Why Are We 'Artists'?

World Art Manifestos will be a complementary text to the Penguin Modern Classic 100 Artists' Manifestos- From the Futurists to the Stuckists. Given the ever-growing prominence of Latin American, Far and Middle Eastern and African art on the global stage, this book is especially relevant to today's contemporary art scene.

This collection of 100 vital, and yet perhaps lesser-known manifestos, voices the fascinating ideologies of more easily overlooked artistic movements of the last century across the world. Lack brings something fresh and thought-provoking to the conversation on why art, in all its guises, is a social and political necessity.%%%'Art is not a luxury. Art is a basic social need to which everyone has a right'.

This extraordinary collection of 100 artists' manifestos from across the globe over the last 100 years brings together activists, post-colonialists, surrealists, socialists, nihilists and a host of other voices. From the NUgritude movement in Martinique to Poland's Animal Manifesto, from Iraqi modernism to Australia's Bitch Mutant Manifesto, they are by turns personal, political, utopian, angry, sublime and revolutionary. Some have not been published in English before; some were written in climates of censorship and brutality; some contain visions of a future still on the horizon. What unites them is the belief that art can change the world.

About the Author

Jessica Lack began her career at Tate- The Art Magazine before becoming preview arts writer at the Guardian and i-D Magazine. She scripted the short film season Unlock Art and has written for all the major art magazine publications. She co-authored the best-selling Tate Guide to Modern Art Terms.