Along with The Public School’s Anti-State Communism seminars at the Brecht Forum, Platypus 1917′s activities seem to me to comprise one of the best fora for well proper Eustonite, post-political Leftist discussion and theorizing, currently accessible A.F.K. in New York.  I’ll have to go to the German Expressionism reception at MoMa like a briefcase posh instead, but I otherwise highly recommend attending this seminar, though I do not necessarily advocate the inevitably doxastic views expressed therein.  I’m still far too preoccupied with working on learning how to die (currently through Critchley), and learning to live (Valery): Le vent se lève! . . . il faut tenter de vivre!, and then again learning how to die (Umberto Eco’s On The Disadvantages and Advantages of Death: “the thought that all experience will be lost at the moment of my death makes me feel pain and fear … What a waste, decades spent building up experience, only to throw it all away … We remedy this sadness by working. For example, by writing, painting, or building cities. You die, but most of what you have accumulated will not be lost; you are leaving a message in a bottle.”)

Aesthetics in Protests

Wed., Mar. 23rd, 6:30-8pm

The New School
Lang Auditorium
55 E 13th st.
2nd floor

PANELISTS:

Mark Herbst, Journal of Aesthetics and Protest
member from W.A.G.E.
Beka Economopoulos from Not An Alternative
Chris Mansour, Platypus

DESCRIPTION:

This panel will focus on the aesthetic tropes that activists use to express political dissent. Theatrical gestures such as street art (e.g., glamdalism), dance parties (e.g., Funk the War), or costumes have found their way into protest tactics. Simultaneously, many contemporary artists create ‘activist’ or ‘social’ art by pulling off media pranks against the government or corporations (e.g., Yes Men), reenact past protests (e.g., Mark Tribe or Sharon Hayes) and other forms of public performances. What are the historical roots that contribute to the use of current aesthetic interventions in political protests? In what ways do they expand or limit the possibilities for protests to transform the social order? How does experimenting with aesthetic and artistic sensibilities influence our political consciousness and practice? Political thinkers and art-activists will address these questions in order to make sense of the various forms of protest today.

QUESTIONS:

1) Contemporary “political” artistic practice aims to raise political consciousness for progressive or left politics. How does — and how can — the use of aesthetic, theatrical and narrative elements heighten political possibilities and consciousness?

2) Over the last fifteen years, the ‘star’ of theatrical protest tactics has risen high in both leftist politics and the contemporary art world.  Bored with the staid march-and-rally routine, activists seek to diversify the form of protest politics: Funk the War, Bash Back, Billionaires for Bush, Claire Fontaine, etc. Such tactics aim to allow the “message” of progressive politics to reach a broader audienceand counter the ‘right wing noise machine.’  Despite this increase in creative ingenuity, the social situation has worsened over the past half a century, and one might even see this creativity as a symptom of worsening conditions (e.g., the deflation of the anti-war protests–which began as some of the largest protests in 20th century history). Given the Left’s greater inability to change reality and gain popular support, how is the creative aesthetic approach towards activism bound up in this failure? What must be rethought in light of these dimming prospects?

3) “How might you articulate the difference between ‘aestheticizing politics’ and ‘politicizing aesthetics’?  How might the difference matter for the understanding of contemporary politico-aesthetic practice.”

4) What role ought considerations of value and aesthetics play in our evaluation of politically minded contemporary art?

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If you need additional information, or have any questions, please contact Chris Mansour at chris.d.mansour@gmail.com

The Platypus Affiliated Society organizes reading groups, public fora, research, and journalism focused on problems and tasks inherited from the “Old” (1920s-30s), “New” (1960s-70s) and post-political (1980s-90s) Left, for the possibilities of emancipatory politics today.

Just an interesting specimen of a primer on Marcuse that might inspire one to pick up a copy of One Dimensional Man, or might rekindle one’s extinguished inspiration at the possibility of being both a scholar and an activist.  Part II also has interesting information on lifestyle in San Diego and how its post World War II financial windfall shaped the region’s atmosphere through to today: