Facing Value: Radical Perspectives from the Arts

Value is an important concept in contemporary society, an immaterial force shaping the way we live together. Today, however, we seem to measure value only in terms of time and money. To reformulate value as a constitutive factor in an open and caring society requires a new way of looking that can reclaim it from the logic of capital.
Facing Value anthologizes the work of philosophers, scientists, historians, architects and economists including Walter Benjamin, Franco “Bifo” Berardi, Michel de Certeau, Anthony Huberman, Charles Jencks, Siegfried Kracauer, Jan Ritsema, Viktor Shklovsky and Jan Verwoert, presenting alternative visions of value that will inspire readers to regain personal power, share energy and creativity, and build toward a vital and just society. Alternative values--like hesitation, care, giving and disconnection--are proposed as potential foci of new value systems.