“The writer must earn money in order to be able to live and write, but he must by no means live and write for the purpose of making money.” – Karl Marx
Taking these words to heart, NYU Skirball will present a pay-what-you-think-it’s-worth, two-week commemoration of the great philosopher’s 200th birthday. Admission to all performances is free: however, audiences will receive an invoice detailing the cost of every element of the production (supply). They are then free to determine the worth of the production and donate accordingly (demand) thus enabling the artists to “earn money in order to live and write.”
Karl Marx (1818–83), revolutionary economist, philosopher and author of The Communist Manifesto, was one of the most influential figures of all time. Curated by Jay Wegman and inspired by Marxist writings on the perils of capitalism, class struggle and socialism, the festival features works that represent aspects of Marx’s theories: P Project (the effects of capitalism); Brujx (the oppression of the proletariat) and Non-Western (economics). Special events include panels, talks by international philosophers and the premiere of Choral Marx, a choral adaptation of Marx’s Manifesto.
EVENTS:
Oct 17 @ 7:30PM
Ivo Dimchev: P Project
P Project tests Marx’s theories on capitalism by offering audiences cold, hard cash in exchange for a performance. Ivo Dimchev is a Bulgarian performing artist, known internationally for his provocative and often controversial works of performance art.
Oct 18 @ 6PM
On Your Marx: Racial Capitalism
Join NYU Professors Arun Kundnani, Michael Ralph, and Nikhil Singh for a discussion of racial capitalism.
Tamiment Library (NYU Bobst, 70 Washington Square South, 10th floor).
Oct 19-20 @ 7:30PM
luciana achugar: Brujx
Brujx, a world premiere, ritualizes the labor of the dancers, exposing and transcending it to unearth the powerful and primal magic brujx within them. As in all of luciana achugar’s work, it proposes DANCE as the necessary transformational healing for our time.
Oct 19 @ 9:30PM
Let Us Eat Cake!: A Marxist Dance Party
This birthday party will feature DJ AndrewAndrew spinning the finest Marxist tracks, plus readings from the masterworks Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto.
Oct 22 @ 6:30PM
Skirball Talks: Slavoj Žižek
The NYU Department of German and Deutsches Haus at NYU present “The Fate of the Commons: A Trotskyite View” with Slavoj Žižek as part of NYU Skirball’s “On Your Marx” festival in celebration of Karl Marx’s 200th birthday.
Oct 23 @ 5:30PM
On Your Marx: Futurity & Consumption
Join NYU Professors Lisa Daily, Dean Saranillio, and Jerome Whitington for a discussion of climate change and global capitalism.
Department of Social & Cultural Analysis (20 Cooper Square, 4th Floor).
Oct 24 @ 4PM
Labor & Disability: No Right to be Idle
Join us for a book talk and celebration of No Right to Be Idle (2017) with author Sarah Rose (UTexas, Arlington), winner of the 2018 Philip Taft Labor History Prize.
239 Greene St., 8th Floor Commons. RSVP: emily.rogers [at] nyu.edu
Oct 25 @ 5:30PM
On Your Marx: Labor, Aesthetics, Identity
Join luciana achugar, Julie Tolentino, and Amin Husain for a conversation on labor, aesthetics, and identity.
Department of Performance Studies (721 Broadway, 6th Floor).
Oct 26 @ 7:30PM
Courtesy the Artists: Popular Revolt
How would you act in a Social Democracy? As we free fall into fascism, let’s imagine alternative moves. In this collectively produced performance, the assembled performers take socialism as a “fake it ’til you make it” proposition.
Oct 28 @ 5PM
Ethan Philbrick: Choral Marx
Choral Marx is a singing adaptation of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s Manifesto for the Communist Party composed by Ethan Philbrick. Choral Marx re-sounds Marx and Engels’s 1848 critique of capitalism in 2018 and explores the resonance of the Manifesto today.