The Art of Protest | Hardcover

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes it gets painted on a wall because nobody was listening to the thousand words.

The Art of Protest from Gestalten explores what happens when artists decide that simply making something beautiful feels insufficient. Across 336 pages, it looks at the increasingly tangled relationship between art, politics, and activism, documenting how contemporary artists have responded to climate change, migration, inequality, social justice movements, political upheaval, and the general human tendency to disagree rather dramatically about how the world should work. Posters, installations, public art, photography, and other forms become ways of questioning power, occupying space, starting conversations, and occasionally making people extremely uncomfortable. The result is part art book, part cultural document, and a compelling reminder that art has never been particularly good at staying politely on the wall.

The Details

• The Art of Protest
• Edited by Gestalten, Francesca Gavin, and Alain Bieber
• Hardcover
• Contemporary art, activism, politics, and visual culture
• Explores the relationship between artists and major political and social issues
• Features work across a range of artistic mediums
• 336 pages
• Dimensions: 12" x 9.8" x 1.3"
• Publication date: February 1, 2022

About the Publisher:  Gestalten

Gestalten is a Berlin-based publisher making books about design, travel, architecture, art, food, culture, and the various interesting things humans do when they leave the house. Their books tend to be exceptionally good-looking without relying on good looks alone, which is an important distinction when something is destined to spend a significant portion of its life on a coffee table.