Book of the Day > Walls Turned Sideways; Artists Confront the Justice System
Book of the Day > Walls Turned Sideways; Artists Confront the Justice System. Published by Name Publications and Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
"If the museum is the repository for all that society values, how is the prison the repository for all society seeks to disown? What, then, is the social role and responsibility of the artist in times of political urgency? What functions can only art and artists fulfill in the social and political landscape? Walls Turned Sideways: Artists Confront the Justice System brings together contemporary artists working across the United States who mobilize communities to bring visibility to hidden offenses and veiled histories within the justice system. Published on the occasion of the exhibition by the same name, Walls Turned Sideways: Artists Confront the Justice System is co-published by [NAME] and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. This volume, which includes comprehensive readings of works in the exhibition as well as commissioned essays and primary source material, is authored and edited by the exhibition’s curator Risa Puleo. Representing the full range of contemporary art production made in the studio and the social realm, the exhibition and publication considers artists who reimagine justice in images and objects, position the prison and court systems as structures for dismantling through institutional critique, and aim to change legislature through social practice. Puleo frames artist-led activism and activist-inspired art directed towards the criminal justice system and the prison-industrial complex."