Evictions ― Art and Spatial Politics

Since the 1980s a great deal has been written on the relationship between art,architecture, and urban planning and design, on the one hand, and the politics of space on theother. In Evictions Rosalyn Deutsche investigates -- and protests against -- the dominant uses ofthis interdisciplinary discourse.Deutsche argues that critics on both the left and the right invokeharmonious images of space that conceal and justify exclusions -- whether the space in question is acity, park, institution, exhibition, identity, or work of art. By contrast, she calls for ademocratic spatial critique that takes account of the conflicts that produce and maintain allspaces, including the space of politics itself.Evictions examines how aesthetic and urban ideologieswere combined during the last decade to legitimize urban redevelopment programs that claimed to bebeneficial to all, yet in reality tried to expunge traditional working classes from the city.Combining critical aesthetic theory about the social production of art with critical urban theoryabout the social production of space, Deutsche exposes this unspoken agenda. She then responds to anew alliance of prominent urban and cultural scholars who use critical spatial theory to protecttraditional left political projects against the challenges posed by new radical culturalpractices.In her critique, Deutsche mobilizes feminist and postmodern ideas about the politics ofvisual representation and subjectivity. She also intervenes in debates taking place in art,architecture, and urban studies about the meaning of public space, and places these struggles withinbroader contests over the definition of democracy. Opposing the nostalgic belief that democracy'ssurvival demands the recovery of a once unified public sphere, Deutsche contends that conflict, farfrom undermining public space, is a prerequisite for its existence and growth.CONTENTS :Introduction. I. The Social Production of Space. Krzysztof Wodiczko's Homeless Projection and theSite of Urban "Revitalization." Uneven Development: Public Art in New York City. RepresentingBerlin: Urban Ideology and Aesthetic Practice. Property Values: Hans Haacke, Real Estate, and theMuseum. II. Men in Space. Men in Space. Boys Town. Chinatown, Part Four? What Jake Forgets aboutDowntown. III. Public Space and Democracy. Tilted Arc and the Uses of Democracy.Agoraphobia.