PHAIS Seminar Series Week 19: Dr Bill Balaskas (Art History)

The PHAIS Seminar Series meets weekly in term time to discuss a paper by a visiting Philosopher, Historian, Art Historian or a member of our academic staff.

The Anthropocene as a Veil of Catastrophic Capitalism: Reflections through Visual Culture

Dr Bill Balaskas, Kingston University London

In his talk, artist and theorist Bill Balaskas will problematise the Anthropocene as a blanket term adopted by multiple disciplines in academia and beyond – a development that has been by no means ideologically neutral. Using examples from contemporary visual culture, Balaskas will claim that through the spectacularisation of human faculty, the Anthropocene has functioned – both intentionally and unintentionally – as a cover for Catastrophic Capitalism and its manipulation of our understanding of progress and time. Balaskas will suggest that socially engaged art can provide a platform of resistance against this spectacle, which may also encourage new and alternative modes of knowledge production.

Biography

Bill Balaskas is an artist, theorist, and educator. Prompted by his studies in economics and using various media, Balaskas explores social and political issues through the lens of contemporary utopias and dystopias. His books include ‘Fabricating Publics: The Dissemination of Culture in the Post-truth Era’ (Open Humanities Press, 2021), and ‘Institution as Praxis: New Curatorial Directions for Collaborative Research’ (Sternberg Press, 2020). Balaskas is the founding Director of the Centre for Practice Research in the Arts at Kingston University, London.

The seminar will be delivered in person, but a Zoom link will be available for those who wish to attend remotely. Please email phaispg@essex.ac.uk to request the link.