Useful Art

John Byrne is Professor of Useful Art at Liverpool School of Art and Creative Industries. For over a decade he has been at the forefront of research into art and use value, working with world-renowned artists and curators to explore how art can resist, engage with or offer alternatives to the current conditions of global neoliberalism.

'An indispensable book for understanding a practice that has moved as an undercurrent through art for nearly a century, challenging artists and critics to reconsider the enduring, urgent question: what is art for?'Tania Bruguera, artist and activist‘With concrete examples and grounded Liverpudlian wit, John Byrne presents a clear, accessible and timely case for why the concept of Useful Art can provide an antidote to, and a way out of, the systems that envelop us.’Alistair Hudson, Chairman, ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe'John Byrne offers us a highly engaging and accessible insider’s view of the Useful Art movement. An elucidating and enriching read.'Giles Smith, Assemble'With rigour and care, John Byrne reminds us that contemporary art can produce not only sharp questions, but workable answers. A critically useful book.'Bill Balaskas, artist and theorist‘With his stacks of convincing stories-as-arguments, John Byrne’s Useful Art might be the closest attempt from the English-speaking world to date to capture the original understanding of seni (Indonesian for art), which is neither autonomous nor binary. Reading this book will convince you that we have not lost everything. Yet.’Farid Rakun, ruangrupa‘Culture, resistance, community: Byrne has written an essential wayfinder that shows us how Useful Art can challenge the neoliberal occupation of our lives, drawing on global ideas to “dig where you stand” for change.’Owen Griffiths, artist

• Introduction: is it art and are they artists?1 Counter-neoliberalism: Useful Art and social change2 Re-mapping the network: 1:1 scale practice and artistic activism3 Useful Art and the Useful Museum4 Useful Art and use value5 Useful Art and the power of the localConclusion: the revolution will be deliciousPostscriptIndex