The Politics of Ambiguity

The essay focuses on French philosopher Jacques Rancière and argues for the transformation of his theory of aesthetics so as to accommodate swathes of directly political artwork, thus countering his tendency to disqualify and denigrate this genre of work. I show that Rancière’s edict against artwork that communicates in clear political messages can be overturned if those messages are proven to signify a genuine egalitarianism. The twist being that Rancière has done more than anyone else to theorise this politics of equality. Therefore I use one part of his philosophy against another in order to recalibrate rather than destroy his aesthetic system. My example of artwork that is directly political is drawn from the oeuvre of American performance practitioner Suzanne Lacy