RE:akt! Reconstruction, Re-enactment, Re-reporting

by Domenico Quaranta

Just what is it that leads many contemporary artists to restage historic events great and small, performances of the past, and sometimes even imaginary events? Are they possessed by the post-modern demon? (albeit belatedlyÉ) Does this practice spring from a cynical awareness of the decline of values, the surrender Ð be it dismal or joyful, it makes little difference Ð to the logic of the society of spectacle? Is it yet another variation of Francis FukuyamaÕs bitter prophecy of Òthe end of historyÓ? Or is it simply the end of the modern myth of the ÒoriginalityÓ of the work of art, a further confirmation of the fact that in conceptual art the process is more important than the end product, and an attempt to find a different, deeper path to critique the medial ideology of contemporary society? Reconstruction, Re-enactment, Re-reporting sets out to offer some answers, albeit not exhaustive or definitive, to these questions linked to the artistic practice of re-enactment and its possible redefinition.

142 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2013