Pour une esthétique de l’émancipation Talk by Isabelle Alfonsi about her book
Isabelle Alfonsi (born 1979) is a graduate of Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and of University College London. In 2009 she created Marcelle Alix-a contemporary art gallery situated in Paris-with Cécilia Becanovic. She has been producing lectures about the lineages of contemporary queer art since 2014, some of which she performed in drag. Her book on the subject, Pour une esthétique de l’émancipation, has been published by Editions B42 (Paris) in September 2019.
Far from rereading art history by anachronistically applying to it the term “queer”, positively used in activist circles since the late 1980s, Pour une esthétique de l’émancipation seeks to show how the writing of art history has minimized the importance of artists’ political and affective commitments and rendered inoperative the social significance of their works. By imagining new friendships between artists of the past, Isabelle Alfonsi brings out a feminist and queer lineage for contemporary art.
