Useful Art - How Activist Artists Can Change the World

Useful Art explores how art can be a tool for activism and resistance against neoliberalism. Highlighting projects from urban regeneration to community gardens, it showcases how art can foster inclusion, reclaim local knowledge, and drive real-world change.

About the author

John Byrne is Professor of Useful Art at Liverpool School of Art and Creative Industries. For over a decade he has been at the forefront of research into art and use value, working with world-renowned artists and curators to explore how art can resist, engage with or offer alternatives to the current conditions of global neoliberalism.

Product details

• Authors: John Byrne
• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 20.01.2026
• EAN: 9781526181541
• ISBN: 978-1-5261-8154-1
• No. of pages: 288
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; Theory of art, ART / Museum Studies, ART / Criticism & Theory, ART / Art & Politics, ART / Performance, ART / Conceptual, Political activism, Installation art, Performance Art, The Arts: techniques and principles, Art & Design Styles: Conceptual Art, Conceptualism, Political activism / Political engagement