Gregory Sholette
Biography
New york-based artist, educator, and activist
Biographical Overview
Gregory Sholette is a New York-based artist, writer, educator, and activist. He is a Professor of Sculpture and Social Practice at Queens College, City University of New York, Co-Director of Social Practice CUNY, alongside professor Chloë Bass, and Headquartered in the Center for the Humanities, at the Graduate Center. Between 2011 and 2014 he served as a charter member of the Home Workspace Curriculum Committee in Beirut, Lebanon.
Relevance to Political Art and Activism
Sholette’s concept of “dark matter” — the vast majority of artistic labor that remains invisible within the art world’s star system — reframes how we understand cultural production. His books Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture (2011) and Delirium and Resistance: Activist Art and the Crisis of Capitalism (2017) document the hidden economy of art workers, collectives, and failed projects that sustain the visible art world from below.
As co-founder of Political Art Documentation/Distribution (PAD/D) and REPOhistory, Sholette has consistently combined theoretical work with collective practice, insisting that art’s political potential lies not in individual genius but in organized, collective action.
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