Edited by Basil Rogger, Jonas Vögeli, Ruedi Widmer. Text by Michelle Akanji, Friedrich von Borries, Delphine Chapuis, Teju Cole, Hans-Christian Dani, Steven Duncombe, Anna Feigenbaum, Philipp Felsch, Marleen Fitterer, Meret Fischli, Corinne Gisel, Johannes Hedinger, Knut Henkel, Henriette Herm, Larissa Holaschke, Ines Kleesattel, Wolfgang Kraushaar, Wong Chi Lui, Elisio Macamo, Eva Mackensen, Franziska Meierhofer, Tine Melzer, Rabih Mroué, Maybell Eequay Reiter, et al.
Resistance: aesthetic tactics from the suffragettes to 1968 to our tumultuous present
"Make Love Not War," "Soyez réalistes, demandez l'impossible," "Keine Macht für Niemanden," "We are the 99%": the history of the last 50 years has been accompanied by a constant flow of statements, practices and declarations of dissatisfaction with regard to the prevailing order.
These slogans mark moments when dissent has been able to reach from the margins of society into its very center—beginning as something mostly unorganized and unruly in real or virtual space, sometimes violent, rarely controllable and suddenly erupting into the mainstream. Masterfully and creatively drawing on contemporary signs and symbols, subverting and transforming them to engender new aesthetics and meanings, the legendary moments of 20th-century protest opened up spaces that eluded control. Irony, subversion and provocation pricked small but palpable pinholes in the controlling systems of rule.
Protest takes a wide-ranging approach to the practice of protest, bringing together contributors from different disciplines and from around the globe. Social, historical, sociological and political-scientific perspectives play as much of a role in this publication as approaches that draw on image theory, popular culture, cultural studies and the arts. Simultaneously historical and contemporary, the book also explores such present-day developments as the virtualization of activism, the relationship of the virtual and the fictional, and the exploitation of these trends in politics by power-holders of all shades. A timely publication, Protest: The Aesthetics of Resistance explores marginalized communities' practices of resistance and reflects on the past, present and future of protest.
Wong Chi Lui's "Raised hands" (2017) is reproduced from 'Protest.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Metrosource
Illuminates the meanings, not only in each resistance’s aesthetics, but also in the rich tradition of artistic expression throughout the history of protest movements worldwide.
Kirkus
This comprehensive, smart analysis of the art of protest features art designed to rattle politicians’ or consumers’ nerves but also memorable photography of protests.
STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely.
FROM THE BOOK
WAITING FOR TEAR GAS
[white globe to black]
By Allan Sekula
The working idea was to move with the flow of protest, from dawn to 3 a.m. if need be, taking in the lulls, the waiting and the margins of events. The rule of thumb for this sort of anti-photojournalism: no flash, no telephoto zoom lens, no gas mask, no auto-focus, no press pass, and no pressure to grab at all costs the one defining image of dramatic violence.
Later, working at the light table, and reading the increasingly stereotypical descriptions of the new face of protest, I realized all the more that a simple descriptive physiognomy was warranted. The alliance on the streets was indeed stranger, more varied and inspired than could be conveyed by cute alliterative play with "teamsters" and "turtles."
Describe the attitudes of people waiting, unarmed, sometimes deliberately naked in the winter chill, for the gas and the rubber bullets and the concussion grenades. There were moments of civic solemnity, of urban anxiety, and of carnival.
Again, something very simple is missed by descriptions of this as a movement founded in cyberspace: the human body asserts itself in the city streets, against the abstraction of global capital. There was a strong feminist dimension to this testimony, and there was also a dimension grounded in the experience of work. It was the men and women who work on the docks, after all, who shut down the flow of metal boxes from Asia, relying on individual knowledge that there is always another body on the other side of the sea doing the same work, that all this global trade is more than a matter of a mouse-click.
One fleeting hallucination could not be photographed. As the blast of stun grenades reverberated amidst the downtown skyscrapers, someone with a boom box thoughtfully provided a musical accompaniment: Jimi Hendrix's mock-hysterical rendition of the American national anthem. At that moment, Hendrix returned to the streets of Seattle, slyly caricaturing the pumped-up sovereignty of the world's only superpower.
