| Expenditure |
Expenditure is a concept that originated from the thought of the French philosopher, Georges Bataille. Georges Bataille is a leading philosopher on post-structuralism and post-modern cultural theories and is being reevaluated as one of the most unique and remarkable thinkers in the 20th century.
Expenditure is a concept opposite to production, moderation, accumulation, acquisition, system, control, etc. and is interpreted as consumption, discharge, exhaustion. It also means extravagance and reckless spending. Bataille believed that human civilization and culture could be maintained through the meaningless process of discharging, consuming, disintegrating such accumulation and production. In this regard, Bataille's expenditure is at the antipode of goal-oriented and production-centered values and in itself a major cultural activity and driver. Furthermore, Bataille's expenditure has positive meanings such as presents, unconditional giving and benefits, distribution of possessions, and relaxation of tension and it is directly linked to the meaning of artistic activity. In this aspect, Bataille reckoned that the highest and holiest values of religion, human body discharging wastes, eroticism, crime and war, and art could all meet in the same dimension.
Expenditure and similar concepts like consumption, and discharge are not just concepts in philosophy and sociology. It can also serve as an significant approach of art criticism that can analyze artworks or reinterpret the entire contemporary art history. Bataille had already employed relevant theories as specific theories for artworks, like surrealism. After the 1980s, several leading post-modern critical theorists expanded the concept of informe, which is a concept similar to expenditure, into a theory reinterpreting the entire contemporary art. This approach is aesthetics pursuing degenderization, decategorization, eroticism, disintegration of reproductive order, aesthetics of entropic degeneration, grotesqueness, disintegration of artwork concepts, disruption of subjects, others, collapse ofconfrontational structure between the center and the peripheral, an end to the confrontation between the conservative and the radical aesthetics, as well as the aesthetics of transgression. This aesthetics constitutes the most important trend in today's world art and the Busan Biennale will broadly highlight the art following this trend.
In addition, the concept of expenditure well represents the characteristics of cutting-edge cyber culture, as well as those of contemporary art. Moreover, expenditure is a self-reflective, self-destructive concept that challenges the symbolic system of culture and criticizes the structure of culture itself. Thus, this concept will entail a strong intention of the Biennale reflecting upon the basic production conditions of culture and art and their philosophical foundation, rather than contributing to fantasy about a new type of art, cultural fetishism. It will also shift the focus of the Biennale from the production-centered perspective, like the production of newer types of art and more cultural events, to the disintegration, consumption and disappearance of culturally symbolic values. It turns out that this aspect is actually a significant driver of culture and a source of values. | |
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