IDEOLOGICAL DICTATE, 2017
Giclée fine artprint on paper, 86,8 x 88 cm
Edition of 3 + 1AP (signed and stamped by Laibach)
Please note: The piece is, and will be supplied, unframed
IDEOLOGICAL DICTATE is based on one of the first paintings of Laibach Kunst, entitled "Kreuzschach (für vier Personen)", created in 1971, with further interventions in 1981, made as mixed media. The original painting, referring to Duchamp's passion for chess, is in private collection.
»While all artist are not chess players, all chess players are artists.« (Marcel Duchamp)
Chess was developed in 6th century India and Persia, perfected in the Islamic Golden Age, and differed from other games like dice or backgammon in its emphasis on free will. Whereas games of luck were largely considered haram in Islam, chess was exceptional in indicating the rewards of mental striving in a rules-driven universe.
Whilst examples of ideological dictate include free-market capitalism, communism, and religious fundamentalism. The dominant ideology thesis holds that a system of beliefs and values is used to keep oppressed classes compliant - the upper class promotes values and beliefs that help the upper class maintain its power, and the lower class internalizes those beliefs and values. Thus, the upper class can maintain control of society with less force than might otherwise be required. An instance where the same free will that is glorified in chess is manipulated within the ideological dictate is that of a free, unregulated market. The lower classes believe that free will is offered by variety and the freedom to choose. But they are just pawns supporting the aims and desires of the economic ideology of the upper classes, who actually make the decisions of what choices are availed, and benefit from the profits of these decisions through the unquestioning engagement of the lower classes.
The Marxist-Hegelian tradition that recognises the chess game as the actualisation of ideas through dialectical struggle.
The Cold War between the ‘Free’ West and the Communist East was played out across many environments, not least the chess board with the ideologically opposed ‘superpowers’ represented by their own Grand Masters who acted as avatars for their relevant ideologies. “Chess is war over the board”, declared Bobby Fischer, “The object is to crush the opponent’s mind”. Within the game, everything is at stake. The mortal importance of chess was portrayed most obviously in Ingmar Bergman’s »The Seventh Seal« in which the Knight desperately tries to cheat Death.
In his latest book, meaningfully titled »The Grand Chessboard«, subtitled as »American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives«, Zbigniew Brzezinski welcomes further eastward expansion of NATO and he openly refers to the countries of the European region as clients and dependents of the United States military, economical and political ideology. His theory simply put is for American hegemony to continue and to dictate its foreign policy towards these regions in order to maintain its global 'superpowerful' dominance.
The term ‘superpowers’ conjures an image of major nations shaping the course of global history. But in the digital era that definition includes four extraordinary technological superpowers – four players on the cruciform chessboard - that promise to wield and dictate their (ideological) influence over the next 20 years: mobile technology, the cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT).
Terms and details:
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