Anarchist Modes of Subterfuge in Modern and Contemporary Avant-Garde Art

This session seeks papers exploring anarchist strategies of subterfuge within modern and contemporary avant-garde artistic practices. Historically, anarchist and avant-garde artists have employed diverse methods of subtle resistance, embedding covert messages, disruptive aesthetics, and tactical provocations within their works to challenge prevailing political and cultural hegemonies. Drawing from a broad geographical and historical spectrum—including but not limited to Courbet’s radical realism in nineteenth-century France, the subversive provocations of New York Dada anarchists, the disruptive visual and performative experiments of MAVO in interwar Japan, and the subterfuge of Korean anarchist avant-garde artists under authoritarian regimes—this session aims to articulate and contextualize anarchist and avant-garde approaches to art as vehicles of hidden or overt critique.

We welcome papers that address how anarchist-inflected subterfuge operates through visual ambiguity, coded symbolism, performative intervention, or media strategies aimed at subverting institutional frameworks, authoritarian censorship, or societal norms. Contributions might also consider contemporary artists or collectives who continue this legacy by employing anarchist-informed tactics in response to current socio-political realities, exploring how subtlety and subversion intersect within visual and performance-based avant-garde arts. Papers engaging with interdisciplinary perspectives, particularly those incorporating cultural studies, political theory, media archaeology, and gender studies, are especially encouraged. Ultimately, this session seeks to illuminate the intricate ways anarchist strategies of subterfuge continue to inform and challenge our understanding of avant-garde art’s potential to incite meaningful social and political transformation. Selected participants and paper proposals will also be invited to contribute to an anthology currently in development on the same topic.