17th October- Lecture notes and reflections (ongoing research into marxist theory)
17th October
Lecture notes and reflections
Lecture- Production and reproduction
The first half of the lecture looked at mechanical reproduction and the implications of this. This is something I have reflected upon and considered within my print reflections.
Labour, alienation, utopia art and marxism
Reading list-
-Walter Benjamin, 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' (sections I-V are the most relevant, but feel free to read more
-Dean Kenning and Margareta Kern, 'Art and Politics'
This lecture was of specific interest to myself and my practice due to its political roots and the reflections on how art and politics interact. The notion that one can or will directly affect the other.
The first example of work that does this is Maria Eichhorn, 5 weeks, 26 days, 175 hours at chisenhale gallery in London.
For the duration of her exhibition she closed the gallery and paid the staff to not work from her funds she had received. This concept is almost anti-art in its nature however it also makes brash statements about the political rooting of art as a class representation. The anti-establishment style method used here makes many question what point is being made and being presented blatantly with a protest style statement.
Can art act in opposition to neoliberal power and manifest values based in equality, commonality and solidarity, while extending these values in common cause with global and local movements and expressions of resistance? Or does art simply manifest and further the interests of a transnational capitalist class?’
Dean Kenning and Margareta Kern, ‘Art and Politics’, Art Monthly 2013
Reading the above quote within the context of the article and then later within the lecture allowed time for reflections on the subject of art's position within utopias. Within the lecture, 'Utopia' was referenced at length as the vision of many thinkers and artist. However, I disagree with this notion. The conceptualisation of utopias is not something that should be of idyllic distance. The entire design of a utopia and the latter utopia failing or not functioning as intended is what renders the thinking and concept utopian. However, if the end goal was less idolised then the theology may find a more realistic grounding. Therefore, I tend to reduce the use of utopian visions and address the now and how we can work toward a progressive future.
”Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.'
Marx, Theses on Feuerbach
Themes within this lecture can't help but to relate to the Marxist theology and ideas. Although his writing and concepts were developed in the 19th century, his writing and concepts have been used since to theorise and lead nations. Unfortunately, at the wrong hands, these concepts can be repressive and elitist.
“Supposing that we had produced in a human manner; each of us would in his production have doubly affirmed himself and his fellow men. I would have:
1. objectified in my production my individuality and its peculiarity and thus both in my activity enjoyed an individual expression of my life […].
2. In your enjoyment or use of my product I would have had the direct enjoyment of realizing that I had both satisfied a human need by my work and also objectified the human essence and therefore fashioned for another human being the object that met his need.
3. I would have been for you the mediator between you and the species and thus been acknowledged and felt by you as a completion of your own essence and a necessary part of yourself and have thus realized that I am confirmed both in your thought and in your love.
4. In my expression of my life I would have fashioned the expression of your life, and thus in my own activity have realized my own essence, my human, my communal essence.”
Marx, note on John Mill, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844
The above notes/concepts can be re-worked and considered within a personal and artistic point of view. Therefore, although twisted to match oppressive theology, they can also be used, in line with has key ideas to reconsider societal structure. To further this lecture and the information/discussion that took place I plan to continue looking into marxism and his theology. I have read much of his work before and also looked greatly at how his theory influenced stalin and that period in russian history.
“In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.”
Karl Marx, preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, 1859
The above talk of social consciousness is something that is pinnacle in my work. This concept separates art and political art from propaganda. The willingness for the artist to educate the viewer. The desire for the viewer to have their own opinion first and foremost then move onto their own social construct of the correct social stance and ability to progress.
Marx: key ideas
Labour, alienation and the commodity workers produce objects that they cannot retain or possess
Class consciousness history / social reality is the product of class struggle; ruling classes control wealth but also dominant ideas (ideology)
(from Hegel: Dialectics: thesis, antithesis, synthesis)
Marx: Dialectical Materialism: progress through struggle, conflict and their resolution in the physical world of production, economy and material things.
‘To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. […] But the instant the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to artistic production, the total function of art is reversed. Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice – politics.’ Walter Benjamin, ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’, 1936
Lecture notes and reflections
Lecture- Production and reproduction
The first half of the lecture looked at mechanical reproduction and the implications of this. This is something I have reflected upon and considered within my print reflections.
