Abstract

In my dissertation, I explore interdisciplinary forms of artistic practice through the lens of what I call “activist passion.” Activist passion, as a concept, contributes to a rich field of research on how art practice creates new modes of engagement that alters the relation between subject and object. My use of the term “passion” draws inspiration from Deleuze’s reading of Spinoza’s “joyful passions,” as “the power to affect and be affected.” Activist passion arises out of an ethical concern that engages with artistic, curatorial, cinematic and writing interventions where there is an attempt to cohabitate and costruggle with others. I examine how these transversal practices not only engage the political, but create spaces for deeply ethical collaborations between artists, writers, filmmakers, curators and the agents of social struggle with whom they engage. From this form of interdisciplinary cohabitation emerges a positive, affective condition that I name “activist passion.” Unlike relational aesthetics or participatory art, activist passion is not a category of art practice, but rather an affective force that inspires new modes of engagement. The process of cohabitation emerges from the relations between cross-disciplinary and cultural practices that move beyond the narrow realm of art discourse. The projects in Activist Passion demonstrate the kinds of outcomes that are possible when art gives up on Art and enters wholeheartedly into social and political practices.