UTOPIA, LABOUR, AND POST-FORDISM: ON HARUN FAROCKI’S COUNTER-MUSIC

Abstract

This article explores the transformations suffered by the notion of utopia with the passage from an industrial to a post-industrial society. This involves posing the question regarding the historical specificity of the notion of utopia. This does not mean, however, to simply develop a historic account of a specific concept. The aim is to explore the internal relationship between the transformations of the capitalist mode of production and the changes experienced by the idea of utopia. To do so, this article explores the shift from a modern
idea of a utopian city towards the city as a non-place as presented by Harun Farocki in his video installation Counter-Music.
The main hypothesis is twofold: firstly, I argue that the modern idea of a utopian city conceives the city from the perspective of the rational organization of the use value of labour; secondly, I suggest that the rise of post-industrial capitalism challenges this idea of the utopian city and the use value of labour is replaced by what Negri and Hardt called the nonplace of exploitation. In this new social context, the eternal present of capital’s self-valorisation makes it impossible to imagine a utopian future based on the use value of labour. This twofold hypothesis will be illustrated through the analysis of Harun Farocki’s video installation Counter-Music.