – As surely as Medusa: Monica Ross’ justfornow for Minus Plato Today = Ch. 2, p. 41
30. October 12 2017 – Howling True Names: Corwin Clairmont’s “Submuloc Warrior Visits D.C.” and Jimmie Durham’s “Columbus Day” = Ch. 2, pp. 42-43
38. October 17 2017 – An Internet of Smoke, Dust and Attention: Exchanges between Jeroen van Loon, Despina Catapoti and Fronto = Ch. 1, pp. 11-13
24. November 3 2017 – Understanding Happenings on a Friday Afternoon = Ch. 2, pp. 41-42
32. November 19 2017 – The Owl and the Tyrant: Aesop and Domitian between Geta Brătescu and Melissa Vogley Woods = Ch. 2, p. 43
10. January 8 2018 – Fire and Fury’s First Shoots: Projections and Resolutions = Ch. 1, pp. 18-23
8. August 20 2018 – Personal Postcommodities: Rescaling Minus Plato
6. June 14 2019 – My Book’s Heavier Now: A Post to Launch ‘No Philosopher King’
4. July 15 2019 – The Ship of Shoes or Americans Unhappily Pursuing Happiness
2. September 7 2019 – Signs Fiction Forty – Online Insert No.2, Two Dollar Radio HQ