Aesthetics of precarity. Capitalism, economy and visuality in Santiago Sierra and Francis Alÿs

Abstract

Neoliberal policies typical of globalization  have  impacted  on  several  projects  in  the field of contemporary art. Some of these visual expressions have focused on revealing inequity and impoverishment, precarious work, forced displacement or lack of access to the regulated economic system. This work will examine the cases of Santiago Sierra (Spain) and Francis Alÿs (Belgium), two artists with a solid international background known to have questioned the throes of financial capitalism in its ethical, cultural and political aspects. Santiago Sierra tackles social problems from a political perspective, with interventions evading conventional categories in order to approach art. Francis Alÿs explores minimal acts that deviate from the utilitarian logic imposed by the market to arrive at unprecedented results. In the light of some theoretical notions posed by Dominique Wolton, Renato Ortiz and Samir Amin on globalization and capitalism, artistic proposals will be analyzed in the framework of what we call aesthetics of precarity, i.e., critical modes of interpellation in the real sphere.