Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T22:17:44.570Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Artists, debt, and global activism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2024

Mark W. Rectanus
Mark W. Rectanus*
Affiliation:
Iowa State University, USA
*
Corresponding author: Mark W. Rectanus, Department of World Languages and Cultures, 3118C Pearson Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA. Email: mwr@iastate.edu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This article examines how artists, activism, and works of art may contribute to a more textured understanding of debt in contemporary society and culture. The diversity of aesthetic practices and range of strategic interventions in which artists are organizers and activists are manifest in the Global Ultra Luxury Faction (G.U.L.F.), advocacy initiatives by Working Artists and the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.), and alternative, trans-local projects such as the Arts Collaboratory. These activist interventions provide the context for an examination of how artists have seized upon discourses related to debt and finance to produce works that offer a critical reappraisal of the global economy. Artists’ projects by Martha Rosler, Cassie Thornton, Zachary Formwalt, and Michael Najjar challenge audiences to rethink the invisible networks of debt and exchange by creating new visual vocabularies for ‘seeing’ debt. The emergence of activist groups, such as Liberate Tate, has also signaled renewed interest in the ethics of corporate sponsorships, museums, and environmental issues. A heightened awareness of the ethical dimensions of debt and global support for activist movements may contribute to new notions of citizenship and performative democracy that can incite individual and collective renegotiations of how we might critically rethink debt.

Keywords

Activismartdebtglobalizationmuseumssponsorships
Type
Article
Information
Finance and Society , Volume 2 , Issue 1: Ethics of debt , 2016 , pp. 2 - 24
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© 2016 The Author(s)

References

Ajana, B. (2015) Branding, legitimation and the power of museums: The case of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Museum & Society, 13(3): 316–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anti-Utopias [Website] (2010) Michael Najjar: High Altitude. Available at: <https://anti-utopias.com/art/michael-najjar-high-altitude/>. Accessed 18 January 2016..+Accessed+18+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Appadurai, A. (1990) Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy. Theory, Culture & Society, 7(2): 295–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appadurai, A. (2011) The ghost in the financial machine. Public Culture, 23(3): 517–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arts Collaboratory [Website] (2016) Available at: <http://www.artscollaboratory.org/about/>. Accessed 17 January 2016..+Accessed+17+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Atkins, R. (2012) Antoni Muntadas. Art in America [Online], 2 March. Available at: <http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/reviews/antoni-muntadas/>. Accessed 14 March 2016..+Accessed+14+March+2016.>Google Scholar
Bouwhuis, J. (2014) Global Collaborations/Zachary Formwalt: Three Exchanges [Exhibition]. Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, 27 November 2014 to 25 January 2015. Available at: <http://www.smba.nl/en/exhibitions/zachary-formwalt-three-exchanges/>. Accessed 18 January 2016..+Accessed+18+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Burns, C. (2016) Andrea Fraser: the artist turning the Whitney into a prison. The Guardian, 24 February.Google Scholar
Cameron, A. (2015) Where has all the money gone? Materiality, mobility, and nothingness. Finance and Society, 1(1): 7–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casavecchia, B. (2015) Art Basel Roundup. Art Agenda [Online], 19 June. Available at: <http://www.art-agenda.com/reviews/art-basel-roundup-3/>. Accessed 17 January 2016..+Accessed+17+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Choi, B. and von Osten, M. (2014) Trans-local, post-disciplinary organizational practice: A conversation between Binna Choi and Marion von Osten. In: Choi, B. (ed.) Cluster: Dialectionary. Berlin: Sternberg, 274–83.Google Scholar
