The Imperial Aesthetic vs. the Anti-Spectacle: Sport & Violence

DJ Delicious Mellicious takes a call from his mum and explains to her what a podcast is. We discuss why clapping alone is weird, but it’s even weirder when people clap alone, together. Melletios just wants to be clapped to sleep. Tim just wants to make music with a pasta machine. Both just want to be an anti-fascist spectacle. We discuss the history of the spectacleas moving from being to having to appearing. Appearance is always a fantasy we can’t have. And the hottest fantasy around is Heated Rivalries, a show about ice hockey, homoerotica and gentle (fascist) love. We delve into the history of sport asthe way we learn nationalism, and now homonationalism. We unpack the “naturalisation” of violence and sex, ableism and ageism, competition and desire that sport feeds us. It is a fantasy that is cruelly presented to an audience whose lived experience is one of disappointment and anxiety. But the anti-spectacle is here to help. It offers a pathway out of this tragic fantasy. Come and be bored with us.

Further reading/looking/listening:

Jasbir K. Puar Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times

Melletios’ various artworks (clapping, unanthem)

Kaylene Whiskey Artworks

Ordinary Unhappiness on Heated Rivalries

Parker Bright’s protest/art/performances

Dagmar Herzog, The New Fascist Body

Alberto Toscano, Late Fascism:Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis