Overview: What would it be like for the present image-world of advanced capitalism to begin to fail? Could there be a moment at which the magic of the commodity – its hold on us, our addiction to it – begins to wear out? Are we at the beginning of such a moment, in a Europe of non-shopping and mass youth unemployment? Are ‘austerity’ and ‘spectacle’ compatible? If not, what new (or old) political horizons become possible?
T.J. Clark explores these subjects in this lecture and is one of the most significant art historians of the post-1945 period. His books on Gustave Courbet (1973), Edouard Manet (1985), and major essays on twentieth century artists including Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock constitute a central corpus of theoretical and critical ideas forming, as well as challenging, the discipline of the social history of art. Professor at the University of California, Berkeley for many years, Professor Clark has also taught at the universities of Harvard, Chicago, Leeds, York and London. His most recent book, a study of Picasso’s art from Cubism to Guernica, is due this summer. He has also curated an exhibition of paintings by L.S. Lowry, at Tate Britain, opening later this year. T.J. Clark’s book, written as a part of the RETORT collective, “Afflicted Powers: Capital and Spectacle in a New Age of War” (Verso, 2005), indicates Clark’s longstanding interest in the account of spectacle given by Guy Debord and its use in examining the world social order since the bombing of the twin trade towers in New York in 2001. Related issues are the concern of Clark’s lecture at WSA.
Date and Time: Tuesday 30 April, 5.15pm- 6.30pm
Venue: Winchester School of Art, Lecture Theatre A, Westside Building