Art, Activism, and Oppositionality: Essays from Afterimage

There is a common perception in the arts today that overtly activist art—often seen to sacrifice an aesthetic pleasure for a subversive one—is no longer in fashion. In bringing together sixteen of the most important essays on activist and community-based art from the pages of Afterimage—one of the most influential journals in the media and visual arts fields for more than twenty-five years—Grant H. Kester demonstrates that activist art, far from being antithetical to the true meaning of the aesthetic, can be its most legitimate expression.

Forging a style of criticism where aesthetic, critical, theoretical, and activist concerns converge, Afterimage has shaped American debates around the politics of visual production and arts education while offering a voice to politically involved artists and scholars. Art, Activism, and Oppositionality insists not only on the continuing relevance of an activist stance to contemporary art practice and criticism, but also on the significance of an engaged art practice that is aligned with social or political activism. With essays that span fifteen years—roughly from Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential win to the 1994 Republican victories in Congress, a period marked by waning public support for the arts and growing antagonism toward activist art—Art, Activism, and Oppositionality confronts issues ranging from arts patronage, pedagogy, and the very definitions of art and activism to struggles involving AIDS, reproductive rights, sexuality, and racial identity.' - from back cover

Access level

Onsite

publisher

Duke University Press (Durham, United States)

editor

Grant H. KESTER

Location code

REF.KEG

Language

English

Keywords

activist art, community art, cultural policy, sponsorship, art education

Publication/Creation date

1998

No of pages

318

ISBN / ISSN

0822320959

No of copies

Content type

anthology

Chapter headings

Ongoing Negotiations: Afterimage and the Analysis of Activist - Grant H. KESTER

The Politics of Patronage

Enlightened Self-Interest: The Avant-Garde in the '80s - Richard BOLTON

White Men Can't Program: The Contradictions of Multiculturalism - Darrell MOORE

Fantasies of Oppositionality - Coco FUSCO

The Mythology of Difference: Vulgar Identity Politics at the Whitney - Charles A. WRIGHT Jr.

Theses on Defunding - Martha ROSLER

Rhetorical Questions: The Alternative Arts Sector and the Imaginary Public - Grant H. KESTER

Whose Multiculturalism? PBS, the Public, and Privilege - Mable HADDOCK, Chiquita Mullins LEE

Video Activism and Critical Pedagogy: Sexuality at the End of the Rainbow Curriculum - Brian GOLDFARB

Activism and Oppositionality

Cultural Struggle and Educational Activism - David TREND

Video, AIDS, and Activism - Ann CVETKOVICH

Early Newsreel: The Construction of a Political Imaginary for the Left - Michael RENOV

Interview with Adrian Piper - Maurice BERGER

Video and Electoral Appeal - Patricia THOMSON

Fetal Tissue: Reproductive Rights and Activist Video - Patricia R. ZIMMERMANN

Olympia's Maid: Reclaiming Black Female Subjectivity - Lorraine O'GRADY

Fault Lines: Homophobic Innovation in Gay Rights, Special Rights - Ioannis MOOKAS

Art, Activism, and Oppositionality: Essays from Afterimage

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