Sven Lütticken

Art and Autonomy: A Critical Reader

In recent years, the theory of art's autonomy appears to have been confined to the annals of Modernism. If contemporary history, political interventions and critiques of Eurocentrism have shown us anything, it is that art and its institutions are thoroughly socially determined, that art no longer operates in a separate or protects sphere of its own.

Jonas Staal: Re-Forming Representation

Looking at projects including New World Summit (2012–ongoing) and Collectivize Facebook (2020–ongoing), Sven Lütticken looks at how Jonas Staal’s assemblies gather agents that are usually excluded from conventional political arenas, bringing into existence parliaments with and for stateless states, autonomist groups, and blacklisted political organisations.

Social Media: Practices of (In)Visibility in Contemporary Art

In a preview of the forthcoming issue 40 of Afterall journal, we are pleased to make available a new essay by Sven Lütticken, who outlines a theory of mediated life from nineteenth-century barricades to twenty-first century occupations.