Ac i ism agains Nos algia and Sel -De ea ism: G ego y Shole e, Deli ium and
Resis ance. Ac i is A and he C isis o Capi alism
Ca los Ga ido Cas ellano
When he Indignados mo emen became an acknowledged pi o al o ce o
Spanish ci il socie y, a ques ion eme ged among hose in ol ed: how migh i
be possible o ensu e he mo emen ’s sus ainabili y wi hou gi ing up being
s uden s, p o esso s, blue-colla s, e c.? G ego y Shole e’s new book, Deli ium
and Resis ance, ouches on his e y poin ye and, in con as o a gene al
sense o despai , i does so wi h a one o salu a y and mode a e op imism.
Deli ium and Resis ance is a book abou a , bu i is also abou how o belie e
in a is s a e he wa e shed o ma ke domina ion. I is a book on he
ans o ma i e po en ial o a w i en om momen s o c isis. Ac i ism, Shole e
w i es, ‘is a p ocess o eco e ing wha he pas has be ayed’.
1
Ye Deli ium
and Resis ance also summa izes he expe ience o someone who has been on
he ba icades enough o ela i ize bo h he seemingly endlessness o
pessimism and p ecipi a ion o eupho ia. I is, ul ima ely, a book w i en by an
a is who has da ed o y ou many o he ideas on a , powe , socie y and
ans o ma ion ins ead o simply enuncia ing hem.
The book ga he s imp essions and his o ies eme ging om ou decades in he
enches. Focusing on dispa a e issues and pe iods, he essays collec ed in
Deli ium and Resis ance can be ead as an accoun o he pe se e ance o
a is s and ac i is s ope a ing bo h wi hin, ou side and agains he ins i u ion. Fo
Shole e, hese expe iences cons i u e a so o ‘phan om a chi e illed wi h
p ac ices and p ac i ione s ei he oo poli ical, o simply oo anomalous o
mains eam cul u al ins i u ions o acknowledge in any complex way’.
2
This is
no i ial, o i poin s o a ela ion be ween adical, ans o ma i e p ac ices and
a ins i u ions ha is unable o be simply educed o opposi ional e ms.
Looking backwa ds, Shole e con ends ha al hough haun ed and pu sued, he
pa icles o ha phan om a chi e ha e a enacious, sinewy condi ion ha makes
hem esis an o assimila ion. In o he wo ds, no ma e how endy a ac i ism
migh become o cu a o s and mega-ins i u ions, he e always will emain an
unpala able, adical essence unable o be de ou ed. The his o ies ga he ed in
his olume se e as example o he mul i a ious (o en success ul) s a egies
employed by socially-commi ed c ea o s o escape museums’ abili y o
‘manage dissen ’.
3
Bu Deli ium and Resis ance is (also) much mo e. I s alue lies no jus in
collec ing he his o ies o a ac i ism, bu a he in p oblema izing he posi ion
o such his o ies wi hin he a wo ld and wi hin social mo emen s. The o me
o hese eme ges, p ecisely, a he cen e o one o he mos in e es ing
con ibu ions o Shole e’s heo iza ion. The i s o h ee pa s o he book,
1
G ego y Shole e, Deli ium and Resis ance. Ac i is A and he C isis o Capi alism, ed. Kim Cha nley
(London: Plu o P ess, 2017), 38.
2
G. Shole e, Deli ium and Resis ance, 49.
3
G. Shole e, Deli ium and Resis ance, 50.
en i led ‘A Wo ld’, ackles hese issues. The con adic ions o ou a wo ld, he
need o conside c ea i e p ocesses and agencies as pa o a b oade en i y, a
‘wo ld’, and he u gency o en isage al e na i e o ali ies h ough esis an
p ac ices eme ge as his sec ion’s main ideas. I is comp ised o h ee ex s
each ocusing on he ela ionship be ween economy, a educa ion and
ac i ism, whe e he insigh s o au ho s such as Ma c James Lége o Ya es
McKee and he ac ion o collec i es and mo emen s such as Global Ul a
Luxu y Fac ion, Libe a e Ta e, ACT UP o Madame Binh G aphics Collec i e
a e analysed.
The i s ex , ‘Fideli y, Be ayal, Au onomy: Wi hin and Beyond he Pos -Cold
Wa A Museum’, e ises Shole e’s expe ience as ounde o and pa icipan in
he Poli ical A Documen a ion and Dis ibu ion (PAD/D) and REPOhis o y a
collec i es alongside issues aised by Dan Pe e man’s Uni e sal Lab p ojec
(2000). The essay d aws on he inclusion o PAD/D’s a chi e in he Museum o
Mode n A ’s collec ion and he con aposi ion o REPOhis o y’s public
ins alla ion Ci il Dis u bances: Ba les o Jus ice in New Yo k Ci y (1998), o he
aming ope a ions o ins i u ional c i ique in o de o explo e he capaci y o a
o pa asi e museums and cul u al ins i u ions. In a momen when ‘e en he mos
o mal a claims social ele ancy’, he poin ha Shole e insis s on he e is ha ,
al hough h ea ened, a ’s agency is s ill a play when adical poli ics pene a e
he ins i u ional ealm.
