The Dark Side of the Cult of Performance

This project studies the relation between two conspicuous characteristics of contemporary society: the cult of performance and depression. At first the contemporary rise of both these phenomena appears paradoxical. The cult of performance aims at unlocking individual potential, initiative, and creativity to meet the ever-changing demands of contemporary society and economy. Depression, on the other hand, is characterised by an experienced absence of motivation, the feeling of ‘no feeling’ and the inability to respond to one’s environment. The cult of performance, through a paradigm of perpetual training and change, makes individuals feel inadequate. Conditions and demands change so fast that the individual can no longer rely on strategies successfully deployed in the past. Consequently, the individual is haunted by an invasive sense of indebtedness and guilt. In order to further understand the cult of performance, the project investigates the psychopathological disturbance of major depression, which unfolds debt and guilt in an even more pronounced way. This project hypothesises that the performance subject and the depressed subject are not as different as they at first appear.