[Blake_Stimson,_Gregory_Sholette]_Collectivism_aft(z-lib
Introduction 11collectivism brings focus to—inevitably, uniquely—the broader social andeconomic conditions of production, which are themselves always collectivedespite appearance, that it is capable of returning again and again to hauntboth past and present.COLLECTIVISM NOWEvidence that recent and profound mutation in the neoliberal agenda hasoccurred in the months since 9/11 is everywhere abundant. Likewise, collectivismis undergoing a radical transformation of its own. As we write this,Steven Kurtz, a founding member of the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE), isfacing dubious criminal charges, connected to the group’s public critique ofthe biotechnology industry, that were leveled by a federal grand jury impaneledto reveal the artist’s involvement in bioterrorism. 13 Underlying the state’sinvestigation, however, is the CAE’s anarchist-inspired writings about tacticalmedia and the creation of radical, collective cells for carrying out “molecularinterventions and semiotic shocks that contribute to the negation of therising intensity of authoritarian culture.” 14All at once it seems that an era has transpired since the risk-taking,experimental approach embodied by contemporary art was being held up asthe sexy doppelganger of the new economy. Ounce for ounce art’s culturalFIGURE I.3. Beatriz da Costa (left), performing with the Critical Art Ensemble, helps an audiencemember spread transgenic E. coli on a Petri dish to promote the Wctitious biotech company GenTerra,2001. Courtesy of Beatriz da Costa and the Critical Art Ensemble.
12 Blake Stimson and Gregory Sholettecapital also paid dividends of another type. According to John Murphy, aformer vice president of Philip Morris Inc., art harbors an essential ingredientthat “has its counterpart in the business world. That element is innovation—withoutwhich it would be impossible for progress to be made in anysegment in society.” 15But what appears to have set Kurtz and the CAE apart—at leastfor the moment—from other, similar artistic endeavors is most apparent bya question FBI ofWcers posed to one of Kurtz’s academic colleagues: why,they asked, is the CAE “listed as a collective rather than by its individualmembers?” 16 No longer mere symptom but now fully suspect, the innovativegroupthink common to both unbridled corporate entrepreneurialism and acertain electronic vanguard sensibility will henceforth be required to take aloyalty test or face the consequences. There is only room for one collectiveenterprise now and that is state-sanctioned marketplace fetishism as imaginedcommunity. And with it comes the ethereal image of commingled youthfulblood, always purposely kept offscreen yet always fully present. It is asghostly a form of collectivism as that of Vicksburg, Normandy, Iwo Jima,and countless other mnemonic points of reference cynically mobilized by anew cult of communal sacriWce and blindly administered over by a swarm ofembedded media, gray-haired talking heads, and evangelical party leaders. 17In other words, what was only very recently a primarily culturalbattleWeld waged over modes of representation, manifestations of identity,and even choices of lifestyle has abruptly shifted into increasingly directconfrontation that, as Brian Holmes argues, is constituted by “decentralizedcollective action that propagates itself via every means: word-of-mouthand rumor, communication between political groups, meetings of socialmovements, and broadcasts over specialized and mass media—above all theInternet.” 18 Cultural politics may have ended, but in a world all but totallysubjugated by the commodity form and the spectacle it generates, the onlyremaining theater of action is direct engagement with the forces of production.This repoliticization of the economy brings with it the ghosts ofcollectivism past. In this respect we cannot help but recall the words of ElLissitzky, “The private property aspect of creativity must be destroyed; allare creators and there is no reason of any sort for this division into artistsand nonartists.” 19Nevertheless, insofar as collectivism after modernism remainsrooted in difference rather than its attempted neutralization, it is constitutedwithin what Antonio Negri has described as a multitude consisting ofcreative workers, community and environmental activists, radical labor, andNGO administrators but also urban garden builders, houseworkers, and mothers.From puppet makers busted by the Philadelphia police to radical hip-hop
- Page 2 and 3: ▲COLLECTIVISMAFTERMODERNISM
- Page 4 and 5: COLLECTIVISM▲AFTERMODERNISMThe Ar
- Page 6 and 7: TO LOUISE AND ARIANA
- Page 8 and 9: CONTENTS6. The Mexican Pentagon 165
- Page 10 and 11: AcknowledgmentsThis book would not
- Page 12 and 13: PrefaceThe collectivization of arti
- Page 14 and 15: FIGURE P.1. Promotional poster for
- Page 16 and 17: Prefacexvdirectly opposite individu
- Page 18 and 19: Prefacexviiadmit a desire to see al
- Page 20 and 21: Introduction: Periodizing Collectiv
- Page 22 and 23: Introduction 3to increase their pro
- Page 24 and 25: Introduction 5Modernist artists und
- Page 26 and 27: Introduction 7Those good intentions
- Page 28 and 29: Introduction 9and that helped give
- Page 32 and 33: Introduction 13artists on Chicago
- Page 34 and 35: Introduction 15Phase of the Cultura
- Page 36 and 37: 1. Internationaleries: Collectivism
- Page 38 and 39: Internationaleries 19played a “us
- Page 40 and 41: Internationaleries 21Rooskens, Euge
- Page 42 and 43: FIGURE 1.2. Le “Realisme-Socialis
- Page 44 and 45: Internationaleries 25and an active
- Page 46 and 47: Internationaleries 27create a democ
- Page 48 and 49: Internationaleries 29of the fourth
- Page 50 and 51: Internationaleries 31Debord’s 196
- Page 52 and 53: Internationaleries 33in which the n
- Page 54 and 55: Internationaleries 35be demystiWed
- Page 56 and 57: Internationaleries 37printing a ser
- Page 58 and 59: Internationaleries 39NOTES1. Harold
- Page 60 and 61: Internationaleries 4136. The exhibi
- Page 62 and 63: Internationaleries 4377. Michel de
- Page 64 and 65: 2. After the “Descent to the Ever
- Page 66 and 67: After the “Descent to the Everyda
- Page 68 and 69: After the “Descent to the Everyda
- Page 70 and 71: After the “Descent to the Everyda
- Page 72 and 73: After the “Descent to the Everyda
- Page 74 and 75: After the “Descent to the Everyda
- Page 76 and 77: After the “Descent to the Everyda
- Page 78 and 79: After the “Descent to the Everyda
Introduction 11
collectivism brings focus to—inevitably, uniquely—the broader social and
economic conditions of production, which are themselves always collective
despite appearance, that it is capable of returning again and again to haunt
both past and present.
COLLECTIVISM NOW
Evidence that recent and profound mutation in the neoliberal agenda has
occurred in the months since 9/11 is everywhere abundant. Likewise, collectivism
is undergoing a radical transformation of its own. As we write this,
Steven Kurtz, a founding member of the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE), is
facing dubious criminal charges, connected to the group’s public critique of
the biotechnology industry, that were leveled by a federal grand jury impaneled
to reveal the artist’s involvement in bioterrorism. 13 Underlying the state’s
investigation, however, is the CAE’s anarchist-inspired writings about tactical
media and the creation of radical, collective cells for carrying out “molecular
interventions and semiotic shocks that contribute to the negation of the
rising intensity of authoritarian culture.” 14
All at once it seems that an era has transpired since the risk-taking,
experimental approach embodied by contemporary art was being held up as
the sexy doppelganger of the new economy. Ounce for ounce art’s cultural
FIGURE I.3. Beatriz da Costa (left), performing with the Critical Art Ensemble, helps an audience
member spread transgenic E. coli on a Petri dish to promote the Wctitious biotech company GenTerra,
2001. Courtesy of Beatriz da Costa and the Critical Art Ensemble.