4
The second ex ocuses on Occupy Museums and i s
se ies o 2012 in e en ions agains New Yo k a ins i u ions’ compliance wi h
neolibe al capi alism. In his ex , eloquen ly concluding wi h an ‘and hen’,
Shole e a gues o he necessi y o Occupy Museums and simila ini ia i es o
de elop an ac i e, p oposi ional side o complemen he opposi ional elemen s
o p o es and in e en ion. The las ex in his clus e , w i en o he book, is
one o he mos b illian and pe inen con ibu ions, examining issues o deb
and he ‘o e supply’ o a s uden s. In i , he Shole e’s cen al no ion o ‘ba e
a ’ is de ined. Bo owing om Gio gio Agamben’s ba e li e, ba e a is a
dep i ed o all symbolic e ec i eness, educed o me ely ano he esou ce, o
manageable and minimal da a. The seemingly pa adoxical inc ease o bo h
deb and he numbe o a s uden s is ea ed as pa o an icebe g-like sys em
ha sus ains i s 1% by subme ging he g ea e pa o i s body. In his sense,
Shole e a gues,
he e a e exac ly as many a is s as he sys em equi es o ep oducing
i sel , jus as he e always a e in a ma ke -d i en a is ic economy. Wha
has changed is he capaci y o conceal his ac as he p i ileged s a us
o a , i s au onomy, and he excep ion i ep esen s o capi alis ma ke s
is subsumed by pos -Fo dis en e p ise cul u e.
5
The second pa o Deli um and Resis ance, ‘Ci ies wi hou Souls’, ocuses on
gen i ica ion. The ou essays comp ising i ga he he ansi ion be ween a
momen o ai h in he egene a i e po en ial o a is s o a poin when hey
ealize ha he enemy is us. Connec ing he ans o ma i e aspi a ion o
socially-engaged a wi h i s inc easing app op ia ion by u ban planne s
4
G. Shole e, Deli ium and Resis ance, 35.
5
G. Shole e, Deli ium and Resis ance, 54.
ini ia ing h ough a a chain o expulsions, his sec ion looks o genealogies o
social p ac ice o po en ial ways ou o his logic. Exempla y o junc u e is he
2004 essay ‘Mys e ies o he C ea i e Class, o , I ha e Seen he Enemy and
They Is Us’. The ein, Shole e’s a gumen s a s by discussing he app op ia ion
o a REPOhis o y s ee sign be o e shi ing i s a en ion o he his o ic
inancializa ion o Manha an. The ‘c ea i e class’ he e is no longe ep esen ed
by a g oup o ma ginal a is s inhabi ing mul icul u al neighbou hoods bu a he
a g oup including a selec numbe o ‘ ag- o- iches’ inspi ed c ea o s whose
ac i i y encompasses capi alism wi hou con adic ions. Thei success,
howe e , is no wi hou i s own haun ology. I his essay ends wi h he d eam o
c ea i es and blue colla s colluding in he p i ileged space o capi al, he
ollowing one ske ches a momen when his d eam came ue. Published in he
mids o Occupy Wall S ee ’s (OWS) e e escence, ‘Occupology, Swa mology,
Wha e e ology: The Ci y o (Dis)O de Ve sus he People’s A chi e’ is bo h
imely and pe sis en . The essay del es in o OWS’ ma e iali y o explo e he
b idges and connec ions wi h o he mo( e)men s o eme gence. Ins ead o
concei ing a is s’ in ol emen in he e ol a no el y, Shole e si ua es his
commi men as pa o a po en ially, mo e long-las ing, solida i y:
O is a ’s occasional en u e in o adicalism some hing else al oge he ,
pe haps an inescapable phase o aes he ic in es iga ion ha i onically
mus je ison aes he ic in es iga ion i sel (o empo a ily seem o disca d
i )? Mus i be he case ha , when a is s ake hei u n on he
ba icades, along wi h he pa isans and opp essed, he dispossessed
and he e ic ed, hey a e he e because, aside om playing o he
enemy, hey simply ha e nowhe e else o go?
