Incorporated:
a recent (incomplete) history of infiltrations, actions and propositions
utilizing contemporary art is composed of the work of six artist groups who
have adopted institutional and/or corporate fronts to engage in subversive
critiques of contemporary culture.
“Subversion, which forged its first weapons from art, has
now become the art of handling every sort of weapon.” – From The Revolution of
Everyday Life, Raoul Vaneigem, 1967.
While subversion and activism are not unique to the art
world, the art world does present unique opportunities to explore questions of
authority and responsibility. As a part of the long history of artists
questioning the categorization of art as a facet of society removed from
everyday life, the artist represented here attempt to address certain social,
economic and political agendas. The mere suggestion of an authoritative voice
is enough to assume control of a certain bandwidth of social consciousness.
Oftentimes these artists have employed nothing more than a web site to
infiltrate organizations of global stature. The scope of the exhibition
includes nuanced discussions of community-building, corporate espionage,
international politics and civil disobedience.
Many of the groups in Incorporated
practice strategies more commonly associated with small business models or
non-profit organizations than with traditional art-making. In that context,
such activities as waste-management, archive research, product placement,
issuing passports, identity theft and marketing become the artists’ tools to
engage audiences beyond the art world.
- Associate Curator Matt Distel
The organizations represented in this exhibition are The
Atlas Group, Institute for Applied Autonomy, newsense enterprises, State of
Sabotage, Temporary Services and The Yes Men.
