Since a representation is an event, those who do not muster within themselves, for the exact moment of its duration, the resources to implicate themselves in that from which a truth proceeds, are for all intents and purposes in the same position as the one who remains quiet in his room while below his window a revolution or a resistance is playing itself out.
– Alain Badiou, “Rhapsody of the Theatre: A Short Philosophical Treatise,” trans. Bruno Bosteels, pp. 209-210
Badiou goes on to propose an intervention whereby theatre attendance is compulsory and non-attendance is taxed. Along the way, he uses this phrase: “the shelter against art that is culture.”
Leave a Reply