6
The inal essay in his pa , ‘A a e Gen i ica ion’, p o ides one o he mos
ealis ic and less op imis ic sec ions o he book. I analyses cases o socially-
engaged a is s (Theas e Ga es) and p ojec s (Assemble Collec i e and
Con lic Ki chen) ha ha e soaked h ough he ba ie s o ‘mains eam’
economies o p es ige and ecogni ion. The essay ein o ces he idea ha
despi e he ecen in e es in social p ac ice he a ma ke emains a
conse a i e sys em p i ileging indi idually au ho ed objec -based and
concep ual app oaches o e da ing collabo a ion. The ex ’s main in e es ,
howe e , lies in b inging poli ics o ace and class in o he discussion o socially-
engaged a . Whe eas in p e ious ex s di e ence was only conside ed ‘ om
ou side’, ha is, as pa o he ou side s a ec ed by a is ic p ojec s, in his case
(pa icula ly in he examina ion o Ga es’s p ojec s) i is loca ed a he cen e o
he equa ion. I will e u n o his opic.
The hi d and concluding pa o he book, ‘Resis ance’, comp ises an
a i ma i e coun e pa o he ac ical s a egies p esen ed in he p e ious one.
The ou ex s included ep esen a body closely connec ed o Shole e’s
p e ious books, Collec i ism a e Mode nism (co-edi ed wi h Blake S imson in
2007) and Da k Ma e : A and Poli ics in he Age o En e p ise Cul u e (2010).
Towa ds his end, he eigh h essay cons i u es some hing like a p ehis o y o
Collec i ism a e Mode nism whils he nin h u he s Shole e’s concep o
a is ic da k ma e in a momen when i is ‘becoming clea e ’. (Da k ma e
6
G. Shole e, Deli ium and Resis ance, 123.
de ined as he c ea i e o ce o he unseen mass o c ea i e labou excluded
om he isible op o he a sys em.) Bu i is in he wo concluding essays
whe e his sec ion gains momen um.
Whils he con ex discussed in Deli ium and Resis ance is ma ked by he global
appeal and app op ia ion o socially-engaged and ac i is a , Shole e’s book
emains posi i e abou he i educible condi ion o commi ed a agencies.
De i ing his bo h om a decades-long pa icipa ion in ac i is causes and om
a knowledge o esilien o ms o global c ea i e p ac ice, his app oach o hese
p ocesses succeeds in acknowledging bo h he impo ance o p e ious
expe ience and he singula i ies and unp edic abili y o eme ging o ces. This is
he posi ion om whe e he 2014 ex ‘On he Maidan Up ising and Imagina y
A chi e, Kie ’ a ises. On he occasion o he ins alla ion o Shole e’s Imagina y
A chi e in he Uk ainian capi al, documen ing p ocesses associa ed wi h he
Maidan Re olu ion, he ex del es in o he he e ogeneous alliances in o ming
cul u al masses du ing p o es mo emen s, e lec ing on how ‘mass poli ical-
cul u al up isings oday a e seldom he sole p o ince o poli ical p og essi es’,
7
p oducing an imagina y ‘pe mea ed wi h hopes as well as esen men s’.
8
‘Deli ium and Resis ance a e he Social Tu n’, he ex ha ends he olume
and gi es i i s name, s ands as one o he sha pes insigh s on socially-
engaged a al oge he . Del ing in o he con adic ions o social p ac ice in he
momen o i s maximum accep ance, i bo h psychoanalyses and pe o ms an
au opsy on he u n in o de o unco e a poin o depa u e. Psychoanalysing
he dead, he ex ans o ms he ‘ he e is no al e na i e’ app op ia ions o social
p ac ice in o a la ice whe e p esen and o me , success ul and o he wise
ini ia i es con e ge in unexpec ed ways. Th oughou he essay Shole e u ges
o a ein en ion o socially-engaged a ’s u u e, one ha can only occu
h ough e ashioning i s genealogies. He e he supe bly ans o ms his
challenge in o a ques ion by asking: ‘How migh ou na a i e abou social
p ac ice a collec i ism be imagined di e en ly?’, o pe haps be e ye , ‘How
can i be shi ed away om he ma ke -based no ion o “communi y as
consume -based demog aphic” ha o en, su ep i iously domina es i ”?’
9
Shole e unde akes by examining Na o Thompson’s 2004 exhibi ion ‘The
In e en ionis ’, a landma k in he deba es on a ac i ism and ac ical media
ha ha e ne e heless epelled se ious examina ion e e since. Shole e’s
essay connec s ‘The In e en ionis ’ o he ajec o y o i s cu a o and o he
complex posi ioning o i s hos ins i u ion, he Massachuse s Museum o
Con empo a y A . The p ojec , howe e , is concei ed as he beginning o a
u u e o mo e c i ical and mo e commi ed a expe iences and expe imen s; in
sho , as a e ile s imulus o hypo he ical ye possible ajec o ies o social
p ac ice. Unde his iew, socially-engaged a would no only be ali e, i would
be so in a way subjec ed o he con luence o pas and p esen expe iences, o
he e ogeneous c ossings and nu u ing a e li es.
