Subversive Performance in the Age of Human Capital

Contemporary art criticises earlier democratisation forms while embracing a neoliberal ideal of criticality as a zone of value production. This book proposes an interpretation of overidentification that focuses on practices grounded in a genuine identification with power, destabilising the metastasis of liberal-democracy and heralding a future beyond the democratic paradox.

Format: Hardback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 05 August 2023
Publisher: Springer International Publishing AG

Contemporary art is driven by an expansive, modernist ideal, while also engaging in a critical examination of previous democratic processes. However, beneath this democratic pursuit, a concerning crisis emerges. In the context of neoliberalism, criticality has transformed into a realm of value production, leading to a self-deprecating irony that exposes and re-enacts the artist's powerless position. This irony stands as one of the few remaining gestures within the arsenal of critical art. In response to this irony, this book challenges the concept of overidentification. Often interpreted as a parodic mimicry of institutional power, the book offers a comprehensive interpretation that avoids collapsing into ironic posturing. Drawing from a diverse range of sources, including political philosophers, art theorists, post-Marxist critiques of labor, and ethnographic studies, the authors propose an understanding of overidentification that goes beyond mere mimicry. They emphasize practices rooted in genuine identification with power, which engenders the excess implied by overidentification. These forms of overidentification are particularly destabilizing to the metastasis of liberal-democracy. By presenting critiques that challenge the prevailing structures of the present, these subversive performances usher in a future beyond the democratic paradox.

Weight: 512g
Dimension: 156 x 219 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783031358142
Edition number: 1st ed. 2023