Dystopian and Utopian Impulses in Art Making: The World We Want

Explores a variety of artistic responses to contemporary global crises including climate emergency, global and local inequalities and the COVID-19 pandemic. Focuses on how artistic production is adapting and offers a series of artistic, curatorial considerations and pedagogical proposals for the world we live in and the one we want. 115 b&w illus. Contemporary art and crisis have a complex relationship. On the one hand, art can draw us toward apocalypse: it charts unfolding chaos, reflects and amplifies the effects of crisis, shows us the dystopian in both our daily life and in our imagined futures. On the other hand, art’s complexity helps fathom the uncertainty of the world, question and challenge the order of things, and allows us to imagine new ways of living and being – to make new worlds. This collection of written and visual essays explores artistic responses to crises – including the climate emergency, global and local inequalities and the COVID-19 pandemic – and suggests new forms of collectivity and collaboration within artistic practice. Dystopian and Utopian Impulses in Art Making surveys a wide variety of practices, oriented from the perspective of Australia, New Zealand and Asia. It focuses on how artistic production is adapting to a world in constant crisis and offers a series of artistic, curatorial considerations and pedagogical proposals for the world we live in now, and for the world we want. Contemporary art has a complex relationship to crisis. On the one hand, art can draw us toward apocalypse: it charts unfolding chaos, reflects and amplifies the effects of crisis, shows us the dystopian in both our daily life and in our imagined futures. On the other hand, art’s complexity helps fathom the uncertainty of the world, question and challenge the order of things, and allows us to imagine new ways of living and being – to make new worlds. This collection of written and visual essays includes artistic responses to various crises – including the climate emergency, global and local inequalities and the COVID-19 pandemic – and suggests new forms of collectivity and collaboration within artistic practice. It surveys a wide variety of practices, oriented from the perspective of Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Art making has always responded to the world; the essays in this collection explore how artists are adapting to a world in crisis. The contributions to this book are arranged in four sections: artistic responses, critical reflections, new curatorial approaches and the art school reimagined. Alongside the written chapters, three photographic essays provide specific examples of new visual forms in artistic practice under crisis conditions. The primary market for the book will be scholars and upper-level students of art and curating at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Specifically, the book will appeal to the burgeoning field of study around socially engaged art. Beyond the academic and student market, it will appeal to practicing artists and curators, especially those engaged in social practice and community-based art.