View allAll Photos Tagged Dialectics
Opening the conference I am at, speaking passionately off the cuff about the importance of education, making jokes, quoting Descartes, and he gets extra points for using the word "dialectic." About five minutes after this photo he said "someone move this computer monitor, I want to be able to see everyone."
Dialectics of Disaster: Earthquakes and State Formation in Latin America
Bildner Center, November 9, 2012
Graduate Center, CUNY
.
' :~.
:....;:..-. j·,-~·:.,.....,.'. ~.,;,;-~~· -~ ·-·-·.
".
r ., .
' ' .. .
UPA-COMMlJNIST ANTI-PEOPLE POLICIES'DEFEATED IN I l STATES-DEFEAT THEM IN JNUI '·, I OPPOSE COMMUNIST HOOLIGAt~JISM-DEFEAT THEIR ATTEMPT TO HOLD UGBM TO ESCAPE PUNISHMENT;~ 271.
8/-;-;;0:-=.
-------~2A/0'-7;-1.
·Friends, ___......________ ---·-· .
The UPA-Cornn1unist government at the centre has received a fitting. rebuff in the assembly .
polls held in Uttarakhand and Punjab. The anti-poor, anti-farmer, anti-student, anti people policies with the agenda of rnlnorityism and pro-terrorist politics of vote-bank have been.
alongcomprehensively rejected bv the people of these two states. The people in MaharC;lshtra and Uttar.
.. Pradesh too have shown the similar spirit in effecting a resounding defeat to the UPA and Communists in the recently held corporation elections. \Nhile the Congress has been taught a open their accounts. The 'dialectical' fondness of communists which got manifested in its I.
lesson for its regimes of corruption and political '.'endettc;r the communists have failed to even .
., 4 ". .
" .
supporting the UPA to garner key jobs on one hand and to symbo/icaiiJI Qppose its anti .
people policies on the ot~er, failed to befool the voters ofthese two states. The UPA-Communist reginJe has seen large number of farmers committing.
(Honda.
suicides, growing unemployment, horrific police brutalities in Haryana .
Company), Singur and Nandigram, unprecedented price rise, ceilings and displacement .
of poor people in metros, growing incidents of terror attacks, sale of airports and .
c.. Communists regarding the economic indicators of the country has fallen flat with the.
.
pursuance of anti-people policies at all levels. The rosy pictures painted by the UPA-.
people no~v starting to painta thorny future for them. .
The misdeeds of the Congress and the culture of corruption, which is inherent to its structure, now st~ nds exposed in th0 Quattrocchi episode. The entire government establishment .
including CBI is busy rescuing Quattrocchi from the clutches of Argentinean Police on the dictates of Sonia Gandhi. Congress Party, which received a jolt on hearing about the arrest of Quattrocchi in Argentina, was quick in arranging for his bail but keeping his arrest secret. Quattrocchi, a close friend of Sonia Gandhi came to India on R.ajiv Gandhi assuming the office of Prim'e Minister' arid .
...
worked a middleman in Bofors Kickbacks. He is a key figure in the scam and his arrest and interrogation may reveal the real beneficiaries of tile Bofors kickbacks. Congress, by virtue of its .
position in the Government has been managing to facilitate Quattrocchi escape the CBI Ret. In a most shameful and brazen manner, his London account in which millions of kickback money .was deposited was allowed to be de-frozen to facilitate withdrawal. ln the same n1anner, his son is now allowec to move in the political circles of New Delhi and Quattrocchj .is allowed to go scot-free. It· cannot be denied now that CBI in playing dubious role in Quattricchi affair was .
working under the direct instruction ofUPA and Sonia Gandhi. .
~l. ;.
The anti-worker, anti-people policies of UPA-Communist combine. has resulted in the :·' retrenchment of workers in JNU'. The larger poricy of the UPA-Ieft has been ignored and the. Admn. .
has been targeted, .
while we feel that the Admn. is only a tool in implem.enting such anti-people .
l'iCI. .-: -· .
policies. We st!'nd in complete solidarity with the retrenched wprkers and their familigs.
. .
and syop-grt the demands of the JNU Karmachari Association and demand "that .
the Karma.:hari As~ociation .should immedijitely be .
.
., suspension of the leaders Qf · "'.
w._ithdrawn. .
We also believe that.thf!! hooliganism ~of certain comrr,unlst outfits has shift· the.
.
,. focus of the ongoing staff's agitation and such vandalism cannot be tolerated ..The .
r..., incident of taking the JNU Registrar hostage is condemnable and cannot be supported in .
a democratic set up. ABVP would support any: punitive me~sures against the communist .
