Art and Politics: a Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 Free

FREE ART AND POLITICS: A SMALL HISTORY OF ART FOR SOCIAL CHANGE SINCE 1945 PDF

What is political art? Is it different than the art itself and could it be the art beside the politics, as we know the political truth is the ruling mechanism over all aspects of humanity? From its beginnings, art is inseparable from the societies and throughout its history authors always reflected the present moment bringing the artistic truth to the general public. For Plato and Aristotle, mimesis - the act of artistic creation is inseparable from the notion of real world, in which art represents or rather disputes the various models of beauty, truth, and the good within the societal reality. Hence, position of the art sphere is semi- autonomous, as it is independent field of creation freed from the rules, function and norms, but on the other hand, art world is deeply connected and dependent from artistic productionways of curating and display as well as socio-economical conditions and political context. In times of big political changes, many art and cultural workers choose to reflect the context within their artistic practices and consequently to create politically and socially engaged art. Art could be connected to politics in many different ways, and the field of politically engaged art is rather broad and rich than a homogenous term reducible to political propaganda. There are many strategies to reach the state of political engagement in art and it includes the wide scale of artistic interventions from bare gestures to complex conceptual pieces with direct political engagement intended to factual political changes. But when disputing politically engaged art, we must not forget that art is not and could not be the mere means of political action nor reduced to this specific function ; although it could be an active part of activist practice. In the 20th century, the aestheticization of the politics was heavily criticized as a try to conceive regular practices of life and societal behavior as innately artistic, and to introduce politic values to art, by structuring it as an art form in order to normalize emancipatory or revolutionary practices and enclose it to the autonomous field of art. This was the concept first coined by Walter Benjamin and later developed in the thought of Frankfurt School. It was also the philosophical reaction to the appropriation of the art by the Fascist regimes in Europe. In the light of this theory, the polar opposite of these practices of aestheticization would be the term of the politicization of aesthetics — a kind of revolutionary praxis of rethinking the depoliticized field of art production and adding Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 wider political or rather an emancipatory character to the art work. The main idea behind the liberating art from the corrupting politic movements such as Fascism, Nazism or any other reductive and destructive social agenda, is to reclaim its autonomy once again. For any artistic work is crucial to be free from the function and especially transgressing its subordinate position when art is reduced to the political tool of ruling mechanism. The very act of negation or disagreement with the negative or harmful within the politics is crucial for understanding the core value of political artists and the politically engaged art in whole. As artistic practice is the act of creation, intervention into the body of real world, art, as a form of social action, is a very mighty tool of the political imaginationby re presenting the world, not in a sudden, but in some further or better condition. When questioning the role of art today, we must be aware of the illusive borders between art and lifeart and media, art Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 society, as well as art and activism. In so many cases of artist works, it is hard to formulate not just the notion of art but even its position within the society. The role of political art has always been crucial since it is one of rare uncorrupted forces of emancipatory action and battlefield of the crucial dispute what is and what could be beauty, truth, and the good. In the course of art history there are Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 examples art was the crucial reflection of political context. Moreover, analyzing and disputing the art pieces, we learn about life and circumstances from which we are far away in space or time. The art pieces were critical or undue to the dominant values of its time, we often understood as a political avant-garde, the announcement of the political changes that followed. Here, we would like to present different politically engaged art works, trying to display the wide specter of political action within the field of art, without pitfall of losing the art qualities and becoming the political agenda itself. The selection we made addresses the questions of wars and political conflictsrise of fascismrevolution and social changeas well as human rights activismfeminismautonomy of art or various problems of artistic production and work itself. Methodologies, media or artistic strategies are numerous in political art and proving that politically committed artworks and the work of political artists in general is not reducible to propaganda. Tatlin's Constructivist tower was planned to be the moving sculpture of the Revolution, the dynamic metaphor of uprising the modernity, revolutionary