In the Last Instance
with
Avram Finkelstein
Kameelah Janan Rasheed
Joshua Lubin-Levy
Aliza Shvarts
Discussion Documentation
Tuesday, May 16
Artists Space
55 Walker Street
What, in the last instance, determines the relation between structures of power and cultural production? To what end can art intervene in the ways that culture and ideology work to reproduce existing structures of visibility and domination?
Amid the heightened polarization of social and political life, some have suggested that we may be experiencing a “return of the culture wars”—a metaphor that allows us to reflect on enduring connections between art, culture, and power. More than a binary debate between ideologies on the left and right, this alludes to an ongoing and embodied contestation of power, as progressive and reactionary forces struggle to imagine and enact alternative futures. Within this framework, artworks are redoubled as potential sites of intervention, and the artist’s implication within institutional structures becomes increasingly charged.
In the Last Instance is an expanded roundtable discussion on the contradictions and possibilities of developing a critical aesthetic practice within this terrain. The conversation will be framed through short prompts from invited speakers Avram Finkelstein and Kameelah Janan Rasheed, each of whom work in unique ways to intervene in the space between institutions, artists and power. Facilitated by Joshua Lubin-Levy and Aliza Shvarts, this open forum invites audience participation throughout.
In the Last Instance is organized to mark the publication of “Living Labor: Marxism & Performance Studies,” a special issue of Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory co-edited by Joshua Lubin-Levy and Aliza Shvarts. Contributors include: Fred Moten, Gregory Sholette, Dyke Action Machine!, Juliana Huxtable, Alan Ruiz, and Soyoung Yoon, among others.
http://artistsspace.org/materials/in-the-last-instance
Artists Space
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