
Disordering the Establishment
Participatory Art and Institutional Critique in France, 1958-1981
Lily Woodruff(Author)
Duke University Press
Published on 12. June 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-1-4780-0844-6 (ISBN)
Description
In the decades following World War II, France experienced both a period of affluence and a wave of political, artistic, and philosophical discontent that culminated in the countrywide protests of 1968. In Disordering the Establishment Lily Woodruff examines the development of artistic strategies of political resistance in France in this era. Drawing on interviews with artists, curators, and cultural figures of the time, Woodruff analyzes the formal and rhetorical methods that artists used to counter establishment ideology, appeal to direct political engagement, and grapple with French intellectuals' modeling of society. Artists and collectives such as Daniel Buren, AndrE Cadere, the Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel, and the Collectif d'Art Sociologique shared an opposition to institutional hegemony by adapting their works to unconventional spaces and audiences, asserting artistic autonomy from art institutions, and embracing interdisciplinarity. In showing how these artists used art to question what art should be and where it should be seen, Woodruff demonstrates how artists challenged and redefined the art establishment and their historical moment.
Reviews / Votes
"Lily Woodruff's examination of conceptual painting in France is at once timely and long overdue. She offers a satisfying total narrative of the artworks situated in relation to the changing dynamics of both the state and the market as they came to determine culture without losing focus of the specificity of the aesthetic dimension of these interventions. She situates artwork as a vehicle for an intellectual and sensual proposition charged with capacity. I learned a tremendous amount from this book." - Jaleh Mansoor, author of (Marshall Plan Modernism: Italian Postwar Abstraction and the Beginnings of Autonomia) "This extraordinarily lucid book is required reading for anyone wondering how the 1960s-and even 'democracy' itself-still matters. As Lily Woodruff demonstrates, the top-down instrumentalization of participation was countered in that decade by an artistic landscape ranging from kinetic painting and wearable objects to handheld props and logos. In beautifully readable prose, she replaces French artistic practice in a geopolitical terrain that negotiates both Soviet and Maoist histories, making those practices once again urgently contemporary." - Rachel Haidu, author of (The Absence of Work: Marcel Broodthaers, 1964-1976)More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
North Carolina
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
98 illustrations, incl. 17 in color
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
635 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4780-0844-6 (9781478008446)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Woodruff Lily Woodruff
Disordering the Establishment
Participatory Art and Institutional Critique in France, 1958-1981
E-Book
06/2019
1st Edition
Duke University Press Books
€208.99
Available for download
Person
Lily Woodruff is Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Culture at Michigan State University.
Content
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. The Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel's Social Abstractions 31
2. Daniel Buren's Instrumental Invisibility 91
3. AndrE Cadere's Calligrams of Institutional Authority 143
4. The Collectif d'Art Sociologique's Sociological Realism 195
Conclusion 257
Notes 265
Bibliography 293
Index 304
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. The Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel's Social Abstractions 31
2. Daniel Buren's Instrumental Invisibility 91
3. AndrE Cadere's Calligrams of Institutional Authority 143
4. The Collectif d'Art Sociologique's Sociological Realism 195
Conclusion 257
Notes 265
Bibliography 293
Index 304