Reversing and Affirming the Avant-Gardes: A New Paradigm for Politics

Abstract

The article examines the role of the avant-gardes in the philosophy of Alain Badiou. In Badiou’s book The Century the avant-gardes prove to be a two-fold structure: on the one hand, they combine an artistic procedure with a political procedure, on the other, they are driven by the will to produce a notion of the present. Badiou’s philosophy – being oriented towards the contemporary situation, in which a notion of the present is lacking – finds a paradigm in the avant-gardes as a method to produce the new. But any reaffirmation of the avant-garde can only be a reaffirmation of their split character, and an affirmation that is itself split. Thus, in the contemporary situation one needs to distinguish between a regressive continuation of the avant-gardes and a progressive affirmation that repeats their formal act against contemporary neo-classicism.