Culture and Aesthetics
“Fragments of Paradise . . .” A Conversation with Jonas Mekas
On January 23, 2019, the Lithuanian filmmaker, poet, critic, and curator, Jonas Mekas, passed away. Mekas arrived in the United States in 1949 after having spent years in forced labor camps in Nazi Germany and, following the War, displaced persons camps. He went on to help establish major institutions of American avant-garde cinema, including Anthology…
Read Full Article...Secrets of the Sexual Fetish: How Sin Became the New Normal
“Pleasure is, so to speak, nature’s vengeance …” Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno[1] Fetish at Your Fingertips Fans of Sex and the City may remember when “the Rabbit,” a vibrator, made its guest appearance on HBO in 2011. One of the show’s characters, Charlotte, got hooked on it, propelling the sex toy from the TV…
Read Full Article...Art, Immanence, and Critique: A Dialogue between Alain Badiou and Theodor Adorno
Introduction Alain Badiou and Theodor Adorno explore the critical power of art and its capacity to delegitimize existing restraints in society, economy, culture, and politics. Of course, art can reinforce, perpetuate, or propagate these restraints as well. Therefore, perhaps the most affirmative exploration of art lies in its negative potential: that is, its capacity to…
Read Full Article...It seems such a long time ago since the “Beer Summit,” of 2009. When President Obama sat down with Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge Police sergeant James Crowley. The Summit occurred after Crowley, had arrested Gates for breaking and entering his own home. Although it was a minor though toxic incident, it appeared…
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