' 3 0-' ILL£' .:us.
hooligans If they fail to tender public apolopr for their criminal acts. .
kt!JS -1-\iS hi! NS I I 4 4frt4 #!RN £41LCVZIP~~Ift& e a CS!X .
. .
'\t,: .
' ~:o;~' r.' .d.: ! ·;; "·.
.,.,. .
~ .
We also call upon all the democratic and nationalist students to unite and .
0 .
.
oppose anti-democratic and naxal-maoist methodology of the communist lumpens on the camp!Js. .
· Bh~arat Mata Ki Jai' .,Vande f.1ataram!! .
... . .
~"'.
0- .
-·-1-:Umesh Kr. Singh, Presiaent, ABVP, JNU..
Sd/-Atnit Singh/ Secretary, ABVP, JNU. ' ... .
.
.
...
, .
. .
-~JIIj_.
,.,.,.. .
UPA-COMMUNIST ANTI-PEOPLE POLICIES DEFEATED INSTATES-DEFEAT THEM IN JNUIOPPOSE COMMUNIST HOOLIGANISM-DEFEAT THEIR ATTEMPTTO HOLD UGBM TO ESCAPE PUNISHMENT!!The UPA-Communist government at the centre has received a fitting rebuff !n the assemblypolls held in Uttarakl1and and Punjab. The anti-poor, anti-tarrner, anti-student, anti people policiesalong with the agenda of minorityism and pro-terr~rist politics of vote-bank have been.
comprehensively rejected by the people of these two states. The people lr. Maharashtra and Uttar.
Pradesh too have shown the similar spirit in effecting a :-esounding defeat to the UPA and.
Communists in the recently held corporation elections. While the Congress has been taught a.
lesson for its regimes of corruption and political ver.Jetta, the communists have failed to evenopen their accounts. The 'dialectical' fondness of communists which got manifested in its.
people policies on the other, failed to befool the voters of these two states.The UPA-Communist regime has sedn large number of farmers committingsuicides, growing unernployment, horrific police brutalities in Haryana (HondaCompany), Singur and Nandigram, unprecedent·ed price rise, ceilings and displacement .
supporting the UPA to garner key jobs on one l ·2nd and to symbolically oppose its anti .
pursuance of anti-people policies at all levels. The rosy pictures painted by the UPA-.
of poor people in metros, growing incidents of terror attacks, sale of airports and.
Communists regarding the economic indicators of the country has fallen flat with thepeople now starting to paint a thorny future for them..
The misdeeds of tl~e Congress and the culture of corruption, which is inherent to itsstructure, now stands exposed in the Quattrocchi episode. The entire government establishment.
including CBI is busy rescuing Quattrocchi from the clutches of Argentinean Police on the dictates.
of Sonia Gandhi. Congress Party, which receivej a jolt on hearing about the arrest of Quattrocchiin Argentina, was quick in arranging for his bail but keeping his arrest secret. Quattrocchi, a closefriend cf Sonia Gandhi came to India on Rajiv Gandhi assuming the office of Prime Minister andworked a middleman in Bofors Kickbacks. He is a key figure in the scam and his arrest and.
interrogation may reveal the real beneficiaries of the Bofors kickbacks. Congress, by virtue of itsposition in the Government has been managing to tac.llitate Quattrocchi escape the CBI net. In amost shameful and brazen manner, his London account in which millions of kickback money was.
deposited was allowed to be de-frozen to fa cilitate withdrawal. In the same manner, his son isnow allowed to move in the political circles of New Delhi and Quattrocchi is allowed to go scot-free. It cannot be denied now that CBI in playing dubious role In Quattricchi affair was.
working under the direct instruction of UPA and Sonia Gandhi..
The anti-worker, anti-people poli.::ies of UPA-:ommunist combine has resulted in the.
retrenchment of workers in JNU. The larger policy of the UPA-Ieft has been ignored and ~he Admn..
policies. We stand in comolete solidarity with the retrenched workers and their families has been targeted, while we feel that the Admn. is only a tool In Implementing such anti-people.
and SUPPort the demands of.
susPension of the . leaders of the Karmachari.
wjtbdrawn. the JNU Karmachari Association and demand that.
.
Association should immediatelY be.
We also believe that the hooliganism of certain communist outfits has shift the.
focus of the ongoing staff's agitation and such vandalism cannot be tolerated. The.
incident oftaking the JNU Registrar hostage is condemnable and cannot be supported in.
a democratic set up. ABVP would support any punitive measures against the communist.
noouqans If they fall to tender ~ubllc apo/og~ for their criminal acts.. CJ '-' L&!i L&!CPS 1.
et!S-S-l-tJS-tii3-tSS-C_$_$_CIS_LLC!I-.
