Afterall Issue 11 Explores Art's Autonomy and Engagement

The eleventh issue of Afterall journal, published June 1, 2005, features a foreword by Charles Esche examining the paradox of art's autonomy in contemporary society. Esche argues that art's significance lies in its influence on societal thinking and behavior, but this influence is indirect and best understood through singular experiences with artworks. He traces the concept of autonomy from Western modernism, where it served to defend free personal expression, to its current state where autonomy is often equated with economic value in the market. The issue highlights artists and collectives whose work navigates between autonomous irrelevance and engaged complicity: filmmakers Harun Farocki and David Lamelas, theatre group Wooster Group, and object makers Manfred Pernice and Rachel Harrison. Berlin features prominently as a city that witnessed art's loss of autonomy under political pressure. Esche proposes the term 'engaged autonomy' as a way for artists to act autonomously while committing their results to specific contexts, offering resistance through ambiguity and movement rather than outright rejection of commercial outcomes.