Art / Class / War: Reflection on Social Class, Capitalism and the Contemporary Art World

In 2011, by a mixture of design and accident (mostly accident), Mike Watson began working in the art world as a critic, quickly featuring on national and international platforms. Around 10 years later he left the art world, mostly by design.

Art / Class / War is an account of life working in a middle class field as a working class freelancer. Taking in experiences in ‘00s London and across Italy in the ‘10s, Watson has produced part memoir, part Benjaminian reflection, part Bourdieu-ian material analysis. The result is an incisive condemnation of a system that serves to maintain social stratification, all the while posing as socially engaged. Its closing chapter offers a manifesto for our time, functioning as a provocation for an art world that is all too comfortable with the political status quo.

Cover illustration: Andrew Cooper