Post–Exceptionalism Art After Political Theology

Postmodernism has come and gone, but the belief that artists and works of art are exceptional is alive and well. Post-Exceptionalism speculates that this is so because postmodernism, when it declared the death of the author and celebrated the copy, failed to name political theology as its fundamental target. In a time when sovereignty is experiencing a dubious global revival, the moment has come to reconsider the artist and the work of art after political theology in search for a new, worldly, and emancipatory politics of aesthetics.
Arne De Boever has distinguished himself for a staccato stream of evocative, thought-provoking, and eminently readable books that are connected by an unmistakably personal style of addressing contemporary problems in our stark reality. Looking back, this oeuvre forms a singular mosaic of critique and inspiration, and Post-Exceptionalism is its precious new gem. - Stathis Gourgouris, Columbia University