Peter Osborne | On the Historical Existence of Objects | 21.10.2016

On the historical existence of objects: Archive as afterlife and life of art

This talk addresses the theme of the programme at two mediated levels, via the work of Walter Benjamin: 1) that of the historical ontology of the artwork – and the historical existence of objects more generally; 2) that of recent transformations in the institutional structure of museums. In particular, it considers the mutually reinforcing relationship between transformations in exhibition practices and the ontology of the postconceptual artwork. As a result of recent changes in exhibition practices, the conventional distinction between the collection, on the one hand, and the document and archive, on the other, has been progressively broken down. There has been a process of ontological homogenization of previously discrete kinds of object and practice associated with the spatial, temporal, conceptual and institutional extension of the concept of the artwork, within the generic conception of art. The talk focuses in particular on Benjamin’s concept of ‘afterlife’ (Nachleben), in the context of the changing artistic function of documentation. It thus asks, ‘What does the becoming art of documentation have to tell us about the historical ontology of the artwork, and its relations to the practices of collecting and archiving, in particular?’

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Peter Osborne is Professor of Modern European Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP), Kingston University London, and a longtime editor of the British journal Radical Philosophy. His books include The Politics of Time: Modernity and Avant-Garde (Verso, 1995; 2011), Philosophy in Cultural Theory (Routledge, 2000), Conceptual Art (2002), Marx (Granta, 2005) and Anywhere or Not at All: Philosophy of Contemporary Art (Verso, 2013). Recent edited volumes include: The State of Things (co-ed), Walter Koenig/OCA, London/Oslo, 2012 (lectures from the Norwegian Representation at the Venice Biennale 2011) and Spheres of Action: Art and Politics (co-ed. with Éric Alliez), Tate Publishing/MIT, London/Cambridge MA, 2013. Catalogue essays include contributions to Manifesta 5, Tate Modern, 2006 Biennale of Sydney, Walker Art Center Minneapolis, Office of Contemporary Art Norway, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design Oslo, CGAC in Santiago de Compostela, and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León. He has also contributed to a range of international journals including: Afterall, Art History, Concreta, Cultural Studies, New German Critique, New Left Review, October, Telos, Texte zur Kunst. He was Principal Investigator on the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council project on ‘Transdisciplinarity and the Humanities’ (2011–13) and co-editor of the special double issue of Theory, Culture and Society on ‘Transdisciplinary Porblematics’ (2015). He was the keynote speaker at the World Biennial Forum No. 2, in Sao Paulo, 2014, Making Biennials in Contemporary Times.

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A conference given in the framework of Theater, Garden, Bestiary: A Materialist History of Exhibitions, a HES-SO/University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland & ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne research project.

http://theatergardenbestiary.com/