thinking and the new world order. Besides its monumental and poetic value, the structure should have architectural functions and could have been used for conferences and different governmental functions. Due to economic crash in post-revolutionary Russia, the Monument to the Third International has been never built but its smaller size models are situated in Stockholm, Moscow and Paris. The process of painting and the life of the fresco painting itself raised a big controversy since Rivera included images of V. Lenin and motifs of a Soviet Russian May Day parade on it. Despite protests from artists, Nelson Rockefeller ordered the destruction of this political artwork before it was completed. There are only a few black and white photos of the finished paintings, photographed by the artist himself. Europe After the Rain is surrealistic landscape of dystopian Europe after the enormous destruction in Second World War, painted by Max Ernst who was personally affected by the Nazi politics in Germany. The paysage is dominated by pessimist feelings of emotional desolation, physical exhaustion and deep fears, which are rather archetypal concern over the humanity than just actual reflection on war horror. Concentration camps are always considered as the epitome of the war horror. Jewish artist Peter Kien was imprisoned in Terezin, where he used stolen artistic materials to witness the living conditions in the Terezin ghetto. A true example of political art, his artworks transgress the field of art, being one of the most important documents recalling the truth on a concentration camp and the inhuman conditions of inmates. Inthe same year he painted the Watercolor of TerezinKien was deported in Auschwitz, where being brutally killed at the age of twenty-five. The artworks posses strong reflection of one of the first paintings of the new age - Francisco Goya 's masterpiece The Third of May from which it derives the political statement comparing the American forces in North Korea Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 the imperialistic Napoleon army, Tyrant of Europe. The artist openly depicted civilians killed by anti-communist forces as heroes standing erect and mocked the misshaped firing squad. The painting reflects the real fact that the African-American girl was escorted on her way to elementary school by four US marshals, walking in front of the protesters in at New Orleans. Racist graffiti, limited freedom of movement, racial segregation at schools were the reality of the American south in s so the artist raise a voice against it and made this important and influential political artwork. This political art piece strongly recall popular song by Tina Turner, also featured in blockbuster movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Do women need to be naked to get into the Met. Museum get a big echo in the world of art, since it make people rethink the consequences of exclusively male gaze on women body in the dominant art canon. Featured image: Guerilla Girls - Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. It is interesting that the graffiti was created by Dmitri Vrubel in s after the Berlin wall was down and it reflecting the continuation of the politics from the cold war era in the time of changes. Flower Thrower is one of the most iconic images of the famous street artist Banksy. The stencil art piece depicts the man, bombing the establishment with flowers. The image is reminiscent of images from the s campus and street riots and it is connected to the Jerusalem gay parade incidents. Intwo street artists JR and Marco organized the largest illegal photography exhibition ever under the project Face 2 Face. At the streets in several Palestinian and Israeli cities, the artists placed the portraits of Israelis and Palestinians as face to face, in large formats. In conflicted zones, this project brings unavoidable identification and humor while looking at series of laughing people separated only by their national and religious affiliation, but united in humanity. Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary street artistgraphic designer, activist, illustrator who inscribed the political statement of the expected progress and hope in United States inwithin this effective propaganda poster. After many years, it becomes a document on the political positions of the people as well as their unrealized hopes. As a first African-American US president, Barack Obama was the endless source of inspiration for artists, who frequently inscribe their emancipatory politics into his figure. In his series of portraits, Terry Richardson tried the counter strategy — to liberate the celeb face of the president from the symbolic and to fit his appearance into own pop culture aesthetics. With Flowers is a part-protest part-performance art piece of the famous Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiweistarted as a reaction against Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 confiscation of his passport. The artist placed a bouquet of flowers in Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 basket of a bicycle in front of his studio in Beijing and action of endured for about days. Ai started the performance on November 13,more than two years into his confinement. Sky Landing is created as a symbolic gesture of peace, harmony and healing. Adolf Hitler Painting Liberation of Art The main idea behind the liberating art from the corrupting politic movements such as Fascism, Nazism or any