Afterall Issue 19 Explores Collaborative Art and Pop Culture

Afterall Journal Issue 19, published November 26, 2008, and edited by Pablo Lafuente, examines alternative modes of art production centered on networks and collaborations, challenging the market's focus on individual producers. The issue features artists and groups including gelitin, Chto delat?, The Red Krayola, Asco, Kai Althoff, Hito Steyerl, and Jim Shaw. Lafuente uses the 1979 tour of The Red Krayola and Scritti Politti in England as a lens, citing Green Gartside's idea that music has 'questions built in and assurances left out.' The issue explores how collaborative and interdisciplinary practices—such as Chto delat?'s work with artists, writers, and activists, or Asco's group performances—question official distribution and interpretation mechanisms. Lafuente argues that reworking popular culture imagery, from Spider-Man cartoons to Christian iconography, can disrupt dominant language and complacency. The issue considers whether such vocabularies ultimately 'go down the drain.'