ABSTRACT

This book provides an in-depth and thematic analysis of socially engaged art in Mainland China, exploring its critical responses to and creative interventions in China’s top-down, pro-urban, and profit-oriented socioeconomic transformations. It focuses on the socially conscious practices of eight art professionals who assume the role of artist, critic, curator, educator, cultural entrepreneur, and social activist, among others, as they strive to expose the injustice and inequality many Chinese people have suffered, raise public awareness of pressing social and environmental problems, and invent new ways and infrastructures to support various underprivileged social groups.

chapter |17 pages

Introduction

Voices from Below: The Potential of Art Activism

part I|63 pages

Art and Social Criticism

chapter 1|32 pages

Art Criticism, Exhibition, and Citizen Politics

Wang Nanming and the Theory of Critical Art

chapter 2|29 pages

Waste, Pollution, and Environmental Activism

Wang Jiuliang and the Power of Documenting *

part II|64 pages

Art and Place Construction

chapter 3|31 pages

Art, Urban Renewal, and Grassroots Community Building

Zheng Dazhen and Lifestyle Activism

chapter 4|31 pages

Rural Reconstruction through Art

Zuo Jing and Place-Making for the People *

part III|67 pages

Art and Personal Development

chapter 5|32 pages

From Representation to Collaboration

Wen Fang and Her Participatory Art

chapter 6|33 pages

Art Education for Children

Hu Jianqiang, Wang Jun, and the Nurture Effect

chapter |3 pages

Conclusion

Art and the Right to Bottom-Up Social Changes