other reductive and destructive social agenda, is to reclaim its autonomy once again. Photo by Andrew Lamberson for the Wall Street Journal Political Role of Art When questioning the role of art today, we must be aware of the illusive borders between art and lifeart and media, art and society, as well as art and activism. Andy Warhol - Big Electric Chair. Image via letsexploreart. Vladimir Tatlin - The Monument to the Third International from Tatlin's Constructivist tower was planned to be the moving sculpture of the Revolution, the dynamic metaphor of uprising the modernity, revolutionary thinking and the new world order. Featured image: Diego Rivera - Man at the Crossroads,detail. Peter Kien - Watercolor of Terezin from Concentration camps are always considered as the epitome of the war horror. Featured image: Peter Kien - Watercolor of Terezin c, detail via azdaily. Take a time to check more works by Pablo Picasso! Featured image: Barbara Kruger - We don't need another hero, Guerilla Girls - Do women have to be naked to Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 into the Met. Featured image: Dmitri Vrubel - The Kiss,photo detail via disappearingman. Banksy - Flower Thrower from Flower Thrower is one of the most iconic images of the famous street artist Banksy. Find available artworks by Banksy on Widewalls marketplace! Featured image: Banksy - Flower Thrower, Be sure to check out an interesting selection of works by Shepard Fairey! Terry Richardson - Portraits of President Barack Obama from As a first African-American US president, Barack Obama was the endless source of inspiration for artists, who frequently inscribe their emancipatory politics into his figure. Featured image: Terry Richardson - Barrack Obama, Ai Weiwei - With Flowers from With Flowers is a part-protest part-performance art piece of the famous Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiweistarted as a reaction against the confiscation of his passport. Featured image: Ai Weiwei - With Flowers, Featured image: Yoko Ono - Sky Landing, Shepard Fairey Follow. JR Follow. Bibliography – A Restless Art Abstract Expressionism was a brief yet extremely influential art movement, lasting from the early to mids to the late s. As such, it drew many European Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 to major American cities. Raised in the Southwestern United States, Pollock grew up one of five sons of a poor sheep rancher. Pollock turned an old barn into his studio, where he worked intermittently while under the patronage of Peggy Guggenheim until his death in a car accident in August Art connoisseur John Graham, who befriended Pollock and profoundly influenced Abstract Expressionism, 2 summarized the goals of modern art with their political implications quite well. Here Pollock speaks in broad terms about the role of the artist in meeting the needs of modern society. This role naturally interfaced with other means of meeting human needs, including politics. On a practical level, part of this may be because he died in at the age of forty-four, prior to the height of the Cold War and the tumultuous days of Vietnam. As art historian Stephen Polcari argues, Pollock and others deliberately shunned a narrow civic dialogue to address wider psychology. That is, their seemingly apolitical artwork had powerful political consequences. Anna Chave, for example, despite classifying the New York School painters as essentially highly different individuals, provides some common themes in their work that are useful when thinking about the movement of Abstract Expressionism. To understand Pollock in the context of Abstract Expressionism, we must examine the ideological relationship between his work and that of the other Abstract Expressionists. I do not seek to lump all the Abstract Expressionists together as if their work makes a uniform statement about politics. Herein lies the political culture of Abstract Expressionism: art as a free force for human understanding. Jackson Pollock drew much of his anthropological approach to painting from the ideas of psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, particularly that of the Collective Unconscious. Jung maintained that modern man had lost contact with himself because he was removed from his primitive roots. Through awareness of ancient rituals, narratives, spirituality, and arts, rather than application of reason and the scientific method, he maintained that contemporary society could successfully cleanse itself of many problems that led to war, poverty, and crime. By advocating art Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 one of the primary means to activate the unconscious, he gave it a very prominent role in human experience. Art, however, was not merely an instrument in the service of the individual. Jung believed that art played a profound social role as well, helping Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 understand itself. The artist had a justification for advocating the birth of a society in which creative expression could be released from the stranglehold of science and reason. Art acted as a tool for shaping social harmony. The argument is not that Pollock and others deliberately sought to find such a justification for preconceived ideas, but that these developments greatly contributed to their worldview as artists. Jackson Pollock frequently depicted abstract primitive themes in his early work. This may be directly attributed to the time he spent in Jungian