Education as a pharmakon. Action art as political pedagogic device for enacting radical democracy

ABSTRACT

By considering the position of education as a pharmakon, highlighting its potential positive and negative effects on societies by its technical unfolding, the article proposes to explore the political and pedagogical role that public and collective performances can have within the public sphere as political devices for promoting and enacting radical democracy. To this end, it analyzes a contemporary collaborative artistic practice, the performance ‘Un Violador en Tu Camino’ (‘A rapist in your path’) by the feminist collective LASTESIS from Chile, through two main philosophical perspectives: Bernard Stiegler (1952 – 2020), and his approach to technology, to art, and education in human societies; and Oliver Marchart, coming from his conceptualization of art and activism through the notion of conflictual aesthetics.

KEYWORDS:

• Education
• pharmakon
• action art
• radical democracy
• Pedagogy
• enaction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Colectivo LASTESIS. ‘LASTESIS. Plaza Sotomayor 29.11.2019. VALPARAÍSO, CHILE.’ December 5, 2019. Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0ed59v2hQE.

2. Since the first action, and because of its resonance and impact on social media, the performance was rapidly replicated and repeated in different places: Argentina, Colombia, México, Brazil, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, USA, England, and Turkey. In this last country, Las Tesis protest first took place on November 30, 2019, in front of Kadıköy Süreyya Opera, upon a call issued by the Socialist Women’s Assembly (SKM- Sosyalist Kadınlar Meclisi). On December 8, 2019, Las Tesis Protests were also in Istanbul’s Kuğulu Park, Ankara and Kadiköy Pier Square. The protesters were disbanding while still shouting the slogans ‘We will stop femicide’ and ‘You will never walk alone,’ the police arrested six women. Among those arrested were We Will Stop Femicide Platform General Secretary Fidan Ataselim, Platform Representative Ayşen Ece Kavas, and platform member Sevda Yeniköylü (Keep the Volume Up 2022).

3. ‘Et l’enseignement n’est pas simplement la première question de la philosophie : c’est la pratique de la philosophie.’ Chapitre 7, Qu’est-ce que la philosophie? in Bernard Stiegler, Prendre soin : De la jeunesse et des générations. Paris: Flammarion. 2008.

4. Humberto Maturana (1928–2021) is known for being one of the leading creators of the concept of autopoiesis, together with Francisco Varela. What is autopoiesis? Autopoiesis is a neologism Maturana coined to account for the characteristic of every living organism, understood as a system of networks of processes and operations that can be reorganized, regenerated, or dismissed by their relationship with the conditions of the environment in which they are inscribed (Maturana 1999, 93).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Taideyliopisto.