The Radical Unpresent

ENDORSEMENTS

“With both expansiveness and precision, Sholette delivers key insights into the arts of social engagement. The result: a sobering analysis of our radically ‘unpresent’ present, one that simultaneously underscores the speculative power of everyday possibility.”
—Shannon Jackson, Cyrus and Michelle Hadidi Professor of the Arts and Humanities, UC Berkeley, author of Back Stages

“Greg has his finger on the pulse of radical art. He places this art in the context of history and is always looking at how the most challenging art of our time can be a bridge to a better future.”
—Dread Scott, artist

“Sholette names capitalism’s newest enclosure: time itself. He reveals the systematic destruction of collective memory and shared imagination from which alternatives are built—and the art practices of repair and refusal that reconstitute them. This is essential reading. It is an act of solidarity with those who refuse to stop imagining otherwise.”
—Silvia Federici, author of Caliban and the Witch and Revolution at Point Zero

“Gregory Sholette takes a hard look at MAGA riots to come up with sobering and constructive suggestions for a new progressive realism. Essential reading!”
—Hito Steyerl, author of Duty Free Art and Medium Hot

“The liberal status quo is dead. What happens when progressive movements lose and only respond to violent force? Sholette practices what he preaches: diagnosis first. Only then can the building blocks necessary for the strategic takeover of power be created. Artists will play a pivotal role in overcoming the spectacle of unart.”
—Geert Lovink, author of Stuck on the Platform: Reclaiming the Internet

“Greg Sholette has deepened and enlightened the dialogue around international activist art for decades. The Radical Unpresent is another intellectually passionate and original discourse on our current crises and how artists can intervene in even the most dominant contexts, jolting the way we see the world.”
—Lucy R. Lippard, author of Get the Message? A Decade of Art for Social Change

Gregory Sholette is Professor at the City University of New York and Co-Director of the Mellon Foundation funded project Social Practice CUNY (SPCUNY). He was previously an associate of the Art, Design, and the Public Domain program at the Harvard GSD.

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