Martha Rosler

In this collection of essays Martha Rosler embarks on a broad inquiry into the economic and historical precedents for today's soft ideology of creativity, with special focus on its elaborate retooling of class distinctions. In the creative city, the neutralization or incorporation of subcultural movements, the organic translation of the gritty into the quaint, and the professionalization of the artist combine with armies of eager freelancers and interns to constitute the friendly user interface of a new social sphere in which, for those who have been granted a place within it, an elaborate retooling of traditional markers of difference has allowed class distinctions to be either utterly dissolved or willfully suppressed. The result is a handful of cities selected for revitalization rather than desertion, where artists in search of cheap rent become the avant-garde pioneers of gentrification, and one no longer asks where all of this came from and how. And it may be for this reason that, for Rosler, it becomes all the more necessary to locate the functioning of power within this new urban paradigm, to find a position from which to make it accountable to something other than its own logic. e-flux journal Series edited by Julieta Aranda, Brian Kuan Wood, Anton Vidokle

Culture Class

Camiel Harry Winkel

@Culturele Klasse

In The Place Of The Public (Positions in Contemporary Art)

The first comprehensive collection of writings by Martha Rosler considers the intersection of art and politics, the operation of art systems, feminist art practices, and the media. Decoys and Disruptions is the first comprehensive collection of writings by American artist and critic Martha Rosler. Best known for her videos and photography, Rosler has also been an original and influential cultural critic and theorist for over twenty-five years. The writings collected here address such key topics as documentary photography, feminist art, video, government patronage of the arts, censorship, and the future of digitally based photographic media. Taken together, these thirteen essays not only show Rosler's importance as a critic but also offer an essential resource for readers interested in the issues confronting contemporary art. The essays in this collection illustrate Rosler's ongoing investigation into means of exposing truth and provoking change, providing a retrospective of characteristic issues in her work. Mixing analysis and wit, Rosler challenges many of the fundamental precepts of contemporary art practice. Her influential essay, "In, around, and afterthoughts: on documentary photography," almost single-handedly dismantled the myth of liberal documentary photography when it appeared. Many of the essays in this volume have had a similarly wide-ranging influence; others are published here for the first time. Illustrating the essays are 81 images by Rosler and other artists and photographers.

Selected Writings, 1975-2001

Decoys and Disruptions

passionate signals

Este libro presenta una nueva recopilación de ensayos y guiones de performances y videos de la artista Martha Rosler, haciendo especial hincapié en la construcción de esfera pública y en el mito de la cotidianidad. Explora temas que van desde la vida cotidiana y los medios de comunicación hasta la seguridad nacional y los conflictos bélicos, especialmente en lo que afecta a las mujeres. Partimos de su trabajo La dominación y lo cotidiano que da titulo al libro para dar muestra de la dilatada trayectoria de una artista muy conocida por sus videos, performances y fotografías y otras obras, así como por ser una de las voces críticas culturales y teóricas más originales e influyentes de estos últimos cuarenta años. Este libro muestra la capacidad de Rosler de realizar un trabajo artístico y construir un discurso para contextualizarlo. Textos que van desde el año 1975 al 2016, reflexionan sobre el arte feminista, la idea de la artista-madre, la gentrificación en relación a la cultura y un largo etcétera.

Ensayos y guiones

La dominación y lo cotidiano

Decoys and Disruptions is the first comprehensive collection of writings by American artist and critic Martha Rosler. Best known for her videos and photography, Rosler has also been an original and influential cultural critic and theorist for over twenty-five years. The writings collected here address such key topics as documentary photography, feminist art, video, government patronage of the arts, censorship, and the future of digitally based photographic media. Taken together, these thirteen essays not only show Rosler's importance as a critic but also offer an essential resource for readers interested in the issues confronting contemporary art. The essays in this collection illustrate Rosler's ongoing investigation into means of exposing truth and provoking change, providing a retrospective of characteristic issues in her work. Mixing analysis and wit, Rosler challenges many of the fundamental precepts of contemporary art practice. Her influential essay "In, around, and afterthoughts: on documentary photography" almost single-handedly dismantled the myth of liberal documentary photography when it appeared. Many of the essays in this volume have had a similarly wide-ranging influence; others are published here for the first time. Illustrating the essays are 81 images by Rosler and other artists and photographers.

"Martha Rosler traces the ways in which art draws its meaning from within its social and political frameworks. The book's two artworks and a related essay exemplify and investigate the social embeddedness of art. They suggest how changing times and changing circumstances affect not only the form and meaning of photography but also its effects on its audience ... The artwork, 'The restoration of high culture in chile' (1977) is a photo and text work that, in fictionalized form, examines the various degrees of political anaesthesia and moral corruption implied by a successful adaptation to unquestioned and abstract notions of high culture ... The photo-and-text work 'The Bowery in two inadequate descriptive systems' (1974-1975) throws into question the ability of contemporary urban photography to continue the historical potential of social documentary photography. Its accompanying work, 'In, around, and afterthoughts,' written especially for the first edition of 3 works, is a fully developed critical essay in which this question is explored more systematically"--Publisher's website, viewed on March 13, 2015.

3 Works

Thomas Crow

Melissa Ho

Erica Levin

Mignon Nixon

Katherine Markoski

How the Vietnam War changed American art By the late 1960s, the United States was in a pitched conflict in Vietnam, against a foreign enemy, and at home—between Americans for and against the war and the status quo. This powerful book showcases how American artists responded to the war, spanning the period from Lyndon B. Johnson’s fateful decision to deploy U.S. Marines to South Vietnam in 1965 to the fall of Saigon ten years later. Artists Respond brings together works by many of the most visionary and provocative artists of the period, including Asco, Chris Burden, Judy Chicago, Corita Kent, Leon Golub, David Hammons, Yoko Ono, and Nancy Spero. It explores how the moral urgency of the Vietnam War galvanized American artists in unprecedented ways, challenging them to reimagine the purpose and uses of art and compelling them to become politically engaged on other fronts, such as feminism and civil rights. The book presents an era in which artists struggled to synthesize the turbulent times and participated in a process of free and open questioning inherent to American civic life. Beautifully illustrated, Artists Respond features a broad range of art, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, performance and body art, installation, documentary cinema and photography, and conceptualism. Published in association with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC Exhibition schedule: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC March 15–August 18, 2019 Minneapolis Institute of Art September 28, 2019–January 5, 2020

American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965–1975

Artists Respond

Rosalyn Deutsche

Elena Volpato

Jewish Museum (New York, N.Y.)

The politically engaged work of Martha Rosler is fascinating and provocative; this wide-ranging survey brings timely insights at a moment of resurgence for political activism and feminism.

Martha Rosler

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