Book tip: AIDS, Art and Activism in New York, 1979-1989

REBELS REBEL is a chronological survey of activist art in New York from 1979 to 1989, reviewing the radical responses artists gave to social problems, especially the AIDS crisis, in the conservative political climate of their day. It presents activist art as a potent manifestation of public art, through which artists and art practice can shape and change society. REBELS REBEL brings a new narrative to the history of art as a means of social change, combining analysis of the meaning of public art with reflections on the works’ political, historical and critical context.
 
The book is a tribute to art collectives who confronted society’s problems and what they saw as threats to the basic principles of democracy. United by their refusal of traditional aesthetic criteria and their desire to exploit artistic strategies and commercial advertising to create propaganda, their story still stands today as an example of how a collective voice can rise above prejudice and inequality, overthrow injustice and make itself heard.
 
Conceived and written by art writer Tommaso Speretta, REBELS REBEL has an historic yet activist-based approach, combining an examination of art history, with social, political and curatorial reflections. Thanks to the direct collaboration of artists and photographers, the book presents more than 100 images and illustrations, most of which rarely circulated in public after their initial appearance, and includes a text titled “The Social Body Electric” by Loring McAlpin, former founding member of the Gran Fury collective; as well as a visual essay, in part unpublished before, by photographers Ellen Neipris and Tom McKitthttp://www.protisedi.cz/node/add/articleerick. The book is accompanied by an original poster designed by graphic-design duo Tankboys (www.tankboys.biz), conceived together with the author as a timeline of the most effective demonstrations carried on between 1987 and 1989 by ACT UP to protest against the governments’ inaction in ending the AIDS crisis.
 
CONTENT
REBELS REBEL examines the range of art collectives in New York during the 1970s, which embraced cultural activism as their principal practice and served as example for future developments of activist art in the 1980s. These include the Art Workers’ Coalition (1969–1971), Artists Meeting for Cultural Change (1975–1978), Collaborative Projects Inc. (1977–1986) and Political Art Documentation and Distribution (1980–1988), and guerilla art exhibitions such as “The Real Estate Show” (1980) or “The Times Square Show” (1980).
 
Addtionally, the book investigates in depth the history of AIDS activism in New York and the art of once controversial, now lauded, artists’ collectives Group Material, Gran Fury, Silence = Death Project and the AIDS activist movement ACT UP, born and acting in America during the years of the Ronald Reagan presidency (1981–1989). Together, they redefined the responsibilities of politics and civil society in general in facing the AIDS crisis.
 
The first part of REBELS REBEL discusses the explosive outbreak of society-shaping activist art traced back to 1980s USA, where it arose in direct response to an overwhelmingly conservative political climate. Through the study of original sources such as press releases and archival materials, including original images, this first part of the book chronologically revisits over forty art projects and exhibitions realized by Group Material. Prominent significance is given to those projects that addressed the state of US democracy during the Reagan presidency and the political crisis brought about by the AIDS epidemic.
 
The second part of the book analyzes in depth how the emergence of AIDS in the early 1980s sparked an increasingly urgent need within the US art world for it to orient itself further toward cultural activism and engagement with radical protest. Starting from the birth of activist organization AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP) in 1987 New York, it examines how the engagement of the art community helped make ACT UP one of the most successful protest organizations in America.
 
After a chronological survey of ACT UP’s history and its public demonstrations from 1987 to the early 1990s, REBELS REBEL considers the contributions of the art collectives Silence=Death Project and Gran Fury, and of many art institutions that gave a voice to the emergence of AIDS. Focusing on issues of political identity, cultural activism, agitprop, appropriation, and censorship, it demonstrates how the visual campaigns created by these art collectives, generated responses from society and the government.
 
The history of the Gran Fury is examined in detail, from the very first graphic art projects produced for ACT UP’s public actions, to those commissioned for and by museums and institutions such as the Venice Biennale (1990) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal (1992), right up to the final Gran Fury projects, such as "The Four Questions" (1993) and the group’s farewell manifesto "Good Luck…Miss You" (1995), which is entirely reproduced in the book.
 
MORE INFORMATION
The book can be ordered through bookstores and museum bookshops worldwide from September 2014. In Europe, REBELS REBEL is distributed through Anagram (UK, France), Vice Versa Distribution (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and Exhibitions International (Benelux, and the rest of Europe). The book is also available for purchase through the webshop of MER. Paper Kunsthalle: www.merpaperkunsthalle.org. In America, REBELS REBEL is distributed by D.A.P. (Distributed Art Publishers, NY), and through the following website: www.artbook.com.
 
TECHNICAL DETAILS
Author: Tommaso Speretta with an afterward by Loring McAlpin
Title: REBELS REBEL. AIDS, Art and Activism in New York, 1979-1989
Design: Tankboys (www.tankboys.biz)
Dimensions: 13 x 21 cm
Printer: Grafiche Leone, Venice
Pages: 264
Illustrations: 110 images, black and white
Language: English
Copy-editing: Rujana Rebernjak and Jonah Goodman, Duncan Brown
ISBN: 978 94 9069 323 7