14 Oct 2013

Claire Bishop for Still Searching

'Why this incessant retrospectivity?'

Yet another retrospective tendency in contemporary art. In her contributions for the blog Still Searching, Claire Bishop (Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, 2012) will raise questions about the ubiquitous genre of modernist utopias in contemporary art. Or in her own words: 'Sometimes it feels as if every art magazine I open, and every exhibition I visit, features at least one artist whose work earnestly addresses 'failed utopias', who is fascinated by 'Modernist movements and collectives', who is committed to 'the re-enactment of historic high Modernist principles', or who is drawn to 'forgotten Modernist constructions that have crumbled over time'. Why this incessant retrospectivity? Are these revisitations in any way political, a response to the limitations of postmodern eclecticism? Or should they be viewed more critically, as an avoidance of contemporary politics by escaping into nostalgia celebration of the past?'

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