Art, Revolution and Communisation

Abstract

This article argues that modern art has always had a complex relationship to the idea of revolution, at the same time embodying and articulating a critique of modern capitalist society as well as consolidating the same society. From Romanticism onwards art has sought to transgress the discursive and institutional limits of the art institution and to transcend the separation of art and everyday life. Today much of what goes by the name of contemporary art is rarely able to continue this destructive project. A notable exception is the milieu that has published Tiqqun and L'Insurrection qui vient (The Coming Insurrection), combining elements from the revolutionary tradition as well as avant-garde art working towards a communisation of everyday life under conditions of spectacle.