Ways of Seeing Power: An Art Action Guide for Changing Society in the 21st Century

● A 21st-century update to John Berger's "Ways of Seeing"!
● An important work that unveils the mist of power in 21st-century contemporary art in today's chaotic world, where imagination is co-opted!
● Does art still possess power? Can culture still be used as a weapon?

Have you ever seen eye-catching graffiti art with text and images on city streets? Graffiti expresses the voices of the city through blatant transgressive acts. However, when graffiti art appears in commercial advertisements, government initiatives, or even designated legal creation zones to suppress graffiti, people gradually overlook the subversive nature inherent in the essence of graffiti. How should we view the graffiti art that we love?

In contemporary times, an art exhibition, an activist movement, or even the birth of a publication often conceals complex relationships involving politics, money, and power that are difficult to articulate. How do we deconstruct the hidden power struggles between art and activist movements? This is a crucial perspective for understanding contemporary art.

In 2009, American artist Jeremy Deller brought a part of the Iraq War to the United States with his art project "It is What it is: Conversation about Iraq." He toured from New York to Los Angeles with veterans and Iraqi refugee artists, carrying a wrecked car destroyed in an attack in Baghdad, engaging in dialogues along the way, allowing the public to have an experiential, rather than merely didactic, encounter. After visiting, people would discuss their own experiences with war: veterans would talk about roadside bombs, battles in Kirkuk, and post-homecoming depression; military partners and parents would talk about their loved ones; Iraqis, Arabs, and Black Muslims would discuss their fears — stemming from the increasing paranoia against Islam during the War on Terror. However, is this "art" or "activism"? And what is the political stance within it?

One must first be able to see, then to identify, and then to evaluate. The author, Nato Thompson, a defender of contemporary art forms and one of America's most acclaimed young curators and art critics, is dedicated to explaining how artists engaged in art and activism can see through the meaning of contemporary art, its power dynamics, and the capitalist logic infiltrating art. How can artists find their voice and make a difference? He initiates a unique discussion from some of the most innovative and interesting works by currently active artists and activists, and from the experimental fields that empower communities to see and reimagine power.

Beginning around the 2010s, numerous social movements occurred across the globe, from the "Arab Spring," the "European Summer," and "Occupy Wall Street," to later Taiwan's "318 Sunflower Movement" and Hong Kong's "Occupy Central with Love and Peace." In all these movements, traces of contemporary art intervening in society and politics can be seen. "Ways of Seeing Power: A 21st-Century Art Activism Guide for Changing Society" attempts to lead us in unveiling the entangled mist between contemporary art and power, and to reflect on the ways art intervenes in politics and the power dynamics within the art world.

Only when we can master the "ways of seeing power" can we confront the complexities within power and find possibilities for transcendence.