In Asking the Audience: Participatory Art in 1980s New York (University of Minnesota Press, 2017) Adair Rounthwaite examines the roles of artist, audience and institutional context in the rise of new forms of live art during the Reagan years. The book focuses upon live art projects sponsored by the Dia Foundation involving a variety of practices from installation to Town Hall meetings and other participatory forms. Rounthwaite synthesizes diverse archival materials in order to develop a richly textured study that recovers the complexities of projects committed to fostering audience agency in the consumption of contemporary art.

Kirstin L. Ellsworth has a Ph.D. in the History of Art from Indiana University (2005) and currently is an Assistant Professor of Art History at California State University Dominguez Hills. Email: kellsworth@csudh.edu.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices