Martha Rosler. Positions in the Life World
Retrospective exhibitions of work by activist artists and related anthologies of essays and texts (sometimes in catalogue form), such as this one (which toured after its presentation in Birmingham to Nouveau Musée, Villeurbanne; Generali Foundation, Vienna; Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) in Barcelona; and The New Museum, New York City), are examples of “archiving the Left”. However, at the same time they are open to the criticism of art-world appropriation (by museums, galleries, dealers, and collectors) of subversive art, actions and texts. Lucy Lippard coined the phrase “archival activism” to characterise in positive terms the uncomfortable assimilation of the Political Art Documentation and Distribution (PAD/D) archive within the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, which PAD/D had constantly critiqued. For some artists, this relates to the concept of “double coding”: one version of their subversive work critically engages audiences and communities outside of art-world institutions, another version constitutes activism from within the art-world system.