Artpolitik: Social Anarchist Aesthetics in an Age of Fragmentation

Literary Nonfiction. Politics. Art History. ARTPOLITIK examines the relationship between art and politics, focusing on radical political aesthetics in western culture since the end of the nineteenth century. Drawing from Surrealism, Socialist Realism, the Situationist International, capitalist consumer aesthetics, and critical theory, Neala Schleuning elaborates a social anarchist approach to aesthetics. ARTPOLITIK is not a history of radical art production but an exploration of the core ideas inspiring radical art. This provocative book is guaranteed to both challenge and inform, reframing radical aesthetics for the challenges of the present. It features an exploration of ideas and techniques employed by artists for more effective communication of radical political ideas. Art has played a central role in revolutionary change throughout history, and our own times call for a revitalization of art in the service of liberatory politics. This book is an effort to understand how new ideas seeking to position themselves vis a vis the aesthetic tradition while simultaneously reflecting the transformation of political and social movement cultures in new directions.

"ARTPOLITIK can be the basis of fruitful discussions among artists and activists alike about the role, character and communicative value of art in our struggle for a better world. Each period of artistic expression she analyzes, and specifically those that were consciously political, prod us to think about and rethink today's art through these lenses." Wayne Nealis"