Claire Bishop: Installation Art (2005)

What has been loosely termed Installation Art, dominates the exhibition programmes of galleries worldwide. However, while it is much discussed it has rarely been clearly defined. Installation Art provides, for the first time, a clear account of the rise of this now prevalent strand of contemporary art. Author Claire Bishop provides both a history and a full critical examination of installation art, in a survey of the form that is both thorough and accessible. While revising and, in some cases, re-assessing many well-known names in post-1960 art, it will also introduce the audience to a wider spectrum of younger artists yet to receive serious critical attention.

Artists featured include Vito Acconci, Michael Asher, Joseph Beuys, Christian Boltanski, Marcel Broodthaers, Judy Chicago, Olafur Eliasson, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Dan Graham, Group Material, Ann Hamilton, Thomas Hirschhorn, Carsten Holler,, Robert Irwin, Isaac Julien, Ilya Kabakov, Yayoi Kusama, Cildo Meireles, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Mike Nelson, Helio Oiticica, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Smithson, Paul Thek, Rirkrit Tiravanija James Turrell, Bill Viola and Richard Wilson.

Publisher Tate Publishing, London, 2005
ISBN 1854375180, 9781854375186
144 pages

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Claire Bishop: Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship (2012/2022)

“Since the 1990s, critics and curators have broadly accepted the notion that participatory art is the ultimate political art: that by encouraging an audience to take part an artist can promote new emancipatory social relations. Around the world, the champions of this form of expression are numerous, ranging from art historians such as Grant Kester, curators such as Nicolas Bourriaud and Nato Thompson, to performance theorists such as Shannon Jackson.

Artificial Hells is the first historical and theoretical overview of socially engaged participatory art, known in the US as “social practice.” Claire Bishop follows the trajectory of twentieth-century art and examines key moments in the development of a participatory aesthetic. This itinerary takes in Futurism and Dada; the Situationist International; Happenings in Eastern Europe, Argentina and Paris; the 1970s Community Arts Movement; and the Artists Placement Group. It concludes with a discussion of long-term educational projects by contemporary artists such as Thomas Hirschhorn, Tania Bruguera, Paweł Althamer and Paul Chan.

Since her controversial essay in Artforum in 2006, Claire Bishop has been one of the few to challenge the political and aesthetic ambitions of participatory art. In Artificial Hells, she not only scrutinizes the emancipatory claims made for these projects, but also provides an alternative to the ethical (rather than artistic) criteria invited by such artworks. Artificial Hells calls for a less prescriptive approach to art and politics, and for more compelling, troubling and bolder forms of participatory art and criticism.”

Publisher Verso Books, London, 2012
ISBN 1844676900, 9781844676903
390 pages

Reviews: Josephine Berry Slater (Mute, 2012), Mechtild Widrich (caa.reviews, 2013), Marcus Verhagen (New Left Review, 2014), Kenn Watt (Drama Review, 2014), Kim Charnley (Art Journal, 2014), Joseph Henry (New Inquiry, 2012), Jaenine Parkinson (Vague Terrain, 2011), Ryan Wong (Hyperallergic, 2012), Alexander Provan (NY Observer, 2012), Leah Lovett (Dark Matter, 2013), David M. Bell (Political Studies Rev, 2017), Corinne Segal (Boston Review, 2012), Christine Korte (Public, 2013), Jennie Klein (PAJ, 2015).

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PDF (7 MB, updated on 2019-3-18)
PDF (new ed., 2022, 38 MB, added on 2025-7-23)

Stewart Home: Memphis Underground (2007)

Sent to a remote Scottish community to pose as its artist-in-residence, the narrator of Stewart Home’s provocative new novel discovers an undercurrent of corruption, wife-swapping and military secrets.

Meanwhile in London, a counter-narrative revolves around clubs, pubs, fights and feuds; making money, selling souls, trying to break on through.

A satire on contemporary art; a hymn to classic soul music; a meditation on celebrity; a deconstruction and rewriting of modern literature; Memphis Underground is all this and more.

Publisher Snowbooks, 2007
ISBN 1905005423, 9781905005420
316 pages

interview with the author

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PDF (updated on 2012-6-13)