Collective Situations: Readings in Contemporary Latin American Art, 1995–2010 - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0822369419 ISBN 13: 9780822369417

Publisher: Duke University Press Books, 2017

Synopsis

In Collective Situations scholars, artists, and art collectives present a range of socially engaged art practices that emerged in Latin America during the Pink Tide period, between 1995 and 2010. This volume's essays, interviews, and artist's statements—many of which are appearing in English for the first time—demonstrate the complex relationship between moments of political transformation and artistic production. Whether addressing human rights in Colombia, the politics of urban spaces in Brazil, the violent legacy of military dictatorships in the region, or art’s intersection with public policy, health, and the environment, the contributors outline the region’s long-standing tradition of challenging ideas about art and the social sphere through experimentation. Introducing English-language readers to some of the most dynamic and innovative contemporary art in Latin America, Collective Situations documents new possibilities for artistic practice, collaboration, and creativity in ways that have the capacity to foster vibrant forms of democratic citizenship.

Contributors
Gavin Adams, Mariola V. Alvarez, Gustavo Buntinx, María Fernanda Cartagena, David Gutiérrez Castañeda, Fabian Cereijido, Paloma Checa-Gismero, Kency Cornejo, Raquel de Anda, Bill Kelley Jr., Grant H. Kester, Suzanne Lacy, Ana Longoni, Rodrigo Martí, Elize Mazadiego, Annie Mendoza, Alberto Muenala, Prerana Reddy, Maria Reyes Franco, Pilar Riaño-Alcalá, Juan Carlos Rodríguez

About this title

About the Author

Bill Kelley Jr. is Assistant Professor of Latin American and Latino Art History at California State University, Bakersfield. 

Grant H. Kester is Professor of Art History at the University of California, San Diego; author of The One and the Many: Contemporary Collaborative Art in a Global Context and editor of Art, Activism, and Oppositionality: Essays from Afterimage, both also published by Duke University Press; and author of Conversation Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art.

Review

“Enormously compelling and useful. Collective Situations reveals the inadequacy of art criticism and art history as they are now conceived and will compel us to ask what role writers and scholars can play in assuring that fleeting images, oral accounts, and ephemeral acts be written into history.” (Harper Montgomery CAA Reviews 2018-08-10)

"Each section is laden with artists, activists, and collectives that cannot live—or live well—in the constraints not only of settler colonial continuity, but also of Western art history. Instead, they catalyze, experiment, and pre-figure collectivity in the interstices of the situated—as a mode of critique and aesthetic method—to create lives worth sharing." (Sarah Richter The Drama Review 2019-04-01)

About this edition

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0822369419
• ISBN 13: 9780822369417
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448
• Editor: Kelley Jr. Bill, Kester Grant H.