Secondary Communities

Secondary CommunitiesEvery society defines its bonds of belonging, but such bonds do not always extinguish the desire people have to combine together with those like them in a social bond [] The belonging of fact cannot satisfy us, since it does not allow our relation with others to be founded on what is, according to the choice we make, most important for us. We are complete only outside ourselves, in the human plenitude of an assembly, but we become complete only if, as

ÒEvery society defines its bonds of belonging, but such bonds do not always extinguish the desire people have to combine together with those like them in a social bond [...] The belonging of fact cannot satisfy us, since it does not allow our relation with others to be founded on what is, according to the choice we make, most important for us. We are complete only outside ourselves, in the human plenitude of an assembly, but we become complete only if, as we gather together, we do so in a way that responds to our intimate demands [É] to the extent that we no longer want to be disfigured and ridiculous in our own eyesÉ"
(Georges Bataille, The Absence of Myth, 1994, Verso)
This project builds a community of interest around a discourse of art and democracy and is formed of the kinds of affective energy and bonds that are at the core of much of what currently passes for my work