Neomaterialism

In this absorbing theoretical manifesto, Israeli curator Joshua Simonargues that we have moved into an economy of neomaterialism.Despite the rhetoric of dematerialization in art practices since the 1960s, the embodiment of materiality has actually just shifted: the focus of labor has moved from production to consumption, the commodity has become the historical subject and symbols now behave like materials. Here, Simon advocates for the unreadymade, sentimental value andthe promise of the individual as a means for a vocabulary in this neweconomy of meaning. Reflecting on general intellect as labor and thesubjugation of an overqualified generation to the neo-feudal order ofdebt finance, Neomaterialism merges traditions of epic communismwith the communism that is already here.