Aaron Schuster – författare

What does the name Trump stand for? If branding now rules over the production of value, as the coauthors of Sovereignty, Inc. argue, then Trump assumes the status of a master brand whose primary activity is the compulsive work of self-branding--such is the new sovereignty business in which, whether one belongs to his base or not, we are all "incorporated." Drawing on anthropology, political theory, philosophy, psychoanalysis, and theater, William Mazzarella, Eric L. Santner, and Aaron Schuster show how politics in the age of Trump functions by mobilizing a contradictory and convoluted enjoyment, an explosive mixture of drives and fantasies that eludes existing portraits of our era. The current political moment turns out to be not so much exceptional as exceptionally revealing of the constitutive tension between enjoyment and economy that has always been a key component of the social order. Santner analyzes the collective dream-work that sustains a new sort of authoritarian charisma or mana, a mana-facturing process that keeps us riveted to an excessively carnal incorporation of sovereignty. Mazzarella examines the contemporary merger of consumer brand and political brand and the cross-contamination of politics and economics, warning against all too easy laments about the corruption of politics by marketing. Schuster, focusing on the extreme theatricality and self-satirical comedy of the present, shows how authority reasserts itself at the very moment of distrust and disillusionment in the system, profiting off its supposed decline. A dazzling diagnostic of our present, Sovereignty, Inc., forces us to come to terms with our complicity in Trump's political presence and will immediately take its place in discussions of contemporary politics.

What does the name Trump stand for? If branding now rules over the production of value, as the coauthors of Sovereignty, Inc. argue, then Trump assumes the status of a master brand whose primary activity is the compulsive work of self-branding--such is the new sovereignty business in which, whether one belongs to his base or not, we are all "incorporated." Drawing on anthropology, political theory, philosophy, psychoanalysis, and theater, William Mazzarella, Eric L. Santner, and Aaron Schuster show how politics in the age of Trump functions by mobilizing a contradictory and convoluted enjoyment, an explosive mixture of drives and fantasies that eludes existing portraits of our era. The current political moment turns out to be not so much exceptional as exceptionally revealing of the constitutive tension between enjoyment and economy that has always been a key component of the social order. Santner analyzes the collective dream-work that sustains a new sort of authoritarian charisma or mana, a mana-facturing process that keeps us riveted to an excessively carnal incorporation of sovereignty. Mazzarella examines the contemporary merger of consumer brand and political brand and the cross-contamination of politics and economics, warning against all too easy laments about the corruption of politics by marketing. Schuster, focusing on the extreme theatricality and self-satirical comedy of the present, shows how authority reasserts itself at the very moment of distrust and disillusionment in the system, profiting off its supposed decline. A dazzling diagnostic of our present, Sovereignty, Inc., forces us to come to terms with our complicity in Trump's political presence and will immediately take its place in discussions of contemporary politics.

A provocative book that proposes a new and surprising inspiration for philosophy today—the canine thinker from Kafka’s story “Investigations of a Dog.”Written toward the end of Kafka’s life, “Investigations of a Dog” (Forschungen eines Hundes, 1922) is one of the lesser-known and most enigmatic works in the author’s oeuvre. Kafka’s tale of philosophical adventure is that of a lone, maladjusted dog who challenges the dogmatism of established science and pioneers an original research program in pursuit of the mysteries of his self and his world. In How to Research Like a Dog, Aaron Schuster uses the canine as a guide dog to rediscover Kafka’s fictional universe, while taking up the cause of this ingenious, possessed, melancholy, comical, and revolutionary thinker.Neither an exercise in literary criticism nor a traditional philosophical commentary, this charming and idiosyncratic book aligns itself with the research program of Kafka’s dog. It constructs an “impossible” system based on the fourfold division of nourishment, music, incantation, and freedom—or, stated a bit differently: enjoyment, art, institutions, and freedom. From Plato to Flaubert, Lispector, and Lacan, Schuster puts the dog in dialogue with psychoanalytic theory, the history of philosophy, and modern literature. Imagining the “Unknown University” that Kafka’s new science calls for, the book enlists new comrades in the dog’s struggle.

A dynamic contemporary examination of universalismGathering a selection of essays by influential theorist Boris Groys, Towards a New Universalism articulates his sustained engagement with the problem of universality under contemporary conditions shaped by globalization, institutional fragmentation, and digital mediation. Rather than defending classical universalism or abandoning it in favor of cultural particularism, Groys approaches universality as something produced within shared historical, institutional, and technological frameworks.These essays address topics spanning from identity politics to migration, museums, media, and artificial intelligence, examining how universal claims make their way into social and cultural contexts. Distinct from recent philosophical treatments of universalism, Towards a New Universalism situates the question within aesthetics, media theory, and institutional critique, offering an indispensable collection for anyone interested in the intersections of politics and art.Distributed for e-flux.

Hur fick de tibetanska munkarna stora stenblock att lyfta? Vad är barophobia och vem var Qamar Ali Darwesh? Hur blev livet för Ann Hodges, den enda människan på jorden som träffats av en meteorit? Boken är upplagd som en A-Z guide och innehåller konstnärliga, vetenskapliga och övernaturliga exempel, reflektioner och fiktiva historier om fenomen som gravitation, viktlöshet, levitation och dess antites; fallandet. Den är mycket mer än en enkel guidebok eller en ordbok och genom ett urval av intressanta anekdoter, essäer och poetiska betraktelser i ord och bild om levitationens historia tas läsaren med på en spännande resa i ämnet. Drömmen om att uppnå viktlöshet har följt människan sedan lång tid, levitation är ett mytiskt fenomen med religiösa, magiska och spirituella kopplingar. Idag är det någonting vi kan uppnå på flera sätt, till exempel genom fritt fall i flygplan eller på rymdstationer. På samma sätt som när en människa promenerar på månen, är jordens gravitation då nollställd. Den svaga gravitationen på månens yta gör att saker faller i slowmotion, om en astronaut skulle hoppa för högt skulle han eller hon falla ut i universum. Boken beskriver också, bland mycket annat, hur levitation har använts för politiska syften. Sommaren 1967 planerade aktivisten Abbie Hoffman att genomföra en levitation av Vita huset, 90 meter upp i luften, som en protest mot Vietnamkriget. Tusentals aktivister, beväpnade mer gitarrer och rosor, försökte omringa byggnaden men stoppades av militären. Även om aktionen inte gick som planerat fick den politisk betydelse i kampen mot kriget. Boken är rikt illustrerad med exempel från nutid och dåtid. Medverkande förutom konstnärerna Björn Hegardt och Theo Ågren är: Mikael Löfgren, författare, kritiker och skribent har skrivit essän the Weight of Weight (W), som beskriver levitation ur ett politiskt, vetenskapligt och kulturellt perspektiv. Pamela Jaskoviak, författare, poet, krönikör och översättare bidrar med Face Down (F), en poetisk essä i tre delar som fokuserar på att falla. Aaron Schuster, filosof och skribent har skrivit The Cosmonaut of the Erotic Future - A History of Levitation, en essä som handlar om hur levitation har framställts och tolkats inom konstens värld. Ann-Charlotte Glasberg Blomqvist, kritiker och skribent medverkar med en essä om konstnärerna Björn Hegardt och Theo Ågrens samarbetsprojekt där de i installationer och objekt undersökt levitation och fritt fall.