Creatively rethinking the augmented Society of the Spectacle. A discussion on art and the political

Abstract

Radical structural transformations of the public realm in our post-civic urban condition progressively reduce relationality and negate the Right to the city. Fifty years after Debord’s Real Split, the ever-accelerating abstractive effects of the Society of the Spectacle impose a radical redress of the critical theory informing its interpretation. This paper discusses a film on the creative work of Daniela Grubisic, documenting daily detournement practices of public space subversion-by-sublation. An initial analysis of her sculptural work that deconstructs abstractive conditions of domination to reestablish instances of emancipatory relational resonance is followed by an exploration of her filmic work that reverses emplaced annihilating conditions. Finally, a critical evaluation of the combined capacity of these established rich relational intensities foregrounds its effectiveness in engaging multiple actants in formulating effective counter-hegemonic cultural practices.