In the aftermath of the 2016 US elections, Brexit, and a global upsurge of nationalist populism, it is evident that the delirium and the crisis of neoliberal capitalism is now the delirium and crisis of liberal democracy and its culture. And though capitalist crisis does not begin within art, art can reflect and amplify its effects, to positive and negative ends...
In this follow-up to his influential 2010 book, Dark Matter: Art and
Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture, Sholette engages in critical
dialogue with artists' collectives, counter-institutions, and activist
groups to offer an insightful, firsthand account of the relationship
between politics and art in neoliberal society. Sholette lays out clear
examples of art's deep involvement in capitalism: the dizzying prices
achieved by artists who pander to the financial elite, the proliferation
of museums that contribute to global competition between cities in
order to attract capital, and the strange relationship between art and
rampant gentrification that restructures the urban landscape.
With a preface by noted author Lucy R. Lippard and an introduction by
theorist Kim Charnley, Delirium and Resistance draws on over thirty
years of critical debates and practices both in and beyond the art world
to historicize and advocate for the art activist tradition that
radically - and, at times, deliriously - entangles the visual arts with
political struggles.