Abstract

This essay performs Adorno’s philosophical practice of negative dialectics by attending to two contemporary artworks: Vadim Zakharov’s Adorno Monument and Siah Armajani’s An Exile Dreaming of Saint Adorno. After first developing an understanding of Adorno’s work as a series of etudes capable of enhancing the creative capacity of philosophers in the present, the essay then reveals each artwork’s inherent aporetic tension. Proceeding negatively from each aporia to the environment housing each artwork, the author forges an argument supporting the need for Adorno’s philosophy, especially in situations where the antinomy of art and life opens a space for reflection and critical thought.