100 Notizen - 100 Gedanken (100 Notes – 100 Thoughts): No. 013, G.M. Tamás

As a prelude to the 2012 exhibition, dOCUMENTA (13) and Hatje Cantz are publishing a series of notebooks, 100 Notes – 100 Thoughts, that is comprised of facsimiles of existing notebooks, commissioned essays, collaborations, and conversations. The series is edited by Bettina Funcke.

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In his essay, G. M. Tamás (*1948), Hungarian philosopher as well as former and actual dissident, examines the character of “innocent power.” Power is per se destructive, and its effects are visible in different kinds of ruins, such as romantic ruins, war ruins, and ruins created by contemporary art. Innocent power, like capital, is impersonal and conceptual; it is a collection of concepts that has the “legitimizing” character of “knowledge.” Its recognition as the prevalent order is linked to the way we know. Thus, resistance against innocent power is illegal and unintelligent. But if there are still possible forms of resistance and rebellion against the consequences it may have, such as servitude and humiliation or deliberate imposition of misery, they are made ipso facto unreasonable.