Project Statement

by J. Drucker

Critical Art Ensemble considers books as one of many instruments of tactical media. Dedicated to activist aesthetics, the collective group produces works that circulate in the world to bring ideas and issues into focus. This particular book is a scathing critique of the mainstream medical establishment, but it is presented as if it were a piece of informational literature one could find in a doctor's office, on a table, left by a pharmaceutical company representative. CAE are heavily influenced by cultural theorists such as Arthur Kroker, Jean Baudrillard, Paul Virilio and others whose advanced political position is informed by deconstruction. A systematic analysis of power relations and structures underlies their analysis of ideology and its expression.

Action is Addiction

Critical Art Ensemble

Agents

Critical Art Ensemble

type: initiating

role:
designer
author
publisher

nationality:
active: United States

dates:
other: 1987-00-00 founded

Publication Information

publisher: self-published

dates:
publication: 1992-00-00

publication history: This work was produced by the Critical Art Ensemble in 1992. [A. Schutte]

Aesthetic Profile

movement:
radicalism (AAT)

subject:
political art (AAT)
artists' books (LCSH)

themes: consumption, commodification [A. Schutte]

themes: addiction, deception, power, complacency [E. Rettberg]

content form:
non-fiction (AAT)
poetry (AAT)
prose (local) manifesto
suggestive of a medical pamphlet, but also of a magazine

publication tradition:
artists' book (local)
activist (local)