Friday, October 9 (16.00)
The lecture and discussion with Tomaž Grušovnik is a follow-up on a topic addressed during the former International festival of computer arts: the issue of artistic and cultural production – and their pitfalls – in the era of mature market economy. We will be discussing whether what we like to call “alternative” is even a possibility within the ubiquitous grip of a (capitalist) market economy. Namely, as Karl Marx had already pointed out, in the case of culture we are dealing with a “superstructure”, which – like any form of spiritual production – is but a mere consequence of the relations that govern at the level of material goods production. Therefore, the artists and cultural workers that function according to the principle of marketing and promoting their intellectual creations, given that they are, much like vendors, forced to promote their products as “novelties” and “innovations” on the cultural market, can hardly describe their activity as being “alternative”. Is it then, that the word “alternative” has become a mere decorative adjective – perhaps even a marketing trick – if it is not supported by an alternative mode of production, which differs from the modes of production of all the other goods in our social system?
Tomaž Grušovnik, PhD, is assistant professor of philosophy of education at the University of Primorska, Faculty of education. His current research is dedicated to philosophy of education, environmental and inter-species ethics and theory of film. He has exhibited on several occasions in Slovenia and abroad.
