TRANSformacije Collection, book no. 37
17 × 24cm, 197 pages
© Maska, Ljubljana, 2016
ISBN 978-961-6572-43-9
This book was published in Slovenian.
Aldo Milohnić: Art in Times Of The Rule of Low and Capital
Aldo Milohnić’s Umetnost v času vladavine prava in kapitala (Art in Times of the Rule
of Law and Capital) stems from years of researching the position of art in contemporary society. It focuses on performance practices that act as unique distortions in the system of art and in other fields of society, especially in politics, but also in law and economy. In the first part of the study, the author deals with the critique of bourgeois law, with the relation between law and state, with the ideological effects of legal fetishism, and the action of the rule of law from the perspective of political economy critique.
The central part of the book is dedicated to analysing chosen examples of artistic practices that offer “empiric” material for a theoretic discussion of the relation between art, law, and economy. In the second part of the research, Milohnić focuses on the bourgeois category of “autonomous art” and the position of the author/artist in the contemporary legal sphere, by analysing and criticising the concepts such as the freedom of artistic creation, autonomy, immunity, positive discrimination, equality, copyrights, etc. Milohnić analyses performance practices in their relation to political activity (which, today, is not at all only limited to the so-called “engaged art”), while he also explores the opposition of the art sphere to the demand of opening the system of art as an often self-contained and institutionalised creativity. The author also discusses the possible approaches to the articulation of the field of art in the times distinctly marked by the dictate of neo-liberal market economy and the legal determination of the political sphere.
Milohnić finds especially interesting those practices of contemporary art that develop specific approaches to point to the inherent irrationality of political and economic rationality that permeates contemporary society. By overviewing typical cases of performance practices in their relation to politics, law, and economy, the author also analyses conceptual changes on the level of theoretical discourse. Umetnost v času vladavine prava in kapitala is an original study from the field of art theory and represents an important contribution to humanities in Slovenia.
TRANSformacije Collection, book no. 37
17 × 24cm, 197 pages
© Maska, Ljubljana, 2016
ISBN 978-961-6572-43-9
This book was published in Slovenian.
What is this world in which Kantors rule?
And what is this world in which Kantors rule? It’s the world of the bourgeois state where there may be the rule of law but where Bailiffs Yerneys roam about seeking for their justice in vain. No need to look for some shallow moral – simple and cruel facts are enough. And the facti bruti are those: the basis of the bourgeois state is class nobility and not the other way around. The state does not subjugate the Bailiffs Yerneys for some exploitation; it “only” ensures the political subjugations of a class that is already subjugated to capital in the production process. […] Is the situation any different in the Betajnova of our days? Helped by expensive attorneys, contemporary Kantors successfully change the drama of the rule of law into a farce. The tycoon-political elites play with the law enforcement and the judiciary system the same way Kantor did with Pepček and Francelj; prisons are only reserved for small fish and perhaps a Franc Bernot. And even when the court finds some of the most visible Kantors guilty, their religious supporters light candles in front of the court and call: “We are all with you! God be with you, Kantor!” Yes, probably nobody would even believe their potential admittance of guilt, just like in The King of Betajnova: “The King of Betajnova a murderer? Yeah, right! For a laugh, from boredom he sprayed himself with blood!” Look around you, around the wide Betajnova, and perhaps see what Cankar in his own words (the “Kako sem postal socialist”, How I Became A Socialist, 1913) realized “through pain and doubt in himself”: that “science and history only proved” what he was “told by life itself”.
Aldo Milohnić, Umetnost v času vladavine prava in kapitala
About author
Aldo Milohnić holds a PhD in sociology of culture. He is an assistant professor at the University of Ljubljana Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television where he lectures on the history of theatre. Since 2013, he has also been the Head of the Centre of Theatre and Film Studies. He has edited numerous collections (such as Prišli so Pupilčki: 40 let Gledališča Pupilije Ferkeverk; New Paradigms, New Models: At the Crossroads of Cultural Politics;Evropski vratarji; Along the Margins of Humanities) and topical issues of culture journals (such as Gledališče upora; The Politicality of Performance; Artivizem; Body/Differences; Brecht/Gestus; Kaj lahko naredimo z besedami v gledališču; Ženske v gledališču; Uvod v Heinerja Müllerja). He is the co-author of numerous books (such as Kultura d.o.o.: materialni pogoji kulturne produkcije; Čas je za Brechta), the author of Teorije sodobnega gledališča in
performansa (Maska, 2009) and articles in academic and expert journals. He was a member of several Slovenian and international research projects on the history and theory of performing arts, sociology of culture and cultural politics. He is a member of the Association of Theatre Critics and Theatre Scholars of Slovenia (DGKTS), the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), the Slovenian Theatre Institute Council, editorial councils of Maska and Amfiteater and international councils of Frakcija and TkH.
Contents
In medias res: “Pravica je ustvarjena za tiste, ki so jo ustvarili…”
Avtonomija prava
“Odmiranje” države in prava
PRAVO IN POLITIČNA EKONOMIJA
Pravo, menjava in produkcija razmerja
Pravni fetišizem in njegova skrivnost
Brecht: “Marx kot gledalec mojih komadov..”
Metamorfoze blaga na umetnostnem trgu
“Diktatura zakonov”: Fetišizacija prava in pravic
Pupilija v pravni državi: človekove ali živalske pravice?
Umetnost, ki ustvarja z zakonom
Problem “definicijskega monopola” moderne umetnosti
AVTONOMIJA UMETNOSTI
Avtor kot ustvarjalec in (ustvarjalni) “genij”
Avtor kot kulturni in produktivni delavec
Avtor kot pravni subjekt
“Umetniška imuniteta”: Svoboda izražanja in umetniškega ustvarjanja
Avtorska pravica
Post festum: “Ob moji milosti živiš, pa me zaničuješ!”
Reception in Public
Kaja Kraner: Kako se kaže vladavina
Amfiteater, št. 12 / 2017
As emphasised by Lev Kreft in his preface, the author of Umetnosti v času vladavine prava in kapitala therefore does not begins by analysing legal norms, which are more or less connected to art (even though he also touches upon those in the second pard, mainly through copyright law), nor by analysing the autonomy of art that was a frequent subject of criticism in the 20 th century. Instead, he chooses specific art cases to analyse mainly the ragged contacts of two autonomies (not necessarily only legal and artistic); the conflicts triggered by the appearance of autonomous fields, or the “inner” conflict on a micro-social level that is immanent to the autonomised legal sphere.
Umetnost v času vladavine prava in kapitala
Pravna praksa / 1. 9. 2016
The quality of the work lies in the fact that the author remains in the direction of the task he has given himself: to move from the field of the theory of law to the field of art and finally presents his thoughts on why and how art and artistic action are trapped in a net of rules that are a consequence of bourgeois or capitalist rules of behaviour. This is when legally regulated capital can enter into all pores of life, into culture, art, and artistic creation, but also into the author, their status, and livelihood.