Overview

The ABC of the projectariat contributes new thinking and practical responses to the widespread problem of precarious labour in the field of contemporary art. It works as both a critical analysis and a practical handbook, speaking to and about the vast cohort of artistic freelancers worldwide. In an accessible ABC format, the book strikes a unique balance between the practical and the theoretical: the analysis is backed up by lived experience, the arguments are rooted in concrete examples and there are suggestions for constructive action. Roughly half of the entries expose the structural underpinnings of projects and circulation, isolating traits such as opportunism, neoliberalism, inequality, fear and cynicism at the root of the condition of the projectariat. This discussion is paired with a practical account of different modes of action, such as art strikes, productive withdrawals, political struggles and better social time machines. Just as proletarians had nothing to lose but their chains, the projectarians have nothing to miss but their deadlines.

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9781526161321

Table of Contents

Reviews

'This book is a weapon for anyone who wants to resist the dominant economy of art. Its voice is situated in the semi-periphery of Europe and resonates with the projectariat from all over the world.' Zdenka Badovinac, curator and author 'This is an urgent and accessible anatomy of the conditions of art-making today. It vividly conveys the crushing impacts of the cruel economy of contemporary art on the material and creative lives of artists while mapping a network of imaginative paths out of it.' Josh Cohen, author of Not Working: Why We Have to Stop 'A radical dictionary of key terms, Kuba Szreder's The ABC of the projectariat critically diagnoses what it means to live and work in the precarious art world. Organised alphabetically into incisive, readable elaborations, the book unpacks timely concepts of domination - neoliberalism, NGOisation, co-optation, entrepreneurs of the self, precarity - and with other vital selections - art strike, interdependence, productive withdrawal and instituting the commons - offers a crucial vocabulary for anti-capitalist transformation. For a more egalitarian, democratic and inclusive world, it's urgent that we learn this language together.' T. J. Demos, author of Beyond the World's End: Arts of Living at the Crossing 'From his innovative research with the Free/Slow University of Warsaw to his breakthrough concept of the artistic projectariat, Szreder tenaciously levels our collective attention towards the paradoxes of a cultural economy in crisis, without abandoning hopes for its radical transformation.' Gregory Sholette, author of Dark Matter and The Artist as Activist 'Kuba Szreder's projectarians are a vanguard part of the precariat. We need a new subversive vocabulary for a new progressive politics, and this book provides much of what is needed.' Guy Standing, author of The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class -- .

'This book is a weapon for anyone who wants to resist the dominant economy of art. Its voice is situated in the semi-periphery of Europe and resonates with the projectariat from all over the world.' Zdenka Badovinac, curator and author 'From his innovative research with the Free/Slow University of Warsaw to his breakthrough concept of the artistic projectariat, Szreder tenaciously levels our collective attention towards the paradoxes of a cultural economy in crisis, without abandoning hopes for its radical transformation.' Gregory Sholette, author of Dark Matter and The Artist as Activist 'Kuba Szreder's projectarians are a vanguard part of the precariat. We need a new subversive vocabulary for a new progressive politics, and this book provides much of what is needed.' Guy Standing, author of The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class -- .

'This book is a weapon for anyone who wants to resist the dominant economy of art. Its voice is situated in the semi-periphery of Europe and resonates with the projectariat from all over the world.' Zdenka Badovinac, curator and author 'A radical dictionary of key terms, Kuba Szreder's The ABC of the projectariat critically diagnoses what it means to live and work in the precarious art world. Organised alphabetically into incisive, readable elaborations, the book unpacks timely concepts of domination - neoliberalism, NGOisation, co-optation, entrepreneurs of the self, precarity - and with other vital selections - art strike, interdependence, productive withdrawal and instituting the commons - offers a crucial vocabulary for anti-capitalist transformation. For a more egalitarian, democratic and inclusive world, it's urgent that we learn this language together.' T. J. Demos, author of Beyond the World's End: Arts of Living at the Crossing 'From his innovative research with the Free/Slow University of Warsaw to his breakthrough concept of the artistic projectariat, Szreder tenaciously levels our collective attention towards the paradoxes of a cultural economy in crisis, without abandoning hopes for its radical transformation.' Gregory Sholette, author of Dark Matter and The Artist as Activist 'Kuba Szreder's projectarians are a vanguard part of the precariat. We need a new subversive vocabulary for a new progressive politics, and this book provides much of what is needed.' Guy Standing, author of The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class -- .

Author Information

Kuba Szreder is a lecturer in the department of art theory at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He combines his research with independent curatorial practice. His previous publications include Joy Forever: Political Economy of Social Creativity (2011) and Art Factory: Division of Labor and Distribution of Resources in the Field of Contemporary Art in Poland (2014). In 2018, together with Kathrin Bhm, he initiated Centre for Plausible Economies, a cluster devoted to reimagining economies of contemporary art and utilising artistic imagination to redraw the economy at large.

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