ABSTRACT
In recent years there has been a renewed effort by artists, curators, and art institutions to bring art to engage more fully with its social and political surrounding. A notable case in point was Adam Szymczyk's decision to host part of Documenta 14 in Athens. At the heart of the financial crisis of 2007 and at the heart of the European refugee crisis, Greece seemed like the ideal place to explore a renewed art institutional and aesthetic engagement with political struggle. However, both the decision and the Documenta Athens events were met with mixed reactions. On the one hand, many participating artists took the opportunity to explore renewed ties between art and politics. On the other hand, the institutional context of Documenta was met with harsh criticism from locals and public officials. In this chapter, Bram Ieven takes learning from Athens as a starting point to reflect on the renewed interaction between art and activism. Focusing on two art works in particular (Roger Bernat's “the place of the thing” and Rebecca Belmore's “Biinjiya'iing Onji (From inside)”) Ieven discusses both the potential and the pitfalls of art activism in a highly institutionalized artistic context.
