The document discusses the political nature of art and different approaches to political art. It outlines Chantal Mouffe's view that art can play a critical role in society by taking an "agonistic" approach that stages confrontations within a pluralistic public space. The document also provides examples of artworks that engage with politics in various ways, such as by critiquing power structures, giving voice to marginalized groups, or imagining alternative social models. While political art may not directly change the world, it exists in relationship to real-world issues and can influence thought and action.

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2. Art Matters: Illuminating Contemporary Art
Shepparton Art Museum
2015
LECTURE 3: ART, POLITICS AND CENSORSHIP

3. Marco Fusinato, There is no authority, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Sydney, 2012

4. Works by Banksy in the West Bank
Part of the West Bank Wall’s Street Art Takeover, 2010

6. “what types of relations are
being produced, for whom, and
why?”
Claire Bishop, ‘Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics,’ October, Vol 110, Fall, 2004, pp.51-79

7. Installation view of the 7th
Berlin Biennale, 2012

8. Gerard Silva, Art IV, 2012

9. Edward Kienholz, Art for Art’s Sake, 1959

10. John Heartfield, Blut und Eisen (Blood and Iron), 1934

11. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, theatrical trailer, dir. Alison Klayman, 2012

12. Ai Weiwei, Sichuan Earthquake Photos (detail), 2008

13. Ai Weiwei, Remembering, 2009
Haus de Kunst, Munich

14. Political Approaches
• Postmodern politics
• No universal sense of truth
• Self-organising and local, but also fragmented
• Cultural materialism (materialist dialectics)
• Requires cultural interpretation of art to consider a range of contexts:
Art theory Social practices Economics
Psychology Technology Popular culture
Gender Race Sexuality
Geography Urbanism Historical research
• Does not predict what form culture will take

15. Chantal Mouffe, “Art and Democracy:
Art as an Agnostic Intervention in Public Space”, 2008
“Can artistic practices still play a critical role in a society where the difference
between art and advertising have become blurred and where artists and cultural
workers have become a necessary part of capitalist production?” P.7
“This has led some to claim that art had lost its critical power because any form of
critique is automatically recuperated and neutralized by capitalism.” P.7
“According to the agonistic approach, public spaces are always plural and the
agonistic confrontation takes place on a multiplicity of discursive surfaces.” P.10

16. Chantal Mouffe, “Art and Democracy:
Art as an Agnostic Intervention in Public Space”, 2008
Four different kinds of critical art:
•Art which engages with existing political reality
•Art which explores non-normative subject positions
•Art which critiques its own political condition
•Art which attempts to imagine alternative ways of living

17. Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your body is a battleground), 19

18. Guerilla Girls, Naked, 1988

19. Shirin Neshat,
Rebellious Silence, 1994

20. Santiago Sierra, 250cm line tattooed on 6 paid people, 1999

21. Helmut Smits, Parking for white cars only, 2006

22. Richard Lewer, I wish I was as lucky as you, 2013
SAM Collection

23. Voina, FEAST, or wake in the Metro, 2007

24. Voina, Palace Revolution, 2010

25. AES+F, The Witnesses of the Future – The Islamic Project, 1996-2003

26. Jeremy Deller, Battle of Orgreave, 2001

27. Mark Wallinger, State Britain, 2007

28. Brian Haw’s original protest

29. Mark Wallinger, State Britain, 2007

30. Marco Fusinato, Double Infinitive 2, 2009

31. Raeda Saadeh, Vacuum, 2007

32. Deborah Kelly and Boat-People.org, Muffled Protest, 2010

33. Deborah Kelly and Tina Fiveash, Hey Hetero! series, 2001

34. Elmgreen and Dragset, Prada Marfa, 2005
Chihuahuan Desert, Texas

35. Paul Yore, The Big Rainbow Funhouse, 2010

36. Paul Yore, Everything is Fucked, 2013

37. Brett Bailey, Exhibit B, installation view, Edinburgh, 2014

38. David Marr, Art, Ethics and the Law, ABC/Fora TV, 2009

39. Andreas Sterzing, David Wojnarowicz (Silence = Death), 1989

40. Some Key Ideas from this lecture
• Art is open to different readings depending on the viewer, and some
viewers will interpret works in more political ways than others
• Contemporary theory increasingly argues that all art is political
• Art either reinforces, rejects or renders invisible the status quo
• Alternative argument is that art is just for art’s sake: aesthetics
• While art might be political, it could be argued that it doesn’t change
the world; however, it does exist in a relationship with the world and
can influence action
• Art under capitalism struggles to challenge the prevailing order since
capitalism is dynamic (Mouffe)
• The way to challenge this, according to Mouffe, is agonistic art
• Hal Foster says political art is about “actuality”, registering different
levels of experience (aesthetic, temporal, social, historical) in a work
• It can be difficult to make challenging work without facing censorship