Capital: A Critique of Political Economy and Art: The Case of Alexander Kluge

Starting in 2012, a series of events titled “Rereading Das Kapital: Interpreting Marx through Film, Art, and Theater” were held successively in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and other cities. This large-scale academic activity, hosted by the Goethe-Institute and co-organized by various universities and art institutions, possessed both academic ambition and practical significance within the domestic Chinese context.

Alexander Kluge (born 1932), a renowned post-war German film director, writer, and theorist, not only made numerous art films under the banner of “New German Cinema” but also extensively expanded and intervened in the development of “Critical Theory” and comprehensive art practices, such as television, video art, and art exhibitions. His 2008 film, Nachrichten aus der ideologischen Antike. Marx–Eisenstein–Das Kapital, which runs 570 minutes, caused a significant stir in cultural, artistic, and theoretical circles. The 2012 series of events in China can be seen as an extension within the Chinese context.

This lecture begins with the exhibited item Das Kapital (First Edition, Volume 1, 1867) from the Taikang Art Museum’s inaugural exhibition “Engaging with the World: Chinese Modern and Contemporary Art Since the 20th Century.” Using Alexander Kluge’s film Capital and related art practice projects as the primary analytical backdrop, it attempts to explore how Chinese contemporary art, within the realistic context of global capital integration, activates a dialogue between history and the present through an archaeological approach, thereby offering new understandings of reality.