ART BASEL IN BASEL

The sweeping application of digital technology has plunged us into a profound crisis of freedom. With big data instantly and constantly capturing social interaction, not only the body but also our spirit are subject to pre-intervention. Such a dominant mode of cognition begins exerting its influence on the spirit at a pre-reflective level. We hold that artists should in no way be at the behest of this positive-feedback cybernetics. After all, it is negation that preserves the vigor of life. Rooted in the depths of the human soul, the presence of tension embodies the necessity of negation: ‘The tension of soul in misfortune which communicates to it its energy, its shuddering in view of rack and ruin, its inventiveness and bravery in undergoing, enduring, interpreting, and exploiting misfortune, and whatever depth, mystery, disguise, spirit, artifice, or greatness has been bestowed upon the soul—has it not been bestowed through suffering, through the discipline of great suffering?’（Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, VII. 225）