In this slightly abridged version of a lecture given at the European Graduate School, philosopher Giorgio Agamben takes up and expands upon Deleuze's formulation of the work of art as "an act of resistance", relating it to his own theories of potentiality, disactivation and the inoperant. Returning once again to his singular reading of Aristotle and referring to the work and worklessness of Titian, Glenn Gould, Franz Kafka and Kazimir Malevich, Agamben considers exactly what type of 'resistance' is at stake in any artistic endeavour worthy of the name.

Editing and mix: Graeme Thomson