Alternatywy nie ma

What are the possibilities for alternatives when the homogenizing effects of neo-liberalism have become the dominant force? This question relates to the perceived failure of the avant-garde to deliver its promises, and its integration into the canon of art history and culture. Franco Berardi writes how the aspirations of the avant-garde have become our lived reality, as the distinctions between sign and referent disappear. The desires of the avant-garde and the dominant order it hoped to overthrow have collapsed in on themselves. Consequently, to Berardi, art no longer represents autonomy or potential freedom from the forces of domination but is part of the aestheticisation of everyday life and the nullification of alternatives. Indeed it is neo-liberalism that now wishes to draw art and life together in our contemporary setting (into what has become known as creative enterprise and instrumentalised forms of creativity, the creative economy and so on). Radical art seems to have become just another marketing opportunity and blockbuster shows in major museums seems to emphasise the point.