| every day words disappear | Michael Hardt on the politics of love
2016
Video, 15”30, color, stereo sound
English and French spoken
Courtesy of the artist
In 1515, Machiavelli stated that it would be better for the Prince to be feared than loved. Some 500 years later, Michael Hardt, political philosopher and co-author of Empire, Multitude and Commonwealth, asks what it would mean to base a political system on love, rather than on fear.
How can we transform a society that is increasingly defined by a permanent state of war cultivated by an industry of fear? How can we realise the paradigm shift necessary to move away from a reality that depends on the exploitation of people and the cult of privatising public resources? Hardt looks for an answer in what he calls “the commons”, by which he refers not only to natural resources but also to the languages we create and the relationships we conceive together.
In the dystopian city-state Alphaville, in Godard’s film of the same name, all words and concepts relating to the ideas of love and affection have been banned. When the actress Anna Karina (as the character Natacha von Braun) tries to express her feelings, she has to reinvent the words, for the concept of love is foreign to her. Like the protagonist in Alphaville, Hardt suggests that we need to redefine our tools for acting politically together. Hardt embarks on a journey to identify the transformative powers of the ongoing struggle to re-invent democracy. Within this struggle he understands “the commons” as an antidote to a society run by fear, an inspiration for a paradigm that is based on dialogue and cooperation.
Artist’s Bio:
Johan Grimonprez’s work has received critical acclaim both in the art and cinema worlds. A number of his films, including dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (1997), Double Take (2009), Shadow World (2016) and Blue Orchids (2017), have won prestigious awards. His work is part of the collections of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; and Tate Modern, London, among many others.