Luis Camnitzer’s Unethical order – ethical disorder consists in a text intervention and a photographic installation. The text intervention which gives the piece its name cuts right to the heart of the ambiguity of this utopian dream which can be understood as a fictive, improved social order. Assuming that our real, current social order is wrong and based on unethical order, then the process of moving towards a better world, reversing the current situation, will bring about a stage of ethical disorder. However, as soon as utopia is achieved, this will lead to a new order, which will inevitably again be unethical.

Appia’s utopian dream of a participatory audience, his idea of an open stage without borders, are reflected in Camnitzer’s photographic installation – a nod to Appia’s dream of vibrant art “with or without an audience”.

The Uruguayan Luis Camnitzer has written numerous standard works about art in Latin America. He is Professor Emeritus of Art, State University of New York, College at Old Westbury, represented Uruguay in the Venice Biennial of 1988 and took part in Documenta XI. His work is found in the collections of more than forty museums.