Chong, D. (2015) Tate and BP: Oil and gas as the new tobacco? Arts sponsorship, branding, and marketing. In: McCarthy, C. (ed.) The International Handbooks of Museum Studies: Museum Practice. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 179–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crosthwaite, P. (2014) Framing finance. In: Crosthwaite, P., Knight, P., and Marsh, N. (eds.) Show Me the Money: The Image of Finance, 1700 to the Present. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 35–61.Google Scholar
Davis, B. (2015) Artists stage dramatic protest at Louvre near close of Paris climate summit. Artnet News, 9 December. Available at: <https://news.artnet.com/art-world/louvre-protest-during-climate-summit-389954?utm_campaign=artnetnews&utm_source=121015daily&utm_medium=email/>. Accessed 23 January 2016..+Accessed+23+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Evans, M. (2015) Artwash: Big Oil and the Arts. London: Pluto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, N. (2015) Occupation of Guggenheim Venice. Available at: <http://www.noahfischer.org/project/general/144233>. Accessed 16 January 2016..+Accessed+16+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Forbes, A. (2012) Christov-Bakargiev sanctions the Occupy Movement's presence at Documenta 13. Art Info, 10 July. Available at: <http://blogs.artinfo.com/berlinartbrief/2012/07/10/christov-bakargiev-sanctions-the-occupy-movement%E2%80%99s-presence-at-documenta-13/>. Accessed 7 February 2016.. Accessed 7 February 2016.' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Forbes,+A.+(2012)+Christov-Bakargiev+sanctions+the+Occupy+Movement's+presence+at+Documenta+13.+Art+Info,+10+July.+Available+at:+.+Accessed+7+February+2016.>Google Scholar
Formwalt, Z. (2013) In Light of the Arc [Artwork]. Available at: <http://www.zacharyformwalt.com/In%20Light%20of%20the%20Arc.html/>. Accessed 18 January 2016..+Accessed+18+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Foster, H. (2015) Bad New Days: Art, Criticism, Emergency. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Fuentes, M. (2013) Zooming in and out: Tactical media performance in transnational contexts. In: Lichtenfels, P. and Rouse, J. (eds.) Performance, Politics and Activism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 32–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fusco, C. and Fischer, N. (2015) The Artist as Debtor: A Conference about the Work of Artists in the Age of Speculative Capitalism. Available at: <http://artanddebt.org/hello-world/>. Accessed 15 January 2016..+Accessed+15+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Grasskamp, W., Nesbit, M., and Bird, J. (eds.) (2004) Hans Haacke. London: Phaidon.Google Scholar
G.U.L.F. (Global Ultra Luxury Faction) (2015) On Direct Action: An Address to Cultural Workers. 25 June. Available at: <http://supercommunity.e-flux.com/texts/on-direct-action-an-address-to-cultural-workers/>. Accessed 16 January 2016.CrossRef.+Accessed+16+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Haiven, M. (2015) Art and money: Three aesthetic strategies in an age of financialisation. Finance and Society, 1(1): 38–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heddaya, M. (2015) Considering the artist as debtor at Cooper Union. Art Info, 26 January. Available at: <http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/2015/01/26/considering-the-artist-as-debtor/>. Accessed 15 January 2016..+Accessed+15+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Hetherington, K. (2011) Foucault, the museum and the diagram. Sociological Review, 59(3): 457–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickey, A. (2013). Beyond reflection: Radical pedagogy and the ethics of art sponsorship. OnCurating, 20: 68–72.Google Scholar
Holmes, B. (2013) Art after capitalism. In: Sholette, G., and Ressler, O. (eds.) It's the Political Economy, Stupid: The Global Financial Crisis in Art and Theory. London: Pluto Press, 164–69.Google Scholar
