V I R O G R A P H E M A T I C S

Rilke-Kandinsky-Benjamin: the Physiognomy of the Abstract Flâneur

Is the physiognomy of the abstract flâneur especially prone to suggestive commands and enslavement — just another, but more efficient enforcing of subjectivity, that is —, or does it point towards a simple regression and withdrawal, or does it represent a possible bettering of the conditions of possibility of subjectivity? Does the collagery efforts, then, of Rilke, Kandinsky, and Benjamin entail an even more subdued subjectivity, or does it lay claim to a more freed subjectivity? I will juxtapose fragments from the hands of these hegemonized moderns in a collage fashion to try to open up a possibility of an answer. Because whether they are taken to evince of good or bad, they are central “hegemonics” [“relics”] of modernity.