Diedrich Diederichsen writes about Georg Büchner, Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, Ovid, Rodney Graham, Richard Wagner, RAF terrorists, Damien Hirst, Kenneth Anger, Frank Zappa, Thomas Pynchon, Charles Manson, 50 Cent, Hermes Phettberg, Vanessa Beecroft, Paolo Virno René Pollesch, Jean Francois Lyotard…
A number of events have led to the art boom. Rebellious generations, exciting new lifestyles, bursts of emancipation from the post-war period right up until the wild Sixties all form that pool of hope, emotions and feelings of ecstasy on which the art market bubble still thrives even today. But what actually happened at that time – politically, artistically, in subcultures and on the market? What’s this media hype surrounding art really all about? Exhibitions are events, books and music have marketing concepts, artists have to be identifiable as individuals. Nobody believes in an underground or counter culture any more. But art is preoccupied with the shadows of these terms. Is this a sellout? A demise? Or are there connections and promises of a world beyond the market? Self-realisation, flexibility, flat hierarchies, unpredictable biographies – all of these keywords sound like the fulfilment of leftwing claims but they are also the grim reality of inescapable neo-liberal constraints, claims Diederichsen and takes us on a fascinating journey back through the past few decades of contemporary art and pop culture.