Horowitz, N. (2011) Art of the Deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Infosthetics [Website] (2010) High Altitude: Stock market trends as realistic mountain ranges. 18 March. Available at: <http://infosthetics.com/archives/2010/03/high_altitude_the_stock_market_trends_as_realistic_mountain_ranges.html>. Accessed 18 January 2016..+Accessed+18+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Joseph, M. (2014) Debt to Society: Accounting for Life under Capitalism. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kazakina, K. (2014) Davos of art world lures collectors to $4 billion fair. Bloomberg Business, 16 June. Available at: <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-06-16/davos-of-art-world-lures-collectors-to-4-billion-fair/>. Accessed 17 March 2016..+Accessed+17+March+2016.>Google Scholar
Kester, G. (2015) Editorial. FIELD: A Journal of Socially-Engaged Art Criticism, 1 (Spring): 1–10. Available at: <http://field-journal.com/issue-1/kester/>. Accessed 15 January 2016.Google Scholar
Kobel, S. (2015) Art Basel. Art Agenda, 17 June. Available at: <http://www.art-agenda.com/reviews/art-basel-4/>. Accessed 17 January 2016..+Accessed+17+January+2016.>Google Scholar
La Berge, L.C. (2014) The rules of abstraction: Methods and discourses of finance. Radical History Review, 118 (Winter): 93–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
La Berge, L.C. and Hannah, D. (2015) Debt aesthetics: Medium specificity and social practice in the work of Cassie Thornton. Postmodern Culture, 25(2): n.p. Available at: <https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/postmodern_culture/v025/25.2.berge.html/>. Accessed 14 March 2016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazzarato, M. (2012) The Making of the Indebted Man: An Essay on the Neoliberal Condition, translated by Jordan, J. D.. Los Angeles, CA: Semiotext(e).Google Scholar
Liberate Tate (Website) (2016) Available at: <http://www.liberatetate.org.uk/press/>. Accessed 23 January 2016..+Accessed+23+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Loewe, S. (2015) When protest becomes art: The contradictory transformations of the Occupy Movement at Documenta 13 and Berlin Biennale 7. FIELD: A Journal of Socially-Engaged Art Criticism, 1 (Spring): 185-203. Available at: <http://field-journal.com/issue-1/loewe/>. Accessed 15 January 2016.Google Scholar
Lütticken, S. (2015) Social media: Practices of (in)visibility in contemporary art. Afterall [Online], 23 September. Available at: <http://www.afterall.org/online/social-media_practices/#.VpkfxWeFPMM/>. Accessed 15 January 2016.CrossRef.+Accessed+15+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Matynia, E. (2016) Performative democracy. Alternativa Dictionary [Online], n.d. Available at: <http://alternativa.org.pl/dictionary/?p=185&lang=en/>. Accessed 24 January 2016..+Accessed+24+January+2016.>Google Scholar
McKee, Y. (2013) DEBT: Occupy, Postcontemporary art, and the aesthetics of debt resistance. South Atlantic Quarterly, 112(4): 784–801.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Najjar, M. (2013) Datascape [Exhibition brochure]. Available at: <http://www.borusancontemporary.com/client/pdf/Datascape.pdf/>. Accessed 18 January 2016..+Accessed+18+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Najjar, M. (2008-2010) High Altitude [Artist website]. Available at: <http://www.michaelnajjar.com/>. Accessed 18 January 2016..+Accessed+18+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Neuendorf, H. (2016) Oil giant BP to end controversial 26-year Tate sponsorship in 2017. Artnet News, 11 March. Available at: <https://news.artnet.com/art-world/bp-ends-tate-sponsorship-2017-447041?utm_campaign=artnetnews&utm_source=031116daily&utm_medium=email&utm_term=artnet%20News%20Daily%20Newsletter/>. Accessed 20 March 2016..+Accessed+20+March+2016.>Google Scholar
Öğüt, A. and Spirito, M. (2015) Day After Debt:A Call for Student Loan Relief [Exhibition]. Eli Broad Museum, Michigan State University, 23 November 2014 to 12 April 2015. Available at: <http://broadmuseum.msu.edu/exhibitions/day-after-debt-call-student-loan-relief/>. Accessed 17 January 2016..+Accessed+17+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Pallardy, R. (2015) Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. Encyclopedia Britannica [Online]. Available at: <http://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill-of-2010/>. Accessed 23 Jan 2016..+Accessed+23+Jan+2016.>Google Scholar
