Tuesday 12th May 2015, 8:00pm

Session 142: “Un-War: An Aesthetic Sketch” by Rosalyn Deutsche

During this Theory Tuesdays session, Daniel Morgenthaler presented the essay “Un-War: An Aesthetic Sketch” by Rosalyn Deutsche (October Magazine, MIT Press: Boston, 2014).

“You know what I say to people when I hear theyʼre writing antiwar books? … I say, ʻWhy donʼt you write an anti-glacier book instead?ʼ”
-Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

Departing from the works of Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko, art historian Rosalyn Deutsche asks if art can contribute to the pursuit of perpetual peace – or «un-war», in Wodiczkoʼs term – on earth. Referring to, among others, psychoanalyst Franco Fornari and Kantian philosophy, Deutsche draws up a context for this question and analyzes what specific role art projects such as Wodiczkoʼs World Institute for the Abolition of War can play in our reality of perpetual war.

Participants: 6