Case studies on strategies for survival and solidarity beyond the art industry, from the Zapatistas to FESTAC ’77

Solidarity has re-entered the global zeitgeist with resounding force in the last decades and is especially urgent to consider today. Yet this concept—both a potent ideal and a slippery notion—is one of the least analyzed within the arts. Why? It is perhaps because colonialism, Neoliberalism, hyper-individualism and Western-centred concepts of art have eroded visions of a care-based society.

Creating a fair and vital social fabric inspired by mutual dependencies between living beings and all entities including fauna, flora, air, land and water, is fundamental for our collective existence. A critical toolbox with intersectional perspectives is needed to examine this minefield and reveal meaningful and inspiring narratives that can guide our future.

Working with these complexities, this Reader considers the agency that artists, collectives and art institutions have generated from the 1970s to today to build the radical imaginaries of care and solidarity needed to transform the conditions of our collective existence in the face of local and global crises. Presenting new and historical material, the Reader narrates a series of stories of solidarity across geographies in relation to emergencies connected to ecocide, femicide, genocide, migration, neocolonialism, inter-religious conflicts, class divisions and heteronormativity, amongst others. It also gives a central place to Indigenous perspectives rarely considered when discussing solidarity in the arts.

Case studies include Chile (Museo Internacional de la Resistencia), France (Espace Khiasma) Haiti (Ouvertures), Hungary (The Guerilla Fighter), India (SAHMAT), Indonesia (Jatiwangi art Factory (JaF); INLAND), Korea (Gwangju Biennale), Mexico (Zapatistas, Indigenous women’s movements), Norway (Palestinian Art Exhibition), Middle East (Farewell to Museums), Palestine (PLO), South Africa (FESTAC ’77, Chimurenga, ANC), Sudan (the power of books), United Kingdom (Greenham Common), USA (gender binaries, Art Contre Apartheid, Black Lives Matter) and many others.

"An admirable gathering of urgently needed documents to construct a true history of art and solidarity around the world." — Cecilia Vicuña, Chilean-Indigenous mestizo artist and poet

With contributions from Reem Abbas, Toufoul Abou-Hodeib, Noor Abuarafeh, Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil, Ali Hussein Al-Adawy, Salvador Allende, Beth Brant, Wendy Carrig, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Emory Douglas, Ntone Edjabe, Ingrid Fadnes, Eva Maria Fjellheim, Katya García-Antón, Soledad García Saavedra, Gavin Jantjes, Shoili Kanungo, Geeta Kapur, Lara Khaldi, Ixchel León, Audre Lorde, Chelsea Manning, Olivier Marboeuf, Barbara Masekela, Naeem Mohaiemen, Mário Pedrosa, Ram Rahman, Laura Raicovich, farid rakun/ruangrupa, Aban Raza, Devika Singh, Irene Soria Guzmán, Kwanele Sosibo, Eszter Szakács, Dulce Celina Ureña Hernández, and Alice Walker.

Edited by Katya García-Antón

Designed by Hans Gremmen

Published by Valiz and OCA, 2022

Softcover with tape binding, 378 pages, 200 color and 80 b&w images, 7.75 × 11 inches

ISBN: 978-9-49-324602-7