Can art still be subversive today?
Futurism, dada, surrealism, situationism: the western 20th century has made of subversion (political, social and aesthetic) an inescapable fact in thought, art and action. We have to agree: subversion has become one of the compulsory figures of our time. This idea has ended up setting a precedent, to the point of being taken up and incorporated into every “power structure” (market, publicity, cultural and museum institutions), including the worst ones (neo-fascisms, fundamentalisms). “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change” *: this formula from The Leopard sounds in this context like a warning.
The symposium will try to question the ins and outs of this “resurgence/recovery”. Above all, it will try to see, through contemporary practices (theoretical, cinematic, novelistic, artistic), if it is still possible today to foresee and to promote an artistic thought and action by bringing into play certain intensities that rebel against all forms of authoritarianism.
Marie-Laure Bernadac and Bernard Marcadé
*«Se vogliamo che tutto rimanga come è, bisogna che tutto cambi.»