therapy following one of his several bouts with alcoholism. In fact, he was the only Abstract Expressionist treated with this approach, and afterword he remained a dedicated follower of Jung. For example, Male and Female ca. Circle ca. Similar themes carried into the period beginning aroundin which his painting took a more abstract and uniform composition. Shimmering Substance and Eyes in the Heat show the first trace of freedom from direct natural depictions, a characteristic element within Abstract Expressionism. By moving totally away from illustration, the physical properties of the paint and the importance of the individual mark achieved greater significance as the elements that gave the painting its life. The physical process of creation that Pollock employed had tremendous significance within a Jungian context. Through his fast movements, which utilized not just the wrist but the entire arm, Pollock produced a rhythmic network of lines and spots that echoed physical ritual acts, battle maneuvers, hunting tactics, and natural sources of energy such as fire, integral parts of early human living. These creative processes believed to join humanity therefore replaced the dialectical clashes advocated by Marx and the Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 market, technology-driven capitalist structure as the impetus of social life and unity. Thus art was a thing in itself, a thing to which the artist could join himself. From a Jungian viewpoint, as Pollock painted, part of him became the painting and part of the painting echoed those subconscious aspects of himself as a human being. Furthermore, he did not use drawing to generate ideas for his painting, but instead went straight to the canvas. The result was the absence of a barrier between him and the original creative act. He was thus free to express truly the raw states of humanity outside of a political framework. These significant concepts led to an art that was highly critical of seemingly repressive systems of government. One of his journal entries simply describes art as. These might be summarized under the general notion of protest…[i]n many respects a negative position. Some were orthodox Marxists, others favored social democracy, and several, such as Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko, embraced anarchism. The fascinating thing, however, is that despite their convictions, they refused to place their art in the service of a higher political ideal. All of them agreed that society needed to be remade, but they continued to discuss how, if at all, their art should be involved in that struggle. What Pollock stands for … [is] that only when a man really asserts his identity … does his medium rise to the character of style. As we have seen, Pollock believed his paintings formed a life of their own, as his inner energies, linked with Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 Collective Unconscious, came out in visual form. Thus, by its nature, his painting did not have the possibility of adaptation to any message, political or otherwise, beyond itself. As many have noted, the allover effect de-centered the image and drew the viewer into a flat, all-encompassing space. In these ways, it at least theoretically negated any individual or force that may attempt to dominate it as a malleable artifact, rather than yield to it as a gateway of enlightenment. These governments symbolized liberal politics gone horribly wrong. As Stalin grew more and more radical, murdering the members of his own party and driving socialism further and further into the depths of inhumanity, these artists grew increasingly disgusted with his politics. Trotsky was expelled from the Soviet Union in after bitter disputes with Stalin over the way communism should be achieved. Pollock made it clear that he believed art and government should be divorced from one another. In a November 9, interview, when asked if there could be such a thing as a distinct American, democratic art, he responded:. It also fit hand-in-hand with an American capitalist mindset that emerged after the First World War and especially after World War II that the United States was the dominant world power and the international cultural center. Although Pollock and many of the Abstract Expressionists favored communism, they rebelled against the pursuit of industrialization and technology that Marx believed would establish the communist utopia. Instead, they favored the value of the common person, the use of creativity to address the suffering in the world, and the reality that man simply existed, apart from any political or economic system that sought to define him. For Pollock and others, the insistence that humans were autonomous individuals led them to embrace the idea that art was free from social bonds. For them, art was a thing in itself. That is, his art, in keeping with much Abstract Expressionist thinking, reflected the idea of independence from society and even from the artist himself. Ultimately, such a paradigm signaled a major shift in the history of Western art: art was no longer about the portrayal of life but a source of life itself, as Hans Hofmann declared. Before the Project was shut down Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945Pollock and others made a decisive split with many of the other painters involved. Art became more about illustration of political dogma rather than a self-sustaining discipline. The type of art commissioned by the WPA also spurred a