Kuda.org recommends a new book: The Art of Direct Action; Social Sculpture and Beyond

Kuda.org recommends a new book:

The Art of Direct Action
Social Sculpture and Beyond

 

Editors:
Karen van den Berg
Cara M. Jordan
Philipp Kleinmichel

 

Design by Patricia Reed
Sternberg Press, 2019
ISBN 987-3-956794-85-8

 

One of the most significant shifts in contemporary art during the past two decades concerns artists and collectives who have moved their artistic focus from representation to direct social action. This publication shows why this transition might change our understanding of artistic production at large and make us reconsider the role of the art in society. The book gathers internationally recognized artists, scholars, and experts in the field of socially engaged art to reflect upon historical developments in this field and explore the role that German artist Joseph Beuys’s concept of social sculpture played in its evolution. The contributions provide theoretical reflection, historical analysis, and frame critical debates about exemplary socially engaged art projects since the 1970s in order to examine the strategies, opportunities, and failures of this practice.

Contributors:
Karen van den Berg, Mary Jane Jacob, Cara M. Jordan, Grant H. Kester, Philipp Kleinmichel, kuda.org, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Marina Naprushkina, Dan Peterman, Rainer Rappmann, Pedro Reyes, John Roberts, Gregory Sholette, Caroline Tisdall, Anton Vidokle, Caroline Woolard

You can find and read the book in the kuda.library.