Artistic Utopias of Revolt

Claremont Road, Reclaim the Streets, and the City of Sol
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-3-319-71421-9
Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 187 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 3695 g

Reihe: Palgrave Studies in Utopianism

This book analyses the aesthetic and utopian dimensions of various activist social movements in Western Europe since 1989. Through a series of case studies, it demonstrates how dreams of a better society have manifested themselves in contexts of political confrontation, and how artistic forms have provided a language to express the collective desire for social change.
The study begins with the 1993 occupation of Claremont Road in east London, an attempt to prevent the demolition of homes to make room for a new motorway. In a squatted row of houses, all available space was transformed and filled with elements that were both aesthetic and defensive – so when the authorities arrived to evict the protestors, sculptures were turned into barricades. At the end of the decade, this kind of performative celebration merged with the practices of the antiglobalisation movement, where activists staged spectacular parallel events alongside the global elite’s international meetings. As this book shows, social movements try to erase the distance that separates reality and political desire, turning ordinary people into creators of utopias. Squatted houses, carnivalesque street parties, counter-summits, and camps in central squares, all create a physical place of these utopian visions

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ramírez Blanco, Julia

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte: Ereignisse und Themen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Regional- & Stadtgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction: Art as Language, Utopia as Discourse.- 2. Activism as a Place: The British Anti-Roads Movement and the Squatted Street of Claremont Road.- 3. The Reclaim the Streets Protest Parties in London.- 4. Interlude: The Globalization of the Aesthetics of Protest.- 5. Disobedience as an Urban Form: The Acampadasol in Madrid.- 6. Notes Towards a Conclusion.-Chronology of Events.- Glossary.- Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Julia Ramírez-Blanco is Lecturer at Barcelona University, Spain. Her work revolves around the relationships between art, utopia and activism. Researching in various institutions in Europe and the USA, her publications have appeared in English, French, Italian and Spanish in various co-authored books and journals.