ECILPZIF:"i. f ilf P a !OJ t a ii:Z &4 5_& 2i .
We also call upon all the democratic and nadonalist students to unite and.
oppose anti-democratic and naxal-maoist methodology of the communist lumpens onthe campus. .
Bharat Mata Ki Jai! Vande M.ataram!!.
Sd/-Amit Singh, Secretdry', ABVP: JNU. Sd/-Umest-Kr. Singh, President, ABVP, JNU. .
··-.
' .
l .
, .
~r. .
I .
.
The image inhabits the threshold where light and darkness cease to be opposites and become a dialectical illusion, a space in which reality remains undecided.
Horace Ové
Stokely Carmichael giving a Black Power speech at the Dialectics of Liberation Congress, Round House,
London, 1967, printed 2023
_______________________
Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985
September 21, 2025 - January 11, 2026
The first exhibition to consider photography’s impact on a cultural and aesthetic movement that celebrated Black history, identity, and beauty.
Uniting around civil rights and freedom movements of the 1960s and 1970s, many visual artists, poets, playwrights, musicians, photographers, and filmmakers expressed hope and dignity through their art. These creative efforts became known as the Black Arts Movement.
Photography was central to the movement, attracting all kinds of artists—from street photographers and photojournalists to painters and graphic designers. This expansive exhibition presents 150 examples tracing the Black Arts Movement from its roots to its lingering impacts, from 1955 to 1985. Explore the bold vision shaped by generations of artists including Billy Abernathy, Romare Bearden, Kwame Brathwaite, Roy DeCarava, Doris Derby, Emory Douglas, Barkley Hendricks, Barbara McCullough, Betye Saar, and Ming Smith.
Poet Larry Neal, who coined the term Black Arts Movement, described it as “a cultural revolution in art and ideas.” This movement included poets, playwrights, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, and painters. They came together to make art that advanced civil rights and celebrated Black history, identity, and beauty.
This cultural revolution shook up the art world in the 1950s and ’60s. It embodied the struggle for self-determination championed by global freedom movements. New collectives, workshops, and collaborations emerged. Creatives made art that promoted Black dignity, hope, and freedom. They asked, how could art inspire social and political change? And what would it look like?
Photography was a driving force from the beginning, playing a critical role as both a communications tool and art form. Learn more about the movement and photography’s part in it—major themes in our exhibition Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985.
Our exhibition begins in 1955, more than a decade before Larry Neal named the Black Arts Movement. That year, several events—and photographs of those events—helped catalyze the civil rights movement.
In September, Jet magazine was one of several publications that printed open-casket photographs of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy from Chicago who was lynched in Mississippi. Those disturbing images were seen across the country, including by a woman in Montgomery, Alabama: Rosa Parks. That December, Parks sat in the front, “white only” section of a segregated bus. The driver demanded that she give up her seat to a white passenger. She refused. As she later recounted, Emmett Till was on her mind in that moment.
Parks, in turn, was photographed sitting at the front of the segregated bus. Those images, and others like them, brought widespread awareness to the struggles for equal rights. Organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) encouraged photography of their marches, demonstrations, and acts of nonviolent civil disobedience. SNCC even taught some members to use a camera. Lifelong activist Maria Varela became a SNCC photographer after recognizing the need for more images of Black life to support the movement.
The beginning of the Black Arts Movement is often pinned to poet, playwright, and writer Amiri Baraka founding the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood in 1965. Nikki Giovanni, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Audre Lorde were among the many writers and poets active in the movement. Some collaborated with visual artists, even forming collectives such as the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC) in Chicago.
OBAC writers, scholars, painters, and photographers collaborated to create the Wall of Respect community mural in 1967. It commemorated key figures in African American history, including W. E. B. Du Bois, Muhammad Ali, and Nina Simone. The mural was like a two-story collage that covered the facade of a building in the city’s South Side neighborhood. It incorporated paintings by several artists alongside mounted photographs by Roy Lewis and Darryl Cowherd. At the center was Amiri Baraka’s poem “SOS,” which opens, “Calling all black people.” The mural was demolished in 1972, but photographs by Roy Lewis and Robert Sengstacke continue to spread its message.
Music was an equally important part of the Black Arts Movement. Musicians John Coltrane and Sun Ra both performed at a fundraiser for Amiri Baraka’s Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School. Their experimental and expressive jazz inspired Black Arts Movement writers and artists.
