martedì 23 aprile 2013

T.J. DEMOS: RETURN TO THE POSTCOLONY - STERNBERG PRESS 2013



T.J. DEMOS
RETURN TO THE POSTCOLONY
Specters of Colonialism in Contemporary Art
Sternberg Press, 2013

In the wake of failed states, growing economic and political inequality, and the ongoing US- and NATO-led wars for resources, security, and economic dominance worldwide, contemporary artists are revisiting former European colonies, considering past injustices as they haunt the living yet remain repressed in European consciousness. With great timeliness, projects by Sven Augustijnen, Vincent Meessen, Zarina Bhimji, Renzo Martens, and Pieter Hugo have emerged during the fiftieth anniversary of independence for many African countries, inspiring a kind of “reverse migration”—a return to the postcolony, which drives an ethico-political as well as aesthetic set of imperatives: to learn to live with ghosts, and to do so more justly.