The modern self-conception of art includes questioning giving bodies of knowledge and traditions. Today art is frequently practiced in conformist confirmation of the neoliberal zeitgeist, particularly when it denies its own radicality. What is Contemporary Art? is the attempt to conceptualize the relationship between art and politics for our time. Alexander Garcia Düttmanns essay both theoretically apprehends the radicality of contemporary art and shows how it serves to strengthen todays political ideology: an ideology that frustrates real social change. The book addresses the heart of contemporary political-aesthetic debate.

Alexander García Düttmann ist Philosoph und Übersetzer zahlreicher philosophischer Werke. Er lehrt am Institut für Kunstgeschichte und Ästhetik der Universität der Künste in Berlin. 807280805895LangtextBarcelona's Grand Teatre del Liceu presents György Ligeti's sole opera "Le grand macabre" in a stunningly imaginative and highly theatrical production by La Fura dels Baus - a production that already claimed enormous success in Brussels, London and Rome and - as the British Independent proclaimed - "only comes along once a decade". Ligeti's (1923-2006) absurd-tragicomical masterpiece of the highest order blends popular theater, comics, pop art, cabaret, caricature and the Apocalypse with fascinating imaginativeness. The orchestra, for example, is enhanced with "instruments" such as car horns and doorbells. Ligeti himself - one of the great composers of the later 20th century - called his work an "anti-anti-opera." Premiered in Stockholm in 1978, the work is based on a play by Michel de Ghelderode (1898-1962) and unfolds in an imaginary land inspired by the famous Dutch painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder: Nekrotzar, the Grand Macabre, announces the end of the world; but in a land ruled by eros, alcohol and corruption, his plan to unleash the Apocalypse bursts like a soap bubble. The people continue to lead their lives as before and refuse to be frightened by thoughts of death and a dark future. Masterfully rendering the colorful score is conductor Michael Boder and the orchestra and chorus of the Liceu. The top-notch cast includes Werner Van Mechelen as Nekrotzar, Chris Merritt as "Piet the Pot", Barbara Hannigan as Chief of the secret police, and Brian Asawa as "Prince Go-Go". 807280156393LangtextWith this opera, Verdi composed a true music drama. For this great early opera, he demanded from his librettist Francesco Maria Piave a text that would have "extravagance, originality brevity and sublimity." Thomas Hampson made a triumphant début in the title role of Verdi's Macbeth in this Zurich Opera production, with Paoletta Marrocu as his beautiful, power-hungry wife. In David Pountney's hard-edged, post-modern production duality of man and woman is constantly brought into question. His Macbeth is not just a story about the usurpation of a crown with supernatural intervention, it resonates with symbolic references to the battle of the sexes and throws into sharp relief the link between power and gender. A strong supporting cast draws a top quality performance from the Zurich Opera Orchestra.