Jan 26, 7 pm
Eva Egermann, Hybrid Video Tracks, Beat Weber
Is the Economy the Reality of the World?
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Myths of Everyday Life, Technology and Art
Things are like they are; they are not eternal, but rather the historically congealed forms of social relationships. Myths are symbolically charged stories with questionable foundations. From Roland Barthes’ Mythologies, we know how contemporary myths function. They cloak themselves in apparent naturalness, thus appealing to so-called common sense and making phenomena seem to be irrevocable and self-evident. In their Dialectic of Enlightenment, Adorno and Horkheimer proposed in turn that science had become our central myth by generating blind obedience to higher powers, thus taking the place of religion. The economy—and with it, the economic sciences—dictates the daily lives of many people, but is the economy the reality of the world? Does it really benefit all of us when the economy is doing well? And what role does art play in the discourse of legitimation of technological and economic developments? These and similar questions will be presented for discussion on this evening. … >>