Northampton Electronic Collection of Theses and Research

Twenty-first-century political art: the Freee manifesto for art & twenty-first-century socialism

Hewitt, A., Beech, D. and Jordan, M. (2013) Twenty-first-century political art: the Freee manifesto for art & twenty-first-century socialism. In: Cull, L. and Daddario, W. (eds.) Manifesto Now! Instructions for Performance, Philosophy, Politics. Bristol: Intellect. pp. 71-84.

Item Type: Book Section
Abstract: Freee produce manifestos and instigate group readings of manifestos for the action of agreeing and disagreeing. Participants are requested to read the given text and make their own minds up about what they subscribe to. When present at the group readings, the participants only read out the words on the manifesto they agree with. The reading then becomes a collective process in which individuals publically agree as well as disagree and declare their commitment to Freee’s manifesto. While the use of a specific text by Freee is a given, the text itself can be used and reworked by those who read it to formulate their own opinions just in the same way Freee have reworked it from the original. Freee acknowledge that ideas are developed collectively through the exchange of opinion. In this way Freee offer a text that they produced but one that becomes the basis for the action of critical thinking. The content of Freee’s manifesto are an explicit call for the transformation of art and society and Freee readily take and use existing historical manifestos, speeches and revolutionary documents, such as, The Manifesto for A New Public (2012) based on Vladimir Tatlin’s The Initiative Individual in the Creativity of the Collective (1919) and the UNOVIS, Program for the Academy at Vitebsk (1920); and the Freee Art Collective Manifesto for a Counter-Hegemonic art based on the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848). Freee here use Marta Harnecker’s ‘Twenty-First-Century Socialism’ as inspiration for Twenty-First-Century Political Art; the Freee Manisfesto for Art and Twenty First Century Socialism.
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater > PN2041 Performance studies
N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) > N61 Theory. Philosophy. Aesthetics of the visual arts > N72.P6 Art. Political aspects
Creators: Hewitt, Andrew, Beech, Dave and Jordan, Mel
Editors: Cull, Laura and Daddario, Will
Publisher: Intellect
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: Faculties > Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology > Fine Art
Date: 15 October 2013
Date Type: Publication
Page Range: pp. 71-84
Title of Book: Manifesto Now! Instructions for Performance, Philosophy, Politics
Place of Publication: Bristol
Number of Pages: 243
Language: English
ISBN: 9781783200054
Media of Output: Book
Status: Published / Disseminated
Refereed: Yes
URI: http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/8741

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