(There’s a Hole in My Fun. Art and Utopia in More-Than-Human Conditions)

With his book Schwein und Zeit, published in 2018 and awarded the Karl Marx Prize, Fahim Amir brought fresh fodder to the deadlocked debates on the human-animal relationship under capitalism. Adopting an alternative perspective to the usual polarization between backward-looking morality and neoliberal sustainability discourses, Amir focuses on the resistance and struggles of the animals themselves against their subjugation under capitalism. Flouting the omnipresent utopia police, he points the way to opportunities that already exist today for a type of non-innocent, solidarity-bound biodiversity of the future. In his contribution to the conference, Amir will discuss, among other things, the works of the artist Krõõt Juurak, in order to focus attention not only on art but also on another greatly underestimated utopian tool: humor.

Fahim Amir is a writer living in Vienna and holds a doctorate in philosophy. He deals with nature-bound civilizations and urbanism, colonialism and modernity, art and utopia. Besides his work as an author, he teaches at international universities, conducts art-based research, and occasionally acts as curator.