Parikka, J. (2014) The Anthrobscene. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Parikka, J. (2015) A Geology of Media. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Platform [Website] (2015) Tate forced to reveal BP sponsorship details after 3-year legal battle. Available at: <http://platformlondon.org/p-pressreleases/tate-forced-to-reveal-bp-sponsorship-details/>. Accessed 23 January 2016..+Accessed+23+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Rectanus, M. (2002) Culture Incorporated: Museums, Artists, and Corporate Sponsorships. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Relyea, L. (2013) Your Everyday Art World. Cambridge, MA: MIT University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richter, D. (2013) New art market(s) and forms of capital. OnCurating, 20: 47–61.Google Scholar
Robinson, A. (2014) Booms and busts: End of season thought. In: Crosthwaite, P., Knight, P., and Marsh, N. (eds.) Show Me the Money: The Image of Finance, 1700 to the Present. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 132–51.Google Scholar
Rosler, M. (2012) The artistic mode of revolution: From gentrification to occupation. e-flux journal, 33. Available at: <http://www.e-flux.com/journal/the-artistic-mode-of-revolution-from-gentrification-to-occupation/>. Accessed 17 March 2016.Google Scholar
Rosler, M. (2014) Coin Vortex for Student Debt [Installation]. Available at: <http://broadmuseum.msu.edu/exhibitions/day-after-debt-call-student-loan-relief/>. Accessed 17 January 2016..+Accessed+17+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Rosler, M. (2015) School, debt, bohemia: On the disciplining of artists. Art and Debt.org, 4 March. Available at: <http://artanddebt.org/school-debt-bohemia-on-the-disciplining-of-artists/> Accessed 16 January 2016.+Accessed+16+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Ross, A. (ed.) (2015a) The GULF: High Culture/Hard Labor. New York, NY: OR Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, A. (2015b) Leveraging the brand: A history of gulf labor. In: Ross, A. (ed.) The GULF: High Culture/Hard Labor. New York, NY: OR Books, 11–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sholette, G. and Ressler, O. (2013) Unspeaking the grammar of finance. In: Sholette, G. and Ressler, O. (eds.) It's the Political Economy, Stupid: The Global Financial Crisis in Art and Theory. London: Pluto Press, 8–13.Google Scholar
Soskolne, L. (2015) Working Artists and the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.): Online Digital Artwork and the Status of the “Based-In” Artist. 27 May. Available at: <http://supercommunity.e-flux.com/texts/online-digital-artwork-and-the-status-of-the-based-in-artist/>. Accessed 28 January 2016..+Accessed+28+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Thompson, N. (2015) Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the 21st Century. London: Melville House.Google Scholar
Thornton, C. (2016) Debt Visualizations. The Feminist Economics Department, 14 March. Available at: <http://feministeconomicsdepartment.com/debt-visualizations/>. Accessed 20 May 2016..+Accessed+20+May+2016.>Google Scholar
Vesters, C. (2015) Global Positions III-Zachary Formwalt: Three Exchanges (Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam). 5 February 2015. Available at: <http://global.stedelijk.nl/global-positions/global-positions-iii-zachary-formwalt-three-exchanges/?lang=en/>. Accessed 18 January 2016..+Accessed+18+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Viveros-Fauné, C. (2016) Andrea Fraser brings the sounds of sing sing to the Whitney Museum. Artnet News, 3 March. Available at: <https://news.artnet.com/art-world/andrea-fraser-whitney-museum-prisons-440837/>. Accessed 3 March 2016..+Accessed+3+March+2016.>Google Scholar
Weibel, P. (2015a) People, politics, and power. In: Weibel, P. (ed.) Global Activism: Art and Conflict in the 21st Century. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 29–61.Google Scholar
Weibel, P. (2015b) Preface. In: Weibel, P. (ed.) Global Activism: Art and Conflict in the 21st Century. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 23–27.Google Scholar
Wu, C. (2002) Privatising Culture: Corporate Art Intervention Since the 1980s. London: Verso.Google Scholar