Autonomy ("auto"="self"; "nomos"="law"; literally: "giving yourself your own law")

1. aesthetic autonomy

• 1.1. emancipation of (Western) arts
  • 1.1.1. vs. church
  • 1.1.2. vs. artistocratic patrons
  • 1.1.3. vs. private patrons
    • 1.1.3.1. non-collectable art
      • 1.1.3.1.1. performance art
      • 1.1.3.1.2. multiples
      • 1.1.3.1.3. artists' publishing
      • 1.1.3.1.4. net.art
    • 1.1.3.2. community art
  • 1.1.4. vs. craft guilds / creative industries
    • 1.1.4.1. fine art
    • 1.1.4.2. artistic research
  • 1.1.5. vs. art institutions
    • 1.1.5.1. underground culture
    • 1.1.5.2. institutional critique
      • 1.1.5.2.1. Art Workers Coalition
      • 1.1.5.2.2. Guerilla Girls
• 1.2. "autonome beeldende kunst" vs. "toegepast kunst" (Dutch)
  • 1.2.1. "fine art" vs. "design" (English)
  • 1.2.2. "beaux-arts" vs. "arts décoratifs" (French)
  • 1.2.3. "freie Kunst" vs. "angewandte Kunst" (German)
• 1.3. autonomous vs. politically engaged art
  • 1.3.1. abstract art vs. socialist realism
• 1.4. autonomy in aesthetic philosophy
  • 1.4.1. Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgement (1790): "disinterested pleasure" in beauty
    • 1.4.1.1. beginning of the debate whether art should stand on its own ground ("l'art pour l'art") or can serve other interests (political, economic etc.)
  • 1.4.2. Friedrich Schiller, Kallias letters (1793): beauty as autonomy and freedom "in appearance"
    • 1.4.2.1. written in monarchist Germany after the French revolution: hope that sensibility for art will free people and lead towards a democratic society.
  • 1.4.3. Theodor W. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory (1970), artwork has both autonomy and is a "fait social"
    • 1.4.3.1. art is neither in a bubble outside society, nor just a consumer product.
  • 1.4.4. Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production (1993): art is autonomous when it seeks its own market, heteronomous when it has been commissioned
    • 1.4.4.1. Star Wars = autonomous art
    • 1.4.4.2. publicly funded contemporary art = not autonomous art
  • 1.4.5. Jacques Rancière, The Politics of Aesthetics (2006): through autonomy, modern and contemporary art breaks down hierarchies in its own system, which is a model for society
    • 1.4.5.1. no more separation between aesthetic and political autonomism
• 1.5. cultural politics
  • 1.5.1. Johan Rudolph Thorbecke (1862): ‘De kunst is geene regeringszaak, in zooverre de Regering geen oordeel, noch eenig gezag heeft op het gebied der kunst.’
  • 1.5.2. fusion of Dutch art school departments of sculpture, painting etc. into departments "autonome beeldende kunst" (late 1990s)
  • 1.5.3. autonomy vs. creative industries (since the 1990s [UK]/2010s [NL])
  • 1.5.4. designers like Metahaven get shown as contemporary art, artists like Jeanne van Heeswijk get showcased as social design (today)

