Out of Synchronization: Modern, Post-Modern, Neo-Feudal

About

What time is this that contemporary art is contemporary with? Is this simply our present pretending to be “modern”, as most believe? And if so, does this present have a clear idea of what is behind its back and what is ahead? Are we still able to clearly distinguish three dimensions of time: past, present, and future? Or, does being contemporary today means precisely the opposite—to no longer be able to orientate in a (post)historical time.
The experience of temporal disjunction has become all-pervasive. Its manifold symptoms range from those art practices which are obsessively focused on the past and a revival of archaic political conflicts to the economic and social relations that resemble pre-capitalist and pre-modern historical formations. We no longer share one single homogenous time, but rather live in different, often clashing temporalities. What was once held for a distant past is reappearing today in the midst of the present reality, or is even promised as a desirable future.
The course will focus on one aspect of this transformation, which has recently been attracting more and more attention—the emergence of so-called neo-feudalism. Detecting its traces in the contemporary cultural and art production and discussing its actual social and political manifestations will be the main task of the workshop.

Course leader

Boris Buden is a writer, cultural critic and translator. He studied philosophy in Zagreb and received his Ph.D. in Cultural Theory from Humboldt University, Berlin.

Target group

This course is designed for BA and MA students, artists, architects and researchers of visual arts, humanities and social sciences, art history and curatorial studies, architecture and design, and anyone with a keen interest in the subject area.

Course aim

The experience of temporal disjunction has become all-pervasive. The course will focus on one aspect of this transformation, which has recently been attracting more and more attention—the emergence of so-called neo-feudalism. Detecting its traces in the contemporary cultural and art production and discussing its actual social and political manifestations will be the main task of the workshop.

Fee info