Overview

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, 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.

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9781844676903

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Reviews

Praise for Installation Art: A profound understanding of the subject ... Rather than being a bland survey, it is critical and breaks new interpretative ground. Margaret Iversen, University of Essex An essential purchase and recommended reading - an important contribution to the field. Michael Newman, The Art Institute of Chicago An excellent introduction. Amy Weiss, Library Journal Reviews

Praise for Installation Art A profound understanding of the subject ... Rather than being a bland survey, it is critical and breaks new interpretative ground.A Margaret Iversen, University of Essex An essential purchase and recommended reading - an important contribution to the field.A Michael Newman, The Art Institute of Chicago An excellent introduction.A Amy Weiss, Library Journal Reviews

Author Information

Claire Bishop is a British art historian, critic, and Professor of Art History at The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York. Bishop is known as one of the central theorists of participation in visual art and performance, Her books have been translated into over eighteen languages and she is a frequent contributor to art journals including Artforum and October. She is also the author of Radical Museology, or, What's Contemporary in Museums of Contemporary Art.

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