Artists, debt, and global activism

This article examines how artists, activism, and works of art may contribute to a more textured understanding of debt in contemporary society and culture. The diversity of aesthetic practices and range of strategic interventions in which artists are organizers and activists are manifest in the Global Ultra Luxury Faction (G.U.L.F.), advocacy initiatives by Working Artists and the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.), and alternative, trans-local projects such as the Arts Collaboratory. These activist interventions provide the context for an examination of how artists have seized upon discourses related to debt and finance to produce works that offer a critical reappraisal of the global economy. Artists’ projects by Martha Rosler, Cassie Thornton, Zachary Formwalt, and Michael Najjar challenge audiences to rethink the invisible networks of debt and exchange by creating new visual vocabularies for ‘seeing’ debt. The emergence of activist groups, such as Liberate Tate, has also signaled renewed interest in the ethics of corporate sponsorships, museums, and environmental issues. A heightened awareness of the ethical dimensions of debt and global support for activist movements may contribute to new notions of citizenship and performative democracy that can incite individual and collective renegotiations of how we might critically rethink debt

Community-Based Museum Ecologies: Public Doors and Windows and Les Nouveaux Commanditaires (‘The New Patrons’)

A growing number of artist-led initiatives and para-institutional organizations are creating community-based projects that signal the emergence of alternative museum ecologies. This article will examine two initiatives, Public Doors and Windows (PDW) and Les Nouveaux Commanditaires (NC) (‘The New Patrons’) that reflect a diverse range of practices that contribute to, or create, museum ecologies outside the physical and conceptual spaces of museums. These museum ecologies also contribute to discourses on the participatory museum and intersect with experiments in community engagement and social practice. Although they may have distinct conceptual points of departure, the diverse institutional platforms and initiatives of PDW and NC demonstrate the ways in which emerging museum ecologies are challenging museums to rethink their relations to communities

GDR Literature in the International Book Market: From Confrontation to Assimilation

In the West, the designations East German author or GDR author have often been misused as labels to accentuate ideological boundaries, but they have also been used quite productively to inform readers on new publishing programs (i.e. authors and their works), which offered different aesthetic and thematic perspectives. And for many readers in the Federal Republic this dialogue with the other Germany has served an important function within the overall context of the question of national identity. Whether German authors in the reunified Germany are perceived as former GDR authors, German authors, or simply as authors, it would appear that this dialogue will continue, in its multifaceted forms of expression, but within a markedly international environment

GDR Literature in the International Book Market: From Confrontation to Assimilation

In the West, the designations "East German author" or "GDR author" have often been misused as labels to accentuate ideological boundaries, but they have also been used quite productively to inform readers on new publishing programs (i.e. authors and their works), which offered different aesthetic and thematic perspectives. And for many readers in the Federal Republic this dialogue with the "other Germany" has served an important function within the overall context of the question of national identity. Whether German authors in the reunified Germany are perceived as "former GDR authors," "German authors," or simply as "authors," it would appear that this dialogue will continue, in its multifaceted forms of expression, but within a markedly international environment.Copyright © 1990 The Johns Hopkins University Press. This article first appeared in GDR Bulletin, Volume 16, Issue 2, Fall, 1990, pages 11-18, doi:10.4148/gdrb.v16i2.961. Posted with permission.</p

Community-Based Museum Ecologies: Public Doors and Windows and Les Nouveaux Commanditaires (‘The New Patrons’)

A growing number of artist-led initiatives and para-institutional organizations are creating community-based projects that signal the emergence of alternative museum ecologies. This article will examine two initiatives, Public Doors and Windows (PDW) and Les Nouveaux Commanditaires (NC) (‘The New Patrons’) that reflect a diverse range of practices that contribute to, or create, museum ecologies outside the physical and conceptual spaces of museums. These museum ecologies also contribute to discourses on the participatory museum and intersect with experiments in community engagement and social practice. Although they may have distinct conceptual points of departure, the diverse institutional platforms and initiatives of PDW and NC demonstrate the ways in which emerging museum ecologies are challenging museums to rethink their relations to communities.This article is published as Rectanus, M.W., Community-Based Museum Ecologies: Public Doors and Windows and Les Nouveaux Commanditaires (‘The New Patrons’). Museum and Society, 2019; 17(2); Doi: 10.29311/mas.v17i2.2751. </p

