Books and Book Chapters by Lara van Meeteren
Future Book(s). Sharing ideas on books and (art) publishing (Valiz), 2023
The Rise of the Common City: On the Culture of Commoning, 2022
This chapter reflects on the increased importance of the cultural domain for politics and commerc... more This chapter reflects on the increased importance of the cultural domain for politics and commerce. It builds on the realisation that culture has become a crucial tool for states and corporations alike, to maintain and expand their influence, by ‘selling’ images of society that align with state interests or consumption practices befitting the aims of corporations. In response, a growing literature—to which this book contributes—highlights cultural commoning as a form of bottom-up cultural organising that is separate from states and corporations and supports counter-hegemonic action. Reflecting on this literature, we make three observations. First, following Chantal Mouffe and others, we argue for an agonistic view that sees cultural commoning as a political sphere without final reconciliation, thus questioning the equation of the common with consensus. Second, and by extension, while based on collective exchange, common art practices are ‘ideologically flexible’ and align with various positions. They help to both reproduce and disarticulate given hegemonies and support more or less inclusive social practices. And third, while acknowledging the role of affect in bringing publics together, we stress the importance of ‘organising’—especially outside of formal institutions—for the counter-hegemonic potential of art. We trace the consequences of these observations through a discussion of artists as organisers in Thailand.
A risograph-printed zine, produced for Table 20 at the Bangkok Art Book Fair 2019, 5-8 September,... more A risograph-printed zine, produced for Table 20 at the Bangkok Art Book Fair 2019, 5-8 September, Bangkok CityCity Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand. Printed by Lee Anantawat at Poop Press. | Thailand was late in jumping on the biennial bandwagon. But 2018 at once saw many large-scale, recurrent art events, including Bangkok Art Biennale, Bangkok Biennial, Ghost, Khonkaen Manifesto, and Thailand Biennale. What did these events do? And how do they compare in light of the international biennial literature? An invitation for discussion.
Journal Articles by Lara van Meeteren
OnCurating Issue 54: documenta fifteen—Aspects of Commoning in Curatorial and Artistic Practices, 2022
In May 2022, we received an announcement from the Institute of Commoning (InCom-mons) introducing... more In May 2022, we received an announcement from the Institute of Commoning (InCom-mons) introducing a "taster course" for its new Masters in Commons Administration (MCA). Bringing together an impressive group of scholars, activists, and organizers "who want to understand the world better in order to be able to change it," this initiative reflects a growing dissatisfaction with the state of our late-capitalist world, as well as with the complicity of academia in its functioning. It is increasingly clear that states and markets are unable—or unwilling—to respond successfully to the many crises that we face today, so the initiators argue. Instead, governments, corporations, think tanks, and opinion-makers provide "solutions" that keep them in power and in profit. However, the initiators continue, this status quo is now challenged by people (re)discovering new ways of working together and creating and sustaining commons. The Institute of Commoning aims to support such initiatives by "offering a programme of study for any adult learner who wants to explore the commons as an alternative and challenge to markets, the capitalist state and colonization." Rejecting the privileging of self-interest, competition, and extraction in contemporary MBA programs—which aim to meet the needs of capital and produce "good workers"—the alternative MCA program is provided outside of the formal education system. In contrast to the exorbitant fees that most universities extract from students, the program is free of charge. The Masters in Commons Administration is but one of many recent initiatives that pit the common(s) against states and the market. Recurrently, these initiatives discuss the potential of the common(s) in response to the many crises of our times. And time and again, these discussions reference the destructive role of neoliberal capitalism. For instance, in her analysis of contemporary crises, The Old is Dying and the New Cannot be Born, Nancy Fraser observes that various "forces have been grinding away at our social order for quite some time without producing a political earthquake." Now, however, she finds a widespread rejection of politics as usual, as "an objective system-wide crisis has found its subjective political voice." It is this atmosphere that has ushered in the re-evaluation of existing practices in all institutional domains, on a par with the education initiative of the Institute for Commoning. New common practices are now debated and created as a means for realizing more hopeful futures. Of course, as is widely acknowledged, the writing on the common(s) has various strands, each with their own assumptions and critical potential. Within this literature, the perspective of the Institute for Commoning, which presents commoning as a third way of social organizing next to the state and market, is relatively new. Highlighting its potential to produce practices and institutions that can help realize a non-capitalist future, this view centers on that idea that the common-in the singular-can be a means to "reassert participatory control over the urban commonwealth" vis-à-vis states and markets. In recent years the literature that starts from this view increasingly pays attention to “cultural commoning” as well. On the one hand, this attention relates to the observation that states and markets have radically appropriated the cultural domain, stimulating interest in the consequences of that development, and in possibilities for “freeing” culture of interference by states and markets. On the other hand, following Antonio Gramsci’s recognition that culture is a central battlefield for social struggle over domination, cultural commoning emerges as a place where structural social change can be initiated as well. Inspired by these possibilities, here we will reflect on the political nature of cultural commoning from the vantage point of common cultural initiatives aligned with social movements in Thailand.
