[The Seven by Nine Squares home page] [YAWN 13] [Art Strike 1990-1993]

Reaction to the Art Strike, Part 2

Jacques Abeille, novelist, Bordeaux, 12/31/89:

"What a silly idea, this Art Strike... it's a logical paradox; that is to say, a statement which involves a contradiction, a proposition which negates itself. To choose to do this strike assumes in the first place that you are what you pretend to end: one must first be an artist in order to quit being one. It follows from this that all who during these three years who present themselves as non-artists will be artists, and that all those who present themselves as artists won't be...

By this formal logic one will allege that its proposals are universals that do not pertain: the Art Strike doesn't apply to everyone, but only to those who are already manifested as artists. One should not say `all who...', but instead only `those who...' or `certain...'. So the proposal of an Art Strike doesn't entail the advancement of a universal proposition, therefore it holds to the official and mercantile distinctions between artists and the rest of the human population. In other words, to subvert this distinction, you accept the basis of what you're trying to subvert, and end up prolonging it by adding on a new criterion: from now on the artists will be the ones participating in the Art Strike during these three years. ... [Lettre Documentaire No.6

Reaction to the Art Strike, Part 1