Promises, madness and idiocy – reflections on some art practices during and outside the Covid-19 pandemic in Aotearoa

Harvey, Mark2025-07-142025-07-142020-09In: Convocarte, nº10 (set. 2020): Arte e loucura, p. 219-2382183–6973http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/102143This article reflects on the notion of madness through the concept of productive idiocy in relation to some recent art practices in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It works with a perspective based on Friederich Nietzsche’s notion of experimentality (Ronell, 2005), combined with Michel Foucault’s perspectives on power. Harvey proposes a sense of productive idiocy as a way in which art can engage with being in the world, with particular reference to the current Covid-19 pandemic. The artworks reflected on in relation to this theme include video pieces that involve performance by Campbell Patterson, Natasha Matila-Smith Jeremy Leitinu’u and Mark Harvey. Encountered through this are the potentials and conceptual promises that can be explored through considerations of solitude and its associated possibilities in performance and madness in this ‘mad capitalist’ lockdown context.engLoucuraIdioticeCovid-19PerformanceVideo-ArtePromises, madness and idiocy – reflections on some art practices during and outside the Covid-19 pandemic in Aotearoajournal articlehttps://doi.org/10.57843/ulisboa.fba.cieba.00118.20252183–6981