negative reaction by the artists, who eventually viewed it as not dissimilar to Nazi or Soviet realism. The Abstract Expressionists also believed the realistic depiction of nature was a reinforcement of the materialist consumer culture supported by Roosevelt in his New Deal rhetoric. Pollock later reacted very strongly against the style of Regionalist scene painting in which he was trained during his early years under Thomas Hart Benton. Only stylistic influences from Regionalism remained with Pollock, most importantly his use of the curved line and a violent although abstract depiction of natural elements seen in his early paintings. It is necessary to address why, if Pollock did not favor placing his art in service of politics, he worked for the WPA for nearly five years. Nancy Jachec has pointed out that by the Abstract Expressionists were forced to regard many of their liberal political hopes as unattainable. In practice, it was either totalitarianism or Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 democracy. Three major elements of Abstract Expressionism emerged during the years between and Most importantly, Pollock and his friends came Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 disapprove of any kind of label, classification, or concrete description of their work. As the artists applied negation and autonomy to their art, they isolated it from other fields of knowledge. By allowing the paint to fall freely on the canvas without his conscious and deliberate stroking of the brush on its surface, he gave it the ability to drop as it may in the most independent way conceivable, short of using some kind of mechanical device. There still exists much controversy over how well Pollock could actually control his technique; here we are only concerned with his stylistic approach to painting, in which the paint had the possibility of total unrestraint. Through his painting technique he linked the concepts of autonomy and self-referentialism with the physical action so prominent among the Abstract Expressionists. As David Anfam observes, Pollock produced a style of art that could not be taken any further theoretically. This enabled him to explore themes of basic human nature and exemplify a political philosophy in which individuals were autonomous, and creative expression, rather than governmentled industry or economics, served as the glue for social bonds. His was an original and revolutionary creative form that introduced new ways of protesting existing political and social contexts to rediscover what it meant to be human. Chave believes the homogeneity of the New York School artists has been overestimated. The social condition of the modern world … is [seen in] the spiritual breakdown which followed the collapse of religion…. Science is not a view, but a method…. Abrams, Reinhardt was perhaps the most extreme spokesman for the idea of negation. Rothko, A. Gottlieb, and B. Heath and Co. New York: Harcourt Brace, Ashton, Dore and Joan Banach, eds. Berkeley: University of California Press, Epstein Allentuck, Marcia, ed. Karmel, Pepe, ed. Jackson Pollock: Interviews, Articles, and Reviews. New York: Museum of Modern Art, Krasner, Lee. Interviewed by Bruce Glaser. Motherwell, Robert. London: Yale University Press, Social Theory and the Realist Impulse in Nineteenth-Century Art –

The arts—literature, art, dance, and theater—went through a fascinating period of growth and change during the s. New, experimental art forms like pop art and happenings drew new public attention to artistic expression. Literary artists challenged traditional ideas about fiction and poetry. Increased financial support from government as well as private donors opened new museums and regional theaters and helped art exhibitions and dance and musical performances tour the country. The increased publicity of art, theater, dance, and music brought larger audiences to museums and performances than ever before. Young people were especially encouraged to develop their own artistic talents during the s in the workshops, dance schools, and regional theaters that multiplied throughout the country. Trends in the arts reflected both the turbulent social and political trends of the time and the influence of artists and writers of an earlier generation. By the s, America had been involved in some sort of military conflict for nearly three decades. World War II —45the Cold War —91the Korean War —53and the Vietnam War —75 all had an impact on the way Americans perceived the world, and American writers especially paid attention to the impact of these wars on people's feelings and thoughts. The civil rights movement and the sexual revolution helped to expand participation in the arts, as Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 numbers of African Americans and women contributed to artistic production. These new participants brought fresh insights to the art they practiced. Finally, growing commercialism in American society had a deep impact on the arts. Rising prosperity increased audiences for the arts, and widespread television ownership meant that televised productions could be seen by a national audience. But many artists believed that the heightened concern for consumer goods deadened the soul, and they used their art to question and criticize American consumerism. More so than ever, artists in the s experimented with new styles and forms. Some used imagery that commented on America's affluent commercial lifestyles. Others developed art that