Vanguardia: Socially Engaged Art and Theory (2019)

By Marc Léger

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The avant-garde is dead, or so the story goes for many leftists and capitalists alike. But in an era of neoliberal austerity, neo-colonial militarism and ecological crisis, this postmodern view seems increasingly outmoded.

Rejecting “end of ideology” post-politics, Vanguardia delves into the changing praxis of socially-engaged art and theory in the age of the Capitalocene. Covering the major events of the last decade, from anti-globalisation protests, Occupy Wall Street, the Maple Spring, Strike Debt and the Anthropocene, to the Black Lives Matter and MeToo campaigns, Vanguardia puts forward a radical leftist commitment to the revolutionary consciousness of avant-garde art and politics.

'A much-needed critique of the wrong turns taken by contemporary left thought, offered by one of our savviest cultural critics. Anyone who needs a reminder as to the myriad ways in which we can still today engage in progressive cultural and political expression should read Vanguardia.'
Imre Szeman, Canada Research Chair in Cultural Studies, University of Alberta

Contents:

Introduction: a thousand contradictions
1 Alter-globalisation, revolutionary movement and the state mode of production
2 A brief history of Occupy Wall Street
3 Vanguardia
4 Psychoprotest: dérives of the Quebec Maple Spring
5 The unrealised extravagance of the avant garde: Test Dept and the subsumption of labour
6 No strawman for the revolution
7 Beyond socially enraged art
8 The only game in town
Index

More information:

Publisher: Manchester University Press; 1 edition (March 1, 2019)

Copy available from: Manchester University Press / Amazon

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