Radically ambivalent

What is the relationship between art and politics today? Does engaged art production achieve effects in the public, political space? What about the readability of visual messages in art and culture? In recent times, ambiguous and indecisive codes and signs have increasingly taken the place of a clear and distinct visual language. While some blame this on the complexity of content and diversity of forms, others interpret this as a political strategy of refusal to be instrumentalized. In recent years, the tenor of art criticism has even gone so far as to elevate ambiguity to the quality characteristic of meaningful art par excellence. The essays collected in this publication question the phenomenon of "ambivalence" from a critical perspective and examine its mechanisms and social functions.