Dedicated to critical cultural production at the intersection of art and activism.

We cover artists from around the globe whose work explores and realizes social change. Our goal is to provide a narrative about these activist efforts while simultaneously participating in them. Maintained by The Groundswell Collective since 2007.

Art and Social Change: A Critical Reader

James David Morgan wrote this post at 10:23 am on September 9th, 2008.

Art and Social Change: A Critical ReaderArt and Social Change: A Critical Reader, published October, 2007, is a hefty documentary history of those artists who broke with the art establishment to ally themselves with political movements, or who broke the art establishment by their evaluation of its political underpinnings.

Beginning with Courbet and the Paris Commune, and covering up to contemporary hybrid activist practices, the focus is on the artists’ words, not their work.

I picked up a copy yesterday and haven’t wanted to set it down since.  Happy reading!

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  1. COP15 Critical Run & Artistes de Garde
  2. Play it Cool? In Search of an Ethics and Aesthetics for dealing with Climate Change
  3. Close Encounters 2: Acts of Social Imagination


More on Activism, Art

Discuss (1)

#1 posted by adelaide, September 10, 2008 10:54 PM

I just picked this up as well! It seems to have decent coverage of queer and feminist art groups. I wish more was covered in the earlier years; in the 1917 section one of the only women writers is questioning whether or not to make art during a coming revolution. Perhaps it is telling of the era. It is very interesting to see how the relationship of art and social justice has changed over the years in medium and nature.