Art and Politics Now

This week I attended a talk by art historian and critic, Susan Noyes Platt. She was on campus talking about her recent research, which is collected in Art and Politics Now: Cultural Activism in a Time of Crisis as a broad survey of political art, from street protest to gallery work to online manifestations and collaborations. The text is divided into ten chapters with themes such as war, terror, censorship, migration, and while the book’s last chapter focuses on ecology as it primary theme, there is definitely overlap in the various themes highlighted. For example, discussions of migration with reference to Ursula Beimann’s Geobodies work piqued this ecocritic’s interest.

The book promises an excellent entry point for any one interested in political art in its various manifestations and can be commended for its breadth and reach. It highlights a variety of artists who work in different media and in different contexts of political empowerment and disempowerment (Native American artists such as Gail Tremblay, Iraqi artists such as Hana Malallah, chicana/latino artists such as Celicia Alvarez, and street performers such as Backbone Campaign and the Yes Men.)