Part of the MONODROME Debate programme of the 3rd Athens Biennale 2011 MONODROME

Thursday 10 November, 18:00
Diplareios School Auditorium

The current economic crisis is the result of the acceleration and expansion of post-fordist capitalism in the last two decades, which has led to a growing awareness of the increasing precarization of European and North American societies. Looking back at this period Anna Dezeuze will map out some of the ways that artists have responded to these social and economic shifts by developing practices that could be described as precarious. While precursors for these types of practice can be found in 1960s and 1970s art, Dezeuze argues that precarious works developed since the 1990s reflect the changes that have occurred in the intervening decades, while refusing to embrace either melancholy cynicism or escapist naivety. The vital question of whether, and how, an ever more intelligent capitalism can be outwitted, has never appeared mo re urgent than today.

Anna Dezeuze is an art historian currently working on a book titled "Almost Nothing: Precariousness in Contemporary Art since the 1960s". She has held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Manchester and at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. and is a teaching fellow at the Université de Genève. She has edited "The Do-it-yourself Artwork: Participation from Fluxus to New Media" (Manchester University Press, 2010) and published essays on a number of 1960s practices, including assemblage and the work of Hélio Oiticica, as well as writing in magazines such as Art Monthly and Mute.

You may find the MONODROME programme of events & talks here: http://www.athensbiennial.org/AB/en/monodrome/EN_MDprojects.htm