The Long 1980s. Constellations of Art, Politics and Identity speculates on the significance of the 1980s for arts and society today. Central to the book is the thesis that the 1980s brought a fundamental reorientation in the relationship between the civil society and the state—or governments and their publics—with the effects of this shift coming to shape our contemporary condition. Art and culture played a central role in responding, to pre-empting or articulating these changes.
While the decade recedes into the past, its influence in terms of establishing the logic of globalization is still very present. This globalization produced greater inequality and mixed economic results, yet it also permitted new regional cultural and activist networks to emerge and intimated the possibility of a new ‘global’ or ‘transnational’ culture. Looking back at texts and artworks produced at the time will help to understand how this pivotal decade shaped the imaginative landscape of the 21st century. By telling diverse microhistories, a plurality of positions can be juxtaposed that allow a comparison between very different geopolitical situations in Europe and beyond.
Addressed themes:
1. No Alternative? (on neoliberalism, counter cultures, alternative forms of organization, 1980s activism and art); 2. Know Your Rights (how civil liberties shifted, on the upcoming planetary consciousness and new ecologies); 3. Processes of Identification (gender, sexuality, race, and new nationalisms); 4. New Order (considering 1989 from a series of new perspectives, not just the East-West binary).
Introduction (PDF).
Editors: Natasa Petresin Bachelez, Nick Aikens, Beatriz Herraez, Teresa Grandas Sagarra and Nav Haq, and co-editors Adela Zeleznik and Merve Elveren
Contributors: Nick Aikens, Henry Andersen, Zdenka Badovinac, Barış Gençer Baykan, Cristina Cámara Bello, Hakim Bey, Manuel Borja-Villel, Rosi Braidotti, Boris Buden, Jesús Carrillo, Bojana Cvejić, Luc Deleu, Ayşe Düzkan, Diedrich Diederichsen, Nazım Hikmet Richard Dikbaş, Corinne Diserens, Merve Elveren, Charles Esche, Marcelo Expósito, Božidar Flajšman, Annie Fletcher, Diana Franssen, June Givanni, Lisa Godson, Teresa Grandas, Nav Haq, Beatriz Herráez, Lubaina Himid, Lola Hinojosa, Antony Hudek, Tea Hvala, Gal Kirn, Neža Kogovšek Šalamon, Anders Kreuger, Elisabeth Lebovici, Rogelio López Cuenca, Geert Lovink, Amna Malik, Pablo Martínez, Lourdes Méndez, Aleš Mendiževec, Ana Mizerit, Alexei Monroe, Meriç Öner, Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, Bojana Piškur, Marta Popivoda, Carlos Prieto del Campo, Pedro G. Romero, Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, Igor Španjol, Chris Straetling, Erman Ata Uncu, Jelena Vesić, Mar Villaespesa, Vladimir Jerić Vlidi, Ana Vujanović.
