There is no democracy in any one specific country. Because of globalization each state is tied up with another. This is the reason that the world needs a global politeia, or global constitution to create worldwide democracy. One might call this “utopia,” however, since we still do not know what it would look like, as Karl Marx and his followers knew, or even still know. I would rather call this, after historical social scientist Immanuel Wallerstein, “Utopistics.” The argument is that we are at the turning point of the world-economy, facing the end of capitalism, and that there is something new emerging that could be more justice, a more democratic system; but there is no guarantee. Yet, the aim of the presentation is not to create a vision of the post-Empire, or counter-Empire world, but rather to discuss the artistic instruments dealing with both the critique of globalization, and the background of such a critique—the attitude I would call “global agoraphilia.” Agoraphilia, thus, is the drive to enter the public space, the desire to participate in that space, and to shape public life. It is something that opposes agoraphobia, which means a sort of escape from the public, not only giving up the desire to shape reality, but in fact to pass such a right on to the those behind tyranny, totalitarianism, autocracy, imperialism, etc., in one word, those who are against democracy. Over the course of the presentation some particular examples driven by recent art history, especially an analysis of the 7th Berlin Biennale in 2012 are offered.
