The crisis of art today is that of its reduction to picture or object-making for the global spectacle of fetishism. Art is now going round in circles – like a dog chasing its own tail – generating tremendous energy but only to maintain the dynamics of the art market which deals in precious commodities while the world is facing environmental catastrophe. In this pioneering work Rasheed Araeen suggests a uniquely radical way of dealing with this crisis: he offers a body of concepts whose dynamics and vision will not only steer art back on its historical course but also intervene in the world at large to resolve the problems of climate change.
About the Author
Rasheed Araeen is an artist, writer and founding editor of Third Text. As an artist, he began his journey in 1953, while also studying civil engineering. After doing some important work in Karachi, seminal to his later pursuits, in 1964 he left for Europe and has since lived in London. In the late 1960s and 1970s he became active in various groups supporting liberation struggles, democracy and human rights, which led him to write ‘A Black Manifesto’; and then to the publications Black Phoenix (1978), Third Text (1987) and Third Text Asia (2008). He is now directing a project that will produce a revised and inclusive history of art in postwar Britain.