Alternative Art New York

2002

Julie Ault, editor

A multifaceted history of New York’s influential alternative art scene during a time of rapid social change.

A multifaceted history of New York’s influential alternative art scene during a time of rapid social change.

Contributors: Martin Beck, Juli Carson, Jim Cornwell, David Deitcher, Arlene Goldbard, Miwon Kwon, Lucy R. Lippard, Alan Moore, Brian Wallis.

Cultural Politics Series, volume 19

Julie Ault’s long-awaited Alternative Art New York, 1965-1985 is a vivid and important account of the development of one vital element of the post-war American avant-garde.

New York Foundation for the Arts Quarterly

By the mid-1960s, New York’s art establishment-its major museums and galleries-had ceased to reflect the city’s diversity and had largely ignored the decade’s social, political, and cultural ferment. In response, marginalized artists created an oppositional network of organizations, exhibit spaces, and cooperative galleries that both paralleled and challenged the status quo. This alternative art movement flourished for more than two decades, repositioning New York at the center of international contemporary art. Alternative Art New York brings together a diverse group of artists and critics to explore the origins and evolution of this diffuse and vibrant cultural scene from a variety of perspectives: political, philosophical, organizational, economic, and aesthetic.

Locating the movement within both the art world and its larger social and political context, these authors decipher the shifting configurations of cultural power in this period and the complex relationship between the mainstream and the marginal. With a unique, annotated chronology of the alternative art scene from 1965 to 1985, and illustrated with 150 images of key works, installations, and exhibits; reproductions of posters, communiqués, and other ephemera; and photographs of protests and meetings, this volume is an important work of contemporary art history and a valuable sourcebook that suggests the basis for the return of an artist-driven cultural economy.

Contributors: Martin Beck; Juli Carson, UCLA; Jim Cornwell; David Deitcher, Cooper Union; Arlene Goldbard; Miwon Kwon, UCLA; Lucy R. Lippard; Alan Moore; Brian Wallis, International Center of Photography.

Published in collaboration with The Drawing Center, New York.

Julie Ault is an artist, curator, and the cofounder of Group Material, a New York-based artists collaborative that has produced over fifty exhibitions and public projects exploring relationships between politics and aesthetics. She has taught at École Supérieure d’Art Visuel in Geneva, UCLA, the Rhode Island School of Design, CalArts, and the Cooper Union.

Julie Ault’s long-awaited Alternative Art New York, 1965-1985 is a vivid and important account of the development of one vital element of the post-war American avant-garde.

New York Foundation for the Arts Quarterly

Contents

Preface Catherine de Zegher

Acknowledgments

For the Record Julie Ault

A Chronology of Selected Alternative Structures, Spaces, Artists’ Groups, and Organizations in New York City, 1965–85 Julie Ault

Part I: Context

Biting the Hand: Artists and Museums in New York since 1969 Lucy R. Lippard
On Discourse as Monument: Institutional Spaces and Feminist Problematics Juli Carson

Part II: Mainstreaming

Public Funding and Alternative Spaces Brian Wallis
When (Art) Worlds Collide: Institutionalizing the Alternatives Arlene Goldbard
Polarity Rules: Looking at Whitney Annuals and Biennials, 1968–2000 David Deitcher

Part III: Space, Place, and Community

Alternative: Space Martin Beck
Sitings of Public Art: Integration versus Intervention Miwon Kwon
Local History: The Art of Battle for Bohemia in New York Alan Moore with Jim Cornwell

Contributors
Index