9789076936222 / 9076936226

This pocket-sized book by visual artist Jonas Staal is a long essay with an idealistic premise: that the unification of life and art can be accomplished through a meeting of art and politics. Staal believes that ''every human being is an artist,'' and that we must find the courage to imagine a different politics, ''one that will find acceptance through the consistent implementation of inconsistent democratism.'' His argument is based on the deep-rooted relationship between the art institution and politics, the refusal of the art institution to question its supposed autonomy, and the refusal of politics to give up its untenably neutral position with respect to the arts. What are the ideological foundations that contemporary art is supposed to portray?