Fifty years after 1968, ideological frontlines that were once clearly defined have irretrievably collapsed into a state of utter confusion. Protest seems to have been largely appropriated by the economy, becoming a matter of fashion; it is abused by the masses and those in power alike. At the same time, there is a rich repertoire of creative practices in which resistance is continually being reinvented in the face of advanced globalization and digitization. Here, protest manifests itself as a cultural achievement that is as vibrant and necessary as ever before. It is precisely for that reason that the question of the relevance and impact of protest needs to be posed anew. Mado Klümper's "Completely Bananas" (2016) is reproduced from Election Day Staff Pick,Protest: The Aesthetics of Resistance, published by Lars Müller. continue to blog
In her essay, "Fist and Dove, Means and Ends: The Iconography of Two Protest Symbols," Bettina Richter asks, "How exactly can images such as the raised fist or the peace dove, which are used globally and have been monopolized by the media, still be tapped for their creative and subversive potential?" Acknowledging that stereotypes and cliches are often the most powerful instruments, she writes, "It remains to be added that this special effort of reimagination of conventional signs and symbols can and must be accomplished both on the side of the image producer and on the side of the audience in order for the creative and subversive potential of those images to be tapped." continue to blog
How we love Protest, Lars Müller's brilliant 448-page compendium of texts and images telling the story of international resistance movements, 1968–now, through the three lenses of aesthetics, politics and media. If we could give a copy to every college student in America, we would. "Protest takes place in (real or virtual) spaces and is carried out by (both real and virtual) bodies," Basil Rogger writes in his Introduction. "The spaces and the bodies to which a protest refers, against which it takes a stand, or of which it aims to gain control to use for its own purposes are the spaces of politics and society. Protest—even when it is of a purely aesthetic nature—is therefore always political. From a position of powerlessness, the foundations of power are shaken, its varnished surfaces scratched, and its legitimacy questioned. For protest to become effective, it depends on a community that generates, supports, and furthers it. No doubt there are protest movements that emanate from individual persons, and images of particular figures that become iconic, but in the end it takes a critical mass, a magnitude of scale, for a protest to have the capacity to take effect." Featured poster was produced anonymously in 1968. continue to blog
Featured image, of activist Iesha Evans being arrested by riot police on July 9, 2016, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is reproduced from Protest: The Aesthetics of Resistance, the remarkable new compendium from Lars Müller. It is analyzed in the chapter, "Troubled Pictures: The Superhero Photographs of the Black Lives Matter Movement" by Teju Cole, who writes, "The photograph, taken by the Reuters journalist Jonathan Bachman on July 9, 2016, was made at an inauspicious time. The rally at which it happened was in response to recent killings of black men by the police, particularly the death of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge. But just two days earlier, the nation was shocked by the murder of five police officers in Dallas by a lone gunman. Our collective grief, always complicated, took on wicked new fissures." continue to blog
Join ARTBOOK | D.A.P. July 21 and 22 at the 2018 SF Art Book Fair at the Minnesota Street Project, where we will feature new and classic books by FUEL,Lars Müller and Spector Books, among others, at Booth A5. Preview is Friday evening, July 20, from 6 – 10 PM. Organized by the one and only Erin Dunigan, formerly of ARTBOOK | D.A.P, all events are free and open to the public! continue to blog
Join us Wednesday, May 30 through Friday, June 1 in Booth #3030 at the Javits Center in New York. Preview major new titles like Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin, the first illustrated book celebrating 50 years since the game-changing band formed; Protest: The Aesthetics of Resistance from Lars Müller Publishers; The Swimming Pool in Photography by Hatje Cantz; The Moon: Lunar Art, Literature and Culture from Louisiana Museum; and new monographs on Hilma af Klint and Yayoi Kusama, to name just a few. New publishers include SPBH EDITIONS and Glenstone Museum. This year, our booth will feature blown-up images from David Zwirner Books' stunning Yayoi Kusama: Festival of Life, and we will be giving away adorable Protest buttons for those who still dare to dream! continue to blog
FORMAT: Pbk, 6.25 x 9.5 in. / 448 pgs / 126 color / 73 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $29.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $39.95 ISBN: 9783037785607 PUBLISHER: Lars Müller Publishers AVAILABLE: 6/12/2018 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by Lars Müller Publishers. Edited by Basil Rogger, Jonas Vögeli, Ruedi Widmer. Text by Michelle Akanji, Friedrich von Borries, Delphine Chapuis, Teju Cole, Hans-Christian Dani, Steven Duncombe, Anna Feigenbaum, Philipp Felsch, Marleen Fitterer, Meret Fischli, Corinne Gisel, Johannes Hedinger, Knut Henkel, Henriette Herm, Larissa Holaschke, Ines Kleesattel, Wolfgang Kraushaar, Wong Chi Lui, Elisio Macamo, Eva Mackensen, Franziska Meierhofer, Tine Melzer, Rabih Mroué, Maybell Eequay Reiter, et al.
Resistance: aesthetic tactics from the suffragettes to 1968 to our tumultuous present
"Make Love Not War," "Soyez réalistes, demandez l'impossible," "Keine Macht für Niemanden," "We are the 99%": the history of the last 50 years has been accompanied by a constant flow of statements, practices and declarations of dissatisfaction with regard to the prevailing order.
These slogans mark moments when dissent has been able to reach from the margins of society into its very center—beginning as something mostly unorganized and unruly in real or virtual space, sometimes violent, rarely controllable and suddenly erupting into the mainstream. Masterfully and creatively drawing on contemporary signs and symbols, subverting and transforming them to engender new aesthetics and meanings, the legendary moments of 20th-century protest opened up spaces that eluded control. Irony, subversion and provocation pricked small but palpable pinholes in the controlling systems of rule.
Protest takes a wide-ranging approach to the practice of protest, bringing together contributors from different disciplines and from around the globe. Social, historical, sociological and political-scientific perspectives play as much of a role in this publication as approaches that draw on image theory, popular culture, cultural studies and the arts. Simultaneously historical and contemporary, the book also explores such present-day developments as the virtualization of activism, the relationship of the virtual and the fictional, and the exploitation of these trends in politics by power-holders of all shades. A timely publication, Protest: The Aesthetics of Resistance explores marginalized communities' practices of resistance and reflects on the past, present and future of protest.
