Can objects be traumatized? How does the commercial value of an art object relate to its aesthetic qualities? How do objects interact? These are some of the questions addressed by Graham Harman, the originator of object-oriented philosophy and a central figure of the Speculative Realism school of thought in contemporary philosophy. This book includes Graham Harman's lecture “What Is an Object?” delivered at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, on the occasion of the exhibition “Sculpture after Sculpture,” with Jeff Koons, Charles Ray, and Katharina Fritsch—artists, who have expanded the notion of the object in art and society at large.

In his lecture, Harman gives a thorough exposition of the object from an ontological standpoint and puts forward a concept of the object that goes beyond reductionist orientations. He declares a philosophical approach bringing philosophy and the arts closely together, where objects are impenetrable to direct knowledge and paraphrase and instead must be approached obliquely and indirectly. The publication also includes a symposium in which thirteen questions to Graham Harman—among and in relation to the thirteen sculptures of the show—that were posed about the implications of object oriented philosophy for art, business administration, and philosophy.

Contributors

Graham Harman, Daniel Birnbaum, Lars Strannegård, Sven-Olov Wallenstein, Pierre Guillet de Monthoux, Marcia Cavalcante, Jo Widoff, Sigrid Sandström, Michael Dahlén, Emma Stenström, Jenny Lanz, Ebba Sjögren, Isak Nilson, Erik Wikberg

Copublished with the Stockholm School of Economics