rejected U. From these artistic experiments there arose several distinctive art movements during the s. The most important were pop artminimalism, and conceptual art. Photography also developed as a fine art during this time. Artists noticed that American culture was filled with commercial images: on television and billboards, and in magazines and newspapers, commercial art was used to sell everything from dish scrubbers to soup cans to cars to movie stars and their movies. Pop artists used commercial art techniques to create new artistic forms. At first pop art was called "new realism," because it depicted real-life objects. The best-known pop artist was Andy Warhol — Warhol became famous when he exhibited a series of stylized paintings of Campbell's soup cans. Later, he produced silk-screen pictures of celebrities' faces, including actress Marilyn Monroe — and rock star Elvis Presley — Roy Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 — became famous for his huge canvases depicting scenes from comic strips. These paintings emphasized the small dots of color that make color by seeming to blend together in the small print of a newspaper page. The works of Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 Warhol and Lichtenstein were widely reproduced in the s, and they forced viewers to consider the fine line that exists or maybe does not exist between art and commercial design. Pop art took many other forms as well. Artist Claes Oldenburg — turned his New York studio Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 "The Store" in when he recreated a neighborhood of small shops with familiar objects made out of plaster. Visitors interacted with the shops and "The Store" became a powerful comment on American consumption. By the mids, Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen — collaborated to create colossal sculptures for several cities; the first was Lipstick Ascending on Caterpillar Tracksa twenty-three- foot-tall lipstick mounted on caterpillar tracks the tracks of a construction vehicleinstalled at Yale University in Minimalism, another important style of the s, reduced art to simple geometric shapes of uniform color. The style was pioneered by Frank Stella — with his pin-stripe paintings of and came to stress form and material. Artists such as Carl Andre — Donald Judd —and Robert Morris — first used the style in sculpture, creating enormous geometric shapes in single, uniform colors. Morris's first minimalist exhibitions, which occurred in and in New York City, featured rooms filled with simple wooden boxes. Minimalism was the direct opposite of the abstract expressionism of the s, which celebrated the artist's imagination and feelings with highly abstract images charged with emotional expression. Minimalist sculptures were often industrially fabricated and showed no sign of an artist's hand. Minimalism was not meant to represent anything other than the subject depicted—no emotion, no larger context. The style placed the substance of the art above the artist's skill. Although critics dismissed it as a technique that required no skill, minimalism became very popular during the s. Photography also developed as a form of fine art during the s. Photographers, such as Diane Arbus — and Henri Cartier-Bresson —turned photographs of everyday life and portraits of everyday people into high art through their ability to compose their shots and to depict their subjects with compassion. Cartier-Bresson tried to capture what came to be called the "decisive moment" in his snapshots. Taking pictures of everyday people on the streets of cities all over the world, Cartier-Bresson elevated snapshot photography to fine art. During the s, his pictures graced the pages of Life magazine, among others, and he also produced documentaries for CBS News. Arbus's portraits of children, couples, carnival people, and celebrities revolutionized portrait photography, and she taught her documentary photographic techniques at some of the best art schools in the United Statesincluding Parsons School of Design in New York, from the late s until she ended her life. By the end of the s, a new trend called conceptual Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 drew attention not to the artwork itself but to the process by which artists made their work or the ideas behind their work. Conceptual art was one of the most challenging art forms of the period, for it questioned the right of the art establishment—especially wealthy art collectors, gallery owners, and museum curators people who oversee museum collections —to define art. Part of the motivation behind conceptual art was political. Inspired by the advances of the civil rights movement and the women's movement, African American and women artists found their work excluded from conventional art museums and galleries. One of the responses of such artists, and the many who sympathized with them, was to take art out of the galleries and into the streets and minds of the people. Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 artists displayed unfinished art works, ideas for art works, and live performances that could not be repeated. Critics complained that there were no standards by which Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 judge such works, but defenders answered that this was the point. From these concerns other intellectual art styles developed. The innovative art movements of the decade forever changed the boundaries between fine art and popular art. No longer was a small group of wealthy art critics and collectors the sole judge of artistic merit. The new art styles enabled fine and popular art forms to merge and judged the work of non-elite groups, such as minorities and women, valuable. The fact that art forms could exist only for a short time or were seen only by small audiences gave popular opinion more authority in the art world, and the role of popular opinion continued to expand throughout the end of the twentieth century and into the early s. Literature and poetry went through dramatic changes during the s. Early in the decade some of America's most celebrated and influential writers died, including e. After the deaths of these established figures, younger writers began experimenting with new styles. The new styles reflected writers' desires to capture the atmosphere of the. In New York artist Allan Kaprow — began a trend for artistic presentations called happenings. Happenings invited visitors into a theatrical set in which they interacted with the art; visitors might encounter sculpture, music, theatrical drama, and other artistic forms. Though happenings seemed spontaneous to visitors and were often unpredictable, they were in fact complicated, tightly coordinated events. Unlike regular exhibitions, at which visitors would just view completed pictures or sculpture, happenings enabled visitors to participate in art. Some of them were described as "living sculptures. For the event, Kaprow set up clear plastic walls to divide the gallery into three rooms. Using strictly choreographed movements, performers offered visitors tickets to the event, directed them to specified seats in particular rooms, and at designated times guided them to another room. In the rooms, visitors viewed a performer squeezing oranges, a person lighting matches, an artist painting, and a group of performers playing toy instruments, among other things. Kaprow's other happenings included Coca Cola, Shirley Cannonball? Most happenings occurred in art galleries. Some, however, were set out of doors, at artists' studios, in empty lots, or at train stations, among other places. The goal of happenings was to offer visitors the opportunity to question the distinction between types of art and its place in public life. Happenings peaked in popularity in the early s. Although many of the happening artists returned to more traditional forms of artistic expression, their work gave rise to performance art. Performance art came to be a distinctive form of live artistic presentation that could include painting, dance, song, poetry, and other artistic expression. It was distinct from theater, as were happenings, because performance art did not include characters or plot. Both happenings and performance art were considered to be "pure" art because neither could be purchased or traded; they could only be experienced. Writers used absurd elements, black comedy, and personal memoirs in their literary experiments. Thomas Pynchon — experimented with the narrative form of the novel itself. In his novel VPynchon presented a nonlinear story in which he used descriptive "snapshots" taken between and from the lives of the novel's many characters to create a multidimensional image of society. Authors Joseph Heller — and Kurt Vonnegut — depicted the horror and dehumanization of World War II through parody or black comedy, which treats with humor subjects that are not really funny. In his novel CatchHeller used a satiric writing style and the character of Yossarian to criticize medicine, business, religion, government, and the military. In Slaughterhouse-FiveVonnegut used the absurd, or non-rational, to highlight the randomness of war; his character Billy Pilgrim survives the dangers of World War II only to be captured by aliens and taken away in a flying saucer. Along with experiments in style, literature opened to a wide range of topics. The variety of topics resulted in part from eased censorship rules and an increase in the number of minority and women writers. Tom Wolfe 's — The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby shocked some and thrilled others with its use of once-censored language and depictions of the period's psychedelic lifestyles. Two Pulitzer Prize-winning novels of the decade depicted the experiences of ethnic and racial minorities. Shirley Ann Grau's — The Keepers of the House, which won the Pulitzer inportrayed the social and political struggles of a southern family with a background of interracial marriage; and N. Scott Momaday's — House Made of Dawn, which won the Pulitzer intold the story of a young Native American man as he tries to reconcile the differences between white society and that of his ancestors. Women writers, including Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plathwrote powerful poems about the female experience. This movement combined the art of writing with the political purposes of the civil rights movement. Black artists used their literature and art to lift up and inspire other blacks. The works of many involved in the Black Arts Movement were a new foundation upon which blacks could build a society centered on their unique culture and heritage. Although Art and Politics: A Small History of Art for Social Change Since 1945 BAM dissolved by the s, African Americans continued to produce valuable literary and artistic works throughout the twentieth century and into the s. On Broadway, the center for mainstream American theater, little changed during the s.