Ninth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

Theorists have argued that neoliberalism is variously characterized by hierarchy, systemic exclusion, and monoculturalism, dominant traits which have triggered a broad array of oppositional activist art in response. This paper compares two of the distinct forms in which North American artists have approached the challenges of neoliberalism in the last decade, contrasting in particular artistic methods of institutional critique with relational or participatory modes of direct social intervention. Prominent recent examples of institutional critique within this context include actions taken against major museums and collections, such as the open letter to the director of the National Gallery of Canada organized by curators Emily Falvey and Milena Placentile in March 2010. Rooted in the legacy of conceptualism, such actions make statements and invite discourse against institutions, rather than withdrawing from them by moving without mediation into the social or political realms. Recent examples of North American institutional critique are then compared to works of direct intervention created by artists in response to neoliberalism, especially those falling under concepts of delegated art or relational aesthetics. Though many works in this latter category have significant social benefits, many carry more controversial externalities, several of which are explored. This analysis casts doubt on the potential for political agency of recent relational work, suggesting that such modalities are inevitably themselves products of neoliberalism, or at least are strongly vulnerable to falling under this interpretation.