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<b>Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 17 Militant Aesthetics with
Martin Lang</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://fireflyfrequencies.org/podcasts/minor-compositions">https://fireflyfrequencies.org/podcasts/minor-compositions</a><br>
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For this episode we talk with art historian and painter Martin Lang
about this book <i>Militant Aesthetics: Art Activism in the 21st
Century</i>. How are practices of art activism changing in the
current political and media climate? What tensions exist within
these forms of political engagement and how can they be productively
worked with rather ignored or denied?<br>
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From the description of the book: “Protest art is not a new concept
and yet this book argues that after the terrorist attacks of 9/11
distinctly 21st-century forms of art activism emerged. On the one
hand these became militant as artists retained belief in the
possibility of radical political change through art. On the other
hand, this belief developed in a hostile environment, when
anti-terror legislations reclassified activists and artists as
terrorists. Militant Aesthetics sheds light on numerous
international case studies of modern art activism and the different
ways they can be classified as militant. Combining these examples
with the pioneering thought of Badiou, Žižek, Rancière and Mouffe,
Lang investigates the instances, attributes and rules of militant
art in order to introduce a new overall theory of 21st-century
militant aesthetics.”<br>
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<b>Bio:</b> Martin Lang is Senior Lecturer in fine art at the
University of Lincoln, UK. He trained as a painter before completing
a PhD in History & Philosophy of Art, researching militant forms
of art activism. He makes paintings, photographs and activist
actions that tackle themes of authenticity, science fiction,
political imagination and post-truth. Martin's research in art and
politics has been widely published in academic journals including
Art & the Public Sphere, Ekphrasis and the Hazlitt Review. His
book, <i>Militant Aesthetics</i> (Bloomsbury 2024) has been
described as "a significant remapping of activist and political art"
(Karen van den Berg). He also writes for Trebuchet magazine and the
Conversation. <br>
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Intro / Outro Music: Joseph Beuys - Sonne statt Reagan<br>
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