Karl Lyden
Researcher Theory
01.01.11 – 31.12.11
The Politics of the Self
In his lectures at Collège de France in the 1980s, Michel Foucault turns to the notion of the self, investigating questions of subject formation and subjectivation through the Greek concept of parrhesia. But while parrhesia can be understood as the hazardous attempt to speak freely: “to stand up, to rise, to take the word and speak the truth [...] and consequently limit the folly of the master”, this courageous speech seems remarkably distant from the intensely political qualities of his previous courses at Collège de France, devoted to bio-politics and the genealogy of liberal government. So instead of tracing a grid of power/knowledge relations that produces subjects, these 1980s lectures confront us with an auto-constituted subject, and the somewhat ideally constructed figure of the parrhesiast.
Trying to understand the implications of Foucault's later accounts of subjectivity, I will turn to Jacques Rancière, whose work on subject formation bears some structural resemblance to these. But while Foucault regards the individual subject as constituted in the care of the self, Rancière describes collective and political subjects as being shaped in what would amount to a care of the common, not simply by taking the word, but by reconfiguring the very rules of that common.
Thus, by means of the Rancièrian collective subject and its relation to equality and politics, this project will approach the Foucauldian individual subject and its relation to truth, attempting to locate the politics of the self.
Snostorp, SE
MA Philosophy. Södertörn University, Stockholm, SE.
Critical Studies. Whitney Independent Study Program, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, US.
BA Philosophy. Södertörn University, Stockholm, SE.
Art critic for Dossier journal.
Editor of Site Magazine. Stockholm, SE.
Member of the editorial board for translating Michael Foucault. Tankekraft Förlag, Hägersten, SE.
Several articles (DFT, Gerhard Richter, Runa Islam) for U-N-I-O-N, Swedish magazine for contemporary art.
Let this serve as a mouthpiece. In: To let stay projecting as a bit of branch on a log by not chopping it off. Vienna, AT: Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (MUMOK).
Introduction. In: Laconic - a talk between two chairs. Vilket Förlag.
Archive and Schizophrenia. In: Zbynek Baladrán, Vit Havránek & Vera Krejcová (Eds). Dictionary of transformation. Zürich, CH: JRP/Ringier.
Quarterly discussions. In: Graduation catalogue 2007. Umeå, SE: Umeå University.
Knossos. In: Omkopplingar. Göteborg, SE: Glänta Förlag.
Svante Nycander: Liberalismens idéhistoria. Review. In: Arena, 2.
Interview with Mark Boulous. In: Mousse magazine, 24.
Jacques Rancière: Le spectateur émancipé. Review. In: Arena, 6.
The art of documentary narratives. In: Site magazine, 28.
The art of documentary narratives. In: DOX European documentary film magazine.
Institutional plague. In: Mousse magazine, 20.
Sven-Olov Wallenstein: Biopolitics and the emergence of modern architecture. In: Arena, 6.
The library of Eden. In: Shifter magazine, 12.
Öyvind Fahlström. In: OEI, 33-34-35.
Palindromes. In: Geist, 8.
Ecstasy, militancy, and Marxist filmmaking: An interview with Mark Boulous. In: Mousse magazine, 24. Published on: http://www.moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=564.
Karl Lydén i samtal med Kim Einarsson. In: Konsthall C. Published on: http://www.konsthallc.se/statement.
The art of documentary narratives. In: Site magazine, 28. Published on: http://www.sitemagazine.net/site/?page_id=159.
e-flux, Derrida and the archive. In: Site magazine, 25. Published on: http://www.sitemagazine.net/site/?page_id=302.
Institutional plague. In: Mousse magazine, 20. Published on: http://www.moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=451.
Hito Steyerl at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein. (6 November). In: Dossier. Published on: http://dossierjournal.com/read/reviews/hito-steyerl-at-neuer-berliner-kunstverein/.
Interview: Anton Vidokle of e-flux. (20 April). In: Dossier. Published on: http://dossierjournal.com/read/interviews/interview-anton-vidokle-of-e-flux/.
There will be blood: Ron Athey curating Resonate/Obliterate I.E.. (18 March). In: Dossier. Published on: http://dossierjournal.com/read/reviews/there-will-be-blood-ron-athey-curating-resonateobliterate-ie/.
Postcards from New York. In: Site magazine, 22-23. Published on: http://www.sitemagazine.net/site/?page_id=314.
Michel Foucault. Le gouvernement de soi et des autres. Hägersten, SE: Tankekraft Förlag.
Michel Foucault. Il faut défendre la société. Hägersten, SE: Tankekraft Förlag.
Jean Cléder, De Hiroshima à Calcutta désert, Dominique Denes, Marguerite Duras: écriture et politique. In: Marguerite Duras. Stockholm, SE: The Jewish Theatre.
Michael Davidson. Technologies of presence. In: OEI, 28-29-30.
Giorgio Agamben. Il giorno del Giudizio. In: Glänta, 4.05.
Biopolitics and liberalism: A conversation about Foucault and the origins of liberalism. (13 December). With Sven-Olov Wallenstein & Kim West. Stockholm, SE: Södra Teatern.
The ignorant schoolmaster and the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. (24 October). Göteborg, SE: Dômen Art School.
The politics of documentary and fiction. In: When historical. (7 – 8 June). Maastricht, NL: Jan van Eyck Academie.
Gianluca e Massimiliano De Serio: artist talk with Karl Lydén. (19 February). With Gianluca De Serio & Massimiliano De Serio. Artist talk. Bolzano, IT: Arge Kunst. Galerie Museum.
The art of documentary narratives. New York, US: Whitney Museum of American Art.
Karl Lydén and Rebecka Thor. In: Exhibition. (20 – 22 June). With Rebecka Thor. New York, US: 211 Elizabeth Street.
Knossos. In: MA exhibition. With Andreas Mangione. Stockholm, SE: Konstfack.