Art/Activism

Although I regrettably have very little knowledge about the socio-political backdrop to Laibach's and NSK's work, I still find their artistic methods very interesting, not least because of the fact that they were so successful.

NSK analysed their social surroundings with real critical insight, and delivered a response to those surroundings that I would describe as cruelly efficient. Their method - to uncover the hidden transgressions of their community by holding up a mirror to that community - hit hardest I think for two reasons: their prolific use of multiple avenues of media, and their status as a faceless collective with no individual members.

As discussed by Alexei Monroe in Interrogation Machine, a social system has certain hidden qualities or rituals that directly disobey that system's fundamental ethos. But on closer inspection, we see that these very transgressions are at least as pertinent to the functioning of that system than the qualities they cleave to "officially". So, in order for this system to work, it's rules must not be taken completely seriously. Logically it follows that subverting the rules is exactly the same as following the rules! The only way to break this cycle and generate awareness is to take the social system more seriously than it takes it itself, thereby revealing its hidden transgressions.

What I am interested in is locating the point of departure between art and political activism. Some interesting points about this were raised in the Laibach doco Predictions of Fire - one of the men interviewed stated that when you look at Laibach on stage you are looking at a big question mark - Laibach is the question and we are the answer. One could say the same about all good art. Perhaps as our social systems become increasingly complex, art can achieve the goals of activism better than activism can.