By the mid-1960s, New York’s art establishment-its major museums and galleries-had ceased to reflect the city’s diversity and had largely ignored the decade’s social, political, and cultural ferment. In response, marginalized artists created an oppositional network of organizations, exhibit spaces, and cooperative galleries that both paralleled and challenged the status quo. This alternative art movement flourished for more than two decades, repositioning New York at the center of international contemporary art. Alternative Art New York brings together a diverse group of artists and critics to explore the origins and evolution of this diffuse and vibrant cultural scene from a variety of perspectives: political, philosophical, organizational, economic, and aesthetic.

Julie Ault is an artist, curator, and the cofounder of Group Material, a New York-based artists collaborative that has produced over fifty exhibitions and public projects exploring relationships between politics and aesthetics. She has taught at École Supérieure d’Art Visuel in Geneva, UCLA, the Rhode Island School of Design, CalArts, and the Cooper Union.