Art and the Commodity Form

Art and the Commodity Form

 December 21, 2016  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

ON OCTOBER 11, 2016, Platypus hosted a forum entitled “Art and the Commodity Form” at Goldsmiths, University of London. The panel brought together Rex Dunn, independent Marxist and writer; Zhoe Granger, a director of the gallery, project space, and art publisher, Arcadia Missa; and Peter Osborne, editor of the journal Radical Philosophy and professor of Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University. Sophia Freeman of Platypus moderated the panel. What follows is an edited transcript of the event. [Read More]
Art 

Art And The Commodity Form, London

 October 17, 2016  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Panelists Rex Dunn (Writer) Zhoe Granger (Director, Arcadia Missa) Peter Osborne (Professor Of Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University) Description If it is true that the ‘commodity-structure’ (Lukács) is the defining feature of modern capitalism down through the present, then it stands to reason that it has no less impacted the way art is produced, consumed, circulated, and exchanged. This shift in art’s character happened both objectively (e. [Read More]
Art  Commodity  Walter Benjamin 

Book Review: Robert B. Pippin, *After the Beautiful: Hegel and the Philosophy of Pictorial Modernism*

Book Review: Robert B. Pippin, *After the Beautiful: Hegel and the Philosophy of Pictorial Modernism*

 November 4, 2014  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2013 IN ONE OF THE NOTEBOOKS he kept between 1914 and 1916, Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote that “the work of art is the object seen from the point of view of eternity; and the good life is the world seen from the point of view of eternity. This is the connection between art and ethics.” It is not hard to understand, Wittgenstein’s enthusiasm to serve in the Austrian army notwithstanding, how the experience of civilization-destroying war would open up the question of eternity, of how distant a perspective we need to be able to see the ways and things of our world as redeemable, or even as worthy of redemption. [Read More]
Robert B. Pippin  Art  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel  Modernism 

Art, a modern phenomenon

Art, a modern phenomenon

 June 1, 2014  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

ON MARCH 18, 2014, Chris Mansour, a member of the Platypus Affiliated Society in New York, interviewed Larry Shiner, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, History, and Visual Arts at The University of Illinois, Springfield and author of The Invention of Art: A Cultural History (2001), in which he argues that the category of art is a modern invention. What follows is an edited transcript of their conversation. Chris Mansour: You first wrote The Invention of Art in 2001, nearly 15 years ago. [Read More]
Art  Visual Art  Larry Shiner 

Art and Class, Left Forum 2014

 May 31, 2014  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

One of four panels held by the Platypus Affiliated Society at Left Forum 2014, from May 30 to June 1st, 2014. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Panelists Bret Schneider (Platypus) Saul Ostrow (Critical Practices Inc.) Mike Pepi Oxana Timofeeva (Chto delat?/What is to be done?) Moderated by Robin Treadwell. Description Although the art world seemed mostly unscathed by the 2008 financial crisis and the Occupy movement, a notable focus on the art market and the power structures of the art world has emerged in the past few years. [Read More]
Left Forum 2014  Art  Chto delat?  Critical Practices Inc  What is to be done? 

Art and Commodity Form

 February 25, 2014  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

{{ % audio src=“https://archive.org/download/Artandthecommodityformchicago/140312-000.mp3" % }} Panel at SAIC Panelists: Yasmin Nair Lisa Vinebaum Keith Brown Conrad Bakker If it is true that the ‘commodity-structure’ (Lukács) is the defining feature of modern capitalism down through the present, then it stands to reason that it has no less impacted the way art is produced, consumed, circulated, and exchanged. This shift in art’s character happened both objectively (e.g., as in an article produced for exchange on the market), and subjectively (i. [Read More]
art  commodity 

The artist at work

Book Review: Ben Davis, '9.5 Theses on Art and Class.' Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2013.

The artist at work

 February 1, 2014  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

ON A MAY NIGHT IN 2012, Sotheby’s sold a version of Edvard Munch’s *The Scream* for 119.9 million dollars, setting a new record for the price paid for a single work of art. Meanwhile, union art handlers, locked out in a months-long dispute over a new contract, picketed the auction house along with Occupy Museums activists. While this sad little snapshot of art world disparity is not exactly new, the past few years have seen this type of excess thrown into sharp relief – against the background of the 2008 financial crisis and, to a lesser extent, the Occupy movement. [Read More]
Ben Davis  Art 

Aging in the afterlife

The many deaths of art

Aging in the afterlife

 July 1, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

LAST SPRING, in response to Paul Mason’s article “Does Occupy Signal the Death of Contemporary Art?,” the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted an event on the “death of art.”1 Speakers included Julieta Aranda who was represented by Anton Vidokle, Gregg Horowitz, Paul Mattick, and Yates McKee. The discussion was moderated by Chris Mansour and was held at the New School in New York on February 23, 2013. Complete video of the event can be found online at the above link. [Read More]
Art 

Art and the Commodity Form, Left Forum 2013

 June 8, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A talk and guided discussion held at Left Forum 2013, at Pace University, on June 8, 2013. Video Recording Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Panelists Benjamin Blumberg Victoria Campbell Chris Mansour Description If it is true that the ‘commodity-structure’ (Lukács) is the defining feature of modern capitalism down through the present, then it stands to reason that it has no less impacted the way art is produced, consumed, circulated, and exchanged. [Read More]
Left Forum  Left Forum 2013  Art  Commodity 

Art and the Commodity Form, Halifax

 May 24, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A moderated panel discussion hosted by the Platypus Affiliated Society held on Friday, May 24, 2013 at the Eyelevel Gallery in Halifax, in conjunction with the Annual Y-Level Exhibition (“And all sat mute”) Please Note: Due to technical problems, the ending of the event for both audio and video is cut off. Video Recording Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Panelists Merray Gerges [Read More]
Art  Commodity