Book on 'useful art' offers timely retort to the commodification of artists' work

"The reason why useful art will change the world is that art, as we have come to know it since the 18th century, is the subject of 'neoliberal occupation', government regulation and commercial sponsorship. It has become useless, but not because the aesthetic exists in a Kantian separate world, but because, like everything else, including ourselves, it has become part of the neoliberal circulation of commodities, instrumentalised by the creative industries."

"If art has become useless, existing only in its aesthetic sphere, then it must be made useful. Since 2010 a series of summer schools and other projects have progressed this idea internationally. The Cuban artist Tanya Bruguera has stimulated the idea of useful art. In 2013 the Van Abbesmuseum in Eindhoven mounted The Museum of Arte Útil, seen as a 'social powerplant' from which emerged an archive and The Association of Arte Útil."

Useful art distinguishes itself from traditional art by prioritizing social impact and activist engagement over aesthetic commodification. Contemporary art has become instrumentalized within neoliberal systems, transformed into commodities through creative industries and commercial sponsorship. This movement, developed internationally since 2010, proposes collaborative microresistance as a solution. Key examples include Assemble's Turner Prize-winning architectural collective work, the Congolese Plantation Workers Art League, and Rojava's people's parliament. Cuban artist Tanya Bruguera pioneered useful art concepts, leading to initiatives like The Museum of Arte Útil and the establishment of Offices of Useful Art across multiple cities including Istanbul, Eindhoven, Manchester, Liverpool, and Japan.

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