Art as Critique Under Neoliberalism: Negativity Undoing Economic Naturalism
Is contemporary art still a viable medium for socio-political critique within a cultural terrain almost wholly naturalised by neoliberalism? Historically, negativity is central to the project of critical theory. Today, art’s critical acuity is revivified by negatively divesting from art contexts saturated with neoliberal economism. Criticality is then negatively practiced as an ‘un-’ or ‘not-doing’, defining modes of exodus while crucially not abandoning art’s institutional definition altogether.
Measuring the Immeasurable: Social Media and the Dictatorship of Visibility
Institutionally today’s world is dominated by a slavish adherence to metrics. Every action and every choice is viewed as a strategic and competitive means of rising above others and ‘getting ahead’. Under neoliberalism, endless competition is purveyed not only as necessary but as ‘only natural’. This mindset is met with constant clamouring for numerical validation at every level.
In Brief: The Future of Art Schools etc.
There are two principal challenges facing art schools today. Both pertain to the decades-long impact of neoliberalism.
Here and Nowhere: Artistic Identity on Social Media
Social media is a dominant force in contemporary art and culture. Social media attempts to incorporate everything into it. Its underlying consensus is of sharing all with all at all times. The unprecedented popularity of social media among artists suggests they have finally escaped their traditional identity as alienated individuals. Or have they?
Art and Celebrity: the Quest for Ultravisibilty
Controversy surrounding Björk’s recent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art raises a number of questions about the role of major art institutions in the 21st Century. These questions go far beyond fusty reactions over a pop star exhibiting in the hallowed halls of a high-end museum. Instead they indicate a broader crisis of identity for public art institutions beset by neoliberalism’s privatising demands for ever-greater profits.
Sweeping Art Under the Market
Critical art writing bemoaning a fundamental ‘crisis’ in contemporary art is by no means new. In fact, since the 1980s such writing has become commonplace. A recent article by Camille Paglia extrapolating such a crisis called ‘How Capitalism Can Save Art’ appeared, fittingly enough, in the Wall Street Journal. How exactly capitalism can save art however is by no means convincingly argued.
To produce value under Capital is a misfortune because it means producing value for somebody else.