Distopia : the utopia of dissidence and cultural pluralism in three generations of Dutch artists

Abstract

This study develops a utopia, named distopia, positioned as a utopia of dissidence and cultural pluralism, also described as difference. The term distopia is a neologism formulated to invoke productive elements of utopia (such as a vision for an improved sociocultural sphere), with aspects of dystopia (namely, scepticism regarding the prevalent), whilst evading the potential naiveté of utopia as well as the hopeless resignation that dystopia can encourage. The term also denotes the political expedience of dissent. Utopia is analysed in terms of its form, content, or function, and according to its underlying sociocultural dynamic, which is, in turn, determined by intersecting permutations of space and time. This study furthermore categorises utopias as either representative of the same (that is, of the institutional, political, discursive, ideological and sociocultural status quo), or of the other. The other is defined here as an agent marginalised along the vectors of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Distopia is, accordingly, a dissenting utopia of the other, formulated to address, in particular, sociocultural exclusion and human rights violations linked to the parallel projects of neocolonial exploitation and of destabilising globalisation practices driven by neoliberal ideology. The utopias of three Dutch visual artists, namely Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), Constant Nieuwenhuys (1920-2005), and Jonas Staal (b. 1981) in collaboration with Moussa Ag Assarid (b. c.1975), are critiqued through the lens of distopia. This is done in order to assess the status of productive difference and engagement with the other in their respective utopias, created over the course of a century.