Performing the Absolute. Marina Abramovic Organizing the Unfinished Business of Arthur Schopenhauer - Critical Essay

Organization Studies, Annual, 2000 by Pierre Guillet de Monthoux

Performing 'das Ding an sich'

Schopenhauer thus sets himself a mission that echoes the voice of his master, Immanuel Kant. Kant's version of enlightenment aimed to wake up philosophy from its dogmatic slumber and turn it into a critical reflection on man-made knowledge (Guillet de Monthoux 1998b). The only worthy goal of philosophy had been to explore the realm of absolute truth. All philosophers wanted to discover the philosopher's stone, but Kant discarded the grand plan of charting 'das Ding an sich'. Search for the essence of things may well motivate philosophical projects, but absolute truth is not some new continent to be explored and colonized. Enlightened critical philosophy renders it forever unattainable. For Kant, Das Ding an sich was more like the crusaders' holy Grail. It is an idea symbolizing a passionate desire to fuse with super-sensible essence; to embrace pure eternal existence by using our worldly and human understanding. Kant respects this as a beautiful dream which philosophy cannot achieve, but it is precisely at th is point that Schopenhauer attempts to make that dream come true by proposing a viable method of finding 'das Ding an sich'.

To Schopenhauer, the solution lies in repairing some of Kant's shortcomings. The master from K[ddot{o}]ingsberg had seen 'das Ding an sich' as something almost divine, necessarily placed far beyond human grasp. Kant was wrong, says Schopenhauer, in that 'das Ding' could only be reflected upon indirectly and could definitely be reached by human experience. In his 1818 treaties, Schopenhauer proudly presents his reinterpretation of Kantian doctrine by arguing that all living humans, by the mere fact that they are themselves subjects of will incarnated in physical bodies, have innate access to the space of a-thing-in-itself. In Schopenhauer' s opinion, Das Ding is far from mysterious and unreachable. As we are all 'Ding an dich' we are potentially able to reconstruct 'das Ding an sich' by contemplating our own human existence. Instead of hopelessly trying to reach some truth outside ourselves, and then bring it home by means of communication, inside contemplation can help us tap truth flowing out of our own sour ce.

Energy Art

Hannes tries to describe how Marina goes about generating this incredible energy.

'Everyone around her is carried away by her power. She does not manipulate you, but she has this magic talent to manage so that circumstances work her way. She is in flow with the environment.'

'A kind of selective neglect. Just ignoring what is of no significance, but on the other hand, she depends on organization, and especially on logistics, as a kind of frame. People have to be there, as well as the stuff she uses; she's a minimalist with limited needs. However, I think that Alexander is very important to her work -- Alexander Gottschalk is her production manager. I think he came from motion pictures and wanted to do something different. They seem to be a perfect team. He schedules her performances, makes appointments and takes care of everything so that she is free to improvize. Performance to her is something direct, not "thought through". It indeed needs organizing, but in a different way from rehearsals or plans.'