Politically Unbecoming Critiques of “Democracy” and Postsocialist Art from Europe Anthony Gardner M.A., LLB (Hons) (Melb) A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Submitted to the School of Art History and Art Theory, College of Fine Arts, The University of New South Wales July 2008 Volume One Declaration I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and, to the best of my knowledge, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgment is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. Anthony Gardner July 2008 Abstract This thesis presents a theoretical and historical account of the means by which artists have responded to politics of democracy since the late-1980s. Three questions guide the direction of this analysis. Firstly: why, during its apparent apotheosis in recent years, have numerous artists critiqued democracy as the political, critical and aesthetic frame within which to identify their work? Secondly: how have artists undertaken this critique? Thirdly, and most importantly: what aesthetic and political discourses have artists proposed in lieu of the democracy that they critique? Particular case studies of art from Europe help us to address these questions, for Europe has been an important crucible for vociferous, and often fraught, arguments about democracy in recent aesthetic, philosophical and political discourses. The first chapter of this thesis rigorously contextualises these discourses in relation to historical mobilisations of democracy since the Iron Curtain’s collapse. Relying on writings by Pat Simpson, Slavoj Žižek, Alain Badiou and others, I chart the significant imbrications of political ideology, philosophy and what I call ‘aesthetics of democratisation’ from the end of European communism, through the democratisations of postcommunism to the militarised democratisations of Iraq and Afghanistan after 2001. Notions of democracy shift and change during this period, becoming what Žižek calls a problematic ‘transcendental guarantee’ of assumed values and self-legitimation. These shifting values in turn propel the concurrent critiques of democracy that are the subjects of the five subsequent chapters: Ilya Kabakov’s ‘total’ installations; Neue Slowenische Kunst’s mimicry of the nation-state during the 1990s; Thomas Hirschhorn’s large-scale works from the late-1990s onwards; Christoph Büchel and Gianni Motti’s collaborative ventures; and the co- operative practices of Dan and Lia Perjovschi. Through examination of the artists’ installations and voluminous writings, and based largely on archival research and interviews, this thesis explores how these artists’ aesthetic politics emerge from the remobilisation of nonconformist art histories, through self-instituted contexts and alternative models for art production, exhibition and interpretation. These models, I argue, counter our usual understandings of art practice and its politics in Europe. They cumulatively assert ‘postsocialist aesthetics’ as an impertinent, yet urgent, prism through which to analyse contemporary art. Acknowledgements The paths I have followed for this thesis have taken me in many directions: to all parts of Europe and to fortunate encounters, to occasional agony but always exceptionally enriching experiences. This is due, in no small part, to the many artists, curators and writers with whose work I have had the pleasure to engage in the course of my research. I may not always agree with their ideas, but their tireless passion for art is nonetheless extraordinary and inspiring. Many of them have also been astonishingly generous with their time and energy, and for this I particularly want to thank the artists able to find the room in their hectic schedules to speak with me – Miran Mohar, !";$$ Lia Perjovschi – as well as the curators and gallery directors whose work continually exemplifies the richness and diversity of contemporary art practice: Zdenka Badovinac, Nicolas Bourriaud, Irina Cios, Ronald Feldman, Hedwig Fijen, Mihnea Mircan, Melentie Pandilovksi and Tadej %6' Many other gallerists, curators and archivists have also been incredibly helpful in finding materials and establishing contacts with others: in Paris, Cyprien Gauthier, Sarah Glaisen and Nicolas Trembley at the Centre Culturel Suisse, and Chantal Crousel and Iara Blanchy at Galerie Chantal Crousel; in New York, Jeanette Ingberman from Exit Art Gallery, Gabrielle Giattino at the Swiss Institute and Bridget Donahue at Barbara