Surrealist Sabotage and the War on Work

In Surrealist sabotage and the war on work, art historian Abigail Susik uncovers the expansive parameters of the international surrealist movement's ongoing engagement with an aesthetics of sabotage between the 1920s and the 1970s, demonstrating how surrealists unceasingly sought to transform the work of art into a form of unmanageable anti-work. In four case studies devoted to surrealism's transatlantic war on work, Susik analyses how artworks and texts by Man Ray, Andre Breton, Simone Breton, Andre Thirion, Oscar Dominguez, Konrad Klapheck, and the Chicago surrealists, among others, were pivotally impacted by the intransigent surrealist concepts of principled work refusal, permanent strike, and autonomous pleasure. Underscoring surrealism's profound relevance for readers engaged in ongoing debates about gendered labour and the wage gap, endemic over-work and exploitation, and the vicissitudes of knowledge work and the gig economy, Surrealist sabotage and the war on work reveals that surrealism's creative work refusal retains immense relevance in our wired world.

Product details

• Authors: Abigail Susik
• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2023
• EAN: 9781526169501
• ISBN: 978-1-5261-6950-1
• No. of pages: 296
• Dimensions: 171 mm x 238 mm x 16 mm
• Subjects: Education and learning > Teaching preparation > Vocational needs; Humanities, art, music > Art > Miscellaneous; Social & cultural history, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, ART / Criticism & Theory, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Feminism & Feminist Theory, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Labor & Industrial Relations, Surrealism, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, History of Art, Feminism & feminist theory, Social and cultural history, Sociology: work & labour, Feminism and feminist theory, Art & Design Styles: Surrealism & Dada, Sociology: work and labour, HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century / General