I One of the great critiques of ‘philistinism’ — or what today we could call badauderie — is Nietzsche’s four 1873–76 essays published together as Unfashionable Observations. To the surprise of anyone who mistakes Nietzsche — as he so often is mistaken — for a sieg-heiling proto-fascist, we do not find him here proudly marching […]

In some quarters of the contemporary art market, a ‘genre’ has emerged. Steeped in esoterism, this art is a blend of New Age spirituality, pastel colours, neon, and Frankie magazine aesthetics. It is de-skilled, anti-disciplinary, wonky, cute-yet-nefarious, mischievous and somewhat eerie. It evokes feelings of unease — it would be mistaken to refer to this […]

Now one uses artworks to lure poor, exhausted, and sick human beings to the side of humanity’s road of suffering for a short lascivious moment…— Friedrich Nietzsche (1887) All that is ever put on display is on the pornographic side of things…— Botho Struaß (2007) The image has lost its power. It has been drained […]

In the flâneur, the joy of watching is triumphant. It can concentrate on observation; the result is the amateur detective. Or it can stagnate in the gaper; then the flâneur has turned into the badaud.  — Walter Benjamin. 1 Deborah Edwards, Senior Curator, Art Gallery of New South Wales: Just a point of judgment then. […]

Since it is sure of its ability to control the entire domain of the visible and the audible via the laws governing commercial circulation and democratic communication, Empire no longer censures anything. All art, and all thought, is ruined when we accept this permission to consume, to communicate and to enjoy. We should become the […]