In Coltrane at the Gate, photographer Adger Cowans depicted the saxophonist’s energy. Ming Smith captured the magic of a Sun Ra performance. For his homage to saxophonist Charlie Parker (who was commonly known as “Bird”), painter Raymond Saunders embraced the spontaneous spirit of jazz. Saunders collaged a newsprint photograph below the word “bird” written in a chalklike white script.
The Black Arts Movement celebrated the “beauty and goodness of being Black,” as Larry Neal put it. Photographer Kwame Brathwaite helped popularize the phrase “Black is beautiful.” Brathwaite was a pioneer of uplifting Black identity. He helped found groups that challenged conventional standards of beauty and celebrated African heritage. They organized fashion shows, created “Black is beautiful” products, and operated a photography studio.
In Untitled (Portrait, Reels as Necklace), Brathwaite adorned the model with a necklace made from film developing reels to “expose” her beauty. More than a decade later, Carla Williams created a self-portrait that echoed Brathwaite’s work. Showing herself in curlers, Williams challenged popular notions of beauty.
Small collectives of visual artists and photographers came together around the principles of the Black Arts Movement. In New York, the Kamoinge Workshop photography collective met regularly to critique each other’s work, debate photography’s purpose and aesthetics, and share tips. They created a space for their art by developing their own portfolios and exhibitions. The workshop also produced the groundbreaking Black Photographers Annual between 1973 and 1980.
A group of Chicago artists formed AfriCOBRA. The collective’s founders defined their own aesthetic principles, aimed at creating “images that jar the senses and cause movement” and “images designed for mass production.”
The Black Arts Movement made an impact beyond the United States. In Great Britain, Raphael Albert organized and photographed Black beauty pageants in London. James Barnor focused on style, migration, and Black city life in London and in Accra, Ghana. Horace Ové photographed the British Black Power Movement. He also captured scenes of the West African and West Indian communities in London, like his Walking Proud, Notting Hill Carnival.
Samuel Fosso opened his first photography studio in Bangui, Central African Republic, at age 13. After finishing with clients, Fosso would use his studio to experiment with self-portraits. He wore an array of costumes and adopted personas, often taking inspiration from the pictures of Black Americans he saw in magazines shared by American Peace Corps volunteers.
By the end of the 1970s, the literary arm of the Black Arts Movement had waned, but a new generation of artists and photographers carried on its spirit. Coming out of art school, photographers such as Carrie Mae Weems and Lorna Simpson explored more personal, metaphorical, and conceptual ideas.
In her Family Pictures and Stories series, Weems made her own family the subjects. The intimate photographs presented a counterargument to claims that many Black Americans faced poverty and struggle as a result of weak family structures. Weems paired the photographs with brief stories about each family member.
www.nga.gov/stories/articles/what-black-arts-movement-sev...
manpodcast.com/portfolio/no-725-photography-the-black-art...
.
Marx overturned Hegel more than 150 years ago. Why are we still stuck here? Because Kapitalism needs people to be stupid, greedy and fearful.
The Fifth Wall is inspired by multiple sources: the unique architecture of the Armory’s Raymond Avenue building; German modernist theater practitioner Bertolt Brecht’s notion of dialectical theater; and artwork that challenges the authority of a fixed point of view and suggests a deeper form of reciprocal engagement.
Dialectics of Disaster: Earthquakes and State Formation in Latin America
Bildner Center, November 9, 2012
Graduate Center, CUNY
STEM = Science Technology Engineering Anthropology Mathematics
PATH = Philosophy Anthropology Theater History
(they intersect at A for Anthro, where History and Logic intersect, per Hegel, and act out the many dialectics)
The Fifth Wall is inspired by multiple sources: the unique architecture of the Armory’s Raymond Avenue building; German modernist theater practitioner Bertolt Brecht’s notion of dialectical theater; and artwork that challenges the authority of a fixed point of view and suggests a deeper form of reciprocal engagement.
The Fifth Wall is inspired by multiple sources: the unique architecture of the Armory’s Raymond Avenue building; German modernist theater practitioner Bertolt Brecht’s notion of dialectical theater; and artwork that challenges the authority of a fixed point of view and suggests a deeper form of reciprocal engagement.
The Fifth Wall is inspired by multiple sources: the unique architecture of the Armory’s Raymond Avenue building; German modernist theater practitioner Bertolt Brecht’s notion of dialectical theater; and artwork that challenges the authority of a fixed point of view and suggests a deeper form of reciprocal engagement.
Colour has been added to this otherwise largely monochrome image through three methods - yellow connector pen, 'Icemelt Blue' coloured pencil, and the colour photocopy fiery colours of the FireMoney crest on top of the Falling Column.
