Monumental Hiccup in Göttingen: From Living Dangerously to a Barer Life

Abstraction is shown to be a key technique through which a life lived dangerously is domesticated and habituated. To demonstrate that, this chapter returns to monumental works and to the figure of political Dasein, this time in Göttingen, Germany. Here, on a wall by the side of the main square, the local authorities installed a plaque to the deserter. As an abstracted thought, the message of the plaque is one of political Dasein. Yet the radical nature of what is being signaled can be accommodated for it is, like many social justice causes embraced, removed from our everyday life concerns. Like the symbolism on coins, dangerous thought and political controversy gradually fade into habit. Daring, edgy, and dangerous forms and thoughts can gradually gain wider acceptance in our commodified society but only once they have been reconceptualized as phantasmagoric elements in the commodity form.