I have always been captivated by philosophy that embraces an artistic form of expression. I find subtle doubt more attractive than absolute certainty, and I have always been drawn to works that seek to make us ask ourselves new questions over those that seek to give us clear answers. I am working on my PhD, the subject of which is a certain kind of play, broadly construed, in Nietzsche. My research has brought me to a world of ancient Greek theatre and its patron Dionysos, satyrs, sophists, cynics, and Plato – all seen, as it were, through a lens offered by Nietzsche.
Blake Oetting is a Postdoctoral Fellow between the Art History and Rhetoric departments and Curatorial Fellow at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. He received his PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (2025) and his BA from Swarthmore College (2018). In 2023-2024, he was a Critical Studies participant in the Whitney Independent Study Program.
Oetting’s current book project focuses on the development of Institutional Critique practices at the end of the twentieth century. It showcases how artists—including Renée Green, Tom Burr, Adrian Piper, Andrea...
