Beyond resistance: subtraction as methodology in Badiou and Vertov

To be sustainable a resistant practice needs to think beyond its opposition to the dominant practice. One of the ways to construe a truly resistant practice is to think of it as subtractive. Like resistance, subtraction implies removal, a distancing and insubordination. However, beyond its superficial negative meaning, this paper will demonstrate that there is something affirmative and enabling about subtraction. It is this affirmative supplementation that raises it to a methodology. Subtraction as methodology is evidenced in the filmmaking of Dziga Vertov in the nascent years of the Soviet Union and in the philosophy of Alain Badiou, for whom subtraction is an analog to the philosophical enterprise. This paper will examine the contours of subtractive thought through the writings of Badiou and the filmmaking of Vertov, which demonstrates its rigorous manifestation within the field of artistic practice.