Study 45: Doris Salcedo: The Function of Suffering: Memory, Emotional Labor, and Political Witness in Post-Luxury Conceptual Art

The Post-Luxury paradigm begins with the recognition of a profound intellectual and ethical vacuum at the heart of contemporary culture, driven by the collapse of traditional luxury’s value equation. This study argues that the definition of function is too narrow: it fails to account for the essential human experiences, like collective memory and the reckoning with trauma, that constitute necessary human labor. This Function Gap is addressed by Doris Salcedo, whose objects possess a fierce utility by performing non-commodifiable, enduring social work.