Overview
- Examines expressions of utopian ideals by social activists in Western Europe since the late twentieth century
- Analyses the aesthetic components of utopian space through a series of case studies
- Argues that the fall of the Berlin wall has significantly impacted the political and cultural imagination of Western Europe
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Utopianism (PASU)
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Table of contents (6 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
The study begins with the 1993 occupation of Claremont Road in east London, an attempt to prevent the demolition of homes to make room for a new motorway. In a squatted row of houses, all available space was transformed and filled with elements that were both aesthetic and defensive – so when the authorities arrived to evict the protestors, sculptures were turned into barricades. At the end of the decade, this kind of performative celebration merged with the practices of the antiglobalisation movement, where activists staged spectacular parallel events alongside the global elite’s international meetings. As this book shows, social movements try to erase the distance that separates reality and political desire, turning ordinary people into creators of utopias. Squatted houses, carnivalesque street parties, counter-summits, and camps in central squares, all create a physical place of these utopian visions
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Artistic Utopias of Revolt
Book Subtitle: Claremont Road, Reclaim the Streets, and the City of Sol
Authors: Julia Ramírez Blanco
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Utopianism
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71422-6
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-71421-9Published: 22 March 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-10054-4Published: 15 January 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-71422-6Published: 13 March 2018
Series ISSN: 2946-4471
Series E-ISSN: 2946-448X
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 187
Number of Illustrations: 6 b/w illustrations, 43 illustrations in colour
Topics: History of Modern Europe, Modern History, Urban History, Political History, Cultural History