Rematerialization, Art, and Affective Economies

Abstract

The paper highlights artworks that engage with materials to comment on the dematerialization of the economy and the invisibility of labour. The emphasis is on artworks which disturb these conditions through a process of rematerialization, defined as “attending to materials.” How to revalue what has been dematerialized, devalued, or deemed invisible? To revalue invisible labour is to find a material that can engage with the affective relation surrounding labour and space, a material that can experience the invisibility rather than represent it. By correspondences of materials, actions and the body, the artworks counter abstraction and standardized value. One can identify across diverse contemporary artworks parallel forms of rematerialization through tasks. Tasks are free from the hegemony in the binary of work vs. leisure and productive notions of land and labour. The geographically dispersed artistic examples present a possible process of revaluation rather than mere critique of value. These examples are compared against twentieth century artworks considered critique of standardized value. With the help of affect theories, the paper argues that such rematerialization through care and attention may offer a “reparative” process that posits an alternative to exposing economic structures.