Art as Critique under Neoliberalism: Negativity Undoing Economic Naturalism

This essay considers the possibilities of contemporary art as a viable medium socio-political critique within cultural terrain dominated by naturalised neoliberal economics. It begins considering centrality negativity to historical project critical theory most forcefully pursued Adorno ‘negative dialectics.’ Subsequent varieties postmodern fairly dispensed with dialectics variously favouring complexity and an overriding emphasis on textuality. With birth neoliberalism its burgeoning ‘the contemporary’, economic values begin penetrate every aspect life experience, including culture. Contemporary capitalism dematerialised financialisation now comprises ambience that is both everywhere nowhere. Capitalist echoed in suggests criticality yet seems side imagery, logics prevailing financial order. The naturalisation order further internalised artists online. Exacerbated ‘self entrepreneur’ coincides biopolitical transformation artist into individual ‘enterprise unit’. particularly observable online social media where artist’s whole simultaneously subject object art. Criticality does not disappear but becomes ‘self-annulling’: it acts conduit questioning commodity-identity while pointing phenomena affects outside world. recent appearance COVID-19 virus, added unignorable impact global climate change, ‘real nature’ assumes role, undermining neoliberalism’s ideological laying-bare extent structural contradictions. Art revivified divesting from contexts saturated imperatives. negatively practiced ‘un-’ or ‘not-doing’, defining modes exodus while, crucially, abandoning art’s institutional definition altogether.