A Properly Political Art Must Be Twice Political

Andrew Hewitt, Dave Beech, Mel Jordan

Research output: Non-Textual OutputArtefact

Abstract

New artwork by Freee art collective specifically commissioned for the Critical Machines exhibition. The slogan is taken from the writing of Walter Benjamin. The text is made into a 'collective' sandwich board which is 'carried' by four people. The text and the people move about in the public realm both empowered (together they agree) and restricted (physically) by their collectivism.The image of the performance was presented at the exhibition as a 4m x 3m image as a poster on the outside of the gallery. The exhibition presents the work of critical artists and artists’ collectives with international status, such as Art & Language, Burak Arikan, Vadim Zakharov, Khalil Rabah, and Walid Raad. Freee’s selection is evidence of our acceptance as important contributors to this field of art practice. The exhibition is curated by Octavian Esanu Assistant Professor FAAH and presented at the AUB Art Galleries, Beirut, Lebanon,6 March—26 July 2014Outcomes also included a daily performance by students devised using a prop designed by Freee. Freee’s new manifesto, “arrows against the rich: old manifestos for new spoken choirs” is also included in a bookshelf for Critical Machines devised by the curator with works by André Breton, ArtLeaks, Chto Delat’ Collective, Critical Art Ensemble, Pablo Helguera, William Hogarth, Group Material, Hans Haacke & Pierre Bourdieu, Wassily Kandinsky, Allan Kaprow, Ad Reinhardt, SubRosa Collective, Temporary Services, Gregory Sholette, Ai Weiwei and others.In addition Hewitt and Jordan were invited to participate in the conference ‘Critical Machines: Art Periodical Today’ on March 7-8. Hewitt and Jordan are founding editors of the Intellect journal Art & the Public Sphere. The conference is devised by Angela Harutyunyan on the theme ‘resisiting the eventization of culture by global capitalism’. The conference of editors of art periodicals opens on March 7th at the Gallery. Participating publications and editors include ArtLeaks Gazzette (Corina Apostol); Bidoun (Nigar Azimi); Cabinet (D. Graham Burnett); Chto Delat’ Newspaper (Dmitry Vilensky); e-flux (Anton Vidokle); October (David Joselit); Red-Thread (Erden Kosova)
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 6 Mar 2014
EventCritical Machines (Exhibition and Conference) - AUB Byblos Bank Art Gallery, American University of Beirut
Duration: 6 Mar 2014 → …
http://www.aub.edu.lb/art_galleries/current/Pages/critical-machines-exh.aspx

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