Such an imitation of the future cannot produce artworks. Rather, it produces artistic events. Indeed, contemporary art escapes the present not by resisting the flow of L’arte nell’epoca della sua riproducibilità digitale time but by collaborating with it. If all present things are transitory and in flux, it is possible and even necessary to anticipate their eventual disappearance. Modern and contemporary art practices precisely the prefiguration and imitation of the future in which things now contemporary will disappear. Such an imitation of the future cannot produce artworks. Rather, it produces artistic events, performances, temporary exhibitions that demonstrate the transitory character of the present order of things and the rules that govern contemporary social behaviour.
In the Flow
Boris Groys
postmedia books