Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of

Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship

Since the 1990s, critics and curators have broadly accepted the notion that participatory art is the ultimate political art: that by encouraging an audience to take part an artist can promote new emancipatory social relations. Around the world, the champions of this form of expression are numerous, ranging from art historians such as Grant Kester, curators such as Nicolas Bourriaud and Nato Thompson, to performance theorists such as Shannon Jackson.

Artificial Hells is the first historical and theoretical overview of socially engaged participatory art, known in the US as â€œsocial practice.â€ Claire Bishop follows the trajectory of twentieth-century art and examines key moments in the development of a participatory aesthetic. This itinerary takes in Futurism and Dada; the Situationist International; Happenings in Eastern Europe, Argentina and Paris; the 1970s Community Arts Movement; and the Artists Placement Group. It concludes with a discussion of long-term educational projects by contemporary artists such as Thomas Hirschhorn, Tania Bruguera, Pawe? Althamer and Paul Chan.

Since her controversial essay in Artforum in 2006, Claire Bishop has been one of the few to challenge the political and aesthetic ambitions of participatory art. In Artificial Hells, she not only scrutinizes the emancipatory claims made for these projects, but also provides an alternative to the ethical (rather than artistic) criteria invited by such artworks. Artificial Hells calls for a less prescriptive approach to art and politics, and for more compelling, troubling and bolder forms of participatory art and criticism.
Country USA
Brand Verso
Manufacturer Verso
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber Illustrated
Color Grey
ReleaseDate 2012-07-24
UnitCount 1
Format Illustrated
UPCs 884979399927
EANs 8601404493393

Country	USA
Brand	Verso
Manufacturer	Verso
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	Illustrated
Color	Grey
ReleaseDate	2012-07-24
UnitCount	1
Format	Illustrated
UPCs	884979399927
EANs	8601404493393

Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship

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