Introduction and Response

‘Introduction and Response’ (2014) was commissioned by the Journal of Visual Art Practice on the publication of This is Not Art: Activism and Other Not Art (I.B.Tauris 2013). I was invited to guest edit the edition and also to write an article. Because I was aware that This is Not Art would be controversial in some circles, including amongst my own friends and colleagues, I decided to invite responses to the publication as a light j’accuse or a critique of the monograph from the various perspective including both the hostile and benign. ‘Introduction and Response’ includes both a summary of This is Not Art, and it takes some of the arguments made in the book further by responding to, and incorporating, the valid critique presented in the edition.