Performative Politics: Agonistic & Antagonistic
A reading seminar organized within the research project: A Subaltern That Sings. From Sound Resistance to Musical Diplomacy in Wartime Ukraine developed within CU-CNRS TANDEM Program supported by Charles University, CNRS and CEFRES.
Location: Cefres library (Na Florenci 3, Prague 1)
Dates: Tuesdays at 5 pm
Language: English
Moderators :
- Valeria KORABLYOVA (CEFRES / Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University)
- Louisa MARTIN-CHEVALIER (CEFRES / Sorbonne University)
Presentation
The reading group is positioned at the intersection of political theory and cultural studies, aimed to expose mutual implications and interpenetrations between the political and the aesthetical, artistic activities and public politics. It focuses both on the performative side of political developments and the political meaning of artistic acts. Two seemingly parallel, yet gradually converging, trends imply (a) the increasing theatricalization of political life – often rhetorically packed in the ‘populism’ box – and (b) closing the gap between the social roles of an artist and a citizen, manifesting political statements through artistic forms, thereby appropriating the micropolitics of power from below. Focusing on the aesthetical, we suspend any ethical judgement, refraining from assessments of the alleged ‘degradation’ of institutional politics and ‘erosion’ of pure art. The optics we are suggesting instead zooms into constructive and destructive forms of political art and expressive politics that might bring more cohesion and development (‘agonistic’ forms) or disruption and conflict (‘antagonistic’ forms).
The theoretical basis includes works of Ernesto Laclau Chantal Mouffe, Jeffrey C. Alexander, Jacques Ranciere, Jeffrey E. Green, Sandy Fitzgerald, Judith Butler, Paolo Gerbaudo, Luuk van Middelaar, Jessica Pisano, Peter Goodrich, Dean Vuletic, Kateryna Botanova, and others. The empirical part includes artistic projects and events (the Eurovision Song Contest, Film Festivals, Biennale, Ukraine Freedom Orchestra, etc.), as well as political debates, streamed on social media (sessions of the European Parliament, social media accounts of major politicians, etc.).
Schedule for 2024–2025
– 15 October (first session)
– 10 December