7
G. Shole e, Deli ium and Resis ance, 206.
8
G. Shole e, Deli ium and Resis ance, 208.
9
G. Shole e, Deli ium and Resis ance, 230.
P ecisely his poin eme ges as one o he book’s mos p omising exi s. Dealing
wi h a neighbou ing subjec – pa icula ly wi h how Eu opean hough a oga ed
in exclusi i y a sense o uni e sali y and imelessness – Dipesh Chak aba y
has a gued ha ‘i is only wi hin some e y pa icula adi ions o hinking ha
we ea undamen al hinke s who a e long dead and gone no only as people
belonging o hei own imes bu also as hough hey we e ou own
con empo a ies’.
10
Could i no be possible o apply his analysis o a is ic
adi ions as well? Ac i is and socially-engaged a a e o en judged only by
(and he e o e educed o) i s momen a y success o ailu e, de ining impac
wi hin he empo al and spa ial coo dina es in which hey a e p oduced. In
con as , ‘mo e concep ual’, ‘less engaged’ a is ic p ac ices a e mo e easily
inco po a ed o analy ical coun e poin s, hei in luence spanning ac oss
loca ions and epochs. In Shole e’s iew, he ajec o ies and possibili ies
enac ed by social p ac ice become dense and deepe no only because hey
a e embedded in he p oduc ion o ‘ eal li e’, bu also because hei
consequences a e ex ended and sough a e beyond hei mos e iden and
immedia e exp essions.
Deli ium and Resis ance closes no wi hou lea ing some ques ions open. One
o hese has o do wi h he global applica ion o he ideas o da k ma e and
ba e a . As some o he c i ical oices ha e poin ed ou , he eplacemen o he
wo king class by a c ea i e one is no a homogeneous eali y. How a e
in e na ional a ac i is s connec ed o he p eca ious si ua ion o wo ke s
building museums in he Middle Eas ? Wha kind o hie a chies and ensions
can eme ge when emancipa i e ini ia i es a e de eloped h ough ansna ional
coope a ion? How a e p o es s a icula ed geog aphically, spa ially when
he e ogeneous communi ies a e in ol ed in o a simila cause? Wha happens
when socially-engaged and collec i e a p ojec s play ou doo , in e ening in
no always well-known eali ies? Deli ium and Resis ance deals wi h hese
ques ions and ep oduces examples o solida i y be ween US a is s and Global
Sou h causes ha a e loca ed a he epicen e o his o ies o acial a is ic
p ac ice. Howe e , a u he explo a ion o po en iali ies and con adic ions o
hese alliances would comple e he o he wise ho ough esco pain ed by
Shole e.
These ques ions, i is wo h no ing, a e no weaknesses bu a he doo s le
open (many o which a e add essed by Shole e himsel in o he ex s), calling
o an obse an comp omise wi h he eali y and he expe ience o
ans o ma ion beyond momen a y ends, collapses and deli iums. Shole e
e isi s pas expe iences o ac i ism wi hou any sense o idealized nos algia,
c i ically eposi ioning hem as a sha p lens h ough which we can con on
ho izon-less p esen . His insigh p o ides a a e mix o eme gence and his o y,
s a egy and conscious planning, en husiasm and pa ience, a conjunc ion highly
app ecia ed in a momen o supe abundance o heo ies and ideals o
emancipa i e ac ion, no always ollowed by ealis assessmen s o p esen
poli ical and cul u al con igu a ions. ‘Amnesia a acks and ongoing ein en ions
o he wheel’, Lucy Lippa d w i es in he book’s o ewo d, ‘a e wo hings ha
10
Dipesh Chak aba y, P o incializing Eu ope: Pos colonial Though and His o ical Di e ence (New Yo k:
Rou ledge, 2004), 5.

ha e plagued social ac i is a and he le o as long as I can emembe ’.
11
To
a oid bo h hings, Deli ium and Resis ance mo es ac oss di e en gene a ions
and geog aphies o engaged p ac ice, seeking o explo e al e na i e endungen
and linkages binding ailed and success ul ini ia i es oge he , always g asping
he esilien condi ion o hei ans o ma i e po en ial.
G ego y Shole e. Deli ium and Resis ance. Ac i is A and he C isis o
Capi alism. London: Plu o P ess, 2017.
11
Lucy Lippa d, ‘Fo ewo d: Is Ano he A Wo ld Possible?’, in G. Shole e, Deli ium and Resis ance, x ii.