Bio/nekropolityka

Abstract

BIO/NECROPOLITICS: SPHINX The article examines two sculptures, one by Krzysztof M. Bednarski (Sphinx: To Great Builders from the Pharaohs to Joseph Stalin, 1984), the other by Kara Walker (A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby, 2014). It investigates the impact of ancient Egypt on contemporary art, and shows how using forms from the past can bring awareness to issues relevant to our world today – such as social equality and racial justice, power over land and people. The body of sphinx and the body of sphinga serve as the metaphor of a battleground between the techniques of discipline and the practices of resistance. The conceptual framework used in the analysis borrows from the theories of bio- and necropolitics.

Keywords

• biopolityka i biowładza
• nerkopolityka
• ikonografia władzy
• recepcja starożytnego Egiptu w sztuce współczesnej