This book assesses Stuart Brisley’s seminal influence on British art through his lifelong engagement with the histories and imaginaries of revolution. It links together revolutionary history with the author’s critical dialogue with Brisley, developed over many years, to explore how revolutionary art, politics and history relate today.
Stuart Brisley is a pioneering multi-media and performance artist who developed performance art as a form of social action in the 1960s and 1970s. This book assesses his seminal influence on British art through a focus on his lifelong engagement with the histories and imaginaries of revolution.
Linking revolutionary history with material from a critical dialogue established with Brisley over the last decade, the book recognises Brisley's corpus as a fascinating stage for addressing important questions about the relationship of art, politics and history. How do we make sense of politically committed art in a contemporary context where revolution has supposedly died or is deemed impossible? What can the afterlives of performance art tell us about the historical past, including the promises and contradictions of revolutionary time?
Introduction
1 Into day one of the revolution
2 Ghost dances in history and performance
3 Revolutionising the living past: the Peterlee Project
4 The monument and revolutionary time: the Cenotaph Project
5 Time after history: collections, archives, museums
6 Portrait of the artist en abîme
Index -- .
Sanja Perovic is Professor of French Literature and Cultural History at Kings College London -- .