2. political autonomy

• 2.1. autonomous governance
  • 2.1.1. nationalism
    • 2.1.1.1. Brexit
    • 2.1.1.2. Nexit
    • 2.1.1.3. Flemish separatism
    • 2.1.1.4. Catalan separatism
    • 2.1.1.5. Québécois separatism
    • 2.1.1.6. Kurdish independence (Rojava)
      • 2.1.1.6.1. Jonas Staal, New World Summit (2015-2018)
    • 2.1.1.7. Taiwanese independence from China
    • 2.1.1.8. South Sudan
  • 2.1.2. autonomous political movement
    • 2.1.2.1. squatter culture
    • 2.1.2.2. tactical media
      • 2.1.2.2.1. free radio
      • 2.1.2.2.2. zines
      • 2.1.2.2.3. Wikileaks
      • 2.1.2.2.4. Wikipedia
      • 2.1.2.2.5. TOR
        • 2.1.2.2.5.1. Trevor Paglen & Jacob Appelbaum, Autonomy Cube (2010)
      • 2.1.2.2.6. Bitcoin
    • 2.1.2.3. hacker culture
    • 2.1.2.4. radical feminism
    • 2.1.2.5. indigenous activist groups: Zapatistas...
    • 2.1.2.6. Black activist spaces
    • 2.1.2.7. queer safe spaces
    • 2.1.2.8. self-declared free states
      • 2.1.2.8.1. Christiania (Copenhagen)
      • 2.1.2.8.2. Otto Muehl Commune
      • 2.1.2.8.3. Free State of AVL-Ville (Atelier van Lieshout)
      • 2.1.2.8.4. NSK State (Irwin/Laibach)
      • 2.1.2.8.5. "Reichsbürger" (Germany)
    • 2.1.2.9. neo-fascist "nationally liberated zones"
      • 2.1.2.9.1. Casa Pound (Rome)
  • 2.1.3. private governance (house rules)
    • 2.1.3.1. schools
    • 2.1.3.2. pubs, clubs
  • 2.1.4. public governance
    • 2.1.4.1. local governments
    • 2.1.4.2. regional governments
    • 2.1.4.3. national governments
    • 2.1.4.4. supra-national governance (EU, U.N.)
• 2.2. autonomist political philosophy
  • 2.2.1. Autonomia operaia (Italy, 1970s)
    • 2.2.1.1. Franco 'Bifo' Berardi
      • 2.2.1.1.1. from industrial to immaterial labor, "we all are Silicon Valley"
        • 2.2.1.1.1.1. Immaterial Labour Union zine, Rotterdam
    • 2.2.1.2. Silvia Federici
      • 2.2.1.2.1. Care labor as overlooked labor
  • 2.2.2. Hakim Bey, temporary autonomous zone
    • 2.2.2.1. temporary free spaces (by ravers, squatters, artists)
  • 2.2.3. cyberlibertarianism & Neoreaction (extreme right)
    • 2.2.3.1. radical free market economy (Ayn Rand)
    • 2.2.3.2. seasteading (autonomous high-tech city nations on islands)

3. autonomous systems

• 3.1. general systems theory
  • 3.1.1. open vs. closed systems
    • 3.1.1.1. Buckminster Fuller, domes
  • 3.1.2. autopoiesis (self-creation)
    • 3.1.2.1. bio design
    • 3.1.2.2. bio art
    • 3.1.2.3. sociology (Niklas Luhmann)
      • 3.1.2.3.1. systems have no meaning or function but their own self-preservation
• 3.2. artificial intelligence
  • 3.2.1. robots
    • 3.2.1.1. Survival Research Labs
  • 3.2.2. self-driving cars
  • 3.2.3. chat bots
  • 3.2.4. generative art & design
    • 3.2.4.1. Moniker, Conditional Design
    • 3.2.4.2. Remko Scha, The Guitars

4. physical (biopolitical) autonomy

• 4.1. medical treatment
  • 4.1.1. euthanasia
  • 4.1.2. psychiatry
• 4.2. anti-discrimination
  • 4.2.1. people of color activism
    • 4.2.1.1. Rosa Parks (1960s)
  • 4.2.2. feminism
    • 4.2.2.1. abortion rights
      • 4.2.2.1.1. Barbara Kruger, Your Body Is a Battleground (1989)
    • 4.2.2.2. equal pay
  • 4.2.3. queer rights
    • 4.2.3.1. choosing one's gender
    • 4.2.3.2. gender fluidity
  • 4.2.4. neurodiversity
  • 4.2.5. trade unions
• 4.3. drug consumption
• 4.4. shelter
  • 4.4.1. housing
    • 4.4.1.1. Stichting NAC / Wolfaertstraat Rotterdam
    • 4.4.1.2. Fluxhouse Cooperative (1966-75)
  • 4.4.2. prisons / detention
    • 4.4.2.1. Trevor Paglen, Blacksites
• 4.5. food / diet
  • 4.5.1. FOOD (Gordon Matta Clark, Caroline Goodden, Anarchitecture group)
• 4.6. weapons, fireworks