Come together

the long version

"Come Together is a global investigation of the recent generation of art collectives, hidden behind trade and code names. It's about forty groups that have emerged since the end of the 1990s, active all over the world. The groups selected work within different creative disciplines: visual arts, design, street art, new media art, fashion, music, and architecture. The aspects they have in common include: youth culture, mass-media influence, aptitude for appropriation and poaching, and irreverence. The text consists of interviews with the different groups, focusing on what motivates the artists to work collectively and anonymously, and how they define the purpose of their participatory work--whether it is a form of political activism, a redefining of the public sphere, or simply a means of making passers-by smile. All of the groups are contemporary; formed within the last 20 years, and their work is highly embedded in cultural trends and modern technology. Interviews reveal how groups often use commercial, mass-media strategies to both gain the attention of the modern viewer and undermine the power of mainstream media--thus both engaging and provoking the viewer. The interviews in this book create an important and dynamic portrait of the global movement of contemporary collectivism"--