art

"God didn't die, he was transformed into money" - An interview with Giorgio Agamben - Peppe Savà

A 2012 interview with the Italian philosopher, who expresses his views on the economic crisis, capitalism as a religion (Benjamin), the role of history in European cultural identity, “bio-politics”, the “state of exception”, and the fate of contemporary art (“trapped between the Scylla of the museum and the Charybdis of commodification”).

“God didn’t die, he was transformed into money” - An Interview with Giorgio Agamben – Peppe Savà

Zines and underground comics of the 1980s and 1990s

Submitted by Juan Conatz on Dec 16 2013 03:06

A blogpost about various 'zines, underground comics and alternative publications I was exposed to during the late 1980s and 1990s.

If you've been on the radical left for any amount of time, you've probably heard of ‘zines’. A shortening of the word ‘magazine, zines are described by Wikipedia as “most commonly a small circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images usually reproduced via photocopier”. Usually they are the size of what were once, and are now more frequently called, pamphlets.

Situationist International anthology - Ken Knabb

E-book of the most comprehensive collection of writings of the Situationist International in English translated and compiled by Ken Knabb.

In 1957 a few European avant-garde groups came together to form the Situationist International. Picking up where the dadaists and surrealists had left off, the situationists challenged people's passive conditioning with carefully calculated scandals and the playful tactic of detournement.

Throwing a Wrench in the "Capitalism Works" Piece

Submitted by Cindy Milstein on Sep 13 2013 18:53

I'm not sure quite where to start my rant on this public art project in Times Square by Steve Lambert (http://gothamist.com/2013/09/12/talk_about_capitalism_in_the_heart.php), given that it perturbs me on so many levels. The artist might respond, "That's the point!" And certainly I'd like to respond, "You're right!" Instead, my first disgruntlement with this piece it that it only appears to perturb, and so cleverly.

Like capitalism, and its "creative capitol" version in city's such as, say, New York City, it lures us with an aesthetically pleasing, humorous, fun thing, asks for and probably receives our voluntary participation (free labor, not even wage labor!), and thus, convinces us to "buy into" a social relation that's hidden by the thing itself.

Notes on "the Situationist International: the art of historical intervention" - Miguel Amorós

Submitted by Alias Recluse on Aug 11 2013 18:35

A short summary of the history of the Situationist International, with brief discussions of its artistic origins, its significance as the “the most political artistic vanguard and the most artistic political vanguard” of its time, the role of the critique of everyday life in the development of its project, and the recuperation of many situationist themes by capitalism since May ’68, whose achievements with regard to individual freedom "were nothing but the pale reflection of the freedom of the market”.

Notes on “The Situationist International: The Art of Historical Intervention” – Miguel Amorós

Radical America #12.02: Murals

Constituent Items:

Introduction
People's art & change the community mural movement (Cockcroft, James D. Cockcroft, Eva S.)
Recent Raza murals in the U.S. (Drescher, Tim Garcia, Rupert)
The wonderful white paper (Domino, Ruth)
The clerking sisterhood wonderful white paper rationalization and the work culture of saleswomen (Benson, Susan Porter)

A letter to Goldsmiths art students on capitalism, art and pseudo-critique

A general critique of much of the "anti-capitalist" art at the Goldsmiths University July 2013 MFA show. This text is reproduced for reference and debate only, and the views of the author are not endorsed by the libcom group.

Dear Goldsmiths Art Students,

The anarchist art of Flavio Costantini

Submitted by Steven. on May 21 2013 18:18

Image gallery of the work of anarchist artist Flavio Costantini, who sadly died yesterday 20 May 2013.

How the left got trapped inside their own heads and how fairies can open the door to the future - Adam Curtis

Adam Curtis on the pessimism that the May 68 generation used as a defence against recuperation but struggled to shake off.

The protest movement that began with Occupy Wall Street is very clear about what it is against - an international capitalism that is cruel, unfair and untenable. But the movement refuses to say what it is for.

Art doesn't pay - Janet Steen

Janet Steer on the reality of a career in the arts not being as glamorous as it's made out to be.

I was looking out at the mountains, thinking: Trees are so lucky, they don’t have to have jobs. Of course, as any elementary schoolteacher will tell you, trees do have an important job, which is to expel nice fresh oxygen into the air so we can all breathe, to provide a habitat for lots of necessary creatures, and so on.