Simon Sheikh Livres

„In the place of the public sphere?“ takes its point of departure in conceptions of practice and spectatorship based on the notion of a fragmented public sphere, and explores the potentials, problematics and politics lying behind a construction (real or imaginary) of particular „public“ spheres. How does one perceive and / or construct specific public spheres and positional and / or participatory models for spectatorship as opposed ti (modernist) generalized ones? Does this entail reconfiguration of the (bourgeois) notion of the public sphere into a different arena and / or into a mass of difference, overlapping spheres? or, in other words, what can be put in the place of the public sphere? privat zones, salons, institutions, sub- and / or counterpublics? and what are the different arenas, possibilities and methods for interaction within and between them? finally, the question to be raced is how this should relate to artistic production and arts spaces and institutions?

This publication brings together the artistic response to contemporary revolution represented by the exhibition and new reflections on the relationship between art and revolution by theorists and art historians. The book includes illustrations and interviews with the artists, and essays that tackle issues such as art and revolution, aesthetics and politics, ecology and anarchism. Gerald Raunig marks out alternatives to the takeover of the state apparatus as the primary goal of revolutionary activity. Benda Hofmeyr locates the significance of revolution in its transformation into a spectacle that provokes fervour in the minds of viewers. Simon Sheikh reviews the divide between aesthetics and politics and Chus Martinez examines Revolution and Garden Party as two opposing cultural idioms. Maja and Reuben Fowkes connect anarchy, ecology and art as factors of contemporary revolution

What does it mean to live under the current hegemony of capitalism? This question, among others, is explored in a series of exhibitions held in Oslo and Estonia, as well as in this book project. The essays and projects delve into the transformation of production in Western countries, shifting from industrial to immaterial labor, while in Eastern contexts, state capitalism gives way to deregulated (post)industrialism, reshaping social and economic relations. The text examines “new” economies and the technologies of the self they produce and enforce. It reviews the implications of expansive global capitalism, the corporatization of culture, and the marginalization of the critical left. Topics discussed include the spectral form of value, (self)precarization, deregulation, and the privatization of welfare, alongside the development of alternative economies and modes of critique and resistance. The series, edited by Katya Sander and Simon Sheikh, focuses on contemporary visual cultures, analyzing art, film, and other media to understand the politics of representation and the imaginary. This analysis is not merely reflective but also active, proposing new insights into visuality and its role in shaping contemporary society. The book features contributions from various thinkers and artists, offering diverse perspectives on these pressing issues.