Social Inclusion, 2022
As part of a remarkable wave of perennial contemporary art events in Thailand, the Bangkok Bienni... more As part of a remarkable wave of perennial contemporary art events in Thailand, the Bangkok Biennial was organised for the first time in 2018. Without central curation or funding, the organisational strategy of this artist-led, open-access event was strikingly different from the state-organised Thailand Biennale and the corporate Bangkok Art Biennale that were inaugurated several months later. Through the eyes of the literature on "commoning" as a third way of organising next to the state and market, we explore the "common spaces" that the Bangkok Biennial has produced. Reflecting on arguments articulated in the introduction to this thematic issue, as well as on Chantal Mouffe's analysis of the detrimental nature of an "exodus strategy" for counter-hegemonic action, we focus on the connections-if any-of the Bangkok Biennial with the state and corporations. Specifically, we address the following research questions: What are the characteristics of the Bangkok Biennial as a common art event? Which connections with the state and market have its organisers developed? And what are the consequences of this strategy for its sustainability and counter-hegemonic potential? We conclude that the organisers have consciously resisted developing relationships with the state and market, and argue that this "exodus strategy" is a necessity in Thailand's socio-political setting. And while this strategy might endanger the sustainability of this biennial as an art event, we argue that at the same time it supports an infrastructure for counter-hegemonic action inside and-possibly more importantly-outside art.
Open Philosophy, 2019
Responding to Open Philosophy's call 'Does public art have to be bad art?', in this paper we argu... more Responding to Open Philosophy's call 'Does public art have to be bad art?', in this paper we argue that this discussion should pay attention to the consequences of structural transformations that guide the production and presentation of public art in today's increasingly private city. While entrepreneurial governance and corporate branding strategies generate new opportunities, they might also result in increased risk averseness and control over the content of public art, thus putting its critical potential at risk. That observation ushers in urgent questions about control, complicity and criticality. We aim to reflect on those questions through two public art projects in Hong Kong: Antony Gormley's Event Horizon (2015) and Our 60-second friendship begins now (2016) by Sampson Wong Yu-hin and Jason Lam Chi-fai. After drawing conclusions on the justification of public funding for co-productions, the legitimacy for artists to sometimes not 'follow the rules', and the problematic nature of a narrow definition of professionalism as a means to discredit artists, our analysis underlines the urgent need to develop a framework that can guide discussions on the consequences of control and complicity for the critical potential of public art.
OnCurating, 2020
Is contemporary art one more complicit social practice, inevitably guided by the ulterior motives... more Is contemporary art one more complicit social practice, inevitably guided by the ulterior motives of the economy and the state, or can curatorial and artistic resistance somehow help to support a more critical role? Are biennials by implication bound to reinforce existing forms of domination, or can they help to undermine power and support more hopeful futures? Of course, these questions have always played an important role in the literature on biennials. In recent years, an increasing number of authors frame this discussion in terms of ‘hegemony.’ The call for papers for this special issue is a case in point, questioning if biennials are by necessity “hegemonic machines.” Responding to this question, we follow Gramsci’s interpretation of hegemonies as situated historic and geographic “settlements” that are actively constructed and maintained by factions of a society that make up a “historic bloc.” We argue that the political effects of biennials need to be studied in relation to such situated hegemonies. However, the precise ways in which biennials support or counter hegemonies is all but clear. We suggest that specific organizational and curatorial strategies are crucial in structuring this agency of biennials vis-à-vis hegemony. Thailand today provides an excellent laboratory for a reflection on the political nature of biennials. The power relations in this former art periphery have since long been structured by a hegemony that combines dominant views of nation, religion, and monarchy with notions of ‘Thai-ness.’ This has naturalized vast economic benefits of various core actors that make up the historic bloc, as well as dramatic inequalities. Counter-hegemonic resistance is systematically met with military coups. In this setting, art all too often functions as an affirmative supporter of hegemony. Or, as artist Mit Jai Inn explains, “Art has become a tool for the institutionalization of the values of the ‘good’ people.” Meanwhile, there is also a relatively small world of independent art spaces that organize counter-hegemonic events. In this constellation, Thailand was late in joining the biennial craze. However, 2018 suddenly saw first iterations of various perennial art events, including the Bangkok Art Biennale, Thailand Biennale, and Bangkok Biennial. What is the relation of these biennials with Thailand’s hegemony? Which strategies are employed to support or counter this hegemony? And what does that imply for the politics of biennials in general?
Drafts by Lara van Meeteren
This is the English version of the introduction to the Thai-language book ขัดขืนร่วม: ข้อเขียนว่า... more This is the English version of the introduction to the Thai-language book ขัดขืนร่วม: ข้อเขียนว่าด้วยสิลปะกับการเมืองในยุคแห่งการหยิบฉวยสุดขีด (Common Dissent: Art and Politics in the Age of Radical Appropriation), which was published in 2021 by the inappropriate BOOK CLUB
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Books and Book Chapters by Lara van Meeteren
Journal Articles by Lara van Meeteren
Drafts by Lara van Meeteren