Events

Our theme for the coming year grapples with fascisms old and new and compares them to the explosion of populisms in recent decades. Far from equating these two phenomena, we seek to explore the textured and historically specific variations of their different approaches to modern political and social formations that invest in “the masses.” In different ways, fascisms and populisms depend on visual cultures and performances for their power from charismatic icons that crystalize ideology to the sounds, choreographies, and framing of crowds as spectacle. Our invited speakers include scholars and artists who approach fascisms and/or populisms globally, in both historical and contemporary iterations.

Questions we will explore include: What aesthetic categories are most generative to understand modern and contemporary political forms? Who speaks for the many, and how is this speech shaped by visual cultures and performance? What roles do voice, rhythm, music, and noise play in constructing these political collectives? What is the role of new media platforms and/or global media conglomerates in the fomenting and sustaining of fascist or populist collectives, and how do they compare to earlier understandings of the crowd?  How do emotions undergird and produce fascism and/or populism, or shape forms of living alongside or under them? How might the current upsurge in populisms and fascisms globally indicate unmet social needs, utopian promises of collectivity, or fantasies of the good life? How might art practice and theory help us explore, challenge, or otherwise rechannel these desires for a more democratic understanding of “the people” in all their complexity?