The End of History: Workshop with Brian Kuan Wood

This event is part of the fifth and final chapter for Home Workspace Program 2013-14, led by resident professors Jalal Toufic and Anton Vidokle.

For more information on chapter 5 and the year’s schedule and curriculum, please see HWP 2013-14.



WEDNESDAY, JULY 9

3pm | by registration: workshop with Brian Kuan Wood



Francis Fukuyama wrote his infamous essay declaring the end of history in 1989 after the fall of the berlin wall, which was also a quite direct declaration of the triumph of western liberal democracy as the most just and humane system for governing people without war or coercive ideology. Strangely, the essay ends with a beautiful expression of doubt regarding his whole thesis, like, omg this could be an absolute nightmare.



But really, what did he mean by this? What are its implications?

Please come prepared with a short response. Reference the suggested readings only if you find it useful.



"The end of history will be a very sad time. The struggle for recognition, the willingness to risk one's life for a purely abstract goal, the worldwide ideological struggle that called forth daring, courage, imagination, and idealism, will be replaced by economic calculation, the endless solving of technical problems, environmental concerns, and the satisfaction of sophisticated consumer demands. In the post historical period there will be neither art nor philosophy, just the perpetual caretaking of the museum of human history. ... Perhaps this very prospect of centuries of boredom at the end of history will serve to get history started once again."

–Francis Fukuyama



suggested readings



http://www.e-flux.com/issues/56-june-2014/

http://ps321.community.uaf.edu/files/2012/10/Fukuyama-End-of-history-article.pdf

pdfs here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23131437/end%20of%20history.zip



Brian Kuan Wood is a writer based in New York. With Julieta Aranda and Anton Vidokle he is editor of e-flux journal.