Like the white dot of Yang within the black of the Yin, these small amounts of colour create a whole new dynamic and feel to the piece - albeit by shifting into the three-, four- and five-way relationships over and above the basic two-way (dialectical) relationship of Yin and Yang (aka Black and White).
Solace Treatment Center provides personalized care for individuals seeking OCD Treatment Whittier and looking for a supportive environment in which to address obsessive thoughts, compulsive behaviors, anxiety, and related challenges. OCD can be complex, and its symptoms can affect nearly every part of a person’s routine. With professional guidance and an individualized treatment approach, people can begin developing healthier ways to manage symptoms and regain a greater sense of control.
#AnxietyTreatment, #CBTTherapy, #DBTTherapy, #DrugRehab, #EatingDisorderTreatment, #IOP, #IOPNearMe, #IOPProgram, #OCDTreatment, #OnlineAddictionTreatment, #OnlineOutpatientDrugTreatment, #OpioidTreatment, #OutpatientMentalHealth, #OutpatientMentalHealthTreatment, #OutpatientRehab
Solace Treatment Center
13027 Hadley St, Whittier, CA 90601
(562) 378-3818
My Official Website: solacetreatmentcenter.com/
Google Plus Listing: www.google.com/maps?cid=3612582245683049123
Our Other Links:
OCD Treatment Whittier: solacetreatmentcenter.com/what-we-treat/los-angeles-ocd-t...
Alcohol Rehab: solacetreatmentcenter.com/alcohol-rehab-program/
Substance Abuse Treatment Near Me: solacetreatmentcenter.com/substance-abuse-treatment-whitt...
Luxury Treatment Center Whittier: solacetreatmentcenter.com/luxury-treatment-center-whittier/
Anxiety Treatment Whittier: solacetreatmentcenter.com/what-we-treat/anxiety-disorders/
CBT Therapy Whittier: solacetreatmentcenter.com/how-we-treat/outpatient-cogniti...
DBT Therapy Whittier: solacetreatmentcenter.com/dialectical-behavioral-therapy/
Eating Disorder Treatment Whittier: solacetreatmentcenter.com/what-we-treat/eating-disorder/
IOP Los Angeles: solacetreatmentcenter.com/how-we-treat/iop-program-los-an...
Opioid Treatment Whittier: solacetreatmentcenter.com/what-we-treat/opioid-addiction-...
Outpatient Mental Health Whittier: solacetreatmentcenter.com/what-we-treat/mental-health-out...
Outpatient Drug Treatment: solacetreatmentcenter.com/how-we-treat/outpatient-drug-re...
Outpatient Treatment Programs Near Me: solacetreatmentcenter.com/outpatient-program-whittier/
Outpatient Trauma Treatment Near Me: solacetreatmentcenter.com/trauma-treatment/
PHP Near Me: solacetreatmentcenter.com/how-we-treat/php-los-angeles/
Self Harm Treatment Whittier: solacetreatmentcenter.com/self-harm-counseling/
Virtual Mental Health Treatment California: solacetreatmentcenter.com/virtual-mental-health-services/
Virtual Outpatient Rehab California: solacetreatmentcenter.com/virtual-mental-health-services/...
Online Addiction Treatment California: solacetreatmentcenter.com/online-addiction-treatment-cali...
Online Outpatient Drug Treatment California: solacetreatmentcenter.com/online-outpatient-drug-treatmen...
Outpatient Alcohol Treatment: solacetreatmentcenter.com/outpatient-alcohol-treatment/
Intensive Outpatient Program Whittier: solacetreatmentcenter.com/intensive-outpatient-program-wh...
Mental Health Telehealth: solacetreatmentcenter.com/mental-health-telehealth/
Online Mental Health Services: solacetreatmentcenter.com/online-mental-health-services/
Group Therapy for Depression and Anxiety Whittier: solacetreatmentcenter.com/how-we-treat/group-therapy-for-...
IOP Program for Depression: solacetreatmentcenter.com/solace-depression-treatment-cen...
How to Deal With Depression: solacetreatmentcenter.com/how-to-deal-with-depression/
Borderline Personality Disorder Residential Treatment: solacetreatmentcenter.com/what-we-treat/borderline-person...
Drug Treatment for Teens Los Angeles: solacetreatmentcenter.com/teen-drug-rehab-in-los-angeles/
Treatment for Schizoaffective Disorder Los Angeles: solacetreatmentcenter.com/what-we-treat/schizoaffective-d...
Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Los Angeles: solacetreatmentcenter.com/outpatient-substance-abuse-trea...
Treatment Center for Los Angeles: solacetreatmentcenter.com/treatment-center-for-los-angeles/
Anxiety Treatment Center Los Angeles: solacetreatmentcenter.com/anxiety-treatment-in-los-angeles/
Service We Offer:
Virtual Mental Health Services
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
Medication Management
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Group Therapy
Follow Us On:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Solace-Treatment-Center/100086196...
Instagram: www.instagram.com/solacetreatmentcenter/
The Fifth Wall is inspired by multiple sources: the unique architecture of the Armory’s Raymond Avenue building; German modernist theater practitioner Bertolt Brecht’s notion of dialectical theater; and artwork that challenges the authority of a fixed point of view and suggests a deeper form of reciprocal engagement.
An art gallery based in NY representing artists such as Omar Fast and Jennifer and Kevin McCoy encapsulate their world within ours here in Chennai. One gallery within another to further problematize the internal/external dialectic.
Dr. Scott Andrews, professor in Humanities, and Dr. Sharon Klein, professor in Linguistics, attend Brian Leung's reading of an excerpt from his novel, Take Me Home, which was held Thursday afternoon in Jerome Richfield 319.
Dr. Klein has been a professor in the Linguistics department for over 25 years, and stated she was especially interested to know the dialectic details of Leung's novel.
Anastasia Clemons/Contributor
The Fifth Wall is inspired by multiple sources: the unique architecture of the Armory’s Raymond Avenue building; German modernist theater practitioner Bertolt Brecht’s notion of dialectical theater; and artwork that challenges the authority of a fixed point of view and suggests a deeper form of reciprocal engagement.
Poster for Padmavajra's day on Mind Training in The Great Bodhicitta.
Bristol Buddhist Centre • 23 September 2007
This was designed for part of a weekend (22-23 Sep) led by Padmavajra; the posters were designed as a low-key and high-key pair, a dialectical contrast.
.
~i .
~ i .
.
'? ;.
.
;~ (~ .
;t:r r .
rW i~ .
·llf \ .
~ .
{ .
.
f~i\CJ .
'.~ .
'i .
,f& .
~ '[ tlt ~.
l '~ .
.
'l ~ ' ~ .
~ ~ .
ilt.
1t; ).
~ .
.? ~ .
~ \i? .
£6 '\lC, .
~~ l~ .
~'.
.
J.
~~ ~ .
«''.
; N· ·~~· .
·\\~~: '\'i .
-~~ -.
\,, ; (\~. ,·. ,. ·~~ .
\tl1.
\h I .
''} Hti .
Statement ofpurpose .
Platypus is a project for the self-criticism, self-education, and, ultimately, .
the practical reconstitution of a Man<~an Left. At present the Marxist Left .
appears as a historical nJin. The received wisdom of today dictates that .
past. failed attempts at emancipation stand not as moments full of potential yet to be redeemed, bUt rather as "what was" -utopianism that was bound to end in tragedy. As critical inheritors of a vanquished . tradition, Platypus contends that-after the failure of the 1960s New Lefl. and the dismantlement of the welfare state and the destruction of the · Soviet Union in the 1980s-90s -the present disorientation of the Left means we can hardly claim to know the tasks and goals of social emancipation better than the "utopians" of the past did. .
Our task is critique and education towards the reconstitution of a Maoda~ .
Left. Platypus contends that the ruin of the Marxist Left as it stands toda{ .
is of a tradition whose defeat was largely self-inflicted, hence at present .
the Marxist Left is historical, and in such a grave state of decomposition .
that it has become exceedingly difficult to draft coherently programmatic .
social-political demands. In the face of the catastrophic past and prese~t. .
the first task for the reconstitution of a Marxian Left as an emancipatory .
force is to recognize the reasons for the historical failure of Marxism and .
to clarify the necessity of a Marxian Left for the present and Mure. -If .
.
the Left is to change the world, it must first transform itself! .
The improbable-bUt not impossible-reconstitution of an emancipatory Left is an urgent task; we believe that the M ure of humanity depends 0'1 it While the devastating forces unleashed by modem society-.
capitalism -remain, the unfulfilled promise of sodal emancipation still .
calls for redemption. To abdicate this or to obscure the gravity of past defeats and failures by looking to "resistance" from "outside" \he dynanics of modern society is to affirm its present and guarantee its future .
destructive reality. Platypus asksthe questions: How is the thought of critical theorists o f modem society such as Marx. Lukacs, Benjamin and Adorno relevantfor .
the struggle fer social emancipation today? How can we make senseof the long history of impoverished politics on the Left leading to the present -after the international Marxist Left of Lenin, Luxemburg and Trotsky, to the barrenness of todaY -without being terrorized or discouraged by this history? -How might the answers to such questions help the urgenttask .
of reconstituftng the Left at its most fundamental levels of theory ar.d .
practice? How might we help effect escape from the dead-end the L eft .
has become? We hope to re-invigorate a conversation on the Left that has long since fallen into senility or silence, In order to help found anew an emanci~tory .
political practice that is presently absent IMlat has the Left been, and what can it yet become?-Platypus e xists because the answer to such a question, even its basic formulation, ras .
long ceased to be self-evident. .
