ABSTRACT
Introduction In this chapter I introduce current art in the Uk which constitutes a dissident vernacularism. By this I mean art which departs from, and actively contests, cultural policy and which arises at a grassroots level. Cultural policy in the Uk has tended, since the 1980s, to revolve around claims for art’s expediency in dealing with a range of social and economic problems. This emphasis on art’s utility replaces an insistence on quality derived from the autonomy of form claimed for modern art, and proclaimed by bodies such as the Arts Council since the late 1940s. The emphasis on art’s socio-economic utility reflects a move, in the 1980s, from arts administration for the public good to arts management based on a business case for investment. In following global agendas this policy differs, also, from the local agendas and participation characteristic of community arts. The policy is most often seen in culturally led urban redevelopment. But if redevelopment schemes look to the requirements of competition in global markets, dissident art contests the principles and the efficacy of such top-down policy.
