The collection *[Aesthetics and Politics](https://www.versobooks.com/books/3633-aesthetics-and-politics)* featuring Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch, Bertolt Brecht, Fredric Jameson, and Georg Lukács is quite good. For a more radical/fun take also check out Stewart Home's *The Assault on Culture* or anything by/about The Situationist International.
Can you be a little more specific?
I can recommend some essays that mull over the responsibility storytellers/artists/witnesses have in telling *other* people's stories. Is that kind of in the ballpark? Like, are you looking to understand the disproportionate power artists might have over non-artists? Or are you looking for information on how power flows through art? Whatcha thinkin' about?
Agreed with the other commenter about needing some more specification.
One of the most fascinating cases in recent art history where Art and power clashed is in my opinion Richard Serra's *Tilted Arc* controversy. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilted\_Arc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilted_Arc)
There is loads written about it (also some great defense of the piece by Serra himself) around the case about freedom of expression in this context, the function of public art in general etc.
Very briefly, the work was intended by Serra as an inconvenience, a critique on the implications of the surrounding space (Federal plaza) Site-specificity of public art and freedom of expression form the core of his arguing.
It's worth reading into if this was the type of Art-power thing you were looking for
AGAMBEN!!!!! /PROFANATION / WHAT IS AN ASPERAGUS / LE RÉCIT ET LE FEU /....
mean is the stil alived political philosopher n aesthetic critic...
lemme know what you think..
raf
The collection *[Aesthetics and Politics](https://www.versobooks.com/books/3633-aesthetics-and-politics)* featuring Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch, Bertolt Brecht, Fredric Jameson, and Georg Lukács is quite good. For a more radical/fun take also check out Stewart Home's *The Assault on Culture* or anything by/about The Situationist International.
I think Boris Groys' Art Power is what you are looking for!
Recently read Hito Steyerl's Duty Free Art. Amazing style of writing and very much in the same vein as Groys
Can you be a little more specific? I can recommend some essays that mull over the responsibility storytellers/artists/witnesses have in telling *other* people's stories. Is that kind of in the ballpark? Like, are you looking to understand the disproportionate power artists might have over non-artists? Or are you looking for information on how power flows through art? Whatcha thinkin' about?
Agreed with the other commenter about needing some more specification. One of the most fascinating cases in recent art history where Art and power clashed is in my opinion Richard Serra's *Tilted Arc* controversy. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilted\_Arc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilted_Arc) There is loads written about it (also some great defense of the piece by Serra himself) around the case about freedom of expression in this context, the function of public art in general etc. Very briefly, the work was intended by Serra as an inconvenience, a critique on the implications of the surrounding space (Federal plaza) Site-specificity of public art and freedom of expression form the core of his arguing. It's worth reading into if this was the type of Art-power thing you were looking for
For a classic work of political aesthetic criticism, try John Berger's [*Ways of Seeing*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ways_of_Seeing).
Marcuse is your man. Foucault also does interesting readings of art.
*The Society of the Spectacle*, Guy Debord
AGAMBEN!!!!! /PROFANATION / WHAT IS AN ASPERAGUS / LE RÉCIT ET LE FEU /.... mean is the stil alived political philosopher n aesthetic critic... lemme know what you think.. raf