Gladstone Gallery; in Amsterdam, Saskia van der Kroef and Yoeri Meessen at the International Foundation Manifesta; in Zurich, Barbara Straubli at Hauser & Wirth; and in Australia, Alexie Glass from Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, and Melentie Pandilovski at the Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide. I was extremely fortunate to benefit from a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2006, which allowed for months of research in Europe and the United States. A University Postgraduate Award from the University of New South Wales, and teaching and research appointments at the University of Melbourne and Monash University, provided invaluable support for this research. A lecturing position at the University of Melbourne, teaching the History and Theory of Photography, proved a particularly rewarding experience – due entirely to the students in the classes – and necessitated leave of six months from this thesis. Conference travel grants from the College of Fine Arts, UNSW, as well as an Australia Council Grant, provided me with funds for archival research and interviews during the course of this thesis. These grants also assisted with travel to a number of conferences, so as to present preliminary findings from my research and to receive sound feedback and advice from audiences world- wide: in Australia, at the Universities of Melbourne, Sydney and New South Wales, as well as the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the University of Auckland; Oxford University; the University of Bucharest; the 2006 Modern Language Association conference in Philadelphia; and the 2008 College Art Association conference in Dallas. I am grateful to the audiences and session organisers at these conferences, as I am to the numerous editors and referees in Australasia, Europe and North America who have scoured the parts of this thesis already published. Among these publications are: ‘The Atrocity Exhibition’, in Reuben Keehan and Natasha Bullock (eds.), Zones of Contact: A Critical Reader (Sydney: Artspace, 2006), pp.13-18; ‘Footsteps in the Sand’, Broadsheet: Contemporary Visual Art+Culture, 36/4 (December 2007-February 2008), pp.228-231; ‘The Second Self: A Hostage of Cultural Memory’, A Prior, 16 (Spring 2008), pp.228-247 (with Charles Green); and ‘Nicolas Bourriaud Interviewed’, Broadsheet: Contemporary Visual Art+Culture, 34/3 (September- November 2005), pp.166-167 (with Daniel Palmer). Two other publications derived from this thesis are due for publication after this thesis’ submission: ‘The Aesthetics of Emptiness and Withdrawal: Contemporary European Art and Actually Existing Democratisation’, in Jill Bennett, Anna Munster and Shivaun Weybury (eds.), Transforming Aesthetics (forthcoming); and ‘On the “Evental” Installation: Contemporary Art and Politics of Presence’, in Jaynie Anderson (ed.), Crossing Cultures: Conflict, Migration, Convergence (forthcoming) At this point, I must thank my supervisor, Associate Professor Jill Bennett, for looking over previous drafts of these chapters, as well as the host of friends and colleagues who have provided much needed feedback and support throughout the duration of this project. I especially want to mention Associate Professor Charles Green at the University of Melbourne – a superb mentor, whose work with Dr Lyndell Brown remains a key influence on my own – as well as Debra Phillips, Dr Blair French, Ethan French, Reuben Keehan and Masha Eisenberg in Sydney; Dr Justin Clemens, the marvellous Ms Anne Davies, Dr Amelia Douglas, Lou Faris, Lily Hibberd, Meredith Martin, Dr Luke Morgan, Dr Daniel Palmer, Jarrod and Tara Rawlins, Elina Spilia, Hayley Townsend and Romy Sai Zunde in Melbourne; Dr Shaune Lakin and Dr Sarah Scott in Canberra and Darwin; Alan Cruickshank and Wendy Walker in Adelaide; Sarah Caldwell and Ted McDonald-Toone in the UK; Jamie Png, Anne Rorimer and Professor Terry Smith in the US; Louise Burchill, Anne Richard, Damien Pesenti and A Constructed World in Paris; as well as my incredibly supportive family. Most of all, though, I want to thank and dedicate this thesis to Huw Hallam – I cannot imagine a more extraordinary person with whom to share my greatest joys, my deepest passions, queues for art at 3am and rainstorms in the Tuileries. Table of Contents Volume One: Abstract iii Acknowledgements iv Introduction 1 Chapter One: Assumptions of “Democracy” and Postsocialist Critique 22 Chapter Two: An Aesthetic