.
Api.l, 2007 .
.
On surviving the extinction of the Left .
A story is told about Kar1 Marx's collaborator and friend Friedrich Engels, who, in his youth, as a good Hegelian Idealist, sure about the purposeful, rational evolution of nature and of the place of human reason in it. became indignant when reading about a platypus, which he supposed to be a fraud .
perpetrated by English taxidermists. For Engels, the platypus made no .
sense in natural history. .
Later, Engels saw a living platypus at a British zoo and was chagrined. .
Like Marx a good materialist. and a thinker receptive to Darwin's theory of .
evolution, which dethroned a human-centered view of nature, Engels came .
.
to respect that "reason" in history, natural or otherwise. must not .
necessarily accord with present standards of human reason. .
.
This is a parable we find salutary to understanding the condition of the Left .
today. .
In light of the history of the present, we might ask, what right does the Left .
.
have to exist? .
Every right -as much as the platypus has. however difficult it might be to .
.
categorize\ .
We maintain that past and present history need not indicate the future. .
Past and present failures and losses on the Left should educate and warn, .
.
but not spellbind and enthrall us. .
Hence. to free ourselves, we declare that the Left is dead. -Or, more .
precisely, that we are all that is left of it. .
.
This is less a statement of fact than of intent. .
-The intent that the Left should live, but the recognition that it can, only b}l overcoming itseH. And we are that overcoming\ .
So, then, what are we? We are thinkers on the Left educated and wamed by the history of the 20\ll Century-but not terrorized by it! "Let the dead bury the dead." Our .
actions might redeem their suffering yet. .
.
We are motivated, after failed and betrayed attempts at emancipation, and .
in light of their inadequate self-understanding. to re-appropriate this histort .
in service of possibilities for emancipatory struggle in the present -and .
.
the future. .
Towards such ends, we might begin (perhaps provocatively) v;;th the list of .
names that indicate the thoughts and problems issuing from events that, .
reading history against the grain (v;;th Benjamin), still speak to us in the .
.
present: Marx. Lenin, Luxemburg, Trotsky. Adorno. -Not much more·than .
what is represented by these figures, but absolutely nothing less. : .
.
We will overcome any easy and false recognition of such names, and all received wisdom about the thoughts and actions identified with them, to better possible critical recognition and development of our purpose. .
In the history of the Lett. the dates 1848 and 1917, but less 1968, and not 1989: the aftermath of ambiguous defeats and victories; but. more. the insights yielded by defeats, and the recognition of a present and a hi~tol)' that need not have been, for a future that need not yet be. The restive .
.
spirits of 1848 and 1917, in their unfulfilled possibilities, <Mil continue to .
,..,, ~ .
speak to an unredeemed future. .
1-J .
The history of modernity is not finished yet, nor will it be, short of .
redeeming its promise. Therefore. we do not share·the (mislaid) feelings of .
exhaustion with the modem, but we recognize a certain abdication of its .
emancipatory transformation, which haunts us with its necessity. .
We recognize our necessity. .
We agree with the young Marx in "the ruthless criticism of everything .
existing." Unlike Hegel in his struggle against Romantic despair after 1789, .
we recognize the necessity of our present only as "bad." Our present does .
not deserve affirmation or even respect. for we recognize it only for what .
.
came to be when the Left was destroyed and liquidated itself. .
And so, v;;th tine story of Engels and the platypus, let us begin to .
address the improbable but not impossible tasks and project of the next Left. .
.
A short history of the Left .
Marx and 1848 .
Marx was not the author but the briUiant critical participant of the Left in the .
19th Century. SOcialism and communism were not invented by Marx, Engels .
.
and their collaborators (and opponents) on the Left. but issued from the .
contradictions of modem societY itself. as expressed in the French .
Revolution of 1789 and in the modern labor movement that emerged wit! I the .
lndusbial Revolution in the early 19th Century. Marx's great insight was to .
.
regard the Left itSelf as symptomatic of capitalism that does not oppose it .
from without but from within, immanently. Nevertheless Marx endorsed the .
