“The Art War” maps the catalytic history of American artist protests – Huge
In May 1982, Budapest-born artist Agnes gathered a small group of volunteers at the landfill in Lower Manhattan Battery Park. They planted wheat berries on the land, and once grown, they formed dense stems juxtaposed with the city skyline. Visually striking, ecological artworks are partly protests against exploitation, greed and destruction of people and the environment. The $158 spent on seeds is in stark contrast to the $4.5 billion assessment of the land itself.
Denes’ “Wheatfield – A Confrontation” is one of ten case studies proposed in Lauren O’Neill-Butler’s timely new book. Issued after a massive mobilization against the Trump administration this weekend Art Wars: The History of American Artists’ Protest At the time, many of us were thinking about the tools we had to create the world we wanted to live in. Artists have long struggled to solve this problem, and O’Neill Butler reminds us that many people even blend their aesthetic sense with a desire for justice.
Art Wars In Nicolas Lampert’s books History of American People’s ArtOver the past 250 years, the chronicles of the grassroots were recorded. For her text, O’Neill-Butler shortened the timeline, starting in the 1960s. Early projects include Benny Andrews’ co-founding of the Black Emergency Culture Coalition (BECC), and the Prison Art Program at Manhattan Detention Center after the Attica Riot.
O’Neill-Butler carefully determines what activist art is, instead leaving the genre openness. The defining feature she does offer is that these types of projects are “always a means to achieve their end” and tend to collapse the already fragile boundaries between politics and art. Many of her case studies use art to attract media attention, so the public often proves this combination more effectively than just protesting or art speeches.
For example, David Wojnarowicz’s work ended the AIDS pandemic, while Nan Goldin’s current prescription addiction interventions (pain) are all movements that utilize spectacular strategies such as “death” which was a public manifestation during the Vietnam War. The actions involved protesters lying on the ground or on the floor, as far as Gold’s work was concerned, taking place in institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, against the wings of the Sackler family.
Wojnarowicz is also known for his modern Jean Jacket: “If I die of AIDS-will-borrower field, put my body on the FDA’s steps,” an image that circulates widely and symbolizes movement. These projects are not only art created for radical attention, but also the positions they hold cannot be ignored.
Of course, it is important to recognize the problems these artists opposed (lack of affordable housing, public health crisis, discrimination in the art world, to name a few), and like most socially involved projects, the examples included in this book are not without criticism.
In 1993, seven African-American artists built a project hanghouse in Houston’s historic Third District, creating a passionate gathering space in the community interviewed. Although the houses in the project line do revitalize the area through various artist-driven efforts drive As shown below, today, the effects of gentrification and the climate crisis continue to replace residents the organizers are trying to serve.
O’Neill-Butler does not recommend that artists be responsible for identifying and implementing solutions to world diseases, noting that Houston’s third ward may be questioned even without artist intervention and subsequent attention. However, she does offer subtle considerations for the success and struggles of each project and acknowledges the limitations of efforts like those she outlines. Art provides what this book calls “cracks in the walls”, which are the ruptures of power and oppression of fragile veneers that, once exposed, threaten their infrastructure.
Art Wars Today I came out of Verso. Find your copy in the huge store.
