Conclusion: O Bailan Todos O No Baila Nadie

Abstract

The title of this chapter refers to a graphitised demand by Uruguayan dissidents: ‘Either Everyone Dances or No One Dances.’ It is this demand that frames the conclusion, by briefly examining what needs to be done to imagine and fight for a better post-art/culture future. While I acknowledge my negationary debt to dissident ‘creatives’ like Dada, Situationism and punk I also show the limits of their various projects of transcendence. Too often they rely on an emancipatory irrational essence that only needs to be tapped into and embraced for a revolutionary ecstasy to emerge. What this shows up is the lack of a conception of ludic creativity as socially mediated. Aesthetic passion does not just burst out like explosive magma, it has to be organised like every other social phenomena. This is important if we are to replace the banal metaphysics and recycled mysticism of art/culture for something better. While this conclusion does not provide specific answers it does contend that a world that is both more just and more fun doesn’t just need a better rationality to distribute the justice it needs a better irrationality to distribute the fun.