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in politics is precisely this: the capacity and that proves that dialogue is always possible, no
willingness to engage in dialogue. Another matter how oblivious to it we may be.
name for dialogue would be negotiations.
Again, it sounds trivial, almost banal. But what, There is no doubt that each of the participants
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in fact, goes on in negotiations? What is it that deserves special mention. However, I will refer
actually takes place? Negotiations always have to only one of my compatriots, the more so since
something nonnegotiable at their core. For the Ilya Kabakov, the acclaimed conceptual artist,
French philosopher Jacques Derrida, it would also created the poster for this exhibition. His
be justice, hospitality, friendship. As Jean-Luc own installation, “Fallen Sky,” a massive sheet
Nancy, his friend and close associate, explains, of plywood depicting a clouded sky, was placed
“negotiation is not a matter of avoiding or right on the ground not far from a flamboyant
accommodating what is unavoidable and cannot monument to space conquest given by the
be accommodated. It is a matter of bringing it Soviet government to the United Nations thirty
into negotiation as such.” What is implied is years earlier. The piece is an ironic statement
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the unconditional itself, thanks to which not on the transience of sovereign entities as well
only negotiations but also democratic practices as ideologies. As is the case with Kabakov, his
become possible. Democracy is not a given; work was accompanied with a description of
it is a process that calls for uninterrupted some imaginary Russian pilot, an inhabitant of
exchanges between its various agents, human former Czechoslovakia, who loved to paint his
and inhuman alike. In other words, it is as much ceilings. The installation is deliberately open to
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a form of governance as it is a promise. Without interpretation. So here it is, just a piece of fallen
negotiation this promise will fail. sky, an amateurish painting, but also a reminder
of the arrogance of humanity in the face of
In many cases contemporary art has been able to nature. The ancient Greeks called it hubris, a
translate and retain this injunction. By definition, display of exaggerated pride undermining the
art is open to the world, and it uses mainly balance between gods and humans, or simply
non-discursive means to express the various between nature and culture. If the gods were
relationships we are already a part of, whether there to punish the offender and restore the
we acknowledge them or not. It has its own ways shaken balance, today it is the very sky that will
of mediating between the different layers of our come tumbling down upon the earth. No more
experience, overcoming the age-long divide metaphors or warnings, just the reality of a
between the rational (abstract concepts) and pending natural disaster.
the sensuous (perceptions). And it ultimately
manages to blend the two. At least, such were my And again, this is about negotiating one’s place
impressions from this truly monumental show, in nature, learning to be humble and cooperative
which, as we would put it today, was site-specific: with respect to the whole of life itself. You
works were partly exhibited at the Palais des cannot strike a deal with the natural world
Nations but were also presented in its spacious because deals, unlike negotiations, are based on
courtyard as well as in the adjacent Ariana Park, calculation and projection. Deals know nothing
which made one think of art fusing seamlessly of the nonnegotiable, they are clear examples
into the landscape as an ecosystem. Due to the of economic exchange. But to negotiate means
efforts of Adelina von Fürstenberg the choice of to follow the injunction coming from one’s
the pieces was careful and wise, addressing topics counterpart, in other words, it means not to
that are as acute and as burning as ever: migration, hasten to make one’s own, but to give.
homelessness, violence, the exploitation of
nature, oppression. But also and against this
background – solidarity, a primal instinct of
sorts, something that points to the ineluctability
of cooperation and communication. Something
2 For a full list of participating artists see the web-
site of the “Art for The World” NGO: URL: https://
Jean-Luc Nancy. Derrida, Supplements, trans. www.artfortheworld.net/dialogues-of-peace
by Anne O’Byrne, afterw. by Alexander García See Kabakov’s own commentary on his instal-
Düttmann. New York: Fordham University Press, lation: URL: https://www.kabakov.net/installa-
202 , p. 48. tions/20 9/9/ 4/fallen-sky

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