John Roberts Examines Socially Engaged Art's Democratic Models in Global Context

John Roberts published an article analyzing socially engaged art within a global political framework on February 5, 2025. The piece explores how this art form draws inspiration from direct democracy models developed by the Zapatista and Rojava insurgencies. Roberts examines the relationship between these movements and contemporary artistic practices during a period characterized by American unipolar imperialism and planetary neoliberalism. The article questions how socially engaged art globally produces modes of direct democracy derived from what it terms 'enclave politics' of these insurgencies. It further investigates the extent to which the vulnerabilities experienced by Zapatista and Rojava movements are reflected in artistic experiments with democracy. Published in ARTMargins Volume 14, Issue 1 (pages 6-33), the content is available through MIT Press with subscription access. The article appears in ARTMargins Online, an academic publication focused on contemporary art from post-socialist regions and beyond. Roberts's analysis situates artistic practices within post-alter globalization politics.