The crisis is deep. No matter what happens, the next period will be hard. Class struggle has taken on new forms and is no longer one-sided. The proletariat is beginning to show its face all over the place and the Arab revolts point beyond the current post-colonial world order. In this situation it is not impossible to imagine a return of the avant-garde as a revolutionary anti-artistic project.
Mikkel Bolt is an art historian and critic. He teaches cultural history at The University of Copenhagen. He has written a number of articles on subjects such as the avant-garde, contemporary political philosophy and situationism in journals such as Rethinking Marxism, Texte zur Kunst, Third Text and Variations.
He is the author of a number of books including Den sidste avantgarde (2004), I sammenbruddets tjeneste with Das Beckwerk (2008), Avantgardens selvmord (2009) and En anden verden. Kritiske epistler om de seneste årtiers antikapitalistiske satsninger inden for kunst og politik og forsøgene på at udradere dem (2011). He has co-edited numerous publications including Totalitarian Art and Modernity (2010), and Expect Anything Fear Nothing: The Situationist Movement in Scandinavia and Elsewhere (2011). His latest book Krise til opstand - Noter om det igangværende sammenbrud, is to be published in autumn 2013.
The lecture is presented in collaboration with Bergen Academy of Art and Design and is funded by City of Bergen. Volt is funded by City of Bergen and Arts Council Norway.