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Artful Objects
Graham Harman on Art and the Business of Speculative Realism
Texts by Daniel Birnbaum, Marcia Cavalcante, Michael Dahlén, Graham Harman, Jenny Lanz, Pierre Guillet de Monthoux, Isak Nilson, Sigrid Sandström, Ebba Sjögren, Emma Stenström, Lars Strannegård, Sven-Olov Wallenstein, Jo Widoff, Erik Wikberg
What is an object? This question was addressed by Graham Harman, the originator of object-oriented philosophy and a central figure of speculative realism, in a lecture at Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Providing a thorough exposition of the object from an ontological standpoint, and putting forward a concept of the object beyond reductionism, Harman declares an approach that brings together philosophy and the arts where an object is not reducible to its components or effects and must instead be approached obliquely or indirectly.
The lecture was held on the occasion of “Sculpture after Sculpture,” an exhibition of work by Katharina Fritsch, Jeff Koons, and Charles Ray. In the exhibition hall with the show’s thirteen sculptures, thirteen questions about the object were posed to Graham Harman by interlocutors from the worlds of art, business studies, and philosophy.
Artful Objects: Graham Harman on Art and the Business of Speculative Realism is part of the SSE Art Initiative series Experiments in Art and Capitalism
“This credo provokes us to liberate things from the slavery of under- and overmining. To cast off the yokes of servile economic commodities laboring as pecuniary objects. It is also a book, mind you, performatively escaping its own servitude to herald artful entrepreneurship as: Where to start? Start with Art!”
— Daniel Hjorth,
Professor, Copenhagen Business School, Nottingham Business School; Adjunct Professor, Kyoto University
“Artful Objects by SSE Art Initiative goes beyond the fear of pooling knowledge.”
— Hans Ulrich Obrist,
Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, London
“SSE Art Initiative brings together art, business, and philosophy in a way that is vibrant, relevant, and meaningful and underlines art’s ability to fertilize and influence society.”
— Gitte Ørskou,
Director, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
