Politically Unbecoming

Politically Unbecoming by Anthony Gardner

Mapping contemporary artists who reject the aesthetics of democratization (and its neoliberal associations) in order to explore alternative politics and practices. From biennials and installations to participatory practices, contemporary art has come to embrace an aesthetic of democratization. Art's capacity for democracy building now defines its contemporary relevance, part of a broader, global glorification of democracy as, it seems, the only legitimate model of politics. Yet numerous artists reject the alignment of art and democracy--in part because democracy has been associated not only with utopian political visions but also with neoliberal incursions and military interventions. It is just this paradox of democracy that Anthony Gardner explores in Politically Unbecoming, examining work from the 1980s to the 2000s by artists who have challenged democracy as the defining political, critical, and aesthetic frame for their work. In doing so, these artists also develop alternative artistic politics and practices that can remap the transformations in art and its politics since the end of the Cold War.The artists whose work Gardner examines all spent their formative years in Eastern or Western Europe, developing postsocialist practices in the wake of socialism's eclipse by neoliberalism (and inspired by nonconformist art from socialist-era Europe). All of these artists--who include Ilya Kabakov, the art collective NSK, and Thomas Hirschhorn--depend on participation between audience and artwork; yet for them, participation does not exemplify democratization but rather offers critical engagement with certain tropes of democracy.These artists, Gardner argues, enact an aesthetic that is politically unbecoming in two senses: in its withdrawal from overdetermined political categories of contemporary art; and in its perceived indecency in defying the propriety of democracy.

Gardner, Anthony: - Anthony Gardner is a long-term resident of Japan from the United Kingdom. As well as having extensive business experience in Japan, Anthony is bilingual and he (as well as a team of contributors) has traveled the length and breadth of the country in his research for this book.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780262028530
ISBN 10	0262028530
Title	Politically Unbecoming
Author	Anthony Gardner
Series	The Mit Press
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	MIT Press Ltd
Year published	2015-03-13
Number of pages	352
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.