Tuesday April 21 at 20:00 ~ Marx as art as politics. Marx in contemporary Fine Arts ~ a lecture by Johan Hartle in the context of the DAI's Associate PHD Research Collective
Location: DAI's auditorium in the Kortestraat in Arnhem
Time: 20h
Entrance free
Marx as art as politics. Marx in contemporary Fine Arts
Reference to Marx in contemporary art is frequent. Artists and curators have staged public readings of texts of Marx, puppet plays and library installations introduce the work of Marx to a wider audience and the portrait of Marx keeps appearing in contemporary artistic imagery. The aim of this talk is to understand the hidden logic of such reference to Marx. It claims that the Marx of the Fine Arts does not signify a naively political understanding of art but rather metonymically allows for reflecting on fundamental questions of contemporary artistic practices and their respective institutions. The Marx of the Fine Arts thus helps us to think about problems of aesthetic justice and the creation of audiences.
Johan Frederik Hartle is Assistant Professor for Philosophy of Art and Culture at University of Amsterdam (UvA) and adjunct professor for Philosophy and Art Theory at China Academy of Art (CAA) in Hangzhou, China. After finishing his dissertation at the University of Münster, he has been visiting research scholar in Jerusalem, Rome, and Amsterdam.
His general field of research is legacy of Marxism in contemporary aesthetic and cultural theory the tradition of institutional theories of art. His book publications include: “Der geöffnete Raum. Zur Politik der ästhetischen Form”; “De kunst van kritiek. Adorno in context” (ed. with Thijs Lijster); “Personal Kill” (with Beate Geissler and Oliver Sann), “DADALENIN” (with Rainer Ganahl). He is currently finishing a book on the visual culture of Red Vienna and editing two books on contemporary Marxism (“Reification and Spectacle”; “Marx and the Aesthetic”, both in collaboration with Samir Gandesha).
