Course info

figures of non-acting and failure in art, (creative) work, time economies

On occasion of dOCUMENTA (13) artist Kai Althoff wrote a letter to the artistic director, why he was not able to attend and to be part of the exhibition, why he has to cancel his contribution. The letter was exhibited and it was debated if this refusal re-entered the productive cycle of art work or if it was a renunciation by the artist made public.

Art and (creative) work, and economies education are closely connected in the neoliberal, self-optimized society of 21^st century. The connotations of living freely, self-determined and self-actualized as an artist in post-fordist working contexts has become a desired self-management quality, especially as it seems to fit perfectly into expectations of the blurring of boundaries between life and work. The other side, the pressure for artists of just in time-production, of fulfilling expectation and functioning within an economic system of the art world and market, creates exhaustion, fear of failure, stillness and non-acting.

Within the seminar, we would like to have a deeper look into texts and examples for this context, art and (creative) work, the role of time economies and education and the importance of figures of resistance like non-acting, failure, boredom, withdrawal etc.