Nicolas Bourriaud

Tomorrow, who knows what point of view will offer the best way to revisit the ruins of the world today?


The Exform felt like a necessary read after the first volume of Vollmann on Climate Change. One of the chief concerns about this crisis for WTV is the idea of waste and the consequent detritus in furthering the harm to planet. This accumulation of garbage, defunct ideas, post dated people is the point of departure for Bourriaud, who following Althusser sees the world as a series of constructive collisions, all the way building and discarding. Never cited is Marx's dustbin, which leaves me pondering Noddy Boffin and turns of fortune.


While the author appears concerned about artistic production and thus cites all sorts of aesthetic examples, his lodestars aside from Althusser appear to be the benchmarks Benjamin and Bataille, the latter's potlach in the Accursed Share demonstrating our present worth--as we toss our smartphones and flat screens into a landfill in an orgiastic triumph of our identity. Urban Planning leads to more favelas and Walmart will process your tax return.… (más)