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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.
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Contemporary Art and Crisis Grace – McQuilten and Daniel Palmer
PART 1: ARTISTIC RESPONSES
1. Beyond the Dystopia-in-Progress: Rehearsing an Indigenized Future ‘Australia’ Through Public Art – Robert E.Walton and Claire G. Coleman
2. Weentayoothan – Which Way? – Vicki Couzens
3. The Space in Between Us: Photographic Portraiture, Social Distancing and Touch – Cherine Fahd
4. A Melting Landscape: Mapping the Eco-Acoustics of the Swiss Alps – Philip Samartzis
5. Survivalist Samplers: Restoring Sampling Traditions and Utopian Perspectives – Sera Waters
6. Presenting the News Anew – Alison Alder, Marian Crawford and Richard Harding (aka The News Network Project Australia: AA & MC & RH)
7. Practicing Utopias – Sophia Cai, Bigoa Chuol, Gabriela Georges, John Mashar with Tania Cañas and Bruno Catalán
Visual Essay 1: Inland Sea – Heather Hesterman
PART 2: CRITICAL REFLECTIONS
8. The Art of Giving Up: Contemporary Artists and Domestic Violence – Madeleine R. Clark
9. Refugees, Neighbours and the Question of Empathy: Jakkai Siributr’s There’s No Place – Zara Stanhope
10. The Thorny Question of Art and Economy – Nancy Mauro-Flude and Kate Rich
11. Imagine a World Without Zoonotic Viruses – Keely Macarow
12. Writing About Art from Behind an Inclined Rock (A Geological Allegory for the Third Millennium) – Susan Ballard
Visual Essay 2: Lisbon Dreaming – Clare McCracken
PART 3: NEW CURATORIAL APPROACHES
13. Amor Mundi: Towards a Curatorial Ethics for Climate Crisis – Tara McDowell
14. The Gentle Activism of ‘Bruised Food’: Art and Curation in Times of Crises – Marnie Badham and Francis Maravillas
15. Hong Kong’s Utopian Dream: Art, Nostalgia and Identity – Kelly Ka-Lai Chan
16. Thinking With, and Acting From, This Place: Caring In and Through Our Practices – Jacina Leong
Visual Essay 3: Scribble Me This … – Benjamin Sheppard
PART 4: THE ART SCHOOL REIMAGINED
17. Unsettling Projects: Keeping Art Schools Agile Through Dialogue and Disruption – Fiona Lee
18. Towards Community Praxis in Community-Oriented Art Education – Kelly Hussey-Smith
Notes on Contributors