The Aesthetic Underground: Alain Badiou’s Collective Subject in Art
摘要
Badiou’s philosophy of art de-emphasises the role of the artist as agent. He argues that the “truths” art produces emerge through the relationship between a series of works that bring about a new artistic configuration and their reception by audiences. This chapter explores the benefits and challenges of Badiou’s approach to the concept of the “subject” in the context of art. While for Badiou the actualisation of truths in art depends entirely on a subject’s fidelity to what he terms “events,” his curious characterisation of subjects in art as a series of works problematises the localisation of agency. However, Badiou’s approach remains valuable for its collective view of artistic production.