The Long 1980s : Constellations of Art, Politics and Identities

2018

Boek; 416 p ill

Essaybundel in het kader van het programma L'Internationale en 11 tentoonstellingen op diverse locaties onderzoekt hoe in de jaren '80 de basis werd gelegd voor fundamentele maatschappelijke processen als globalisering, neoliberalisme, maar ook de invloed van emancipatiebewegingen. Het behandelt tevens artistieke ontwikkelingen in deze periode als een democratisch project: nauw verweven met de samenleving en met activistische bewegingen. - The Long 80s speculates on the significance of the 1980s for arts and society today. Central to the book is the thesis that the 1980s brought a fundamental reorientation in the relationship between the civil society and the state—or governments and their publics—with the effects of this shift coming to shape our contemporary condition. Art and culture played a central role in responding, to pre-empting or articulating these changes. While the decade recedes into the past, its influence in terms of establishing the logic of globalization is still very present. This globalization produced greater inequality and mixed economic results, yet it also permitted new regional cultural and activist networks to emerge and intimated the possibility of a new ‘global’ or ‘transnational’ culture. Looking back at texts and artworks produced at the time will help to understand how this pivotal decade shaped the imaginative landscape of the 21st century. By telling diverse microhistories, a plurality of positions can be juxtaposed that allow a comparison between very different geopolitical situations in Europe and beyond. Themes that are addressed: 1. No Alternative? (on neoliberalism, counter cultures, alternative forms of organization, 1980s activism and art), 2. Know Your Rights (how civil liberties shifted, on the upcoming planetary consciousness and new ecologies); 3. Processes of Identification (gender, sexuality, race, and new nationalisms); 4. New Order (considering 1989 from a series of new perspectives, not just the East-West binary).

Located in: POLITIEK EN KUNST

ISBN: 9789492095497

VUBIS: 2:101472