Art at Work (was/Re: happy xmas)

[bandwraith at aol.com]

>From the link posted by Rich/Chris below:

 " Anarch-art-activism is the only lively activity in
 Russia. Nowadays, when even hope for demo-
 cracy in Russia is ruined, painting flowers and
 pussy cats or making any other “pure” art,
 lacking a socio-political content, is to support
 the right-wing authorities."

cf:

“Fiat ars – pereat mundus”, says Fascism, and,
as Marinetti admits, expects war to supply the art-
istic gratification of a sense perception that has
been changed by technology. This is evidently the
consummation of “l’art pour l’art.” Mankind, which
in Homer’s time was an object of contemplation for
the Olympian gods, now is one for itself. Its self-
alienation has reached such a degree that it can
experience its own destruction as an aesthetic
pleasure of the first order. This is the situation of
politics which Fascism is rendering aesthetic.
Communism responds by politicizing art."

(Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction)


-----Original Message-----
From: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
To: “pynchon-l at waste.org“ <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sat, Dec 25, 2010 11:43 am
Subject: happy xmas


from chris the k, pynchon patroness

wonderful

http://www.dontpaniconline.com/magazine/radar/russian-art-anarchists-explain-themselves