Minor Subjectivities, Nonlinear Temporalities. Aesthetics, Poetics and Politics in the Curatorial and Theorical Work of Georges Didi-Huberman
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2025-12-12
Author(s)
Abstract
Children, women, psychiatric patients – these subjects do not conform, most often, to the model of standard subjectivity outlined by Western philosophy. In a Deleuzian fashion, they could rather be described as ‘minor subjects’, where the idea of minority signals a subversive chance that lies with the politically disregarded, the socially low, the physically small, and so on. At the same time, a minor subjectivity often experiences and produces a nonstandard temporality.
This presentation explores some minor subjectivities and their temporalities through the lens of the exhibition “En el aire conmovido…” Imagen – Emoción – Utopía (“In the Troubled Air…” Image – Emotion – Utopia). Curated by art historian and theorist Georges Didi-Huberman and recently held in Madrid (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 05.11.2024 – 17.03.2025) and Barcelona (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, 07.05.2025 – 28.09.2025), the exhibition is peculiar in that it consists of a collection and juxtaposition of ‘minor works’ related to or realized by ‘minor subjects’. By opposing monumentality and art’s fetishization, Didi-Huberman does not yield to the temptation of exhibiting masterworks that would fill the museum’s spaces with queues of photographing visitors; rather, thanks to a curatorial gesture that is at once aesthetic, poetic and political, the whole exhibition appears as a montage of fragments: minor works (drawings, sketches, documents, casts, mirrors, videos, photographs) loosely brought together in a nonlinear path that disrupts any chronological narrative.
This presentation explores some minor subjectivities and their temporalities through the lens of the exhibition “En el aire conmovido…” Imagen – Emoción – Utopía (“In the Troubled Air…” Image – Emotion – Utopia). Curated by art historian and theorist Georges Didi-Huberman and recently held in Madrid (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 05.11.2024 – 17.03.2025) and Barcelona (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, 07.05.2025 – 28.09.2025), the exhibition is peculiar in that it consists of a collection and juxtaposition of ‘minor works’ related to or realized by ‘minor subjects’. By opposing monumentality and art’s fetishization, Didi-Huberman does not yield to the temptation of exhibiting masterworks that would fill the museum’s spaces with queues of photographing visitors; rather, thanks to a curatorial gesture that is at once aesthetic, poetic and political, the whole exhibition appears as a montage of fragments: minor works (drawings, sketches, documents, casts, mirrors, videos, photographs) loosely brought together in a nonlinear path that disrupts any chronological narrative.
Language
English (United States)
Keywords
Georges Didi-Huberman
Aby Warburg
Anachronism
Symptom
Hegel
Nietzsche
Deleuze
Unica Zürn
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Event Title
Time, Art and Contemporary Subjectivity
Event Location
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
Event Date
11-12.12.2025
Official URL
Subject(s)
Division(s)
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Name
minor subjectivities.pdf
Size
764.14 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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