Artificial Hells

June 18, 2012
Since the early 1990s, there has been significant global artistic interest in participation and collaboration in conceptual and performance art. In this critically astute and provocative study, City University of New York art historian Bishop (Installation Art: A Critical History) analyzes the meaning of what results from participatory art rather than solely emphasizing its artistic process. Bishop divides her incisive and meticulously researched study of participatory art into three sections: a theoretical introduction to the genre, contextualizing it in the Italian Futurists, Russian proletkult, and Dada; case studies in participatory art such as the Situationist International, Argentinian art of the late 1960s led by Oscar Masotta, and Brazilian director Augusto Boal’s theater of social change; and contemporary art performance and pedagogy. Bishop’s arguments are convincingly supported and potentially very contentious. She suggests that participatory art makes the ethics of interpersonal interaction more important than politics and social justice concerns, and that activist art is not enough for social change—other institutions are necessary. A critically challenging work of vital scholarship, the book will be of greatest interest to art historians, art theorists, artists, and cultural critics.

August 1, 2012

Bishop (art history, CUNY Graduate Ctr.; Installation Art: A Critical History and Participation) focuses squarely on participatory art, including Andre Breton's 1921 Parisian Grande Saison Dada, a season full of sensational performances that has been internationally popular since the early 1990s. The title is both a positive and negative descriptor of participatory art, which Bishop identifies as art that requires the involvement of many people. The book is divided into three parts: key terms and motivations, historical case studies, and a history of the post-1989 period that focuses on two contemporary tendencies in participatory art: "delegated performance" and "pedagogic projects." VERDICT An essential title for contemporary art history scholars and students as well as anyone who has witnessed a participatory art "happening" and thought "Now, that's art!" or "That's art?"--Jennifer H. Krivickas, Univ. of Cincinnati Lib.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.