Immediately
following the self-dissolution of the proletarian Left,
the Éditions du Seuil published The Angel in
1976. With this very dense little book, Guy Lardreau and Christian
Jambet, tried to offer a "vade mecum for
all, a guide for the perplexed," based on the observation
that "there are no more rebels left worthy of the name,
and he who our times calls a rebel is but a shadow of the master".
Published in 2012,
Re-Education by Basque-Spanish artist Juan Perez Agirregoikoa
suggests that our world is a place where the word "re-education"
has become an ornament for dogs, the shining mark of the master.
A world in which sports fervour and political fervour mingle in
a reciprocal gesture. A world in which there is an enemy, and “spirit"
is its name. A world in which we catch Hannah Arendt at the stadium
entrance, and spin her around: "Those who don’t forget
the past are condemned to ideology”, here we go! A world in
which one discovers the true face of hooligans without even pulling
off their hoods. In which we do not know what to think, other than
to call for stupidity — with its sweet perfume of the confederacy
of dunces. A world in which one requests milk and cookies. In which
people are hypersensitive and hooked on softeners. In which Mao’s
1966 Decision concerning the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
is the lining of the stage curtain, or no more than scrap paper,
good for recycling. A world in which everything ends with a blue
sky, a sky of great clarity, tragically sutured, and ripped apart
by a plane dragging an advertising banner: "Lacan I love U.
Will U marry me?" In sum, there is a true need for re-education.
Balancing his work wobbly between a modest show, the childish pleasure
of pop-up books, ridiculous games, between regressive adult masquerades,
a fine product of the entertainment industry, and a critical tool,
Juan Perez Agirregoikoa holds
Re-education away from any immediate, positive and recyclable
interpretation.
Other than that, nothing serious: Juan Perez Agirregoikoa is an
artist after all.
see
an extract
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