Drawing as an Ethico-political Practice

Abstract

D r a wi n g a s a n e t hi co-p olitic al p r a c tic e. G e o h u m a ni ti e s 7 (2) , p p. 4 4 1-4 5 4.

Materiality, Race, and Speculative Aesthetics

“…In both instances a biopolitical authority is generated 'for a state whose legitimacy is placed radically in question as it oversees the dispossession and destruction of the peoples, land, and lives of its jurisdiction. ' Gassner's (2021) contribution to the forum expands on Benjamin's (2006) argument that capitalist aesthetics effectively displaces desires for socio-economic transformation and substitutes them for an alienated will for racist violence. Bringing this idea into contact with Deleuze and Guattari's (2016) conceptualization of micro-fascism, Gassner works through the materialities of glass, steel, and stone in London's built environment.…”

Spiral movement: Writing with fascism and urban violence

“…Hundreds of far-right activists were waving the black, white and red flag of the pre-1918 German Empire; the flag that 'once inspired the Nazis [to break] through a police barrier and tried to force their way into the building' (Bennhold, 2021). * A movement that is out of control can spiral towards annihilation or towards liberation (Gassner, 2021). I am interested in fascism's seemingly creative but inherently destructive nature.…”

“…A movement that is out of control can spiral towards annihilation or towards liberation (Gassner, 2021). I am interested in fascism’s seemingly creative but inherently destructive nature.…”

“…If urban society is defined by an affirmation of difference, diversity, and unknown cultures (as classical sociologists suggested), then the fascist 'us' against 'them' ideology along racial and nationalist lines can indeed be regarded as an antithesis to the social structure of the modern city. Yet, fascism also involves mass support, collective identities, and individual desires: social relations not only on a molar but also on a molecular level, and not merely imposed by an oppressive, totalitarian state (Deleuze & Guattari, 2016;Gassner, 2021). It also includes the fascism in me: internalised nationalism and racism.…”

“…If politics is based on desires for socio-economic change, fascism replaces these desires with a de-politicised spectacular performance of creativity that is annihilation (Gassner, 2021). In the end, "[a]ll efforts to aestheticize politics culminate in […] war" (Benjamin, 2006a, p. 269).…”