As an artist, I aim to produce works that remain open to interpretation. Although many of them contain elements of critique—particularly of capitalism—I seek to raise questions in the viewer rather than advance a fixed agenda. From a political perspective, however, this approach may be problematic, perhaps even a convenient evasion: a way of criticizing persistently without offering solutions.

For once, then, I have allowed myself to create a work that attempts to provide an answer. This is my proposal: a sketch of a utopian ideology articulated in the Commensal Manifesto. It combines radical equality with private ownership and market logic. Social democracy/liberalism? No—that is capitalism with a band-aid. Commensalism, by contrast, seeks to fully dismantle capitalism by outlawing economic exploitation and drastically limit the accumulation of private wealth. Money is power; only an economically equal society can be truly democratic.

Can an economic system—a political ideology—be art? I believe it can. And wouldn’t it be extraordinary if, by some cosmic fluke, commensalism were realized? We might then find ourselves living inside a work of art. I suspect, however, that it will attract few proponents—whether on the left or the right—at least for now. Still, I genuinely believe it offers a meaningful response to the crises of our time.

Read the Commensal Manifesto here.