In this paper, I present the connections that artists and cultural intellectuals forged between social-political revolution and sexual-libidinal revolution in the United States during the 1960s. Focusing on the influential and exemplary theoretical work of Herbert Marcuse, I consider how writings such as Eros and Civilization and An Essay on Liberation updated classic notions of the “aesthetic state” in light of collective libidinal and cultural revolutionary motifs. I then discuss instances of early performance art, proto-feminist art, and Living Theater, in which the libidinal and socio-political are figurally conflated as ciphers of one another, either in the form of a protest against repression or in images of collective erotic liberation. I conclude with observations about the apparent contradiction between Marcuse’s theory, which seems to have strong affinities with these avant-garde tendencies, and his rather conservative taste, which led him to repudiate the Living Theater and other such actionist art.V pričujočem članku predstavljam povezave, ki so jih umetniki in kulturniški intelektualci skovali med družbenopolitično in seksualno-libidinalno revolucijo v Združenih državah Amerike v šestdesetih letih. Z osredotočanjem na vplivno ter eksemplarično teoretsko delo Herberta Marcuseja obravnavam, kako sta spisa, kot sta Eros in civilizacija ter Esej o osvoboditvi, posodobila klasični pojem »estetske države« v luči kolektivnih libidinalnih in kulturnorevolucionarnih motivov. V nadaljevanju razpravljam o primerih zgodnjega performansa, protofeministične umetnosti in Living Theater, v katerih sta
libidinalno in družbenopolitično metaforično spojena kot šifri drug za drugega, bodisi v obliki protesta proti represiji bodisi v podobah kolektivne erotične osvoboditve. Zaključim z opažanji o očitni kontradikciji med Marcusejevo teorijo, za katero se zdi, da je bila močno naklonjena tem avantgardnim težnjam, in njegovim prejkone konzervativnim okusom, ki je vodil k odklanjanju Living Theater in druge tovrstne akcionistične umetnosti
