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A Renewed Sense of Agency
Since the last 1960s, artists have entertained a complex relationship with politics, engaging with the issues of their time through different media, from a diversity of perspectives, and with varying purposes. How is history told? Whose history is it? What role do institutions -- museums, the media, government -- play in representing race, class, and gender? Can art help the world be a better place, of only by revealing society's flaws? The works in this section, while attesting to the enduring spirit of change set forth by the manifestos of the early twentieth century, examine the very foundations on which our culture is built as they work to find meaning in the world. |