On the same day that Marc Tuters posted on locative space and mentioned Making Things Public. Atmospheres of Democracy, an exhibition curated by Bruno Latour & Peter Weibel earlier this year, the accompanying book arrived in the post.
From the online exhibition:
“The reason for such an undertaking is that we live in rather discouraging times as far as political life is concerned. Just the right moment, then, to make a fresh start by bringing together three modes of representation that are usually kept apart: How to represent people? Politics. How to represent objects? Science. How to represent their collective gathering? Art.
The main idea behind this show is that politics is all about things. It’s not a sphere, a profession or a mere occupation; it essentially involves a concern for affairs that are brought to the attention of a public. The public is not cast in stone for all time. We’re not talking here about the people as represented by their elected officials. The public has to be created for each new issue, for each new matter of concern. So the question we wish to raise is: ‘What would happen if politics were made to revolve around disputed states of affairs?’”
Topics include The Puzzle of Composite Bodies, No Mediation, No Representation, and Parliaments too are Complex Technologies. Interesting stuff.
Writing a review of the Making Things Public book for the journal is on my to do list, and I’ll be sure to post about it here too.