Issue 2/2006

Theory Now

»Theory« and contemporary art maintain an uneasy relationship. Post-structuralism, feminism, post-colonialism and other trends of thought have complex effects on art, whether as emancipatory promises, instrumentalisations or indispensable concomitant discourses. These effects range from uncritical acceptance, dialogic engagement and mutual inspiration, to vehement rejection. Reason enough to enquire after the present state of »theory formation« with regard to contemporary artistic production – its pertinence and irrelevance, its obsolescence and topicality, its eclecticisms and innovations. First of all, there is the »participatory promise« of contemporary art: the desire to overcome subject-object divisions by the privileged inclusion of the viewers. In her article, Suzana Milevska investigates these promises of an art based on participat... » read more

Net section

Lovely Scam// 419 State of Mind
The Nigerian city of Lagos is generally seen as the world capital of Internet hoaxes – something which provides an important source of inspiration for local hip-hop.
Annett Busch

Will Google Eat Itself?
On the activist project »Google Will Eat Itself«, which looks at the monopoly held by the highly remunerative search engine
Slavo Krekovic

In Digital Death Valley
Net/language – B@bel, Aymara.org and the Internet as a cemetery of languages
Krystian Woznicki

Programmers, Pirates, Prosumers and Pornographers
Innovative video culture from Berlin – Part II
Zeljko Blaçe

Art Is ... When You Laugh Anyway
This year’s transmediale exhibition was devoted to the topic »Smile Machines«
Petra Erdmann

Lost & Found (XI)
UbuWeb – a Net project that is becoming an ever-growing archive of the avant-garde
Christian Höller

Theory Now

Participatory Art
A Paradigm Shift from Objects to Subjects
Suzana Milevska

Two Rooms
Mario Navarro

Eisensteins Revenge
The history of 20th century art as seen by writers associated with »October«
Konstantin Akinsha

The Philosophical Moment
The negative dialectics of the figure »French maître-penseurs«
Nicolas Siepen

Fresh Theory
France’s new thirst for artistic thought
Jens Emil Sennewald

What Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?
Contemporary art practice and art theory in Hungary
Edit András

Life in the 5.4.3. Dimension
A retrospective in Bratislava rediscovers the work of Stano Filko
Georg Schöllhammer

»… with their own intrinsic logic«
An obituary for Christine Kozlov – 1945 New York City – 2005 London
Susanne Neuburger

Establishing Platforms
Home Works in Beirut and PhotoCairo are two festivals that have emerged from the young local art scenes and took place for the third time at the end of 2005
Christian Hanussek