Labour, alienation, utopia art and marxism
Reading list-
-Walter Benjamin, 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' (sections I-V are the most relevant, but feel free to read more
-Dean Kenning and Margareta Kern, 'Art and Politics'
This lecture was of specific interest to myself and my practice due to its political roots and the reflections on how art and politics interact. The notion that one can or will directly affect the other.
The first example of work that does this is Maria Eichhorn, 5 weeks, 26 days, 175 hours at chisenhale gallery in London.
For the duration of her exhibition she closed the gallery and paid the staff to not work from her funds she had received. This concept is almost anti-art in its nature however it also makes brash statements about the political rooting of art as a class representation. The anti-establishment style method used here makes many question what point is being made and being presented blatantly with a protest style statement.
Can art act in opposition to neoliberal power and manifest values based in equality, commonality and solidarity, while extending these values in common cause with global and local movements and expressions of resistance? Or does art simply manifest and further the interests of a transnational capitalist class?’
Dean Kenning and Margareta Kern, ‘Art and Politics’, Art Monthly 2013
Reading the above quote within the context of the article and then later within the lecture allowed time for reflections on the subject of art's position within utopias. Within the lecture, 'Utopia' was referenced at length as the vision of many thinkers and artist. However, I disagree with this notion. The conceptualisation of utopias is not something that should be of idyllic distance. The entire design of a utopia and the latter utopia failing or not functioning as intended is what renders the thinking and concept utopian. However, if the end goal was less idolised then the theology may find a more realistic grounding. Therefore, I tend to reduce the use of utopian visions and address the now and how we can work toward a progressive future.
”Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.'
Marx, Theses on Feuerbach
Themes within this lecture can't help but to relate to the Marxist theology and ideas. Although his writing and concepts were developed in the 19th century, his writing and concepts have been used since to theorise and lead nations. Unfortunately, at the wrong hands, these concepts can be repressive and elitist.
“Supposing that we had produced in a human manner; each of us would in his production have doubly affirmed himself and his fellow men. I would have:
1. objectified in my production my individuality and its peculiarity and thus both in my activity enjoyed an individual expression of my life […].
2. In your enjoyment or use of my product I would have had the direct enjoyment of realizing that I had both satisfied a human need by my work and also objectified the human essence and therefore fashioned for another human being the object that met his need.
3. I would have been for you the mediator between you and the species and thus been acknowledged and felt by you as a completion of your own essence and a necessary part of yourself and have thus realized that I am confirmed both in your thought and in your love.
4. In my expression of my life I would have fashioned the expression of your life, and thus in my own activity have realized my own essence, my human, my communal essence.”
Marx, note on John Mill, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844
The above notes/concepts can be re-worked and considered within a personal and artistic point of view. Therefore, although twisted to match oppressive theology, they can also be used, in line with has key ideas to reconsider societal structure. To further this lecture and the information/discussion that took place I plan to continue looking into marxism and his theology. I have read much of his work before and also looked greatly at how his theory influenced stalin and that period in russian history.
“In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.”
Karl Marx, preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, 1859
The above talk of social consciousness is something that is pinnacle in my work. This concept separates art and political art from propaganda. The willingness for the artist to educate the viewer. The desire for the viewer to have their own opinion first and foremost then move onto their own social construct of the correct social stance and ability to progress.
Marx: key ideas
Labour, alienation and the commodity workers produce objects that they cannot retain or possess
Class consciousness history / social reality is the product of class struggle; ruling classes control wealth but also dominant ideas (ideology)
(from Hegel: Dialectics: thesis, antithesis, synthesis)
Marx: Dialectical Materialism: progress through struggle, conflict and their resolution in the physical world of production, economy and material things.
Philosophy’s job is to move us away from the realm of ideas – idealism – and back to the realm of real material facts and experience.
The concept of commodity workers producing goods is of major relevance in today's markets. The production of goods is far separated from the consumer and also the gaining capital. Ownership and slave labour morally poison this capitalist structure and an alternative is something to consider.
‘To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. […] But the instant the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to artistic production, the total function of art is reversed. Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice – politics.’ Walter Benjamin, ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’, 1936
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