Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of SpectatorshipThis searing critique of participatory art—from its development to its political ambitions—is “an essential title for contemporary art history scholars and students as well as anyone who has . . . thought, ‘Now that’s art!’ or ‘That’s art?’” (Library Journal) 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 “social practice.” 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, Pawel 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. |
Contents
1 | |
11 | |
41 | |
77 | |
Social Sadism Made Explicit | 105 |
The Social Under Socialism | 129 |
APG and Community Arts | 163 |
Art as Project in the Early 1990s | 193 |
Outsourcing Authenticity | 219 |
How do you bring a classroom to life | 241 |
Conclusion | 275 |
Notes | 287 |
Acknowledgements | 363 |
Index | 373 |
Other editions - View all
Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship Claire Bishop Limited preview - 2012 |
Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship Claire Bishop Limited preview - 2023 |
Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship Claire Bishop Limited preview - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
action activities actors aesthetic Althamer archive argues Artists Placement Group Artur Żmijewski audience avant-garde Barbara Steveni Battle of Orgreave Beuys Boal Boris Groys Breton Brisley Bruguera Chapter cited collaboration collective community arts conceptual contemporary art context Courtesy the artist creative critical critique culture curator Dada Debord delegated performance Deller discussed documentation ethical event everyday example exhibition experience film Fluxus Futurist Gallery Guy Debord Happenings Happsoc Ibid idea ideological images individual installation interview Jacques Rancière Jean-Jacques Lebel Jeremy Deller Joseph Beuys Knížák labour Latham live London Masotta mass spectacle Mlynárčik Monastyrsky museum organised painting Paris participation participatory art pedagogic photographs placements play political Prague Press produced Proletkult Rancière realised reality Revolution role sculpture situation Situationist Situationist International socially engaged society space spectator Steveni theatre Thomas Hirschhorn tion Troncy viewer visual workshops York Żmijewski