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'An aphorism, properly stamped and molded, has not been "deciphered" when it has simply been read; rather one has then to begin its interpretation, for which is required an art of interpretation.' -- Nietzsche, 'On the Genealogy of Morals'

shifting from our spectatorial position in a world of images « Previous | |Next »
December 6, 2011

In Truth or Dare in Art Forum David Joselit says that:

If there is a politics of art today, it has nothing to do with the bland consumption of information—whether in newspapers, on iPads, or on museum walls. Neither can it be found in the inflated, politically correct “deconstruction” of discourse or the exposure of cartoon subjectivities. Let’s face the fact that most of what we call political art is no more than mildly polemical grist for the market: radical-chic consumption analogous in its (largely unintended) affirmative function to the expensive locavore markets and restaurants that are found in the same cities that serve as capitals of art exhibition and consumption. A truly political art now—if it is possible—has little to do with Adornian anti-art strategies of negation on the one hand or representing explicitly political themes on the other. 

Joselit adds that the specificity of our current moment lies in a degree of image saturation that was unimaginable throughout most of the past century. As we are constantly told, we now consume images 24/7: on our phones, in elevators, in taxis, etc. Under these conditions, modernist tactics of trauma or defamiliarization are no longer effective.

Consumption implies closure and we need to shift from our spectatorial position. Joselit suggests that we can do this by entering the time of image circulation and make a judgment about what we see there.

| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 12:24 PM |