{"product_id":"group-works-art-politics-and-collective-ambivalence-9781531502706","title":"Group Works: Art, Politics, and Collective Ambivalence","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn exciting new reflection on the role of artistic collaboration, collectivism, and the politics of group formation in the neoliberal era.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe artist and author Ethan Philbrick's \u003ci\u003eGroup Works \u003c\/i\u003ere-imagines the group by undertaking an historiographic archaeology of group aesthetics and politics. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWritten against both phobic and romantic accounts of collectivity, \u003ci\u003eGroup Works \u003c\/i\u003econtends that the group emerges as a medium for artists when established forms of collective life break down. Philbrick pairs group pieces in dance, literature, film, and music from the 1960s and 1970s downtown Manhattan scene alongside a series of recent group experiments: Simone Forti's dance construction, \u003ci\u003eHuddle \u003c\/i\u003e(1961), is put into relation with contemporary re-performances of Forti's score and huddling as a feminist political tactic; Samuel Delany's memoir of communal living, \u003ci\u003eHeavenly Breakfast: An Essay on the Winter of Love \u003c\/i\u003e(1969\/78), speaks to performance artist Morgan Bassichis's 2017 communal musical adaptation of Larry Mitchell's 1977 text, \u003ci\u003eThe Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions\u003c\/i\u003e; Lizzie Borden's experimental documentary of feminist collectivity, \u003ci\u003eRegrouping \u003c\/i\u003e(1976), sits alongside visual artist Sharon Hayes's 2014 piece on Manhattan's Pier 54, \u003ci\u003eWomen of the World Unite! they said\u003c\/i\u003e; and Julius Eastman's insurgent piece of chamber music for four pianos, \u003ci\u003eGay Guerrilla \u003c\/i\u003e(1979), resonates alongside contemporary projects that take up Eastman's legacy by artists such as Tiona Nekkia McClodden. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBy analyzing works that articulate the politics of race, gender, and sexuality as questions of group formation, Philbrick approaches the group not as a stable, idealizable entity but as an ambivalent way to negotiate and contest shifting terms of associational life. \u003ci\u003eGroup Works \u003c\/i\u003epresents an engaging exploration of what happens when small groups become a material and medium for artistic and political experimentation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEthan Philbrick \u003c\/b\u003eis an interdisciplinary artist, cellist, and writer. He has taught at Pratt Institute, Muhlenberg College, and New York University. Recent performance projects include \u003ci\u003eChoral Marx\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e10 Meditations in an Emergency\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Gay Divorcees\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMutual Aid among Animals\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eSlow Dances\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Fordham University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50554553270546,"sku":"9781531502706","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_41e1f5e8-1846-4936-8d6f-a21931d11fe5.jpg?v=1731719709","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/group-works-art-politics-and-collective-ambivalence-9781531502706","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}