The Art of Activism

The Art of Activism examines protest and publicly engaged art in the Central European context of the last twenty years in relation to international movements and local social processes. In addition to reflecting on Czech and Slovak individual and collective activities, it also gives space to selected foreign initiatives, which often constitute their political or inspirational framework. Across thirteen studies, the book maps the interface between civically motivated “performative democracy” and art, whose autonomy does not lie in its independence from public interest, but in the art market. For the first time, it offers a more comprehensive overview of local artistic strategies focused on social, gender, political or environmental issues, as well as examples of collaboration between artists and civic initiatives. 

 

“The question of whether some of the work that I have exhibited is ‘art’ or not, is of little concern to me. I would be just as happy if it is not art at all.”
(Gustav Metzger)