This book examines haunting concepts, relations, and artworks that demand our attention. Its premise is that, under capitalism, political and ethical considerations are subordinated to economic ones, and this subordination creates ghost worlds.
This book proposes that the investigation of performance works as economies can make these insights visible. It positions the examination in relation to contemporary critiques of capitalism, neo-feudalism, and their by-products, and proposes and develops the notion of ‘oikonomia’, as a means to theorise artworks which, through their house (oikos) rules (nomoi), propose ethico-political challenges to the economies in which they are embedded. Its interest is in the politics, ethics, and effects of these rules and the insights they offer to political economy’s reconceptualization. For this, it looks at politically positioned performance work by Jérôme Bel, Tania Bruguera, Tino Sehgal, and Santiago Sierra created and presented in different political economies: in Cuba, Europe, Mexico, UK, and US. Ultimately, this book aims to transform our understanding of economy’s purpose and contribute to the development of a new ethico-political paradigm upon which a reconceptualization of political economy can be based. It seeks to keep the fire for change alive by demonstrating that political economies, much like performances, are experiments which can be changed.
This book will be of great interest to students and scholars in Performance Studies, Theatre, Visual Cultures, Dance, and Visual Arts, and Critical Theorists.