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The fundamental question that Enwezor asks with his approach to the Biennale is in many respects the only question that can be asked today, in an age in which anti-capitalist criticism can even land on the bestseller list, as in the case of Thomas Piketty. Any other question would have been dishonest or would have at least been out of tune with the zeitgeist. In this regard, the curator's most ambitious plan is a reading of Capital, Karl Marx's principal work. In an arena designed solely for the event by the British- Ghanaian architect David Adjaye, the three volumes of Capital will be read out loud live and in a loop under the direction of the British artist Isaac Julien, who has theater experience. Part of the reading will be a large-scale bibliographical research project. Books and essays on Capital will be on display, including commentary, objections, philosophical works influenced by Marx, and documents on his reception in China, India, Russia, Germany, and France. Letters written by Marx will be presented, as well as a manuscript with notes he wrote by hand and the original French edition - the only one he edited completely. In addition, Enwezor will bring together the last surviving participants in Louis Althusser's legendary Paris seminar Lire le Capital from 1965, which forever changed the reception of the philosopher in many parts of the world. Enwezor envisions a large-scale "oratorio," an "oral epic," complete with worksongs and vocal music by the Venetian Luigi Nono. He got this idea, he says, when he occupied himself with Indian Sikh prayer chants, a meditative yet very social ritual. "The presence of the voice signifies something," says Enwezor. "It signifies our common will for protest."
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