Alberto Cossu's ethnographic research on the MACAO centre in Italy radiates out to questions about what it means to be a modern artist, and how much autonomy is left to the artist in a globalized and politicised world. "Autonomous Art Institutions" provides a unique perspective on the political engagement of artists in order to investigate the reconfiguration of contemporary art practices as they dissolve in social and economic processes. The book provides insight into the making of a radical art institution across seven years of activity, showing how social, cultural and economic elements are appropriated and repurposed by artists in the process. Based on years of sociological research as well as direct involvement of the author in the artistic practices, the book illuminates the spark of society-to-come by examining the doings of artists as they attempt to disrupt the ‘creative city’.

The collection comprises contributions from leading artist-theorists in the fields of necropolitics and tactical media, and from increasingly influential scholars of biomediality and urban performativity

This book focuses on the phenomenon of art intervention—an expression of local initiatives by artists, collectives, and art centers wishing to influence the design of the space or make a change in its lifestyle. It pertains not only to acts of protest, but also to the creation of a new civil and political situation in which artists acknowledge their ability to constitute foci of power. These are reflected in acts such as squatting in abandoned buildings, restoring and redistributing them according to principles of social justice; mapping the city based on alternative parameters, such as revealing venues of collective memory or exposing the city's backyard; creating outdoor urban art galleries; and creating temporary architecture and alternative solutions in order to deal with the challenges we face in times of epidemic and environmental crisis. The art intervention phenomenon has intensified since the mid-1990s, so much so that even local authorities the world over have begun to adopt activist and artistic practices. Due to the intensive urbanization processes and current global threats, the creative trends and means surveyed in the book are crucial. This book will interest researchers, planners, urban planners, architects, social activists, local authority executives, art centers, artists, and designers.

This book explores the attribution and local negotiation of cultural valuations of artistic and art-institutional practices around the world, and considers the diverse ways in which these value attributions intersect with claims of universality and cosmopolitanism. Taking Michael Herzfeld’s notion of the “global hierarchy of value” as point of departure, the volume brings together six empirical studies of the collection, circulation, classification and exhibition of objects in present-day Brazil, China, India, Japan, South Africa and Indigenous Australia in light of Europe’s loss of global hegemony. Including reflections by a number of senior scholars, the chapters demonstrate that the question of valuation lies at the heart of artistic and art-institutional practices writ large – including museum practices, museum architecture, galleries, auction houses, art fairs and biennales.

Culture.Shift is a practical, hands-on guide to strategic audience development for the performing arts in Europe. It aims to be a companion to creative leaders interested in developing their audiences and creating deeper connections with their communities. It wants to encourage and support performing arts organisations on the road to a more strategic approach to audience and community engagement. Created by creative leaders for their peers, it combines insights, tips, debates and best practice examples. By presenting the stories of houses that have already had their 'Culture.Shift', the book wants to inspire others to follow their example and contribute to the European debate on audience development.

Art has been an umbrella term for poetry; music, dance, sculpture painting, and architecture since the end of the eighteenth century, when the bourgeoisie were establishing their hegemony over culture and politics in Germany, labor was becoming more clearly divided, and religion was losing its unifying force. Art became a broad and separate entity as the expectations and experience of it changed. The Institutions of Art concentrates on German and French literature in illustrating the formation of aesthetic autonomy and the divergence between high and popular culture. Peter B_rger builds on his earlier Theory of the Avant-Garde (1984), pushing further into key theoretical questions about art and society. Christa B_rger extends the critique to the history of the novel, focusing on Goethe and Kleist. Looking backward to feudalism and forward to our century, the authors show how the function of art has changed along with the criteria for its production and evaluation.

Leading international artists and art educators consider the challenges of art education in today's dramatically changed art world. The last explosive change in art education came nearly a century ago, when the German Bauhaus was formed. Today, dramatic changes in the art world—its increasing professionalization, the pervasive power of the art market, and fundamental shifts in art-making itself in our post-Duchampian era—combined with a revolution in information technology, raise fundamental questions about the education of today's artists. Art School (Propositions for the 21st Century) brings together more than thirty leading international artists and art educators to reconsider the practices of art education in academic, practical, ethical, and philosophical terms. The essays in the book range over continents, histories, traditions, experiments, and fantasies of education. Accompanying the essays are conversations with such prominent artist/educators as John Baldessari, Michael Craig-Martin, Hans Haacke, and Marina Abramovic, as well as questionnaire responses from a dozen important artists—among them Mike Kelley, Ann Hamilton, Guillermo Kuitca, and Shirin Neshat—about their own experiences as students. A fascinating analysis of the architecture of major historical art schools throughout the world looks at the relationship of the principles of their designs to the principles of the pedagogy practiced within their halls. And throughout the volume, attention is paid to new initiatives and proposals about what an art school can and should be in the twenty-first century—and what it shouldn't be. No other book on the subject covers more of the questions concerning art education today or offers more insight into the pressures, challenges, risks, and opportunities for artists and art educators in the years ahead. Contributors Marina Abramovic, Dennis Adams, John Baldessari, Ute Meta Bauer, Daniel Birnbaum, Saskia Bos, Tania Bruguera, Luis Camnitzer, Michael Craig-Martin, Thierry de Duve, Clémentine Deliss, Charles Esche, Liam Gillick, Boris Groys, Hans Haacke, Ann Lauterbach, Ken Lum, Steven Henry Madoff, Brendan D. Moran, Ernesto Pujol, Raqs Media Collective, Charles Renfro, Jeffrey T. Schnapp, Michael Shanks, Robert Storr, Anton Vidokle