A lecture by the originator of object-oriented philosophy, delivered
on the occasion of the Sculpture after Sculpture exhibition at Moderna
Museet, Stockholm.
Can objects be traumatized? How does the commercial value of an art
object relate to its aesthetic qualities? How do objects interact? These
are some of the questions addressed by Graham Harman, the originator of
object-oriented philosophy and a central figure of the Speculative
Realism school of thought in contemporary philosophy. This book includes
Graham Harman's lecture "What Is an Object?" delivered at Moderna Museet
in Stockholm, on the occasion of the exhibition "Sculpture after
Sculpture," with Jeff Koons, Charles Ray, and Katharina
Fritsch--artists, who have expanded the notion of the object in art and
society at large.
In his lecture, Harman gives a thorough exposition of the object from an
ontological standpoint and puts forward a concept of the object that
goes beyond reductionist orientations. He declares a philosophical
approach bringing philosophy and the arts closely together, where
objects are impenetrable to direct knowledge and paraphrase and instead
must be approached obliquely and indirectly. The publication also
includes a symposium in which thirteen questions to Graham Harman--among
and in relation to the thirteen sculptures of the show--that were posed
about the implications of object oriented philosophy for art, business
administration, and philosophy.
Contributors
Graham Harman, Daniel Birnbaum, Lars Strannegård, Sven-Olov Wallenstein,
Pierre Guillet de Monthoux, Marcia Cavalcante, Jo Widoff, Sigrid
Sandström, Michael Dahlén, Emma Stenström, Jenny Lanz, Ebba Sjögren,
Isak Nilson, Erik Wikberg
Copublished with the Stockholm School of Economics
