Walking with the Enemy - (Rethinking Art's Histories) by Gediminas Gasparavicius & Maia Toteva & Tom Williams (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book is about artists and activists who have embraced mimicry as a subversive tactic and responded to ideologies by imitating their outward forms. Chapters discuss mimicry in reference to the post-truth era, the neoliberal consensus, the politics of race and gender, online subcultures, the rise of the new right, and other topics.

Book Synopsis

This book is about artists and activists who have embraced mimicry as a subversive tactic. Bringing together the contributions of seventeen writers, it addresses the ways in which artists have responded to power and ideology by imitating its outward forms. These contributors address in particular the current age of fantasy and political deception, and they consider the work of artists who have reacted by using dissimulation and make-believe themselves. Chapters include discussions of mimicry in reference to a number developments and debates: the post-truth era, the neoliberal consensus, the politics of race and gender, online subcultures, and the rise of the new right.

From the Back Cover

Walking with the enemy is a book about mimicry and its uses in contemporary art. The artists and cultural activists discussed here adopt the language of authority or ideology, and in doing so, they produce critical reflections, mimetic distortions, or subversive images of the norms governing our culture and politics.
The volume brings together writings by seventeen scholars and artists from around the world to present a diverse picture of this underdiscussed cultural strategy. Covering the work of cultural figures as varied as Laibach, the Yes Men, Hank Willis Thomas, Stephen Colbert, and many others, contributors recount the ways these artists have used mimicry to address ideologies of state power, the neoliberal consensus, decolonial activism, the politics of race and gender, online subcultures, the rise of the new right, the post-truth era, and other topics.
In this volume, subversive mimicry emerges as an important alternative to traditional critique. When little agreement exists on the boundaries between reality and fantasy or truth and lies, it is becoming increasingly more challenging to establish a robust and effective opposition. This book shows how various artists and activists utilize mimicry as an asymmetrical response to ideological distortions or cultural blind spots.

About the Author

Gediminas Gasparavicius is Associate Professor at The University of Akron

Maia Toteva is Associate Professor of Global Art and Visual Culture at Texas Tech University

Tom Williams is Assistant Professor of Art History at Belmont University