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Art is often said to be timeless, but specific works of art always take place within time and maintain a dynamic balance between their conditions of production and reception. "Art and Contemporaneity" features contributions from leading scholars, including Alain Badiou and Alexander García Düttmann, who bring theories of aesthetic philosophy to bear on one of the most crucial questions about contemporary art: how do works of art come to exist within and in relation to time? A specific temporality of an artwork emerges from the material and political conditions of its production. But works of art also forge new relationships to time in their reception, which are continually superimposed upon layers of history. With a broad range of perspectives, "Art and Contemporaneity" offers a sustained reflection on the relationship between art and time, and it will appeal to those interested in both the theory and practice of contemporary art.

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Although art always takes place in time, its manifestations - actual works of art - can be characterized by the specific and close connection they maintain between contemporaneity and timelessness. Their relation to time must be differentiated in a twofold manner: on the one hand, there is the relation to the time in which they are embedded, and, on the other, the relation to the time that they themselves create. In particular historical conditions a specific temporality of the artwork emerges. Both temporalities are superimposed on by one another, namely as a timelessness of artworks as such. The book assembles a variety of thinkers that confront one of the most crucial questions when dealing with the very definition, concept and operativity of art: How to link art to the concept of the contemporary?

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7 - 8 Preface (Frank Ruda, Jan Völker)9 - 22 For and Against the Contemporary (Alexander García Düttmann)23 - 44 "No, Nobody Could Ever Call Me His Contemporary" (Judith Balso)45 - 58 What is Contemporaneity in Theater? (Oliver Feltham)59 - 76 We Are All Hot Girls in a Mental Asylum (Frank Ruda)77 - 90 Fire Walk with Me (Mark Potocnik)91 - 106 The Urinal and the Syncope (Barbara Formis)107 - 126 The Exhaustion of the Critical Form as Aesthetic Value (Vladimir Safatle)127 - 144 Benjamin and Adorno on Art as Critical Practice (Georg W. Bertram)145 - 162 To end the End (Jan Völker)163 - 174 Art and Mathematics (Alain Badiou)175 - 176 Contributors

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Ruda, Frank
Frank Ruda ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Sonderforschungsbereich ¯Ästhetische Erfahrung im Zeichen der Entgrenzung der Künste® an der Freien Universität Berlin. Er ist Mitherausgeber der Reihe morale provisoire beim Berliner Merve Verlag. Er ist Übersetzer von Schriften Badious und Rancières und hat zahlreiche Artikel zu Fragen zeitgenössischer Philosophie veröffentlicht.

Völker, Jan
Jan Völker ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter im Sonderforschungsbereich 626 ¯Ästhetische Erfahrung im Zeichen der Entgrenzung der Künste® der Freien Universität Berlin. Seine Forschungs- und Publikationsschwerpunkte umfassen die Ästhetik Kants, neuere politische Philosophie und das Verhältnis von Kunst und Politik. Er ist außerdem Mitherausgeber der Reihe morale provisoire beim Berliner Merve-Verlag und Übersetzer von Schriften von Alain Badiou und Jacques Rancière.

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