A truth is embedded in art, crystallised in the work.

Interviewee: Roger Behrens

To begin, let’s go back to the assigned function of the political in art. When you say that your works were “too political” to gain acceptance as political art, or as art at all, then that’s exactly the point: as soon as radical practice is combined with “politics” it is no longer compatible with the schemas of the political which are tolerated: you can’t even gain entry to the established scene, and the projects are – so to say – for your private pleasure. And when you speak of taking action – including artistic performances – against the populist right-wing government in Austria, well, meanwhile we’re also witnessing in Germany today a development where precisely this position is actually demanded of art: that artists, theatre people, writers, musicians, etc. confront right-wing populism, Pegida and xenophobia – with the means of an aesthetized politics! This fits in perfectly with the image a tolerant society cultivates of itself, particularly in relation to the ideological function assigned to art in such a society. Here again: there’s not a word about capitalism and social relations, not the slightest hint of a critique of political economy. Linking this to Adorno’s concept of autonomy: remarkably, Critical Theory never demanded that art openly commit itself to politics – Adorno never and Marcuse not really either; even Benjamin’s politicising of art has to be understood in its specific context, namely the threats posed by fascist terror in the 1930s. We usually assume that art which is in some way “political” is a “critical” art, in other words we equate “politics” – whereby as a matter of course this always means a leftist, if not a radical leftist position – and “critique”. However: what makes art critical in the sense of the aesthetics of Critical Theory is related to composition, material, technique and so on, not with some “political statement”. And that is precisely what Adorno’s concept of art’s autonomy points to, or more precisely, the autonomy of the artwork.