Two Cities: An Aesthetic Approach to Ethical Responsibility by Monika Leisch-Kiesl
Depot, Breite Gasse 3, Wien, A-1070 Austria
An exciting discourse between ethics and aesthetics is developed by Monika Leisch-Kiesl, author of the book Two Cities: An Aesthetic Approach to Ethical Responsibility. At the heart of this text-image volume are two outstanding artistic works, Irena Lagator Pejović’s Knowledge of the Limited Responsibility Society (2009–) and Christine de Pizan’s Livre de la cité des dames [The Book of the City of Ladies] (ca. 1405), both focusing on female city-building. Monika Leisch-Kiesl reflects on the artistic and scientific practice of the Renaissance writer Christine de Pizan, on the one hand, and the contemporary visual artist Irena Lagator Pejović on the other, with regard to the tension between ethics and aesthetics that underlies these works.
Just following Christine de Pizan’s (b. 1364) literary-artistic construction of the City of Ladies, and then possibly also taking a look into the Treasure of the City of Ladies, is a discovery. When confronted with Irena Lagator Pejović’s (* 1976) Knowledge of the Limited Responsibility Society, a world of subtle paths opens up to the reader. Paths between an ex-Yugoslavian artist of the 21st century and an Italian-French author at the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance; paths between the societal and power-critical challenges of a neoliberal state and an economically differentiating kingdom, not least to a politically incensed and intellectually alert woman; paths between installative artistic works and masterpieces of book art. And revealing notions: How astutely must an artistic critique of capitalism or power perform in order to avoid a mere slugfest with well-worn concepts? What can be learned from the attitude of these two personalities, Christine de Pizan and Irena Lagator, for the virulence of feminist criticism that leaves courtly and bourgeois appeasement far behind? How can artistic concepts tackle such complex crisis zones and still be experienced as artistic positions? As an aesthetic response to ethical responsibility: this is the thesis of the book.
In his introduction, Miško Šuvaković, an internationally renowned theoretician, lecturer, writer, artist and curator, undertakes a journey into this exciting rebus of books and cities, spanning two different historical epochs and eco-political constellations. He responds not just to the aesthetic vigor of this text but as well to political and economic challenges and artistic potentials, spreading out intertextual suggestions in front of the reader.
An afterword by Elke Krasny, Becoming Response-able: For a Feminist Ethics of Responsibility, analyses the artistic practice of Irena Lagator in the face of global capitalism and affirms the urgency of political feminism: response-ability—in reference to Donna Haraway’s “response-able”—in the medium of art. When she recalls Witness of Time – Now, an artwork in urban public space by Lagator from 2002, exhibited at the 4th Cetinje biennale in Montenegro, she indirectly draws a link back to Christine de Pizan’s Livre de la cité des dames.
These topics will be explored in a discussion at Depot between the author and the artist, which will also involve Elke Krasny, who brings into play the feminist concept of care-ethics and puts the question of artistic response-ability in the 21st century.
Elke Krasny, feminist cultural theorist, urban researcher, curator, professor of Art and Education and Head of the Art and Education program at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.
Irena Lagator Pejović, visual artist, art theorist, associate professor at University of Donja Gorica, Podgorica, Montenegro.
Monika Leisch-Kiesl, art historian, curator, professor of Art History and Aesthetics at the Institute of History and Theory of Art, KU Linz.
Moderation: Julia Allerstorfer-Hertel, art historian and post-colonial theoretician, curator, associate professor at the Institute of History and Theory of Art, KU Linz.
Verlag für moderne Kunst.
The book production in English/German/Montenegrin, was possible with the following partners: Austrian Embassy Podgorica; Federal Ministry Republic of Austria. Arts, Culture, Civil service and Sports; Montenegrin Ministry of Culture and Media; Institute of History and Theory of Art, KU Linz; Raiffeisen Landesbank OÖ.