Artists, debt, and global activism

This article examines how artists, activism, and works of art may contribute to a more textured understanding of debt in contemporary society and culture. The diversity of aesthetic practices and range of strategic interventions in which artists are organizers and activists are manifest in the Global Ultra Luxury Faction (G.U.L.F.), advocacy initiatives by Working Artists and the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.), and alternative, trans-local projects such as the Arts Collaboratory. These activist interventions provide the context for an examination of how artists have seized upon discourses related to debt and finance to produce works that offer a critical reappraisal of the global economy. Artists’ projects by Martha Rosler, Cassie Thornton, Zachary Formwalt, and Michael Najjar challenge audiences to rethink the invisible networks of debt and exchange by creating new visual vocabularies for ‘seeing’ debt. The emergence of activist groups, such as Liberate Tate, has also signaled renewed interest in the ethics of corporate sponsorships, museums, and environmental issues. A heightened awareness of the ethical dimensions of debt and global support for activist movements may contribute to new notions of citizenship and performative democracy that can incite individual and collective renegotiations of how we might critically rethink debt.This article is published as Rectanus, Mark W. "Artists, debt, and global activism." Finance and Society 2, no. 1 (2016): 2-24. 10.2218/finsoc.v2i1.1661. Posted with permission.</p

Literary Publishing in the Federal Republic of Germany: Redefining the Enterprise

The evolution of the primary institution of literary mediation, the publishing house, has been a result of significant historical, sociological and technological developments since the end of World War II. Just as the early sixties marked the beginning of a new era in literary publishing (most notably through the expansion of paperback publishing) the eighties and nineties may also represent another benchmark in the evolution of the publishing industry in western industrialized nations. Our perceptions of the literary text, now reproduced in increasingly diverse formats and adapted to new media, are bound to the changing role of the book medium itself, which is being integrated into a highly complex communications marketplace.This article is from German Studies Review 10 (1987): 95. Posted with permission.</p

GDR Literature in the International Book Market: From Confrontation to Assimilation

In the West, the designations East German author or GDR author have often been misused as labels to accentuate ideological boundaries, but they have also been used quite productively to inform readers on new publishing programs (i.e. authors and their works), which offered different aesthetic and thematic perspectives. And for many readers in the Federal Republic this dialogue with the other Germany has served an important function within the overall context of the question of national identity. Whether German authors in the reunified Germany are perceived as former GDR authors, German authors, or simply as authors, it would appear that this dialogue will continue, in its multifaceted forms of expression, but within a markedly international environment

Transdisciplinary Case Studies as a Framework for Working in Global Project Teams (2013)

This article will examine how transdisciplinary case studies can be used to introduce students to critical skills for global project management and intercultural competency. The combination of case study formats, global project management tools, and intercultural communication activities provides frameworks for developing multiple competencies that span professional disciplines and support global internships, service learning projects, or international research assignments. Case studies that draw upon diverse resources and experiential “reports from the field” enable students to successfully prepare for global internships or study abroad and transition from the world of academic study to the complex challenges of everyday life in a global profession by developing their own personal “case study” as an ongoing process of personal and professional reflection and engagement

„Schreib den Roman deiner Generation“. Thomas Brasch und die Dialektik der Aufklärung

Erhart W. „Schreib den Roman deiner Generation“. Thomas Brasch und die Dialektik der Aufklärung. In: Rectanus MW, ed. Über Gegenwartsliteratur. Interpretationen und Interventionen / About Contemporary Literature. Festschrift für Paul Michael Lützeler on his 65th Birthday. Bielefeld: Aisthesis; 2008: 175-192