Conversation Pieces - Community and communication in modern art - Grand Format

Some of the most innovative art of the past decade has been created far outside conventional galleries and museums. Artists operating at the intersection of art and cultural activism have been developing new forms of collaboration with diverse audiences and communities. Their projects have addressed such issues as political conflict in Northern Ireland, gang violence on Chicago's West Side, and the problems of sex workers in Switzerland.
Provocative, accessible, and engaging, this book, one of the first full-length studies on the topic, situates these socially conscious projects historically, relates them to key issues in contemporary art and art theory, and offers a unique critical framework for understanding them. Using the "Occupy" movement and other examples of political resistance, Kester updates this edition with a compelling new preface that examines the broadening scope and methodology of art activism in the eight years since the book was first published.