Left. the modem socialist worl<ers movement. and sought to push it further .
.
and provoke recognition of how it pointed beyond itself. .
Marx's thought originated in the immanent critique of ernancipatory politics .
after 1789, in French socialism. German Idealist philosophy, and British .
politiCal economy. By 1848, tine time of Marx and Engels's Communist .
Manifesto and the revolutionary uprisings in France, Germany, and other .
parts of Europe (triggered by the global economic depression of the .
.
1840s). the politics of social equality and democracy had beCOme more .
complicated and profound than a Rousseauian civilization a I critique of .
modern society (Proudhon's slogan "property is theft") could comprehend .
-orhope to overcome. By 1848, radical democracy. in forms of revolt by .
the "bourgeois" (urban) "third estate" (including workens) had come to grief: .
capital was threatened by social democracy, for it pushed beyond tts forms .
of social reproduction. The aftermath of fa~ed revolution in 1848 saw the .
.
advent of emphatic forms of · mass" politics and the modern national .
par1iamentary-Bonapartist state with which we still live today. .
After the post-1848 crisis on the Left. Marx engaged the critical-dialectical .
conception of capitalism. recognizing it as a form of emandpation that .
(re)constitutes a specific fonm of domination over society: the imperative to .
produce "surplus value" and thus capitalize on labor in forms mediated and .
measured in labor-time. Capital became a form of wealth measurable as .
an investment of social labor. a form of preservation and stake of value on .
.
the future, but one in which "dead" labor dominates the living. .
.
(continues) .
~ .
.
~ .
.., "" .
Jf ~ .
'"' .
"" ~ .
.
.
.
.
The Fifth Wall is inspired by multiple sources: the unique architecture of the Armory’s Raymond Avenue building; German modernist theater practitioner Bertolt Brecht’s notion of dialectical theater; and artwork that challenges the authority of a fixed point of view and suggests a deeper form of reciprocal engagement.
Diploma project
The future Museum of Communism is a controversial subject in Romania. While some historians and political scientists consider it mandatory for every post-communist society, others deny the need and reasons for such a building. My project aims to bring together the two different approaches on memorial architecture – the edifice (The existing ”Radio House” built in the last years of the Communist regime) and rememorative architecture (my proposal).
The effect should be a dialectics between the desired impact of the edifice, and the actual image in the post-communist era.
Exhibitor | Seoul Arts Center
Exhibition | Edvard Munch - Beyond The Scream
Experiments with Paintings, A Change of Style and Breakdown: Munch's Idiosyncratic Contribution to Modernism
After his time in Berlin from 1892 until 1895, Edvard Munch concentrated on lithography and woodcuts during his spell in Paris in 1896 until 1897. In the following years the artist's style of painting gradually underwent a change. This marks a period when Munch was much engaged with experiments in painting and photography that led to a distinct stylistic change in his painting. His work became more expressive, the color application more direct, and the coloration more intense.
The two-sided painting Woman by the Balustrade and The Voice is a key work in Munch's oeuvre as it shows an early version of his iconic motif The Voice on the reverse side of the canvas. Moreover, the painting is a key example of Munch's so-called "kill-or-cure treatment"-a revolutionary treatment through which Munch attacked the physical integrity of the illusionistic paint application and the picture support of the artworks as three-dimensional bodies and calculated their destruction. The dialectic of the idea of improvement this treatment, which always involves failure, is understood as the basis of this unorthodox method, which can be identified as a conscious process and part of Munch's working process.
The specific process-oriented and time-highlighting radicality speaks for Munch's early and ongoing contribution to material-based modernism. These early experiments provide a glimpse of his later work: the painting Women in the Bath from 1917 shows a bathing scenery that Munch repeatedly drew throughout his lifetime. The indexical connection is undisputed in works that seem like deliberate experiments with the effects of double exposure in photography. The painting shows different levels of representation, one of which, comparable to a double exposure has been transparently superimposed like a film over the already executed representation. The double exposure can be interpreted as an index of the interplay of dematerialization and materialization.
The new space proposed borrows energies from the nearby Palace Square. It leverages the existing site condition strategies (e.g. axial hierarchy, staging, sequencing) and re-appropriates for the new spatial encounter that pushes social engagement. While formal arrangements cannot directly influence social change, the work takes into account Lefebvre’s triad dialectic of perceived, conceived, and lived space.(05) Instead, new spatiality and sequenced architectural interventions promote bodily engagement. Instead, staging such public space as a “lived project” elicits spatiality ripe for public participation with rumblings of revolutionary potential. (06)